Ding dong. It was Matt. Alice had been nervous all-day for him to arrive. It was going to be their first date and she was anxious for it to go well. "Hey, come in," she smiled and opened the door wide for him.
"Hi," said Matt. That was okay with her, she knew he wasn't much of a talker, she had mentally prepared herself already for what to say if any awkward silences came up.
"Can you take off your shoes, my mom hates vacuuming to she tries to make sure no one tracks dirt in the house so she can avoid it for as long as possible," she laughed.
"Okay," Matt said. Alice sighed; he wasn't really making it any easier for her.
"Do you want a snack before we go upstairs?" she asked over her shoulder as she went to the pantry to get a bag of popcorn.
"I guess popcorn is good if we're going to watch a movie," he said as he stood there awkwardly, "so are we watching it in your room?"
"Yeah, I hope you don't mind. Our DVD player isn't working in the living room so we can just watch it on my laptop in bed, not like, in bed in bed, just like, sitting on the bed," Alice laughed nervously. Matt nodded. 'Any time you want to jump on the conversation train would be great thanks,' she thought to herself. The popcorn dinged and Alice took it out of the microwave, "Okay, let's go," she smiled.
Matt followed her down the hall as her mom peeked out of her office and said, "Hello, Matt, it's so nice to meet you, I've heard so much about you."
"Stop it mom, you're making me sound like I'm obsessed with him or something," Alice laughed awkwardly.
"Oh don't be ridiculous I'm sure Matt's glad to hear you've been talking about him, right Matt?"
"Well I'm not sure what there is to talk about Mrs. Martin, Alice is the interesting one," Matt chuckled. 'So you do speak," Alice thought.
"Oh you're so sweet," Alice's mom laughed, "Anyways, you two have fun, I'll probably leave at some point while you're here to go grocery shopping; I hope you don't mind."
"It doesn't matter to me either way," he said politely.
"Okay, well I'll let you two get back to your date then," she said emphasizing the word date, like the embarrassing parental unit she was. Matt followed Alice up the stairs as she walked to her bedroom and opened the door. Inside the pale green walls looked grey due to the cloudy skies out the window and it looked slightly dark even though she had all the lights on, including her blue lava lamp.
"It's nice in here," observed Matt, "nicer than my room."
"Oh thanks," she laughed, "I only cleaned because you were coming."
"You didn't have to clean for me."
"My mom didn't want me to lose a potential suitor over dirty laundry on the floor, so yes I did," Alice smiled. Matt laughed as she popped the movie into her laptop and started it up. They awkwardly sat on either end of her full-sized bed, Matt with his legs hanging off the side and Alice criss-crossed on the other end. They sat and watched the movie in silence for half an hour, Alice knew Matt took his movies seriously and didn't want to interrupt it even though she felt awkward not talking. Although to be fair, Alice had never gone on a first date that didn't feel awkward.
"I'm going to the grocery store now honey, I'll be back in an hour. Are you two okay up there?"
