So Much Time I've Wasted, and I Never Thought It'd Come to This

It’s one thing to go on a double date with your friend, their boyfriend, and your own significant other.
It’s another thing altogether when your date has been set up by your psychotic best friend, thinking that you’re ‘’lonely’’ and ‘’need to get back into the dating world.’’
All I wanted to do was sit home and watch reruns of Viva La Bam, damnit.
But, Liz being Liz, wouldn’t take no for an answer. Therefore, I was nearly nagged to death about life being too short and how said mystery man was already looking forward to meeting me.
‘’Fine, fine, if it means you finally hushing I’ll do it,’’ I sighed, focusing my attention back on the badass Greek God that was running around on the tv screen.
Bam Margera is enough to make anyone lose control of their saliva glands and dribble uncontrollably all over themselves. Or someone else.
‘’Awesome! Be ready in an hour, I’m picking you up and we’re meeting Brian and Zacky at that rollerblading place off of Main Street.’’ Before I could protest her choice of date locations, she hung up.
Rollerblading?! I can hardly walk on my own two feet without tripping or performing an unplanned face plant! And they expect me to glide now…while on wheels.
Oh yeah, they’re trying to kill me.
And I’m assuming this ‘’Zacky’’ person is my date. Liz better not have set me up with some asshole as a joke.
She did that one time. He had the nerve to think that I wanted to take a ride on his ‘’disco stick.’’
The black eye I gave him shut him up pretty fast.
Needless to say, I haven’t let Liz set me up on any dates since then. The only reason I agreed this time was…actually, why DID I agree?! I could’ve said I would be busy, that I had to work the nightshift at my job (I work at Barnes and Nobles) or that I started working the corners every Friday night for extra money. But no, I gave in.
I think I need a therapist.
Snoopy, my black and white cat, found this to be a convenient time to appear from the kitchen. He walked over to where I was laying on the couch, looking up at me with a meow. I picked him up and put him on my stomach, petting him and watching as another Viva La Bam episode came on. Was this really how I was going to spend my Friday night, watching mindless television with my cat? I guess the date wouldn’t be too bad, I might actually end up liking this guy. Then again, Bam Margera…
No, no, I’m going to do this. I put Snoopy back on the ground and looked at the clock. I had about 45 minutes until Liz came to kidnap me and put me in roller skates (aka death traps) with a complete stranger. Well, I might as well look good before they wheel me off to the emergency room and stick me in a full body cast. With that, I skipped off to my room to change, almost tripping over Snoopy in the process. The hiss he gave me was probably along the lines of ‘’I’m going to use your bowl of cereal as a litter box tomorrow morning.’’
On second thought, I doubt therapy would fix anything. I’m a prime example of the word ‘’lost cause’’ in the mental department.

