Me
Maybe. I’ll think about it.
Let’s be honest. I won’t go, even if I want to. I would love to go to the street dance with him. It sounds like fun, I just don’t know if I would actually be able to go. My brain might shut down, tell me lies about myself, and make it so I’m too anxious to go.
It’s happened anytime I’ve tried to go on a date. Once, I tried to meet up with a guy who was super nice. We’d been talking for a few weeks after matching on a dating app, and he invited me to coffee.
I was so anxious that I got so nauseous I puked on the way there. I had to pull over and throw up on the side of the road. I got vomit in my hair. I called Julia sobbing, and bailed on the date, asking for a rain check as I wasn’t feeling well. He ghosted me the next week. I get it. It’s not fun to be bailed on at the last minute, and he probably thought I was lying.
Thomas
Seriously, I hear the band is super good this year.
I can be your dancing buddy
This is escalating way too fast. Is he asking me on a date? There’s no way. He’s probably simply being friendly. Even if I think Thomas is hot as hell, there’s no way I could ever have a shot with him.
Crap, and now I’ve been staring at my screen for so long, he probably thinks I forgot to reply, or am ignoring him. Do I flirt? I don’t know how to flirt. Maybe I need to call Julia.
Me
Haha, I’m sure it’s fun
That was chill, right? Kind of a non-answer? Oh, who am I kidding? I need my sister. I swipe out of the messages with Thomas, and open Julia’s contact, calling her. I put the call on speaker and wait. Thankfully, she answers on the third ring.
“Hey, Han, what’s up?” her familiar voice chimes.
“Oh thank god,” I breathe. “I need help.”
“What’s going on? Is Grandma okay?” Instantly, her voice grows wary.
“She’s fine.” I wave off her words. “I don’t even know what’s happening right now, but Thomas Cunningham is texting me, and I need help interpreting the messages.”
“He’s texting you?” she shrieks, her voice growing louder with each word.
“Yes! Now, shut up so I can read you these messages.”
“Okay, okay,” she says, lowering her voice and listening as I read our conversation thus far.
The bubbles appear again as I reach the bottom message, the one I sent most recently. “He’s replying,” I say with an anxious whine.
“Han, I totally think he’s interested in you!”
“No!” I shriek. “He’s not. I need you to help figure out what he’s doing, because why would he randomly be texting me?”
Julia takes a deep breath, and the exhale sends static through the line. “He’s interested in you, Han. He has to be.I know I don’t have much experience with men, but I really think that’s what it is.”
“Oh god, he replied,” I state, bile rising in my throat as I view the message.
Thomas
It’s a blast. But I’m sure it would be more fun if you were there! We could invite people from the station too, if you didn’t want it to be only us.
I read the message back to Julia. “See, he’s not interested. He’s just being a friendly guy.”
“Orrrr, he’s trying to make sure you’re comfortable. He might have caught on to the fact that you get a little nervous around people.”
“Alittlenervous is putting it lightly,” I say, with a hint of snark.
