After a fairly boring day of school, Nicole headed home to get ready for her date with Jonatha which she was looking forward to, if somewhat a little nervous.
“I’m home!” he called out as she walked through the door. Wondering where her family was.
“We’re in the kitchen!” His dad yelled back. Nicole dropped her bag by the door and headed into the kitchen, where she saw his dad and Britt sitting at the table with Britt’s laptop in front of them.
“What’s going on?” Nicole asked as she grabbed a drink from the fridge.
“You know how my YouTube channel has started to blow up?” Britt asked excitedly. Nicole nodded, she had heard lots of people were talking about it and apparently she had nearly a 100,000 subscribers.
“Well, someone contacted me today and they said that they want to sponsor me!”
“Really?” Nicole asked surprised. “That’s awesome sis!” She high fived her little sister and sat down at the table.
“Yes, it is exciting.” Their father, Cassy, said with a hint of worry on his face. “But I think that we need to talk with your mother about this before we accept.”
Britt looked at Cassy crestfallen.
“What!? Why?”
“It might be a scam or something.” Cassy explained. “I mean sure, the email and company look credible but you do hear stories about these things.” He told them.
Britt reluctantly agreed with a sigh. “Fine. We’ll talk to mom when she gets home.”
“Thank you, sweetie.” Cassy replied smiling and patted Britt’s hand. “I know that this is very exciting, but I just you to be safe.”
Britt nodded slowly. Nicole, seeing that the conversation was over, got up.
“Well, I’ve got to get ready.” She announced. Her father looked up.
“Ready? For what?”
“I’ve got a date.” Nicole said proudly. Her father beamed at her.
“Oooh, Who’s the boy?” He asked.
“His name’s Jonatha.” Nicole explained. “He’s on the cheerleading squad.”
“A cheerleader?” Cassy repeated. “My my, aren’t you a lucky one?” Nicole blushed feeling embarrassed.
“Do you need any help?” Cassy asked.
Nicole thought about declining, but then she realized that she didn’t know how to act on a date in this world, not that she had been on many dates before.
“Um, yes please.” She said.
“How about this one?” Cassy asked, holding up a dark red dress shirt. Nicole looked at it and then at the black jeans that she had already picked out.
“Yeah, I like that one.” To be honest, Nicole didn’t even know that she had that in her wardrobe. She took the shirt from her dad and picked up the jeans and went across the hall to the bathroom.
“Remember to use deodorant!” Cassy called out after him. Nicole rolled her eyes… that one was simple enough. Even before the wish, she had made sure that she was always smelling nice, especially on a date.
In the bathroom, Nicole undressed and then reached for some deodorant. It was then that she noticed that the stuff was different to what she normally used.
“Duh.” She thought to herself. “This is what guys would’ve used.” She realized as she sprayed some on. Next came the shirt: it still felt weird to Nicole to not have to put on a bra, and the buttons were different as well. Normally, they were at her side but now they were at the front which, as she noted, actually made it a lot easier.
After putting the rest of her clothes back on, Nicole returned to her father who was waiting patiently.
“My, my, my.” He said with a slight giggle. “Don’t you look handsome.”
“Thanks.” Nicole said blushing. That was another thing that took a bit of getting used too, being called handsome.
“Hold on a sec, honey.” His dad said as he disappeared for a moment and returned with a tub of hair gel and he ran some of the stuff through Nicole’s hair making it stick up slightly.
“That’s better.” Cassy said putting the tub down and admiring his handiwork.
“Thanks, dad.” Nicole said grateful for his help.
“Now remember,” Cassy said sternly. “When you arrive at your table, always help your date first by pulling the chair out for him.” Nicole nodded. “And open any doors for him as well, that includes car doors.”
“Got it.” Nicole said taking mental notes.
“When you arrive at his house, make sure to compliment him on how he looks. Men spend a lot of time getting ready and it’s nice to feel appreciated. But don’t use words like hot or sexy. Tell him he looks beautiful.”
Nicole nodded again.
“Anything else?” She asked. Cassy paused for a moment thinking.
“No,” he said shaking his head. “I think that that’ll do. Although you’ll probably be expected to pay as well. Cassy added.
“Alright then. Thanks dad.” Nicole looked at her watch. “I guess I’d better get going then.” She added with a nervous sigh.
Cassy leaned in and kissed Nicole on the cheek. “You’ll do fine, honey.” He said, wiping the lipstick mark from her cheek. “Have fun.”
Downstairs, Nicole grabbed her wallet and noticed her sister still sitting in the kitchen when she had an idea.
“Hey Britt?” Britt paused whatever she was watching and looked up. “I’m thinking about taking Jonatha to the movies after dinner. Got any recommendations?”
Britt smiled as she opened up a new tab on her browser. “Let’s see what’s on,” she said. Nicole wandered over to have a look.
“What types of movies is he into?” Britt asked. Nicole paused, realizing that she had no idea.
“I’m not sure actually,” Britt frowned.
“Hmm, that doesn’t really help," she said as she scrolled through the list. “Oh, how about this one?” she said, pointing. Nicole peered in closer.
It appeared to be some sort of romantic comedy. A boy, down on his luck in love, bumps into a handsome woman and they begin to fall in love.
“That sounds okay,” Nicole said as Britt nodded in agreement.
“Can’t go wrong with a rom-com.”
“Thanks sis,” Nicole said. She said goodbye and headed out to her car.
