Chapter Three

Sophie grabbed the stack of papers that had just been fed out of the printer and sauntered over to the sofa where Liv was stretched out, shoved aside Liv’s feet and tossed the papers onto the coffee table as she collapsed into the soft cushions heaving a sigh of relief. “Thank God that’s over.” Sophie laid her head against the back of the sofa and stared up at the ceiling. “No kidding.” Liv agreed with her friend as she leaned forward and grabbed her can of soda from the table. “Who would have thought that putting together a boyfriend application would be so much work?” “Well,” Sophie explained, “If you hadn’t demanded that every question be in the application, we would have been done much sooner. But, NO! You had to use every question and then sort them into categories.” Liv looked at Sophie, astonished that her friend was blaming her for the length of time it had taken to complete the application. The whole mess was Sophie’s idea to start out with, for crying out loud! If I’d had my way, she thought silently, there never would have been an application in the first place. “Then, I, of course get stuck typing it out!” Sophie continued complaining. “Hey!” Liv admonished. “Can I help it if the whole thing was confusing me? It made more sense to sort the questions so the guys would at least have some idea what the next questions were about!” Liv rose from the couch and stalked over to the kitchen. She tossed her empty soda can into the trash, and then looked in the refrigerator – for what she didn’t know. “And anyway, I’m the one that went through all the questions, sorted them … “ “I know,” Sophie agreed easily. “Besides, now that the hard part is over with, we have to figure out how to get guys to complete it.” The girls watched each other for a few moments, each in deep thought as to how to solve this particular part of the dilemma. For the next couple of hours, they sounded ideas off each other, steadily coming up with reasons why each idea wouldn’t work. “We’re never going to figure this out!” whimpered Sophie as she fell back against the arm of the sofa. But Liv was lost in thought. Serious thought. Sophie could tell her friend had an idea by the ‘light bulb’ look in her eyes. She sat up impatiently and watched Liv pace the kitchen floor. “What?” “What if…” Liv started her sentence, and then stopped herself, shaking her head. “No, it’s a stupid as the other ideas we’ve had. Besides,” Liv dropped onto the couch beside Sophie dejectedly. “I’m not exactly the one with the great imagination, here.” “But, what’s your idea?” Sophie pressed her again and again until Liv finally caved in. “I was thinking we could have a couple of friends help us out, and have guys come to, I don’t know, the gym, maybe, where we could set up several tables like they do for conferences and stuff.” “Sounds good so far. Keep going.” “Well, we’d have to be standing at the door, and then splitting them up into sections.” Liv looked up to see a look of complete confusion crossing Sophie’s features. “See, I told you it was a stupid idea.” She leaned back against the couch as Sophie stood and began to pace the floor. She wore the exact look Liv had worn earlier. “Now you’ve got an idea. I can smell it burning.” “Ha ha, very funny.” Sophie cast Liv a look of consternation as she continued to think. “Actually, I do have an idea. I think.” “Well, it has to be better than mine.” “Well, actually it is yours.” When Sophie saw the questioning look she was getting from Liv, she continued carefully, thinking about the feasibility of her idea as she spoke. “Well, yours, with modifications.” Sophie continued to pace the floor as Liv watched her expectantly. “What if we have Adam and Xylia help us out? Adam could ‘sniff out’ the gay guys, and Xylia could sort out the really weird guys. She likes that sort. Then you and I can sort the rest between who you like and who you don’t.” “You mean sort the guys into categories kind of like the application itself?” “Yeah. As far as that goes, we could have Janice and Marlene help, too. Janice would be able to sort out the geeks and Marlene would be able to sort out the muscle heads. Then, all you and I would have to worry about is the guys left over. They’d be the ones you’d concentrate on.” Sophie’s voice had taken on a thoughtful whisper during the entire description, until that last sentence. For some reason, instead of scaring Liv the way it usually did, it excited her to think that they may have finally found