"No, Tyler, I'm not getting dressed up for you. I have other plans tonight, remember?"
"What plans have you got?"
"I'm going out with my friend, Birdy. You met her at the office the other day."
"No, I don't remember her particularly. Where are you girls going? Were you going out to a bar? Can I come?"
"No, you can't come. It's girls only."
"That doesn't seem like it's going to be fun. Girls only?" He made a face. “Boring.”
"I’m sorry you feel that way, but, yes, its just girls only."
"Well, can I come for a drink after the girls only part?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Aw, why not, Olivia? I haven't seen you in such a long time. I'd love to hang out with you and your friends, see what you talk about when I'm not there."
"There are a lot of things I talk about when you're not there, Tyler. I don't think you really need to know all of them."
"Ooh, someone sounds very defensive. What's the issue? What’s going on?" Tyler came closer to me and touched me on the shoulder. “Do you talk about me a lot then?”
I looked over at him and into his deep blue eyes and swallowed hard, "Nothing is going on, Tyler. And no, I never talk about you."
"I think something's going on. You can tell me."
"Fine, I'm going speed dating with Birdy."
He looked surprised for a second and took a step back, "You're going speed dating?" His lips were twitching slightly and I glared at him.
"Yes, that's what I just said, right?"
"Huh? Why didn't you want me to know?"
"I don't know. Maybe because it's none of your business and maybe because you'd tell my brother."
"Uh, why would I tell Derrick?"
"Because you seem to like to talk to him, and he's your best friend, and you always seem to go and tell him everything that I do. And I really don't need him knowing because I know if he knows, then he'll call my mom and dad, and then my mom and dad will call me, and they'll ask me am I sure that it's safe to go speed dating. Who are the guys at the speed-dating event? Are they murderers? Are they kidnappers? Are they rapists? And I'll have to say, 'I don't know, Mom. I don't know, Dad, because I've never met them before because if I'd met them before, we wouldn't be at a speed-dating event. We'd be on a regular date.' "
"Whoa there, Tiger. You need to slow down. It's fine. I'm not going to tell Derrick anything."
"Okay, well, I just remembered when we were kids, whenever you found out something about me, you would always go and tell Derrick and he would always tell my parents."
"I don't really remember that, Olivia."
"Um, you don't remember every single time that I had a date or was going to go to a party, you would tell Derrick and then he'd tell my parents, and then I'd get in trouble, and I couldn't go to the party, and then I couldn't make my date?"
"Nope, doesn't sound familiar to me."
"Of course it wouldn't sound familiar to you because your mouth is so big. You most probably were always talking about everyone's business to everyone."
"Ha ha, Olivia. We're older now. You don't have to worry what your parents are going to say, right?"
"No, I don't worry about what my parents say but I really don't need them in my business."
"Okay, okay. I get it." He then looked down at the dress in my hand. "Hold it up. Let me see it better."
I held it up to him reluctantly and then pressed it against my body so he could see what it would look like on me.
"Wow, that's really quite beautiful and quite sexy. Are you sure you want to wear something like that to a speed dating event?"
I frowned at his comment, "Mm, why wouldn't I want to wear this to a speed dating event?"
"I'm just saying you don't want to give off the wrong vibe."
"What do you mean- give off the wrong vibe? What vibe does this dress give off?"
"Well, it kind of says that you're looking for a good time."
"What about this dress says I'm looking for a good time?"
"It looks like it's going to be really tight on you." He looked my body up and down, and I shivered slightly.
"It's not tight. Trust me. If I wanted to wear a tight dress, I have a lot tighter dresses and a lot sluttier dresses that I would wear than this."
"Mm, that sounds interesting." He licked his lips. "Care to show me?"
"No, I don't think so. I'm not going to be showing you anything. And are you done in the shower because I need to go in myself and get ready?"
He nodded slowly and smiled, "Yes, I'm ready, Olivia. Go and get ready for your speed-dating event. Where is it going to be exactly?"
"Uh, why do you need to know that?"
"I don't need to know that. I’d just like to know that. But fine, that's okay. You don’t have to tell me, that okay?"
"Okay, you just said I think "that's okay" twice."
"How okay do you really think it is?" He chuckled. “Is it really okay, just okay, or kinda okay?”
"Tyler, why are you talking in circles?"
"Olivia, why are you talking in circles?"
"I'm going in the shower now. I'll see you later. You’re so annoying." And with that, I stomped towards the bathroom. Tyler was really beginning to get on my nerves and the sad part was that I was beginning to enjoy our childish banter.
"I'll be sitting right here on the couch watching TV waiting for you to come out."
"Okay then."
"Hey there, Olivia. There you are." Birdy ran up to me, her long blonde hair flying behind her as she came down the street. “I was so worried you wouldn’t make it.”
"Hey, Birdy. I'm here. You didn't have to worry," I said looking her up and down and feeling slightly nervous about the event we were going to go into.
"I wasn't sure if you were going to show up," she said with a small smile, "now that your brother and his hot friend are in town."
"Mm, I told you I'd come so I'm here."
"So how's it going with the hot friend?"
"Oh, do not get me started. He's such an asshole. There's nothing hot about him."
"Really? From what I saw and heard, he's really, really good-looking."
"I wouldn't say he's really, really good-looking. He's just okay." And then I smiled to myself. He was a lot more than “just okay.”
"What does he look like again?"
"I don't know. About 6'3", golden blond hair, blue eyes, tanned skin, white teeth, really fit body, six pack."
"Yeah, you really don't know anything about him, do you?" she laughed.
"Ha ha, Birdy. Come on. Let's go inside and get this thing over with."
We walked into the bar, and I was surprised that there weren't that many men there. However, there were a lot of women standing to the side. I had a bad feeling that this wasn't going to be the speed-dating event that changed my dating life.