Page 5 of The Dating Game

A second later Will’s hands are on my hips, and he’s moving us step-by-step towardthe launch zone.

“Here we go!” he booms. I squeeze my eyes shut and then I’m falling. Only it doesn’t feel like I’m falling. Instead I feel more like I’m floating through the air. Maybe even flying. My eyes pop open and there’s the whole world soaring past me. I let out a whoop Grant would be proud of, and Will replies with a joyful whoop of his own.

There’s a slight jolt that I know means the parachute is opening. Our descent slows markedly, and now we’re moving closer to the ground at a much more relaxed pace. I notice that I’m smiling. Smiling so hard it hurts.

This is kind of amazing.

Maybe I would join Aladdin on his magic carpet after all.

The landing area comes into view, getting larger and larger. “Almost there!” Will shouts in my ears. “Watch your ankles!” I laugh. “Feet to your knees, and land on the balls of your feet!”

I do as he instructs, and we reach the ground with only a slight bump on impact. “You did it!” Will shouts.

“I did it!” I shout back. I can’t believe it. My heart is still racing with adrenaline. Will unhooks our harnesses and I stumble forward, still a little off-balance, my legs shaky. He catches me by the waist right as my stomach lurches.

“Woah, there. You okay?” he asks kindly. I don’t answer. I know what’s about to happen, and I’m extremely irritated about it, because Google said this was rare. Rare my foot! Somewhere in the back of my head I hear Grant calling to me, but I can’t answer. Saliva is gathering in my throat. Will seems to recognize what’s about to happen too, but he doesn’t move away quickly enough, and a second later I vomit all over his shoes.

Chapter 2

Brooke

Five Weeks Later

IsitweirdthatI’m jealous my sister is having a complete breakdown over a guy breaking up with her? I stare at Hannah for a second as she sucks down a Shirley Temple. Her eyes are puffy from all of the crying she’s done tonight and her shoulders are slumped forward. She looks absolutely miserable. And I am insanely jealous.

I can’t remember the last time I felt anything even remotely close to love for a man, certainly nothing that could have left me feeling this way after a breakup. In fact, usually all I feel is relief.

I glance around the table at the group of women gathered here to support Hannah in her time of need, wondering if any of them are struggling with similar inexplicable feelings of jealousy. There’s Jill, our happily married older sister—definitely not. Next is Belinda, Hannah and Sydney’s coworker. Also happily married and likely taking notes on the going ons of tonight for whatever romance novel she’s currently penning. So, also no. And lastly, Sydney, my ride or die best friend. I study her for a minute. She doesn’t look jealous. Then again, she’s got a great poker face.

She’s always saying she’s content with her status as a single mother and also perpetually single woman, but I don’t buy it. As a rule, Sydney doesn’t date. At least not since her husband died in combat six years ago, leaving her alone with their then two-year-old daughter Caroline. And, as she is forever telling me, she and Caroline are perfectly fine on their own.

Again, I don’t buy it.

That’s the real reason I made this dating bet with her. For Sydney’s sake.

The two of us were at her place late one night, four episodes-deep into aGilmore Girls’marathon, when Lorelei started having a conversation with Rory about her dating habits. Spurred on as I always am by the blunt nature of Lorelei Gilmore, I looked at Sydney and asked her point-blank when she—a single mother much like Lorelei—was going to start dating again.

And the woman said never.Never!

Well, I had some things to say about that. Lots and lots of great points about companionship and fun and you know…that other thing married couples get to do. But she just said that she had Caroline for companionship and fun and that she didn’t have much of a libido these days anyway. I just gaped at her for a few minutes after that, because when you find out that your friend who is the same age as you no longer has much of a libido it makes you wonder if yours is about to go too, so maybe you should just grab the first guy you see and get married before your times up. But then I got myself together enough to ask her what she was going to do when Caroline was all grown-up and out the house. And this is where the fight started, because she said, “Well, I’ll always have you, Brooke.”

To which I responded, “But what about when I get married?” And she laughed. Laughed! Like the idea of me getting married was just thefunniest thing since America sent in all of those home videos to Bob Saget and ABC.

“Sorry,” she told me when I didn’t join in her laughter, “but I thought you were joking.” The fight took off from there, with her accusing me of never taking dating seriously and always dating different versions of the same guy and me shooting back that at least I put myself out there unlike her and her low libido. It got ugly. Like both of us crying with mascara down our cheeks and me rage-eating the bowl of popcorn she’d set out for us (and also rage-throwing said popcorn at her) ugly.

At one point Sydney urged me to prove it. “It” being that I do take dating seriously and that every man I date I view as a potential husband candidate. (It’s not my fault they all turn out to be sucky candidates in the end.) I asked her how exactly she expected me to prove this, and voilà, the bet was born.

She challenged me to date a guy for three months, and said if I failed then I had to let her pick my next boyfriend. It was easy to agree to this, especially because of what I said I get from her if I win: for her to go out on at least five dates. Could be with the same guy or could be five first dates, the point is—if I win, Sydney will finally start dating again.

And that’s why Ihaveto win. So Sydney can find love. And I’m so close. Grant and I have been dating for ten weeks now. Only two more to go. And the best part is, he’s going on a four-day business trip starting tomorrow, which means there's really only about a week left for us to stay together. We were supposed to see each other tonight since he’s leaving tomorrow, but I told him an emergency had come up with my sister so we were taking her out to Twist and Shout, the karaoke/piano bar/dance studio I own, and that I’d see him when he got back. He really didn’t like that, but I appeased him by promising to call everyday while hewas away.

“Hey,” Sydney peers across the bar, “is that Grant?” I follow her gaze to the entrance and my heart sinks in my chest. ItisGrant.Why can some people not follow simple directions? Stay home. It’s not that hard.

It should be noted that Grant is currently flirting with Sami, the hostess at the front tonight. I can tell because I recognize the smirk he always uses when he thinks he’s being cute. And also he just blatantly checked out her butt when she bent down to grab her pen off the floor. He flirts with other women a lot in my presence. I can’t tell if it’s because he’s trying to make me jealous or if he really is just that much of a jerk. Either way, I don’t mind because it means I won’t have to feel bad when I break up with him in two weeks.

Two weeks.

Nowthatis something to whoop about. Especially because I already have the perfect guy picked out for Sydney’s first date. His name is Corbin Parker and he’s the widowed father of one of my dancers. The two of them will be like the scaled down version ofThe Brady BunchorYours, Mine, and Ours.

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