their answer. She wouldn’t have to think about all of the guys, just the ones she was interested in. And from what she’d seen on this campus so far, that didn’t seem to be too much. After all, look at that Grant guy she’d met a couple of times. Yeah, he was cute and all. OK, be honest with yourself here, a little voice admonished. He was flipping gorgeous! But looks weren’t all that mattered. He had a horrendous personality! That doesn’t change the fact … the little voice started in on her again. “Oh, shut up!” she muttered, shocking Sophie quiet. “Not you, Sophie.” Liv was immediately contrite. How was she going to explain to Sophie the one she wanted to shut up was herself, when she hadn’t even been talking? How could she even consider thinking about him when he was such a pain in the ass? “You’re thinking about that guy aren’t you?” Sophie smiled knowingly. She’d seen that look in her eye every time Grant had been around, but she hadn’t said anything. But if there was one person on earth she knew better than herself, it was Livvie. They’d known each other their whole lives. “What guy?” Liv tried to hedge the question, but to no avail. “You know what guy. The one down in the quad.” “There were tons of guys down in the quad.” Liv’s brows furrowed in dismay. Had she been caught? Did every one know? “Yeah, but there was only one you were talking to.” Sophie placed her hands on her hips and stood awaiting Liv’s response. “You’re thinking about him.” “No, I’m not.” She denied it a little too quickly. Even she knew that. She looked up at Sophie to see that all-knowing look she got when she was right, she knew she was right, and no one could prove her wrong. The thing Liv hated about that look the most was that every time Sophie used it, she was right. And that meant Liv was busted. “OK, so I’m thinking about him. What about it?” “What I want to know is if we are going to have to send out a special invitation to make sure he fills out the application.” “What are you talking about?” Liv asked querulously. “This guy … what’s his name?” “Grant.” “See! I knew it!” “Knew what?” “You’ve got the hots for him.” “No I don’t!” “Yes, you do. You’ve named him.” “So?” “So?” Sophie’s mouth was agape as she stared at her best friend. “So?!” She sucked in a gasp of shock to realize that Liv had either forgotten or completely discarded the first cardinal rule of non-dating. “Unless you want to date a guy, you never name him.” “I didn’t name him!” Liv defended quietly. “His parents did.” “You know what I mean Livvie, and you’ve named him. That means there’s more interest there than you know or are willing to admit.” “I’m not interested.” Sophie harrumphed knowingly and stared at Liv as she tapped her foot on the parquet floor. “Well, I’m not.” Liv defended in a huff. “I was thinking about how arrogant and narrow-minded he seemed. I’m not at all interested.” Liv turned away from Sophie and walked into the kitchen and started looking through the refrigerator again until she came up with another can of soda. “Whatever, Liv.” Sophie sighed, resigned to the fact that Liv was denying interest that was so obvious it showed on her face. “Listen, I’m going to go call the gang and see what I can come up with as far as a time and place for this – I don’t know – fiasco to take place.” “Fiasco? I thought you were as excited about it as I was.” “I was. Until you lied to me and yourself.” “I didn’t lie to you. Or to me for that matter.” Yes, you did, the little voice nagged. You lied to both of you. “OK, Livvie. You didn’t. But don’t come crying to me when none of these dates work out unless it happens to be ‘him’, OK? I remember what happened the last time you didn’t lie to either one of us. Even if you don’t.” Sophie walked out of the room, leaving Liv in deep thought. She’s wrong. She has to be. This is nothing like Mathieu. Nothing at all. Liv lay back on the sofa dejectedly and stared up at the ceiling, refusing to give in to the urge to cry. Well, at least they’d gotten the hardest part of the project done. If she wanted she could close her eyes and nap for a while. And she did want to very much. Sophie walked back into the living room to let Liv know about the plans she had made, but, upon noticing her asleep, left the room and turned out the lights so her friend could get some much needed rest. Especially if she’s working herself up over this guy, Sophie thought to herself. I just hope he doesn’t turn out to be like Mathieu: more trouble than he’s worth.