Bad Date Recap
Iget home and stop short when I see Decker sitting on the couch. Alone. On a Friday night.
“No date tonight?” I ask, moving to the kitchen to grab a drink.
He looks freshly showered with his hair still damp, and I can’t believe this man wouldn’t be with a woman tonight. It’s only nine o’clock.
“Already sent her home,” Decker says, turning off the TV and giving me his full attention. “She had somewhere to be, so it was a quick fuck. Sorry to disappoint. I know how much you like to listen.”
Rolling my eyes, I lean on the counter. “Whatever.”
“You’re home early. Alone. Thought you had a date, too.”
“You cannot laugh.”
“Can’t promise that.”
I shake my head and move to sit on the other end of the couch.
I’m wearing a dress with built-in shorts, thinking I was going to get a ride on a motorcycle but still wanted to look cute.
Instead, the only benefit I get from wearing it is not having to strip completely naked to pee and having pockets.
It’s really the only highlight of this evening.
As I look at Decker, I’m overcome with how weird this is. Decker and I don’t talk. Not really talk. All we typically do is friendly banter in passing. Unless we’re drunk. And neither of us are.
This might be our first real conversation.
“I’m testing a new dating app,” I admit. “And I know you’re going to think I’m crazy just like Mona does. But it’s geared towards book lovers.”
His brows furrow. “What the fuck does that even mean?”
“Well, most of the world likes to read these things called books. They hold a wide variety of stories, and many of us find it as a way to escape. And many of the readers—probably women, mostly—read romance novels.”
“I read, asshole,” he says. “But you’re talking chick lit. Book porn. Okay, got it. Go on.”
The way he waves his hand in front of him, signaling for me to continue, makes me smile. He shifts to face me, and I do the same. It feels almost… natural.
I’m also suddenly taken aback. Decker Thomas reads? This is something I have to see. I figured the most he read was the articles besides the pictures of naked women in old issues of Playboy. Or do they still publish the magazine?
Great, now I have to Google that later.
“You pick dates based on the tropes you like to read.”
“What the fuck is a trope? It sounds kinky.”
Laughing as he wiggles his eyebrows up and down, I shake my head. “No. Well, maybe. Depends on the trope. It’s basically the type of story you like to read. Like Single Parent or Military, Small Town or Fake Relationship. Kinky might come in more with Erotica and BDSM.”
The way Decker studies me makes me squirm. His eyes are unbelievably sexy, and he burns me with his gaze. The best kind of burn.
“What’s the point of this, exactly?” he asks.
“To find someone who matches what you like to read. Basically, you get to create your own love story.”
“And this appeals to you?”
It comes out as curiosity more than disbelief, and I feel a little better. “I’m tired of the bad dates. The men who aren’t real men. They either want only sex, or they want you to fit into a traditional role while not reciprocating. Or—worse yet—mama’s boys. It’s exhausting.”
“And you really think this app can give you what you want?”
“You’ve noticed my sexual drought, so my normal tactic of organically finding men who want to date me is clearly lacking. But yes, I think I have a better chance of finding someone I can fall in love with.”
His eyebrow lifts. “That’s what you want? Love?”
“I know it’s probably difficult for you to understand because you’re the complete opposite of a commitment type guy and like having different girls every night, but I want a guy who wants more than a night. Or a few weeks. Someone who wants a real future.”
Nodding, he looks at the ground. “I suppose I can understand that. In an abstract way.”
“At least you can admit it. Most men run screaming from the room the moment a woman even mentions the C-word. Like we’ve just started talking about our period or something.”
Decker looks up and narrows his eyes. “C-word?”
I giggle. “Commitment. Even if it’s not directed at them, they want to curl up and hide.”
“You want the fifties and sixties type of relationship, don’t you?”
Why does he seem disappointed by that? “What’s so wrong with it?
A man courting a woman and being faithful doesn’t sound so archaic to me.
Or horrible. I don’t really fall into the whole waiting-for-marriage thing considering I really like sex and haven’t had my virginity for many years now, but I am a fan of committed sex. Or could-be-committed sex.”
He snorts and lifts his eyebrow. “Why?”
“Because it’s just… different.”
“Different how?”
