Chapter 1
“I’m going to assume you’ve lost your mind. Are you really this desperate?” Abagail Carpenter asked her best friend, Chloe, who was showing her the dating profile of a man she was planning on meeting.
Chloe Bennett’s green eyes looked up from the profile and shrugged, pushing a lock of her black hair out of her eyes. “People go out on dates with people they meet on online dating sites all the time, Abby.”
“Yeah, but you don’t know anything about this guy.” She motioned to the profile, which was devoid of a picture or any type of physical description. “You don’t know his name, there’s no photo, you don’t even know what he looks like.”
“Looks aren’t the most important thing. We’ve talked…”
“You’ve texted back and forth and sent some emails,” Abby corrected. “You’ve heard of the term catfish, haven’t you? This guy or girl or whatever could be some pedophile. Or he could be looking to hook some foolish woman and rob her of all her money.”
“I’m 19 so I think I might be a little bit old for a pedophile to be interested. And I’m a to-be college student so how much money could he really rob me of?”
“Or a rapist!” Abagail continued, not fazed by my rebuttal. “You could be setting yourself up to be raped!”
“Oh for the love of God, Abby, stop being so melodramatic.” Chloe motioned toward the computer screen. “I feel like I know him, ya know? Besides, I’m meeting him at the coffee shop at the park.” A wide grin spread across her glossed lips. “We have it planned. We’re both going to wear red scarves. His idea. Isn’t that romantic?”
Abagail shook her head, her blonde ponytail whipping back and forth behind her head. “No, I don’t know what you mean. And no, it’s weird. I meet men the normal way and so could you if you’d just come out of your shell a little bit.”
I cocked a brow up at Abagail. “So you suggest I sneak into bars with you hoping to snag some jackass who’s only looking for a night of fun instead?” It was something Abagail was notorious for.
Abagail’s cheeks turned rosy. “That’s not the only way. Besides, in a couple of months we’ll be college girls! Think of all the hot college men we can have our pick of.”
Chloe huffed. Abagail might be able to pick up guys face to face, but she wasn’t plagued with chronic shyness. While Abagail would go from guy to guy, dating the majority of the hot guys from their high school, Chloe played sidekick, sometimes dating the friend of the guy she was into. Usually that friend was also chronically shy and one thing Chloe had learned over the years was that two shy and introverted, teenaged strangers did not a fun night make.
Turning off the computer, Chloe pushed her chair back, nearly running over her friend’s bare toes in the process. “How about instead of being negative you help me pick out an outfit?” Standing, Chloe made her way over to her room with her roommate in tow and went directly to her small walk-in closet and opened it wide. “I have to look perfect.”
~*~*~*~
“She’s going to be a complete dogface, you realize that, man?” Corey Harrington stated from the sofa of their fraternity’s living room, before taking a drink from his can of beer. Normally their fraternity house would be buzzing with people; for some reason tonight was an exception. “Every person I’ve talked to who has gone on an Internet date has said the same thing. They don’t look like their picture.”
Reed flopped himself into an armchair adjacent to his friend Corey, grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the large-screen television mounted on the wall, flipping through the channels until he came to the football game. Satisfied with his channel selection he tossed the remote back onto the coffee table and grabbed a beer.
“That’s where I have you beat. There was no picture.” He sat back, taking a drink, waiting for his friend’s reaction. This oughtta to be good, he thought, amused, as his friend’s expression took on one of disbelief.
“Are you fucking with me? Out of all the girls who would love to go out with you, you’re going on a date with some chick you don’t even have a remote idea what she looks like? She’s going to be either some wrinkled-up cougar looking for a young piece of ass or a really, really big girl… Not that there’s anything wrong with that. They just aren’t my thing.”
Reed laughed. Corey was such a vain son-of-a-bitch.
“Come on man. We’re good looking guys on the lacrosse team. Ask out one of the cheerleaders. That redhead is fucking wild in the sack from what I hear. And I noticed her eyeing you during the last game.”
