As cheesy as it may be, I imagined the inexplicable way I was drawn to her as if my soul had indeed discovered its other half.
I figured I’d know her name soon enough. And hopefully, more of her on top of that.
It seemed Gill was about to take the mic from me, so I hastily continued, because I had more to tell that lady out there.
“Love is this feeling, one you can’t shake, one that is eternal and sticks with you no matter what happens. When you’ve washed away the mask that you wear all day outside in the world, love remains. It’s real, pure, and true.” As I spoke, I started to gesticulate wildly, like I was giving some sort of Shakespearean monologue about how huge my love was.
“All right, Romeo, dial it back a bit.” Thankfully, Gill cut me off before I expanded with more flowery, meaningless drivel with zero substance.
Oh, yes. I’d held on to that mic in order to give the other guys a chance to think and come up with better answers.
“Number two, do you have a meaningful answer?”
“Okay, sure,” Tyler said. “Love is about fucking. Just fucking. Pure and raw. Animalistic, primal, need. Me Tarzan, you Jane, let’s get down and smash our sexy bits together.”
I laughed so much I almost fell off my stool.
That is not what we rehearsed!
But the spontaneity of it was so funny. And it went with his stage persona.
“Ouch!” Gill gritted her teeth, shooting her head as if his answer had gone too far, but I doubted that was true. I think they loved that sort of shit from at least one of us.
If I were into guys, I’d have gone for him right then, not so much for the bumping uglies but for the sheer hilarity of his delivery.
Even though I wasn’t a homophobe, I couldn’t eke out the slightest bit of attraction for the male form, so my friend Tyler was perfectly safe no matter how much he made me laugh.
And at the same time, well done him.
There was no way Jenny would choose him. He was off the hook but without looking bad.
I was jealous of Tyler’s ability to just, well, be a confident dickhead and get away with it. On the team, I landed the role of slightly aloof dumbass. He’d successfully cultivated the bad boy image.
At least, it wasn’t like I struggled to get any attention from the girls when it came right down to it.
“I know it’s not what you expected. But I like to take deep and meaningful to a whole new level,” he added, and his hand moved to cover his crotch.
I noticed Tyler’s answer had caused the girl I’d been eyeing up to giggle. It was something to see her smile.
Well, shit. Perhaps she might like to get a bit deep and meaningful.
Perhaps she’d rather listen to my poetry.
“Number three, please be our savior; give me the best answer here.” Gill approached Jake, metaphorically on her knees and begging.
“Uh.” He scratched his head. I didn’t expect a profound, insightful, and heartfelt answer from him, either. “Is love a real thing? Does it exist? Isn’t it just a label of convenience we use for the people we hang out with?”
At last, Gill appeared lost for words as she turned to the audience and shrugged with her hands held out as if despairing. “There’s no hope for you, number three,” she said. “I can’t tell if you’re trying to be philosophical. If so, it needs work.”
She didn’t give him a chance to come back. I guess his response wasn’t what you want to hear at a dating game show.
“Contestant number one, please save us.”
The pressure was on for Ethan. He couldn’t say something profane or stupid like the rest of us. People expected more of him. The good guy. The leader. The quarterback.
“Uh... I think love is something you recognize when you see it or when you feel it. You know, wanting to be with someone always and above all else, being willing to do anything for them to make them happy and keep them safe. It’s pretty special, and you only know it when it hits you. Love at first sight is a real thing. I believe it can happen.”
I glanced at him and noticed his gaze was fixed on a certain woman at the back of the crowd.
Are we all fixating on the same girl?
She was perfect for me, but it could be troublesome that we all leered in the same direction. And big trouble if we all wanted a piece of her.
“You see a girl. You see her kind face and look into her beautiful eyes and fall in love with her. Just like that.” He raised a hand and snapped his fingers. “I think that can happen.”
Ethan ran his hands through his hair. He’d hit a blunt problem, because the obvious question to follow would be whether love strikes him when he meets Jenny in a few minutes. And that wasn’t the only issue with what he’d said.