Current mood:	accomplished
Entry tags:	chapter one

Ch. 1A: Girl Meets Boy. Again.
"Date! Date!" Sara Sparks babbled into her cell phone. "Date!"

"Sara? is that you?"

"Anne, I have a date! A real live date!" Sara squeezed the phone. She was fully aware that she sounded, at best, twelve years old. She didn't care.

"Sara, that's wonderful! Who? Oh, tell me it's that guy from work."

As her best friend for nearly ten years, Anne Martin had heard all about the various men in Sara's life. Various meaning the one guy she occasionally talked to at work. Sara was quiet and a homebody. She didn't run into many men at her job in a children's library - at least not single ones. She liked to play up the few interactions that she racked up. But this time, she didn't need to play anything up.

"No, actually. This is Luke. Luke Winters? I was friends with him in junior high. We traded books all the time."

"The dance guy? The DANCE guy asked you out?" Anne sounded incredulous. "What are the odds? You told that story for years."

Sara laughed. "It wasn't years."

"Years," Anne insisted. "Oh it was awful," she said, mimicing Sara. "He was so sweet. He asked me to dance the next slow song. It was near the end of the night. Suddenly, Zoe ran up - she had an emergency. A make-up emergency! I followed her to the bathroom and I missed the last slow dance of the night. I missed my chance at a relationship with Luke!" Anne finished. "You need a new ending now. Looks like your chance was only on hiatus."

"I guess so," Sara grinned. "God, I just can't believe this."

"So, when did it happen? Where did you see him?" Anne pressed for details.

"I was walking to work!" Sara exclaimed. "Just walking, reading that book you lent me. I like it, by the way. It's really interesting -"

"Sara, focus," Anne cut in. "Book later. Man now."

"Right. He was out running, and he almost ran into me. He recognized me, we chatted, and he asked me out." Sara smiled at the memory. "I accepted, he said he'd see me then, and ran off. And then I ran to work." She'd been a few minutes late, too, and had gotten some pointed looks, but opted to not share that part of the story.

"I'm so excited for you," Anne said. "I'll come over tomorrow and we'll pick out your outfit. This is what you've been waiting for!"

"It's definitely been long enough," Sara agreed. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. Sixish?"

"Sounds good," Anne said, and hung up.

Sara felt like dancing around the break room. She hadn't managed to land a date since graduating from college years before. Every time she met a man she was even remotely attracted to, she had no idea what to say to him. It followed, then, that he said nothing and left quickly. Nothing to worry about here, though - Luke was an old friend, a person she had always felt comfortable with.

He'd been cute in junior high, but not so cute that she got tongue-tied. Now, though. Now, if he hadn't recognized her and jogged her memory, she wouldn't have gotten a syllable our. He was taller now, of course - she had had to look up to him. His face had thinned out, grown more mature and handsome than she'd ever have thought. His eyes, though, twinkling brown and smiling, were still the same.

Sara smiled. Yes, she was looking very forward to seeing him again.

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