Country Crooner (Christian Romance) (11 page)

Find the full "The Boyfriend Bet" novella on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EE92D9E

Read an excerpt from The Boyfriend Bet below:

The Boyfriend Bet

Thursday, 6:30 pm: Bowling with
Jordan

Friday, 7 pm: Dinner and movie with Ben

Saturday, 11 am: Brunch with Tony

Saturday, 5 pm: Dinner and concert with Shawn

Sunday, 6 pm: Dinner at Corey's house

This weekend is going to be fun, I thought to myself with a smile on my face. I closed the calendar app on my phone and stood up from my desk chair.

"My schedule is pretty full," I announced to my roommate, "I've got five dates in four days!"

"Shara Evans, I officially nominate you to be the dating champion!" Kendra laughed. Her finger pointed at me like a mother scolding a child. "You'd better plan time to write your Operations Management paper before Monday. I'm already halfway done with mine."

Kendra Livingston and I were best friends, attached at the hip since we met our freshman year at
Utah
State
University in Logan, Utah-- commonly known as "USU" among the students on campus. When I walked into my English 101 class the first Monday of the semester, I had plopped down in an empty seat next to a bubbly, curly-haired girl.

That day, the teacher assigned us a homework assignment with the person sitting next to us. We scheduled a time to meet at the library at 6 o'clock that night, and ended up talking until the library closed at midnight.

Two peas in a pod. Cut from the same mold. Soul sisters. We quickly became best friends, and spent our evenings and weekends together meeting guys at church activities and on-campus parties. We were the perfect match for each other because we shared similar thoughts and ideas and had many late-night conversations talking about school, the guys we were interested in, and our hopes and dreams.

Kendra was great at keeping me in line when I got too distracted with my social life, and I helped her to get out and have a little more fun instead of staying inside to study all the time. We shared enough similarities that we could have been related, and our personality strengths complimented each other well. Kendra was like the sister I’d never had, yet always wanted.

During our sophomore year, we decided to share an apartment, and have lived together nonstop from that point on. We shared many of the same college classes, especially now that we were both in the business graduate program at the university.

"Don't worry, I'll get it done. There's no way I'm letting you finish your MBA before I do." I winked at Kendra as I sat down on the bed, "We're marching across the commencement stage together. My graduation pictures won't be as cute without a best friend to share them with."

"We're in it together, only seven months to go." Kendra tilted her head, put a hand on her hip, and flashed a beauty queen smile, "I'm sure that we’ll rock those graduation gowns better than anyone else in the grad program!"

"You'd better believe it, girl! Now, help me decide what to wear tonight. Too bad everyone has to wear those funky bowling shoes at the bowling alley; my new shoes look so cute with these jeans."

Kendra walked over and started rifling through our shared closet. The great thing about having a roommate like her was the fact that our clothing options doubled since we wore the same size.

I tried on a few different outfits while Kendra lounged on her bed, offering feedback on each one. Finally, I found a good combination of comfortable and cute: a pair of white jeans that fit my hourglass shape perfectly, paired with a baby blue blouse and blue ballet flats.

I sat down in front of our full length mirror and started to put on my makeup and straighten my long, blonde hair. The blue blouse complimented my dark blue eyes, and I decided to wear long silver and blue earrings to finish the look.

"So, who's this
Jordan
guy anyway?" Kendra sat up on the bed and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Do you have any interest in him, or are you just playing him like the rest of the guys in your lineup?"

I gasped, and pretended to be offended. "Hey, you make me sound like a tramp. I'm just having fun, and I'm completely up-front with all of them. They all know that I'm not looking for a committed relationship right now."

I knew that I wanted to finish my master’s degree before getting into a serious relationship again. My memories briefly scanned back two years ago to my last serious boyfriend, Keaton. He was a great guy, but I shuddered as I thought about the fact that I had been so in love with being in love, that I’d been  blind to who he really was.

The relationship had started out great, but over time he became more and more controlling. He wanted to get married, and I was head-over-heels in love... so I went along with it. 

He was easy on the eyes and a smooth talker, and while we were dating, I was oblivious to the fact that he was looking for a blonde-hair-blue-eyes trophy wife to pay the bills while he played his video games every night.

He was the type of guy who always got what he wanted, and I didn't realize how controlling he was. Both Kendra and my parents tried to voice their concerns, but I was so in love, I didn’t want to hear any criticisms about Keaton. My dad tried to open my eyes to the fact that Keaton could have worked a job while going to school, or at least in the summers, but was very content to let me work and pay for everything when we went out.

When I started talking about applying to the MBA program, I finally realized that the main reason he wanted to get married was because he wanted me to work full-time and support him while he went to school. There would be no time for me to finish my MBA. He told me that I would be able to complete my MBA after he got his degree and started working. But, until then, I should take on the financial responsibilities for us so that he could concentrate on getting good grades, as good grades would help him get a better paying job in the future.

Luckily, I came to my senses and broke up with him before the wedding. When I found out that Keaton had approached my parents about financing the entire wedding, including paying for our honeymoon as well as the travel expenses and tuxedo rentals for his best man and groomsmen, I finally had my eyes opened.

