His name was Austin Tulus, although all his friends called hi, “Torch.” Although, Miss Olivia Darling couldn’t figure out why, for the boy was anything but bright. However, the nineteen year-old found herself stuck on date after date after date with him. Why? Well, to appease her nagging mother, of course. It was a catch-22 that she just couldn’t escape.

It all began when Olivia came to live with her mother two-years prior to present day. Olivia wasn’t the most attractive girl in the world, but she had been blessed with decent genetics enough to catch the eye of the opposite sex. Short choppy hair, pale skin, and vibrant hazel eyes along with an infectious smile gave the girl somewhat of a wide range of guys to choose from. Of course, looks weren’t anything. Clever and fun, some would say to describe her. Others would say the girl was the hardest thing in the world to figure out, but that is neither here nor there. It is not Olivia we are looking at, but the men she chose to end up with.

There was the rebel during high school who had convinced Olivia to skip class with him one time too many. There was the gamer who actually told Olivia he couldn’t spend time with her because he, “had to get to level seventy,” because his friends were laughing at him. There was the pretty guy with no common sense. He wrecked his car on their first date and then ran away from home without so much as a phone call to her. His parents found him two weeks later and dragged him home, never to see the light of day again. There was the comic book fanatic, who, after taking her to see a movie based on an old comic, spent two hours during their after-movie-dinner complaining about how they got the dynamics of the superheroes all wrong. Then there was the rock star-wannabe. He’d convinced Olivia to break all of the rules with him, resulting in getting her kicked out of her house for a few months. After four months, he proposed to her. Two weeks later he came home and broke up with her out of the blue. Rumors say his new girlfriend has HIV. He was an alcoholic anyways…

Needless to say, after witnessing her daughter go through all of those, and others not mentioned, Olivia’s mother had had it.

“You know, there’s this nice boy who comes into the recycling plant a few times a week. He’s quite handsome. He asks about you sometimes,” her mother said one night while Olivia was helping her cook dinner.

“Why would some boy be asking about me?” Olivia replied in a droll tone as she set some water on the stove to boil.

“Well, I have your picture in my office, of course. Why wouldn’t a boy be asking about you?” her mother replied in a coy manner.

“Mom, you shouldn’t be running a dating service out of your office.”

“Oh, but he seems like such a nice boy. He doesn’t wear girl pants or eye-liner, so you wouldn’t have to worry about him stealing your stuff like that last one.”

“I’ve told you time and time again, it’s a style, Mother. Lots of guys are doing it. Don’t you watch MTV?” Olivia retorted.

“Anyways, I think you should give him a chance. His phone number’s in my cell phone since we text our customers when prices change.”

“No thanks.”

Her mother continued to push for Olivia to go on a date with young Mr. Tulus for several weeks. Finally, Olivia caved in and got the number from her mother’s phone.

“Are you the guy that talks to my mom at the recycling plant?” she sent.

“Ya, lol. Is this Olivia?” was the reply she got.

“Yes, yes it is. Mom just gave me your number. She said you asked about me.”

“I did. Wanna catch a movie tonight?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll pick you up at seven.”

Little did Olivia know, her date with Austin “Torch” Tulus would be a complete and utter disaster.