“Maybe I’m looking for something a little more substantial than a quick lay. This chick seems to get me. And she’s going to be attending our college for the winter semester. If this works out it’ll be great. She and her roommate just moved here a couple of months ago and, get this, she’s from my hometown.” He shrugged. “Maybe I knew her. That would be cool. Even if it didn’t work out, we could at least catch up.”
“Well, if she was from your hometown then why didn’t you get her name? You could have at least Googled her.”
“Because it’s against the rules of the site. The whole site is based around the fact that you are to get to know the person for who they are before you know what they look like. You know, see what’s inside before judging the outside.”
“Yeah, but what if what’s inside is 300 pounds of fat?”
“You’re impossible, man.”
Corey looked at him, his expression grim. “No, you’re insane. Don’t come complaining to me when Dogface starts stalking you.” He downed the remainder of his beer and grabbed a second from the coffee table, pulling open the tab.
Reed laughed. “You’re such a dick. No wonder you can’t keep a girlfriend.”
Corey snorted. “I don’t want a girlfriend. I’m not tying myself down until I’m old and flaccid.”
“No woman will want you once you’re old and flaccid.”
Corey shrugged. Losing interest in the conversation, he redirected his attention to the football game.
~*~*~*~
Oh my god, what if Abagail is right? What if this guy is some sort of perv or… Okay, no. I’m not going to think like this. It’s going to be all right. Chloe looked at the coffee shop from the driver’s seat of her car. She was supposed to meet her mystery man at 1pm. She’d been sitting there for over half an hour watching for a single man to enter wearing a red scarf. With each minute that grew closer to the time they were to meet her nervousness increased.
What if he’s standing me up? Maybe he’s doing the same thing as I am, waiting to see the girl with the red scarf. If he doesn’t like what he sees he’ll just stand me up. The thought didn’t help her nervousness, not one iota.
She looked down at her watch. It was currently 12:55pm. Chloe looked back up in time to see the back of a tall, lean, blonde-haired man entering the coffee shop, the tail end of the red scarf he was wearing flying behind him. The coffee shop had tinted windows so the patrons could see out, but you couldn’t see in. It wouldn’t be until she actually walked into the coffee shop that she’d get a full view of her date for the day.
With a sigh, Chloe slumped back into the car seat. She wasn’t stood up. But a new terror struck her; now that he was in the coffee shop he’d be able to watch every step she took until she got into the shop, scrutinizing every inch of her in her dark blue jeans and black turtleneck, and of course the red scarf.
You’re overthinking this. Just fucking do it, she coached herself, grabbing open the car door and stepping out. It’s a date. No big deal. Not even a date really, more like a meet and greet.
Squaring her shoulders, she kept her chin high, attempting to display much more confidence than she felt as she strode across the parking lot and in the coffee shop front door. As soon as she opened the door, the aroma of coffee and pastries drifted to her nose, causing her stomach to grumble. Skipping breakfast hadn’t been a great idea, but she’d been too nervous to eat, spending most of the morning ensuring every last detail of her appearance was perfection – from ensuring each strand of her long black hair shone to scrutinizing her outfit, making sure it emphasized her breasts while taking focus off the areas of her body that could use some serious time in the gym.
Upon entering the coffee shop she stood at the entrance and scanned the dining area, spotting him immediately. His head was down and he was frantically texting a message into his phone, so her entire performance had been for nothing.
Taking a deep breath in, she slowly released it, gathering the last bit of courage she had in her, and walked over to the two-person table at the far corner of the coffee shop. “Excuse me, are you Passionate Romeo?”
He laughed, tucking his phone away into the inner pocket of his grey wool jacket. “It didn’t sound so ridiculous when I picked it as a screen name, honest.” As he stood, his gaze slowly lifted from her feet, moving up her body and after what Chloe felt was an awkwardly long time, to finally meet her nervous stare.
They stared at one another for a minute. But it was Chloe who made the discovery before he did. “Reed? Ohmygod… Is that you?”