Let me begin by saying it was totally unintentional, and she's still my best friend, although I don't know why after this night.
So a while back, I was a junior in high school and homecoming season had started to roll around. I was fairly certain I would not be attending because especially at that time, mostly because I was not interested in anyone.
However, being a teenage girl, I kept my glimmer of hope set deep inside me. By the time homecoming week had really arrived, I had decided with my best friend that we were just going to hang out that night and just have fun as the two of us.
As the week went on, however, I heard of anti-homecoming. A group of some of my acquaintances were going to host their own version in a venue in town. The only rule was that you had to come with a date. Much to my surprise, a friend from my math class the year before asked me to go with him. I wanted to go, but I had already made a promise to hang out with my best friend and she did not have a date.
So I went on a mission. I set her up. And I can't believe I actually succeeded. We found her a date that was willing to go with her, despite her and him having never met.
And then the most dreaded day of my best friend's life began.
The day of, she picked me up after my marching band practice. I remember she was huddled up in the back seat with a hoodie pulled up over her head. She basically looked like druggie. When I asked her why she looked like this, she pulled down her hood and revealed to me a head full of curlers.
The thing about my best friend is she has the gorgeous, long, blonde hair that looks like she stole it off a real life mermaid. And these tiny curlers she had managed somehow to get in her hair, decided they liked it there and made it their home; nice and cozy.
A few hours later when we went to take them out, they hugged so tightly that I had to go through and take out every single one with master precision. The result was not so mermaid-like, as we had pictured in our heads. Instead, I distinctly remember her going from medusa snake hair, to wild lion when, in an attempt to fix it, we brushed a section with a brush.
Eventually we managed a half up-do to cover some of the damage. The next step was off to dinner, where she would meet her blind date. They were not compatible, and they quickly won the most awkward couple award.
We went to an Asian restaurant, a big group of us that had decided to go to this anti-homecoming. Everyone had a date, and when the waitress came around to take our orders, all the couples, even though we were all just friends, had the guy pay for the meal. Even my date, who I was just going to pay for since we weren't dating, graciously paid for me.
But my friend would not let her blind date pay. When the lady politely asked, "Are you paying together?" My friend said in the deadliest tone I've ever heard her use, "NO."
I pretty much spent the rest of the dinner trying not to laugh at the painfully awkward friend to my left. I was trying to engage with the guy who'd asked me to come, while also making sure my friend didn't have a mental breakdown.
Pretty much the rest of the night was spent with a few of my other girl friends creating a pact with her and separating themselves from the couple policy. Thankfully the rest of the night allowed for that, since we decided to all just convene together for games and "Just Dance" on the Wii.
Her blind date eventually left early, I thanked my date and we went back to her home where I'm surprised she didn't kick me out for forcing her on her first date with a guy she had never even met and it being extremely awkward.
I don't think she even told her mom about that experience. I think we just mutually agreed to forget the whole ordeal, and she hasn't been on another date since. I may have broken her.
The point is, is that I could've told the guy that had asked me to go that I was sorry and I couldn't go. I could've done the right thing and just followed through on my original plans to not go to a party. But no, that wouldn't make me the blundering ding-dong I am if I had done that. Besides, my friend with be more careful with the guys she choses to go on dates with in the future, if I haven't totally scared her off of them.
Also, it made for one heck of memory. Thanks, gurl, for putting up with all I do to you.
Till next time,
Annie
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