Read Online First Date by Melody Carlson - Free Book Online

fault since she had chosen not to go to youth group. That was because Abby was away with her family, and Bryn didn’t like going alone. As usualfor a Saturday night, her parents were at their small group meeting. The big house felt quiet and empty.
    As she walked to her room, she thought about how it used to be. All the years she was growing up, her four older siblings had filled this place with noise and chaos and friends and constant activity. She had taken it for granted then. In fact, she sometimes had complained about it. But now that they were gone, either at college or jobs or just living their own lives, it was way too quiet . . . and sometimes it was a little depressing.
    She thought about calling her best friend, except that she knew Abby was at a family wedding, probably at the reception by now. Even so, Bryn texted her to say she missed her but hoped she was having fun. Then she told her that Emma and Devon had been by, making it sound like more than it was. That was probably just loneliness talking. But Abby would understand.
    Bryn opened her computer, but instead of doing homework, she went back to shoe shopping. As she was imagining how she’d look in a pair of leopard print Louboutins, she thought about Devon’s question regarding Harris. She clicked over to Facebook to check out Harris’s page.
    No one knew about it—well, except maybe Abby, if she even remembered—but Bryn used to have a crush on Harris Martin. For years while she was nothing more than a youth group wallflower, she had watched Harris, wishing he’d suddenly look at her and see beyond her plain Jane exterior. Of course, it never happened.
    At the beginning of this school year, though, thanks to her new and improved appearance, she had felt more hopeful than ever. However, she’d been caught off guard whenDevon announced that she planned to pursue Harris for herself. Bryn had considered arguing her own case with Devon but decided not to. Harris might not be interested in Devon anyway. Besides that, Harris’s best friend, Jason Levine, had been unexpectedly friendly to Bryn recently.
    Thanks to the DG, Bryn wanted to focus on capturing Jason’s attention. He was an all-around nice guy and very good looking. What girl wouldn’t be thrilled to go to the homecoming dance with him? But in her heart, she suspected she was only trying to snare Jason in the hopes of attracting Harris’s attention. The old grass is greener theory. If Harris saw Jason with Bryn, he’d be jealous.
    Oh, she knew it was far-fetched. Because really—whether it was due to Mr. Worthington’s yearly guy talk or something else, neither of those boys seemed to be terribly interested in dating right now anyway. She doubted that the efforts of the DG were really going to change that. Still, it could be fun to try.
    Studying the pictures on Harris’s photo page, she wanted to make a comment on one of them. She’d never done this before, not with Harris anyway, but since she was on a mission for Devon’s sake, she decided to throw caution to the wind. She went through all the photos and finally decided on a shot of both Harris and Jason together. Wearing only their swim trunks, suntans, and big grins, they appeared to be on a small boat and were holding up a strange-looking fish with a gigantic mouth.
    “Pretty hot guys,” she typed into the comment slot, “but not nearly as hot as that sea creature they’re holding.” She giggled as she hit Send. Okay, let the conversation begin.

6
    A bby knew she was lucky. Okay, she was blessed —at least that’s what her parents would say. They were always quick to remind her that although it wasn’t always easy being black in a predominantly white school, she had a lot to be grateful for. For one thing, her parents were still happily married after more than twenty years now. Besides that, they both had solid careers—her dad was the dean at the local Christian college, and her mom taught sociology there. They