In The Car…

‘’Trust me, you’ll like him,’’ Liz tried convincing me as she drove us to Roller City, a place that would soon become a crime scene if she continued talking the whole night, ‘’I really think you and this guy will hit it off.’’
‘’I already know what his name is, you let it slip on the phone before,’’ I said, rolling my eyes.
‘’I did?! Shit, well, um…I’m a bit drunk right now,’’ she giggled.
I blinked…and then…blinked some more…
‘’You’re drunk…and you’re driving?!’’ I yelled ‘’pull over, I’m not getting in an accident.’’
She pouted. ‘’But we’re almost there-’’
‘’Pull. Over. Now.’’ She pulled into a gas station and switched places with me.
The rest of the ride was silent, apart from Liz’s occasional giggling. No doubt she was day dreaming about her boyfriend Brian, who, quiet honestly, I’m a bit afraid of. I mean, I’ve only met him a few times, and he seems like a nice guy, but he’s just so…muscular. I feel like if I say the wrong thing in front of him, I’ll be thrown through a wall hulk style. No but really, if those two could be attached 24/7, they would be…it’s just a matter of where…
And that thought came with an image I had to beat back with a ten foot long imaginary pole.
We finally pulled into Roller City’s parking lot, finding that it was quite busy tonight. We parked, paid for our rollerblades and headed to the rink.
I spotted numerous couples gliding around gracefully, as if they were professionals.
It’s safe to say my skating techniques pale in comparison. So pale, in fact, that we should probably have an ambulance waiting outside just in case.
We sat on a bench next to the rink to put on the skates, taking our sweet ass time so we wouldn’t look foolish, running people over and falling on our bums the second we stepped onto the rink.
In fact, for a second there I completely forgot this was a double date. That died a horrible death when I spotted Brian skating over to us, a shorter (but still taller than me) person with long dark hair in tow.
So this must be the mysterious ‘’Zacky.’’
‘’BRIAN!’’ Liz squealed, jumping up to hug her boyfriend, completely forgetting she was wearing skates. She ended up falling backwards over the bench. I laughed hysterically as he helped her up.
‘’Hey Adeline,’’ Brian smiled. I returned it and gave him a quick wave, returning my attention to my half tied laces. ‘’This is my best friend Zacky.’’ I looked up as he pushed forward his fellow tattooed friend, who, I must admit, definitely wasn’t lacking in the looks department.
Longish black hair, snakebites, tattoos covering both arms, hazel green eyes…
I had to check to make sure I wasn’t dribbling on myself.
‘’You must be Addy, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Zacky,’’ he smiled, seeming a little nervous. Thank god I wasn’t the only one.
‘’Same to you,’’ I grinned, hoping it didn’t look like I was trying too hard.
It’s been awhile since I’ve been on an actual date.
‘’Well, we’ll leave you two alone,’’ Liz said, giving me a wink and dragging Brian onto the rink.
I wanted to scream.
‘’I thought you said this was a double date?!’’ I yelled after her, letting out a frustrated sigh. You can never trust her with these kind of things.
I turned back to Zacky with what I hoped was a convincing smile and not a frantic nervous one. ‘’So, shall we skate?’’
He laughed in amusement and nodded. ‘’Just so long as you don’t laugh too much when I fall over. My balance is…well…’’
I raised an eyebrow and giggled. ‘’You better do the same for me then, I can guarantee it will happen…a lot. Oh jeez, I hope I don’t end up accidentally mauling you. It would be a shame, you’re quite pretty.’’ Zack blushed slightly at that and laughed more. ‘’Thanks, you’re quite pretty as well.’’ My stupid face turned bright red when he said that, I think.
We inched our way onto the skate rink, and the second I let go of the rail on the side, my legs grew a mind of their own and went in every possible direction. I flailed my arms around until I had a firm grip on the metal bar.
I’m sure I looked intelligent to Zack right now.
Speaking of my date, where the hell did he go?
I looked around for a second, thinking that he’d found me too insane to hang around and escaped, until I heard a moan of pain from behind me.
I slowly scooted around to find Zack laying flat on his back.
Remembering my promise not to laugh, I bit my lip, struggling to keep my mouth shut, and tried rolling over to him.
Only instead, I ended up rolling OVER him and falling again, this time landing on top of him. I think his face was pressed into my cleavage.
‘’Welf, tha wath grathful,’’ I heard him laugh from under me. I rolled off of him and hid my face, completely and utterly embarrassed. ‘’What did you say?’’ I asked with a laugh.
Well, that was graceful,’’ he said sarcastically, smiling to let me know he wasn’t mad.
I smiled back and rolled my eyes, hitting his arm. ‘’And you’re one to talk about grace.’’
He stuck his tongue out at me, both of us laughing when we spotted Liz struggling to get Brian off of her, seeing as he’d fallen on my best friend.
I was happy I hadn’t stayed home all night.
This continued for another three or four hours, Zack and I falling everywhere and sharing things about ourselves. It turns out he and Brian are both guitarists in a band; they’ll be touring soon. He’s 25, the same age as me, and he’s clumsy, also like me. Not to mention we share a kickass taste in music.
Obviously, we got along great.
‘’My legs!’’ I yelled dramatically, throwing myself into a chair at the food court and dropping my skates.
Zacky plopped down next to me, putting a basket of fries in front of us. ‘’I think mine have officially disconnected from my body.’’
‘’Take mine.’’
‘’As tempting as that is, I’d rather not have girl legs.’’
Of course he had to give me a hilarious mental image when my mouth was full of French fries.
Which resulted in me choking.
Literally, full on gasping-for-breath-and-flailing-like-a-dying-eel choking.
Zack jumped to my rescue and started doing the Heimlich, causing me to blush when his hand accidentally brushed across my left breast. After about a minute, my airway was free again.
‘’Thank…you…’’ I gasped, grabbing his soda and taking a long drink.
‘’No problem, are you okay?’’ he laughed, sitting down again.
‘’I’m fine,’’ I sighed, cautiously putting another fry in my mouth, ‘’although I think I’ve made it quite obvious that I am a danger to myself and anyone in a close enough range. I would understand completely if you ran out of here right now and decided to join a convent-’’
And that was when Zack gently grabbed my face and pressed his lips to mine.
I was caught by surprise at first, and just as I started returning the kiss, he pulled away with a smirk. ‘’If I really found you that dangerous, I would’ve left the first time you fell on me.’’ I guess he had a point there.
‘’So, I was thinking that maybe tomorrow night, if you’re not busy, we could go out again? But something that doesn’t involve roller skates, I don’t think my body can take much more abuse,’’ he laughed, biting on his right snakebite.
The part of me that likes to stay secluded and safe from anything or anyone that has the potential to hurt me was practically screaming ‘’don’t do it!’’
I happily ignored my inner hermit.
‘’I would like that,’’ I smiled, a genuine one. This made him happy.
I owe Liz and Brian big time for this.
Speaking of the happy couple, this was about the time they appeared, both looking exhausted. Liz’s hair looked like a rat made a nest of it.
‘’What…happened?’’ I asked slowly. Zack looked like he was trying very hard not to laugh.
‘’I got my hair caught in Brian’s roller blade,’’ she said, not looking amused in the least. Brian did, however.
‘’It took a key, a quarter and a straw to get her hair out.’’ I blinked. ‘’Don’t ask.’’
‘’Well, we’re going home since it’s getting late, and my hair is…um…yeah! So I’ll call you tomorrow,’’ Liz said, waving to us both and dragging Brian after her, who made the ‘’call me’’ sign with his hands to Zacky. My date blew him a kiss back.
I chucked a French fry at the side of his head and laughed. ‘’That wasn’t weird.’’
‘’Hey, you like it.’’
‘’That I do,’’ I replied, kissing his cheek and smirking, ‘’cocky bastard, you’re lucky you’re cute.’’
‘’And what is that supposed to mean?’’ he asked, raising an eyebrow.
‘’…I don’t quite know actually,’’ I said thoughtfully.
‘’You worry me,’’ he smiled, which I returned, sticking my tongue out at him.
As cliché as it sounds, sometimes you just need to take a chance on people.
I’m happy as hell that I did.