Page 6 of No More Bad Boys
She didn’t go out with him, of course. But that didn’t make it suck any less when he admitted he’d been dating me just to get close to her.
A confession that cameafterI gave him my virginity.
I redirect my attention to the movie.Good Godit’s mushy.
What kind of guy even says that stuff in real life? No one—that’s who.
“I’ve never felt this way about anyone before,” the onscreen hero says to his lady love.
I snort.
Troy looks over at me, clearly startled out of his immersion in the scene.
“Sorry,” I whisper. I couldn’t help it. It was just so ridiculous. We should have gone to the space adventure movie.
As we file out of the theater amid the smiling crowd, Troy reaches for my hand and gives me an apologetic look. “So—sorry if that wasn’t a good choice.”
“No. It was fine. It was cute,” I lie. “Did you like it?”
“Idid. But you didn’t seem to really get into it.”
“Well, actually, I’m not really that big on rom-coms,” I admit. “Maybe we can go to one of those rock climbing places next time or something. Or go to a Braves game.”
Troy’s worried expression lifts at my apparent willingness to go out again. “Yeah. That sounds great.”
We go to dinner at a nearby restaurant famous for its chicken tenders, where I pick up the tab to keep things even. We chat comfortably about subjects where we do have common ground—the important stuff—school and our internships.
“Are you liking Georgia Power?” I ask.
Troy is a year ahead of me, a senior, but I actually interned at the company before him, the summer after my freshman year. Last summer I worked for Coca Cola. Georgia Tech has partnerships with all these big companies so their students can not only get hands-on experience, but also class credit and make some money as well.
I’m a little worried about my inability to land a paying internship for this summer. I’m running out of time, and all I’ve found so far are plenty of companies willing to have me, but none willing to pay.
If I don’t find one soon, I’ll have to line up some other kind of job, and that could be tough with my summer class load.
“It’s challenging but it’s great. I’ve made some good connections. I’m hoping it might lead to something permanent there,” Troy says.
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” I assure him.
Troy’s one of the top students in his class, so this internship could certainly lead to a post-grad job for him. One of the reasons I agreed to go out with him in the first place is that he plans to stay in the Atlanta area.
Because I want to live and work here also, it’s sensible not to get involved with anyone who intends to take a job out of state and move away.
One of the very few good pieces of advice Momma has ever offered was, “Don’t date someone you wouldn’t marry.”
Her reasoning is that you never know who you might fall in love with. That’s not the part that worries me. I’m not even sure “falling in love” is an actualthing.
I just don’t think it’s logical to spend what little time I have outside of school and work with someone with whom there is no chance of a future.
What’s the point? I have plenty of female friends I can hang out with if what I want is to have fun.
If I’m going to date, then it’s got to have a good, solid reason behind it, or it’s just not worth my time.
“So, can I tempt you with dessert?”
I grin at my solid, sensible, un-tempting date.
“Sure. Why not?”
