"Plus, you and Ryan are Diane's closest friends. She wants you both to be happy!' "Well, I should talk to her first.."
Tracy smiled. "She already left. She didn't want to make you more uncomfortable. She wanted me to tell you to call her tomorrow so you can plan your outfit for your date."
Diane had left. But… But…
Tracy just shook her head, "Sometimes I really wonder about you.
Go for it, girl."
Before I could even catch my breath, Tracy yelled out, "Hey, Ryan, do you have a second?"
Oh. My. God. Not now, I can't do this right now.
Ryan excused himself and walked over, seeming a little confused.
"What's up, Tracy?"
Tracy just smiled and pulled Ryan over so he was standing directly in front of me, "I don't have enough room in my car — can you give Penny a ride home?"
"Of course," he said.
"Great! Especially since Penny needs to ask you something."
Tracy turned her back and started to walk away.
I was completely horrified.
"Oh, and one more thing." Tracy turned around and pointed above us. "You're standing under the mistletoe. 'Bye!"
Both Ryan and I looked up and saw mistletoe directly above us.
I looked back and saw Tracy scooting the few remaining people into the kitchen.
I was going to kill her.
I turned back and flinched as I found Ryan leaning in to kiss me.
He saw my reaction and stepped back. "Sorry, it's just… a holiday tradition." He pointed above our heads. "I guess I shouldn't have."
He stepped farther away.
"No, no, it's okay I just.. "
How was I supposed to do this?
"You had something you wanted to ask me?" He folded his arms, a look of amusement flickering across his face.
"Um, yes. See. ."
I was hopeless.
"So, funny story.." Here goes, you can do this. "It seems that things have changed a bit for the Club," "Did I miss something? Did they kick you out?"
"Ha, not yet." I took a deep breath. "Well, you know we couldn't, um… we didn't…"
Ryan straightened up and his smile faded a bit. "You can't have a boyfriend."
"Well, yeah. But we've decided that maybe that wasn't very fair for people, . "
"I see. And now?"
I started to shift back and forth. Why would Tracy do this to me? I wasn't prepared for this at all.
"Now. . I'd like to.. try to.. " I hadn't given guys enough credit all these years — this was torture.
"Penny, would you like to go on a date with me?"
Wow, that was easy.
Thankfully Ryan could take a hint.
"Yes, that would be great."
We smiled at each other, and he stepped forward and put his arm around my waist. Then I realized something.
"Watt! We can't go out on Saturday nights. Those nights are for the Club " "No worries. There are six other days in the week."
He was making this way too easy. Maybe this dating thing wasn't going to be so hard after all.
"Oh! And I eat lunch with my friends, and if you want to do something, you have to give me advance notice because I will not change plans with any of my friends just because you come calling."
Ryan nodded. "Okay, anything else?"
"Umm, well, I'll have to look over the new rules. I just want to make sure — " Ryan grabbed my hand and leaned in. "Penny, I'm not going to take you away from your friends. Do you think we can go on a few dates first before we start making too many rules for us?"
I blushed. I needed to take it down a notch before I started making decisions about our china pattern.
"We can do that."
"All right. Let's go say good-bye to everybody and I'll take you home!
He started to head to the kitchen.
"Wait!" I called after him. I pointed at the mistletoe that was still over my head. "It would be wrong to break a holiday tradition."
Ryan smiled at me and walked over to where I stood. My heart was beating fast as he cradled my head with his hands. He leaned in, but instead of freezing or running away, I leaned in toward him as he kissed me.