The walk back to my car felt like the walk of shame, which I hadn't done since college. It felt like everyone had their eyes on me, shaking their heads and judging me for going on a date with someone I knew nothing about and had nothing in common with.
Which was stupid because people did that all the time. That was how people met the people they ended up with. Just for some reason, it never seemed to work out for me. Why was I the one who attracted all the losers and idiots and couldn't seem to catch a break?
I unlocked my car and got inside, sitting there with my hands on the steering wheel for a second. I took a deep breath and let it out, trying not to feel too upset.
It happened to everyone. It was hard to meet people. Harder still to meet people who were worth the time it took to meet them. Just because this one hadn't worked out didn't mean it never would. It was just... not going to be easy.
And that was okay. Nothing worth having was easy.
I nodded to myself and put the key in the ignition, cranking the car so I could go home and drown my sorrows in Vanilla Fudge ice cream.
Or that was what I would have done if the car hadn't given a squealing sound and refused to crank.
I frowned and tried it again, groaning with the lights sputtered and the engine failed to turn over.
Speaking of not being able to catch a damned break, there was an ominous roll of thunder in the distance that spoke to an oncoming storm.
"Oh, come on," I said, hitting the center console with my hand. "Seriously?"
One more try still didn't have my car cranking, and I felt like I was going to cry. I just wanted to go home. I wanted to take off the fancy clothes and the heels and put on the ugliest pair of pajamas I owned.
But that wasn't going to happen, clearly. At least not until I got a ride home.
Dan was the obvious choice to call. He would ride in on his older brother horse and jump my car and probably buy me a milkshake on the way home. But something about that just felt... bad.
I could call Lex and see if she was around, but I wasn't sure about that, either.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and only hesitated for a split second before I was searching for a number I only had in my phone because of the Greece planning group chat.
He answered on the second ring, not working late for once.
"Elise."
What a greeting. I sighed. "Logan."
"Is something wrong?"
"What would make you think that?"
"The certainty that you'd only call me if something was wrong," he replied. "You might as well tell me."
I groaned and made a face but gave him the short version. Well. The shorter version.
“Suffice to say he was a complete tool, honestly, and if you say 'I told you so', I'm going to scream. And then I'm going to find you and kick you in the dick."
To my surprise, he laughed softly at that. "Noted. I wasn't going to say that. I was going to ask if you're okay."
"What do you mean?"
"You calledmeof all people after having a date with an asshole. I figured you wanted me to come scare him off or something."
"Oh. No, I already left the restaurant. It's just... now my car won't start."
"You could have called Dan."
I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Yeah, I know I could've called Dan, Logan. But I called you. Because apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment. I don't want Dan to do his Dan thing, okay?"
He laughed again. "Okay, fair. Where are you?"
