Page 156 of How to Win the Girl

I fuss with the end of the braid.

“Stop touching your hair. It took me an hour to get it to look like it’s supposed to be that way.” She reaches for me, moving my hand away from my head. “Do you know where you’re going?”

I shake my head. “No.”

* * *

Drake

I can’t believehow nervous I am.

This isn’t one of those dates where you bring a chick flowers, but now I’m questioning myself. Should I have brought flowers? Shit.

I’ve never done this.

Barely gone on an actual date, if you don’t count homecoming in high school, and that wasn’t my choice. Drew and I were on court and had to go to the dance. If we’d turned it down, our mother would have killed us.

So we went, but I didn’t have an actual date.

And the girl I was on court with did, so it’s not as if we did shit beforehand, like a fancy dinner or whatever. I can’t remember what her name was, but I remember her cursing me out after the grand march in Spanish, something about me being rude and arrogant or whatever.

Think I stepped on her dress and didn’t apologize, but again—can’t remember.

Shit, what was her name…

Marisol?

Nina?

Anyway.

I’ve never gone on a date like this.

Which required a phone call to my brother—not Drew, he knows less than I do—but Duke, the expert on women since he’s actually shacking up with one and has successfully managed to stay in a relationship with her, despite the media and stress that comes with his job.

Turning onto Daisy’s road, I grin, thinking about our conversation.

He answered my call on the first ring.

“What’s up, nutsack?”

Well, isn’t he the sweetest. “Hey, I need to make this quick. But, uh.” I wasn’t sure how to tell him this. “I have a date.”

My brother was silent for an uncomfortably long time.

“Duke? Are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m processin’. It sounded like you said you had a date.”

“I did say I had a date.”

“With your right hand? Or an actual person.”

“Don’t be a dick. I had a question.”

Duke clears his throat, speaking to someone in the background. Sounds like he’s in a locker room somewhere? “Yeah, give me a minute. I’ll be done when I’m done with this call—it’s my little brother.”

Little brother. Ha.