He had to remind himself, several times already, why he had chosen to put his name into the raffle at all. Pacing on the sidewalk outside Tonyâs, he could feel the nervous energy radiating off the other participants as they made their way inside the restaurant to meet their ârandomly selectedâ dates. It had been ages since heâd been nervous or excited about anything. Deep in his pocket was the slip of paper that had been given to him when heâd initially arrived. Heâd read the name written on it, hadnât recognized it, and then crumbled it into a ball. He made a habit of knowing the names of everyone in Bounds Bay with money and whoever heâd been paired with wasnât one of them. The best he was gonna get that night was a free meal, whatever his date had in their wallet, and maybe a ring or a bracelet. It was a little disappointing considering the fact that heâd dressed up for the occasion. Sort of. He stopped pacing to lean against the brick wall beside the entrance, racking his fingers through his dark hair. There was one other person there with him, either waiting for their date to arrive or too nervous to go inside. He briefly met eyes with them, an ill-concealed smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. âThink itâs too late to cancel?â
