I held DJ's hand a lot tighter, just to counteract the tangible awkwardness flowing from the couple across the table from us at In-n-Out Burger. I couldn't decide if I sympathized more with Mike or Kaci, but it didn't matter either way. Whoever's fault it was, it was awkward. After all, it was their first date, and Mike had been trying to put his arm around Kaci the whole night. She was obviously not interested, but he obviously couldn't tell.
DJ held my hand a lot tighter, just to stop himself from laughing. We had just come from mini-golfing, and Mike had proven to us all that baseball wasn't the only sport you can strike out in. Strike one: trying to hold Kaci's hand on the way from hole 8 to hole 9. Strike two: throwing out pick up lines one after another, consequently failing every time. Strike three: trying to "count shoulders" (put his arm around her) after the game. Yes, that just happened. And DJ and I stood as horrified bystanders, helpless.
As Kaci struggled to cram herself into the corner of the booth farthest away from Mike, everyone but Mike could see that the date was spiraling downhill quickly. As a last ditch attempt to save his friend, DJ suggested we go to a party he knew of at a "pretty sick mansion." Kaci jumped up in agreement before any of us could answer and was practically out the door before we stood. Mike trailed after her, and all we could do was follow.
We arrived just after Mike and Kaci, and realized instantly that the party was the worst thing that could have happened to their date. Mike was awkwardly moving around the dance floor while Kaci sat on the couch in the living room talking to another boy. We rushed to Mike's aid.
"It's okay, man," DJ said. "It's a party. There are tons of other girls."
"Yeah no worries!" Mike said. "I'm not even torn up about it. If she's not interested, she's not interested."
I got the feeling that he was probably feeling a little worse than he was letting on, but I didn't know Mike very well. There wasn't much I could have added to this pep talk, even if Mike had stuck around long enough for the conversation to continue. But he bailed on the party really quickly after Kaci told him brutally: "Don't worry about me, I got another ride home."
We sat down on the couch, feeling like we had just been hit by a truck or thrown out of a tornado. Tonight we had watched, horrified, as our friends fell off a cliff, our hands tied behind our back so we couldn't save them. After the pitiful, shocked silence wore off, all we could do was laugh.
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