[ WP ] You come up with an outlandish and false excuse as to why you are late , and your date is very suspicious . You are almost called out on your lie when a news story blows up and unintentionally confirms your story .

The look on her face made me feel horrible, but there was no way around it. The last year had been rough after the Lane incident. That girl destroyed any of the confidence Shirley had in our relationship. That being said, I deserved some blame too. 
 
 `` So.'' Shirley began. She looked terribly intimidating like that, under the streetlight. She'd told the cab she'd call back if I ever showed up, but even when I did, she demanded an explanation first. 
 
 `` What you're telling me, is this. You're telling me you're late because a busful of strippers hit your bike. You're telling me the strippers invited you onto their bus, refused to take no for an answer. Then they forced you on the bus. They spilt their hooker booze all over you, none of which you drank. You barely escaped at a red light, and while trying to squeeze out the door, one of stripper's faces accidentally rubbed your collar, resulting in an imprint of lipstick resembling lips. Then, once you escaped, the bus accidentally drove halfway off a bridge. 
 
 `` Then, in a feat of desperate courage, you got on the bus and started helping the strippers off. Like in that Spiderman movie. And the last stripper barely grabbed onto your hand before the bus tumbled into the Hudson, and you two were pulled up by cops. 
 
 `` And *then*, after all of this, the first responders were called to a bank robbery in Midtown, and could n't give you a ride. And all the cabs were busy, presumably with couples who had met each other on time, so you could n't take a cab, and you had to call your ex Cindy, who you broke up with you after dating for three years to give you a ride. Who dropped you off a block away, and who you know I saw leaving, which presumably is not the reason you mentioned her.'' 
 
 I gulped. The kind that people around you can hear. 
 
 `` Yeah. Like that.'' 
 
 Obviously, I went home alone that night. 
 
 But it did n't end there. The next morning it was all over the news. I felt a little tug at my heartstrings when the stripper I saved, who was only nineteen, talked about how she wished she could have introduced me to her family before I left. The others were interviewed as a group, mainly focusing on how I had refused to party with them because I did n't want to offend my date. 
 
 What really made the report was Cindy's interview, however, who related how she had given me a ride home and returned to the scene of the accident to see it for herself. 
 
 I was smiling, pleased with myself, when my cell rang. Shirley. 
 
 `` Yeah?'' 
 
 *It's all over the news. I'm sorry Rob. I hope you get why I was skeptical. * 
 
 Skeptical was putting it lightly. 
 
 `` Yeah, I get it. How about we meet tonight and make up for lost time? We can call that cab.'' 
 
 *Sure, Rob. Oh, by the way, you're still signed into Google on my computer. Maybe before we go out tonight, you can* **HELP LANE SCRATCH HER FUCK-ITCH! HOW ABOUT THAT, ROB. ** 
 
 *Click. Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep* 
 
 Okay, I deserved all the blame.
