Page 6 of Finding My Charming

“Do you have anything you’d like to share with us, honey?” Mom sounded slightly wounded.

Dad rubbed her shoulders and looked at me. “Jules, give her some space. Judging by her reaction, she didn’t know.”

“How could you possibly not know?” April’s voice was reaching record volume. “You just met him last night!”

I suddenly felt cornered. “I don’t… I don’t know? I met lots of people.”

April interrupted me. “What do you mean? How could you not notice? Someone should stick out!”

It was a good thing we didn’t have a pet. The pitch of her voice would have sent it running.

I closed my eyes and thought to last night. There had to have been well over three-hundred people there. How was I supposed to know who it was?

Did I actually have to talk to them, like have a conversation, or could it just be in passing? Did I even have to say anything at all to him for it to count?

I began to panic. “Mom?”

She was fidgeting with things around the room but finally met my eye. “Oh, honey. Surely you met someone last night? I know it’s probably embarrassing to talk about this with your family.”

I cut her off. “No! I swear I would tell you guys. I just—” I kept going through memories of last night and the tons of guys I met. “How do I know who it was?”

A soft smile grew on her face. “Looks like you have to do it the old-fashioned way.”

Chapter 4

“the old-fashioned way? What’s that supposed to mean?” Ari yelled through the speakers. “I thought the whole point of the necklace was to take away the awkwardness of dating for you stupid Benson girls.”

I shook my head while trying to keep my eyes on the road. Mom hadn’t given me any more advice before ushering me upstairs to get ready for my first day of work.

“I don’t know Ari. Since I didn’t notice when it turned red, I’m on my own. The stupid thing could have shown a name or something!”

“So, what are you going to do? You freaking met your soul mate last night!”

I laughed at her enthusiasm for my love life. This was probably the most exciting thing to happen to me in years, but I couldn’t even be happy because I didn’t know who it was!

“Apparently, I did, but Ari there were so many people! How do I narrow down which guy it was? How do I even find him again?”

“Okay, here’s the plan. You think through last night. Every single minute detail, Elise, you write down who you saw, who you talked to, bumped into, whatever! Every person, every little thing you did, got it?”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me.

“Okay?”

She could be so demanding sometimes.

“I don’t know.” I groaned and let out a heavy sigh. “I’ve got my new job, and registration coming up. I only have two months before orientation and moving into my dorm. I don’t have time for a manhunt.”

“Blah. Blah. Blah, Elle. You can be boring after you get to school. This is a once in a lifetime thing. You just write that list and after work come to my place. We’ll go through the yearbook, and I’ll ask people to post their pictures from last night on Mypage, and we can look through those. We will find him!”

“Yes, ma’am.” If her aspirations in fashion didn’t work out, I would be the first to write her a recommendation for a military leadership role.

“I’m serious, Elle. You’ve got to be the unluckiest person in the world. You have the ability to know exactly when you met Mr. Right, and you missed it. How does that even happen?”

I sighed and rolled my shoulders trying to release the tension that had been there all morning.

“I don’t know. Just part of my charm.”

“Cheer up! We’re going to find this guy! Just make it through work and don’t forget to write everything down!”