First Date Read Online Free PDF

quickly. “I think it’ll be okay. Let me ask my mom.”
    Chelsea heard the phone being put down, heard voices in the background but couldn’t make out their words. Still staring at the clock, she waited and drummed her fingers on the soft arm of the big old chair.
    â€œBe right over,” Nina said.
    â€œThanks,” Chelsea replied gratefully and hung up.
    A few minutes later Chelsea saw car headlights in the driveway. She eagerly pulled open the front door and turned on the porch light.
    This is really nice of Nina, Chelsea thought, peering out at the driveway through the storm door. She’s a true friend.
    Then she saw that Doug had come too.
    Nina stepped into the hallway accompanied by a burst of cold air. She threw her arms around Chelsea, startling her, and gave her a hug. “Are you okay? You must have been so frightened!”
    â€œYes. I—” Chelsea suddenly couldn’t find the words.
    Doug pushed his way past them, rubbing his hands. “It got so cold,” he said, peering curiously into the living room.
    â€œI’ll make some hot chocolate,” Chelsea offered.
    â€œCoffee would be better,” he said, tossing his down jacket onto the floor in front of the couch.
    â€œOkay. Coffee,” Chelsea replied.
    Doug and Nina followed her into the kitchen. “I’ll make instant, okay?”
    â€œLet me do it,” Nina insisted. “You poor thing. Look—your hands are shaking.”
    â€œIt—it was really scary,” Chelsea admitted, stepping back and letting Nina fill the kettle. “I thought Dad was—I mean, there was so much blood.”
    â€œWho
were
these guys?” Doug asked, hoisting his large body onto a tall kitchen stool and leaning forward to rest his elbows on the counter.
    â€œI don’t know,” Chelsea replied. “I never saw them before. They were all wearing denim jackets. Tough looking. Sort of like a gang.”
    â€œMy dad says there’s an awful lot of crime in the Old Village,” Nina said thoughtfully.
    â€œIs your dad going to be okay?” Doug asked.
    â€œI think so,” Chelsea said, suddenly afraid again, barely able to choke out the words.
    A few minutes later they were back in the living room, the TV on, rapid-fire images of an MTV video filling the room with color. Chelsea sat in the corduroy armchair in the corner, her legs tucked under her, the coffee mug between her hands. Nina and Doug were on the couch.
    Chelsea turned her eyes from the TV and saw Doug pull Nina close to him. She raised her face to his, and they kissed, a long, lingering kiss.
    That’s why Nina was so eager to leave home and come over here, Chelsea thought bitterly. So she and Doug would have a place to make out.
    The two of them kissed again, as if they were alone in their own world, as if Chelsea weren’t in the room.
    She tried to watch the flickering images of the music video, but her eyes kept returning to Nina and Doug.
    Watching them, she felt even more alone than before.
    Why isn’t that
me
with a guy on the couch? she asked herself. Why do I have to be the one by myself in the corner?
    I’m so tired of being lonely, she thought.
    I’m so tired of never going out, of never being with a boy, of never having a boy care about me.
    Then she thought, If that tough-looking boy who came into the restaurant—Tim Sparks—yeah, if Sparks comes back and asks me out, I’ll say yes. I won’t hesitate for a second.
    Chelsea closed her eyes.
    She pictured her father being hit over the head again. She pictured the surprise on his face, the way his eyes rolled back in his head, the way he slumped to his knees, then fell forward. She pictured the blood gushing from the top of his head.
    A frightening thought flashed into her mind just then. A thought about Sparks.
    He had left so suddenly. Without even eating his hamburger.
    He left as soon as he saw Chelsea’s father.
    As