Dumping Keaton was one of the most difficult decisions of my life, because I thought I was really in love with him. My parents and Kendra were very supportive of my decision; Kendra even helped return things, cancel the caterer, and send out letters to family and friends who had been invited to the wedding. Initially, it was really hard, answering all of the questions from our friends, and dealing with my inner voice that oftentimes questioned whether or not I could really judge a guy’s character.  Looking back on it now, there are no doubts in my mind that I made the right decision.

After our breakup, I vowed to avoid serious relationships until I finished school. Getting my MBA became even more important to me after Keaton, and I promised myself that I would pursue that goal above all else. That didn’t mean that I magically forgot that guys existed. Instead of looking for a steady boyfriend, I was enjoying a fun college life, hanging out with a lot of different friends... and totally taking advantage of the free meals when guys asked me out.

"It's good that you’re being honest with them about your intentions," Kendra giggled. "I just don't want to see you leaving a trail of broken hearts behind you." She put the back of her hand to her forehead, and swooned as she fell backwards onto the bed to lie back down again.

"Don't worry; they all know that I'm dating a lot of people right now.
Jordan
is a nice guy; he's an engineering major that I met in the student center on campus."

"Tall, dark, and handsome, I assume?"

"Yes, of course! Just the way I like them."

*****

I enjoyed bowling with Jordan that night, and even though he was good-looking, it quickly became apparent to me that I didn't want to go out with him again. Too much ego and he had a hard time talking about anything other than the engineering classes he was taking this semester. I didn’t need to endure another session of "Let’s Talk About Jordan". There were a lot more fish in the sea and my nets were fairly full with options.

Jordan
dropped me off at home around 11 pm, and I walked in the door and found Kendra and her boyfriend, Liam, on the couch watching a movie. Kendra and Liam had been dating for two months, and Kendra had mentioned to me a few days earlier that she was trying to decide if she should continue with the relationship. They met in the student center on campus: at the time she was working in the computer lab, and he went to that particular computer lab every night to do his homework. One night, he struck up a conversation with her and then asked her out.

Kendra was the loyal type. She enjoyed dating and having fun with guys, but once she found a guy that she was interested in, it was common for her to date him for awhile. The fact that she stuck with one guy for a few months at a time was a stark difference to my current dating patterns.

When Kendra saw me walk in, she quickly sat up and grabbed the TV remote to pause the show.

"So, how was it? Will this guy be a repeat?"

"Nope, definitely a yum-yuck," I rolled my eyes. "Too much talk about engineering software and support beams for commercial buildings."

Yum-yuck was a term that Kendra and I coined last year. It was a quick way to describe a guy who was good-looking from a distance and made you think "Yum," but then once he started talking, his personality quickly diminished his attractiveness, changing the thought to "Yuck."

I kicked off my shoes and sat down on the loveseat across from where Kendra and Liam were sitting together. It was cute how great they looked together; they were a good match.

Liam laughed and grabbed Kendra's hand. "Poor guy. I'm glad I wasn't filed in the yum-yuck category after our first date." He leaned over and gave Kendra a small kiss on the cheek.

"Yes, you are one lucky man to have a woman like me," Kendra kissed him back. "You were filed into the yum-yum-YUM category!"

She turned to me and sighed. "Well, at least you have a few more guys to pick from this weekend. One down, four to go. I'm sure you’ll find one that you’re at least somewhat interested in."

"There's definitely potential with Mr. Saturday Night. And, I'm really looking forward to dinner on Sunday with Corey."

"Corey seems like a great guy," Kendra responded. "I've talked with him a few times in Sunday school, and he's got a fun personality."

"I agree. We'll see how it goes."

I stood up and started up the stairs to the bedroom. "I'll let you two lovebirds finish your movie; I need to spend some time on my homework before I go to bed."

*****

Sunday morning, it was beautiful outside, so we decided to walk to church in order to enjoy the sunshine. Because my weekend schedule had been so busy, Kendra and I had been so busy that we didn't have much time to talk on Friday or Saturday, so it was the perfect time to get caught up as we casually strolled down the sidewalk to our church three blocks away.

"Same old story, huh?" Kendra shrugged, "You always find something wrong with your dates. I almost wonder if you’re purposely looking for faults because you’re scared of commitment."

"Good point. Logically, I know that, but emotionally I freak out if I think about getting into a serious relationship. You’re right... I really don't want to be in a committed relationship right now."

"There are a lot of great guys out there – you just need to give them a chance. Keaton was a mistake, but you learned from that experience. Going out with a guy more than once or twice doesn’t automatically mean you have to marry him. Just sayin'."

"You're right. Plus, sometimes I think it would be nice to have a low-key boyfriend for just a little while. You know, someone to talk to and cuddle with. But I'm not too worried about it right now, because school will be done in less than a year. Right now, I just want to hang out and have some fun."

Kendra flipped her dark hair over her shoulder, her curls bounced a few times before settling on her back. "You’ll be able to get a boyfriend when you're ready. I see how all these guys are falling for you! It's your commitment issues that are stopping you from getting a boyfriend right now."