Chapter 11 Just dinner #2
[So, do you have any dietary requirements or allergies?]
There, a strong first text and not too pushy. He surprises me by replying immediately, although his response leaves something to be desired.
[No]
Ok, we can do better than this.
[Care to elaborate on that? Any preferences for food, cuisines, ingredients?]
[Not fussy]
Ok, we really need to ditch the one-word replies.
[Man of a few words. Ok, didn't want to give away my evil masterplan "devil emoji", but was thinking steak. That sound good to you?]
[Sure]
This is really starting to annoy me. I know he's not that into me, yet, but at least give me something, dude.
[Sounds good, will try to get us a table, although it's a bit short notice and cannot make any promises. Can pick you up at 6:45pm since it's walking distance from yours.]
He takes longer to type and I'm really hoping for a longer reply this time.
[You don't have to book something close to mine. It's fine wherever. I really meant it when I said I'm not fussy, I live on cafe sandwiches on a day-to-day basis and have frozen dinners most nights. You don't have to plan this elaborate thing for me, I'm really ok]
I'm happy for the longer reply, but I don't like how he's putting himself down. He absolutely deserves all my energy on this.
[Sounds like you've never been wined and dined, big guy. Leave it to me, I am the date expert and will blow your mind "wink emoji"}
[Sure... and careful with your phrasing around gay guys, I might get the wrong idea.]
I have to read my text again before I get what he means, aaaand flirty Dex is back in the building. YES!
[Let's see where the night takes us.]
I reply with more confidence than I feel and immediately send a follow-up.
[Will text to confirm the place once I hear.]
[Ok]
And we're back to single-word replies. Guess he doesn't like guys being too forward, but I really did mean I wanted to see where the night takes us. While I will most definitely, probably, not blow him, I might not mind a proper kiss this time.
[Night Dex!]
[Night]
Hmm, first text conversation went... Okay? Not gonna dwell on this any longer, will feel him out tomorrow at the coffee place and hopefully the restaurant will confirm the booking in the morning. Time to go to sleep, although I'm still a bit buzzed, a nice chamomile tea will help put me down.
I do not, in fact, make it to the coffee place the next day or the day after.
Kaylee has us all in full-on management crisis mode because one of the stupid, stupid forwards was photographed in a hotel with two bunnies and photos were sold to TMZ within the hour.
Oh, did I mention the guy is engaged? Or was, I guess, although women have been known to forgive such atrocious behavior.
I honestly, for the life of me, do not understand this manwhore mentality and the world that just goes "oh well".
Like "boys will be boys" and other shit like this that justifies nasty behavior and gives men an out instead of calling them on it.
If I had my person with a ring on their finger, I would never, ever stray out of line.
Even when I was with Jen, I never looked at another girl.
She was always complaining about some girl from my class or a waitress at dinner hitting on me, then calling me clueless when I said I didn't think so.
But honestly, even if they did, it wouldn't have registered on my radar.
I'm a one-woman kind of guy, although I suppose I'm now a one-person kind of guy.
The restaurant also doesn't come back to me the next morning to confirm the booking and makes me wait until 3pm on Thursday to give me the news.
At least it's good news! I'm so excited I even forget I was one second away from calling them and yelling at them for keeping me on the edge of my seat the whole day. The audacity!
I text Dex to confirm the place and time and he only gives me a thumbs-up react to my text.
He's wearing my patience thin with this non-com thing, but I'll wear him down eventually.
When I take a break from scandal management, I open a new Word doc instead of running through gala details and make a list of questions to ask Dex.
I want to keep the conversation easy and flowing, but also want to find out more about him.
He fascinates me in a way I've never felt before.
I want to ring out every single last story from him.
Trying not to be overzealous, I restrict my list to about thirty questions from the almost one hundred I started with.
It's basic stuff, so I don't need to print it out to remember it, but writing things down usually helps me retain information.
I save the document to give a final read before I leave for the weekend.
Since it's Friday afternoon, I send Dex another text asking if we're still on and he replies straight away saying, "See you tomorrow.
" It's three words at least, we're making progress.
Saturday comes before I know it and I take about two hours to get ready.
I don't normally manscape, but I trim myself down and go for a close shave.
My hair really needs a cut, but I didn't have time this week so I use some product to smooth it down behind my ears.
I consider wearing my date Henley today, but he's already seen me in it, so I opt for a light blue button-down shirt, dark blue jeans and black Chelsea boots.
I consider if I'm wearing too much blue for a second, but Dex seemed to like me in my polo the other day, if the way he was eyeing me up was any indication.
I look good, actually! A bit more on the casual side, but still date-worthy.
Suddenly, I really hope Dex doesn't wear a suit.
While I can't deny he looks good, like they are made for him specifically, I want to see how he dresses when he's not going to work.
I leave the house with plenty of time so I can get the bouquet I reserved before going to his place.
We could have met at the restaurant, but I really want to give Dex the whole date experience.
I don't know why, but he gives me the impression that he doesn't date much and I really want him to know what a good date with me looks like.
The worst possible thing I could do is be late when he comes down from his apartment and he doesn't find me there, so I keep conversation at the boutique to a minimum, thank the woman doing the arrangements and collect my order.
The dark purple roses really do look stunning and they paired them with some lavender strands, white jasmine blooms and dark green leaves.
It's wrapped in black shiny paper, with a single triangular red velvety paper at the back, all tied with purple rope.
The whole thing looks and smells insane and I couldn't be happier.
Even if the date doesn't turn out the way I hope, I'll still drop the shop a nice review for their work, but I really hope Dex will appreciate it.
I'm in front of his place fifteen minutes early and am bouncing in place with excitement, so I take a few steadying breaths and calm myself down.
I need to get him to like me if it's the last thing I do.
Let the dating games commence!