The not so Charming Prince

[Jacob Carpenter]

Alex smiled at Jake as he walked down the hall. She shut her locker and walked over and gave him a hug, "Hey, Jake! What's up?"

Jake pulled away and set his hands on her shoulders a grin spreading across his face, "I just got- I dunno..." His grin widened.

Alex gave him a sideways glance, "A date?"

Jacob swallowed, "I think I just got a date with Ingrid."

Alex's eyes flew open wide, "Wow! Seriously?"

He paused for a second and let his hands fall to his side, "Well, I'm not sure. I mean I hinted at it, and she hinted at it-

There was a lot of hinting! But I really think so."

She just smirked at him and shook her head, "Man, Jake, you suck with girls."

Jake rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, no kidding right?" He paused and started to pace the floor, "I'm supposed to throw a pebble at her dorm window tonight at 8:00. I'm so nervous. I don't have anything ready! I need dinner and transportation."

"And flowers."

"Flowers! Yes! I need flowers!"

"You know what color her dress is?"

Jake shook his head, "No clue."

"Go with purple lilies then. A corsage of that stuff will go with anything red to blue."

Jake nodded as his breathing began to speed up, "Purple lilies. Got it. I need a phone book. I need a phone book and a Valium."

Alex shook her head, "You'll be fine."

Jacob grabbed the phone book that sat near the pay phone and started flipping through it until he found the restaurants. He looked up at Alex in horror, "I don't even know what she likes! I mean, she likes ginger ale. Should I just start calling these places and see which ones have ginger ale?"

Alex laughed, "You know its a big town, and this is a small school, you could probably just wait and see where she wants to go when you pick her up tonight."

Jacob nodded still looking flustered, "Right. Skip dinner for now. Transportation then." He rapidly flipped through the yellow pages trying to think of how she'd like to travel, "She's does magic right? How do magic people like to travel? Wait, that's a stupid question. Forget I asked that."

Alex laughed again, "You get cute when you're flustered."

Jake smiled back at her, "Awesome, then I should be extra cute tonight." Jacob looked through the entries in the phone book under transportation, "OK, we have cabs, limos- Hey! Look at this, horse and carriage! That'd be perfect!"

"Can you afford that?"

Jacob shrugged, "I've got about a hundred bucks saved up. I'll call and find out how much it costs." He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the number.

"Hello? Yeah, I was wanting to, reserve? ...a horse a carriage." Jacob paused not knowing if he was using the correct terminology. Alex just laughed a little. "Oh, I want to be picked up outside the girl's dorm." Alex shook her head at him as he waited for the guy on the other end of the line to finish talking. "Oh yeah! Uh I guess that would be helpful. The Girl's Dorm at Saint Joseph's School."

Alex did her best to not laugh but found it exceedingly difficult. He rattled off the details of when and where the prom would be and asked about a stop over at a restaurant before hanging up, "Fifty bucks. As long as I pick a restaurant that's on the way."

Alex winced at him.

"Hey, I can drink water. It'll be fine."

Alex dug in to her pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to him.

"No, I can't take that. I'll be fine. I just have to be a little frugal with dinner is all."

"Take it Jake. You need it and I'm not doing anything with it. I can't even go to Prom tonight. My parents scheduled some testing and I can't get out of it."

"Wow, that sucks, but I mean? Are you sure?"

"Take it!" She shoved the money in his hand laughing.

Jacob smiled at her and pocketed the extra cash. He gave her another hug, "You're like the awesomist kinda awesome, you know that Alex?"

Alex just smiled, "I try."

A look of realization hit Jacob's face and he snapped his fingers, "Bri!"

Alex scrunched up her face confused, "What?"

"Bri's like Ingrid's best friend! I need to get a hold of her!"

"Good luck. She's probably in getting-ready-for-prom mode and will be at hair dressers and caking on makeup all day."

"Do you have her number?"

Alex looked at him incredulously, "Why would I have her number?"

"I don't know. Just kinda hoping."

Alex shook her head, "You'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

"Kara!"

"OK, a piece of advice, don't scream out random girl's names at your date tonight."

Jake shook his head smiling, "No, Kara would have Bri's number! I need to call Kara!"

"Well good luck with that. I'm gonna run."

"Thanks again Alex. You're like a life saver."

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Jacob hung up the phone with Kara and looked down at the hand written digits on his notebook. He hoped she wasn't at a hair

appointment right now. Carefully he dialed the number. His phone rang. It rang again. Jacob swallowed hard as it rand a third time. He paced up and down his dorm room. On the sixth ring there was an answer, "Hello?"

"Bri!"

There was a pause. "Yes. Who is this?"

"It's Jacob! I need your help!"

"How did you get this number?"

"It's not important! I need your help!"

"I'm in the middle of getting my nails done Jacob, I can't really talk right now."

"This will take like two minutes! I swear! It's really super important!"

Bri's voice sounded as if she was speaking through clenched teeth, "Fine. What?"

"What is Ingrid's favorite food?"

There was another long pause, "What?"

"Ingrid! What's her favorite food? You're like her best friend right?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'm taking her to prom... kinda, sorta, maybe."

Another pause, "Kinda sorta maybe?"

"It's a long story."

"Fine. She likes seafood."

"Thanks! I owe you, big time!"

"Don't worry about it." She paused for finality, "Really."

Jacob started to hang up the phone but brought it back up quickly, "Wait!"

There was another short pause as Bri decided rather or not to hang up the phone. Finally she answered, "What?"

"What color is her dress?"

"It's teal. Are you done now? Or would you like me to start divulging childhood secrets?"

"No! I'm done! Thanks so much!"

"Whatever."

Jacob hung up the phone and looked at the list of restaurants he had made that were on the way. Red Lobster. Perfect! He called them up and set up a reservation.

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Jacob stood outside the girl's Dorm. The driver of the carriage gave him a wink. Jacob smiled nervously. He looked down at his watch which said it was 7:52. Close enough. He looked around for a pebble.

A brief moment of panic swept over him. Where's a pebble? Where the heck's a freaking pebble? The paved road mocked him. He immediately went down on his hands but was careful not to go down on his knees as well because he didn't want to get his rental tux dirty. He then proceeded to hunt for a pebble in the darkness with his butt high in the air as he walked on his hands and feet carefully sifting through the dirt and sand at the edge of the road.

The driver pretended that something interesting was happening across the street.

Jacob rose and carefully counted the three pebbles he found in his hand. He looked up at the nearby window, took aim and threw his first pebble. He frowned as it fell short and bounced off of the wall below it. Why did he think this would be a good idea? There's no way he could do this. It was just like when he tried out for soccer. Sports and him had since had an understanding, he wouldn't play them and they wouldn't let everyone know how much he sucked.

He looked at the two pebbles left in his hand. Well, two shots left. Carefully he took the second pebble and tossed it. Direct hit with one to spare! Luck was with him tonight! He waited patiently until the window opened, "Jacob?"

"Caitlin?" Jacob replied looking as confused as she did.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm looking for Ingrid."

"She's the next room over." She motioned with her thumb to the left.

Jacob turned a little red, "Oh, right. Sorry!"

Jacob waved as she closed the window.

He took a step over and looking at the one pebble left in his hand closed his eyes and hoped his luck would hold.