Page 8 of The Perfect Catch

“I was thinking about Dax Stratton. It would be fun to take him since he’s good friends with Jake and Ben. And it’s so last-minute that I’m not sure who else to ask.” I stared at the ceiling in my bedroom, grateful for some quiet after a long day. To be honest, there were plenty of guys I could ask, but Dax intrigued me more than anyone else. And a part of me wanted to see why he acted funny around me. I’d asked Penny if he did that for everyone, and she told me that was not usually the case.

Brynn made a strange sound like she’d been hit in the stomach by something before she spoke again. “Last minute is waiting until next Friday night to ask someone. Still no luck with Masked Make-out Guy?”

“Brynn!” My voice screeched, and I paused, hoping my mother hadn’t heard it. I dropped my voice down to just above a whisper and said, “I’m so over that. I’ve got so much going on right now that I can’t even think about a relationship.”

“Yeah, because your mom has your future picked out for you. What would happen if you got an A-?”

“Shhh! Don’t even say that. I can’t—like, my life would be over. It’s just another reason why I’m in one AP class this semester. She’s got me in so many extracurriculars that I might just die of exhaustion.” I pulled a small section of hair and twirled it around my finger.

Brynn laughed and I joined in, thinking about how crazy that sounded, even though it really was my life. “I asked Garrett Park tonight. I dropped off a pizza with a paper inside the box that said, ‘I know this is cheesy, but will you go to the dance with me?’ His mom opened the door, so I’m curious to see what he says.”

“I like it. Easy and done.” My mind swirled with the options I’d come up with earlier. “I think I’m going to get a bunch of glow sticks and just say, ‘Will you glow with me to the dance?’”

“That’s a good idea. Then you won’t have to buy as many for your outfit.” She paused and then said, “Good luck. I can’t wait to hear your mom complain about your choice in guys.” Brynn laughed, and while I wanted to join her, her comment bugged me. It was true that my mom would flip once she found out I’d chosen someone who didn’t dress like he was ready for prep school, but the fact that I’d been pushing off a relationship because of her suddenly fueled me.

We finished up the conversation, and I threw my phone on the pillows of my bed. It was still light out, but the sun was setting quickly, and I needed to get going if I wanted to ask Dax tonight. With my crazy schedule and the dance coming up, I just wanted to get the asking part figured out.

I’d gone to the dollar store and picked out several colors of glow sticks on my way home from school. Sure, there were plenty of ways to cleverly invite a guy to be my date to the dance, but to be honest, I was burned out. I’d been on some sort of class or student body committee since the beginning of middle school, and while dances didn’t officially start until high school, I felt like I’d done every asking/answering idea out there. Penny and I had calculated that I’d only missed one dance in four years, and that was because I’d come down with pneumonia my sophomore year.

After a quick design of the tag tied around the sticks with a white piece of ribbon, I snuck it into my bag, doing everything I could to hide it from my mother. If she found out who I asked after the fact, she couldn’t say anything about it or make me change my mind.

Dinner was a quick affair as she had a conference call with some of the other PTA board members and my stepdad had to finish up more work in his office.

My little brother had set up a snack center on the table in the family room, taking a few pieces of chocolate or gummy bears in between moves on his video game. My stepdad had put in speakers and other features to make it practically like a theater when we watched movies in there. Right then, it sounded like our house was about to be bombed with all the explosions in the game.

I swiped a handful of peanut M&Ms, popping a couple in my mouth as I sat down next to him. “Are you winning?”

He said nothing for a few seconds, punching the controller with his thumb harder and harder each time, shifting his upper body to the side as if that would help his character on the screen.

“I am now.” He jumped up, pumping a fist in the air. “I just got the ultimate weapon. Do you see that?” He turned to me and pointed at the big screen.

I raised an eyebrow, trying to be as excited as he was. “Yep. That’s good?”

Zane nodded, sitting back down. He was back to punching buttons.

“Zane, I’m going to ask someone to Harvest. Want to come with me?”

He turned and looked at me like I’d just proposed the most ridiculous thing ever to him. “You want me to go with you?”

I frowned, confused as to why he’d said it like that. “What are you talking about? It’s been forever since we’ve hung out. Come with me.”

He sighed and then frowned at me. “What am I talking about? You’ve got a bajillion things going on all the time. You’re the Phantom of this house lately.” He paused, laughing at my pouty lip and fluttering eyelashes in an attempt to sway him. “All right; I’ll go.”

We both stood and walked over to the door. He slipped on his shoes, and I sighed, steering him toward the door. “I’m sorry, little bro. Senior life and SBO stuff have me going crazy. But you can always come talk to me. Just ask.”

He smiled, his eyes nearly disappearing with the action. “Done.”

We got in my crossover SUV and strapped our seatbelts before I backed out of the driveway.

“Who are you asking to the dance?” he asked.

While we went to the same school, I wasn’t sure how well Zane knew some of the older kids since he was just a freshman. “His name is Dax. He’s a baseball player.”

I focused on the drive, and the more I thought about Dax, the more excited I got about hanging out with him at the dance—if he said yes, anyway. I could already tell there was more to him than what was on the surface. He seemed different from some of the other guys I knew from school, and I could use a change of pace. Sometimes it got old having people tell you what you wanted to hear, and I’d been doing that all too often myself.

Besides, my mom would freak when she found out. Definitely a plus.

“Isn’t he the one who gets into all the fights?” So it seemed Dax’s reputation was more well-known than I thought.

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