“Haven’t you ever had a girlfriend?”
“Yeah, and that’s why I don’t understand a single thing you’re fucking saying.”
Sighing, I shake my head and lean it against the back of the couch. “Having someone you can rely on, like a best friend, who also rocks your world in the bedroom is like nothing else out there. I had it once, and I lost it. I guess I’ve been searching for something like it ever since.”
My college boyfriend was amazing. Sweet, caring, and the best sex I’d ever had. Not that I’ve had a plethora of experience compared to my present company, but I’ve had enough to know he had skills.
When graduation rolled around, Ben wanted to move out of the city. He wanted to settle down. Buy a house, a ring, and start a family. At the time, it felt like too much.
I broke things off, and a year later, I knew it was a mistake. Everything he was offering is what I wanted. By then, he’d moved on. Found a woman to live with. I saw him shopping at a jewelry store on Black Friday. They’ve been married for five years now.
“How’s your brother doing in Australia?” Decker asks, pulling me from my memories of Ben.
“He’s good,” I say, pushing the thoughts of my ex to the back of my mind. “Have you seen the girl he’s dating?”
His eyes widen, and he shakes his head. I love the way his hair brushes against his forehead as he moves.
I hold out my phone after pulling my gaze away from him following a sufficiently awkward amount of time. Decker looks shocked and then impressed when he sees the picture. “Damn, she’s hot.”
“Yeah, she is. I have a feeling he’s going to try to talk her into coming home with him.”
“I wonder why he didn’t send me the picture of her. I’ve just gotten sex updates, but he didn’t mention it was all the same woman.”
Cringing, I shudder. “Gross. And he probably didn’t send you a picture because you chase anything in a skirt. He doesn’t want the competition.”
“Gross? It’s not like I tell him you get yourself off with a vibrator while listening to me make other women come. And I have never gone after a buddy’s girl. Ever. That’s not my style.”
“Trust me, the only reason your jack-hammering style of fucking gets me turned on at all is because it’s been too long since I got any. Once I find my Prince Charming, I’ll go back to being sufficiently grossed out.”
He winks at me. “So you admit it. You get off while I get others off.”
“Shut up.”
“No, you won’t.”
“No, I won’t what?”
“Go back to being grossed out. You’ve never been grossed out. You’ve imagined that it’s you instead of the woman I’m with. It’s okay. I like that you think that.”
I have no rebuttal. And he’s not entirely wrong. Damn him.
Looking into his eyes, I can’t help myself. I have to know. “Have you ever thought about finding a woman to settle down with? Instead of a constant stream of one-night stands, you could have one woman you sleep with consistently. Sometimes more than once a day, even.”
He sighs. “No, not really. I really like sex. And variety.”
“Well, if you stop sleeping with everything that moves, you might find a woman who likes it as much as you do. And she could give you things outside of the bedroom, too.”
“Like kitchen sex?”
Rolling my eyes, I stand up. “Yeah, sure.”
“I don’t think there’s a girl out there who can handle me for more than a night at a time.”
“I think if you put more effort into finding the right one, you could be a decent boyfriend. But that’s probably just my old-fashioned mindset. I like to think there’s someone out there who I can come home to every night.”
“To fuck?”
I laugh and bite my bottom lip. “That, too. But don’t you ever just want the little things that come with a relationship?
You know, a date to every wedding. Someone to share responsibilities with.
Maybe have kids one day. Make dinner together after work.
Talk to about your day. Spend time with outside of the bedroom as well as in it. That type of thing.”
“I guess I haven’t found a woman who makes me want all of that yet.”
“Well, the minute you stop being the city’s biggest man-whore, you’ll probably have five girls fighting to fall into your lap.”
“That would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it? I mean, then I’d have five. Maybe I could have one of those shows on TLC. But viewers might actually like me, unlike that Kody guy.”
Letting out a sigh, I just shake my head and turn away. “You would turn this into a polyamory situation. Goodnight, Decker.”
He just doesn’t get it, which is fine. To each their own.
But Mona’s dead wrong if she thinks I have a trope right here at home with me. Not a chance in hell. But there’s always tomorrow’s date to look forward to.
Maybe one I can actually tell her about.