I draw in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Hey man, at least one of us is happy.”
“You’ll get there,” he says, rolling his eyes. “Of course, I thought you were against girlfriends? Didn’t your mom convince you that all young relationships are pointless?”
I nod. “Yeah, but she was probably saying that to make me feel better about Elise.”
He laughs. “Do what you gotta do, man. If you want a girlfriend, go get one.”
I hold up my phone. “That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”
Colby lifts an eyebrow. “Please tell me you’re not using that dating app again? That thing is disgusting. Nothing but weirdos on there.”
I shrug. “Where else am I going to find girls?”
Colby gives me a stare like I’m an idiot, and I mean, yeah I guess I am. “You find them in real life, you dipshit. Gooutside. Meet girls.”
I nod, running a hand through my hair. “That’s what I’ll do after my date with Jenny.”
“Jenny?”
I open the app and scroll to this girl’s profile. There’s not much on there, and only one picture of her face, but she’s pretty enough. She practically begged me to go out with her after we chatted through the app a few minutes. So far she seems kind of boring, or at least not very good at chatting online, but maybe an in-person date will fix that.
I figured going on this one date can’t possibly hurt, and maybe it’ll lead to something good. I turn my phone around and show it to Colby.
His brows pull together while he examines her photo. “Eh.”
“Oh, come on. She’s cute,” I say, looking at the picture again. “It’s just one date. If it doesn’t work out, then I’ll take your advice and go outside.”
He closes his suitcase and zips it. “I think you should go outside regardless, man. I literally met Maddie outside.”
“I’ll be spending my summer at the Flying Mermaid,” I say, sliding my phone back in my pocket. “If things with this girl don’t work out, I’ll be spending plenty of time outside since the shop is halfway on the sand.”
“With chicks in bikinis,” he says, fist-bumping me. “Nice.”
I snort. When I was younger, I loved being at the beach for that reason. But after spending every summer of my life working at the surf shop, one bikini blends into another one and it kind of gets old. Unlike our friend Bryce, checking out hot girls isn’t the only thing on my agenda.
I’d like to find a real girlfriend. The kind Colby has, and the kind I’ve always wanted. Maybe this Jenny girl will fit the bill. If not, I guess I’ll have to keep looking.
