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Or hopefully she will

Kel walks past me into the house "Good luck," he says, his voice full of pity I laugh and shut the door behind me I’m halfway to my car when Lake opens her front door and walks to the driveway

"You ready?" I yell to her

"Yes," she yells back

I wait for her to walk to my car, but she doesn’t She looks ready Why is she just standing there?

"Well, come on then!" I yell

She still doesn’t move She folds her arms across her chest and stands still I throw ?"

"You said you would pickfor you to pick et in the car, then back up into her driveway When I get out and open her door, I notice she’s not wearing the house shoes I was sort of hoping she was serious thisIt’s not quite dark yet, which is unfortunate since I can’t stop staring at her She curled her hair and put on just a touch of s out the hue of her eyes,them even harder to look away from She looksperfect

Once we’re both in the car, I reach behindout of the backseat "We don’t have tirilled cheese" I hand her the sandwich and a drink I’ out to eat We just don’t have time I almost went to her house earlier to let her knoeren’t, in case she didn’t eat, but I decided to throw soether at the last minute instead I sort of wanted to see how she’d react to not being taken on a typical date Maybe it’s a little , so she doesn’t seem to mind

"Wow This is a first" She puts her sandwich on her knee and twists open her soda "And where exactly are we going in such a hurry? It’s obviously not a restaurant"

I take a bite of my sandwich and pull out of her driveway "It’s a surprise I know a lot ht I want to show you what I’ued," she says before she takes a bite of her sandwich

I’oing It would be sort of hard to explain that I’ht to watch a bunch of people recite poetry It doesn’t sound near as appealing as it actually is I’d rather let her experience it for the first ti preconceived notions

When we finish our sandwiches, she puts the trash in the backseat and shifts in her seat so that she’s facing ainst the headrest "What are your parents like?"

I glance outher to see the reluctance inshe wouldn’t ask about until the drive ho we talk about It would put a soht I take a deep breath and exhale, hoping I’ on the inside

How the hell can I redirect this conversation?

I decide to play the garandparents I hope she won’t think it’s too cheesy, but it’ll pass the tiet to know her better

"I’ure all that out later Let’s " I adjust myself in the seat and prepare to explain the rules to her When I turn to look at her, she’s staring at me with a repulsed look on her face

What the hell did I say? I replay h when it dawns on me that she completely misconstrued what I just said "Lake, no! I justbesides e’re expected to talk about"

She expels a breath and laughs "Good," she says

"I know a game we can play It’s called, ‘would you rather’ Have you played it before?"

She shakes her head "No, but I would rather you go first"

I feel like if I use so, so I take a few seconds to think of a new one "Okay," I say when I come up with one I clear my throat "Okay, would you rather spend the rest of your life with no arms; or would you rather spend the rest of your life with arms you couldn’t control?"

I reame on our way to Detroit once; she rolled her eyes and told us to grow up I watch Lake, hoping for a different reaction, and she just stares atan answer

"Well," she says "I guess I would rather spend the rest of my life with arh, glancing over at her "But you wouldn’t be controlling the around and you’d be constantly punching yourself in the face! Or worse, you hs Dah

"I didn’t realize there were right and wrong answers," she says

"You suck at this Your turn"

She s forward and leaning back into her seat "Okay, let me think"