Chapter 3 #2
We spent the whole afternoon in the park chatting, and when it started to get chilly, we walked back toward the coffee shop so we could return to our respective homes. When we arrived at the coffee shop, we paused outside the door to say goodbye.
“I would like to see you again. Could I get your phone number?” Luke inquires while handing me his phone to put in mine. “When can we hang out again?”
I finish putting in my number and hand his phone back to him. “I’m pretty open. Why don’t you text me next week, and we can see what we both have available?”
He pulls me in for a hug, and we embrace for a few seconds longer than a typical hug.
He whispers in my ear, “I think I have a crush on you.”
I laugh a little and end the hug, awkward and sweaty-palmed. I turn to walk toward my apartment.
I hear him holler my name.”Cassie, don’t watch which way I’m walking. You can’t know where I live yet.”
I laugh and turn around to walk home. That was unexpected and fun. I think I have a crush, too.
I was completely surprised to receive a text from Luke right away the next morning.
Luke: I couldn’t wait until next week to text you. Am I playing this too uncool? Does it make me look like a stalker?
Me: Who is this?
Luke: Oh, sorry! It’s Luke from the date yesterday.
Me: I know, I was just messing with you. I only have one person I'm considering murdering right now. While you're not playing it very cool, I'm glad that you reached out.
Luke: Let’s find another time to hang out. Somewhere with lots of witnesses.
Me: Lol, I'm okay with that. I'm actually kind of a homebody, so I'm always cool with a night in, if you feel safe doing that.
Luke: I'm bigger than you, and I'm pretty squirrely, so I think I would be safe. If this isn’t too much, you could come over on Thursday.
I'll make you supper, and we can have a Thursday night show viewing party.
My roommate might be around, but he is also not very murdery.
He has a girlfriend, so he spends a lot of time at her place, so it could go either way.
Me: You would have to send me your address, which you were pretty dead set against yesterday.
Luke: I’ve had time to think about it, and I don’t think the chemistry I'm feeling is anything sinister. ??It’s a date.
My younger sister, Cora, and I have been hanging out more now that she’s back from her year away at college.
She stopped over to catch up on the shenanigans in her life, and I caught her up on my date with Internet Boy.
She is my closest friend right now, since college friendships have fizzled out after everyone went their separate ways.
We sat on the deck with a blended adult beverage to catch up and enjoy the warmer weather.
“I really can’t believe you went on a date with a stranger. That is totally out of character for you. I'm so proud and relieved you didn’t die,” Cora remarks, taking a sip of her drink.
“Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve been in such a rut; I think it caused temporary insanity. If he tries to do something wild, like take me out clubbing, I will draw the line. Our next date is at his apartment to watch TV, and he is cooking for me.”
“I need to see a picture of him, immediately.”
I grabbed my laptop to pull up the dating website and showed her his profile pictures.
“OMG, Cassie, what is with his glasses?” Cora shouts and nearly knocks over everything within reach of her chair.
“Yeah, I’m not sure about them. They are bad, huh? He’s actually super good looking, but they are hard to get past.”
“I can’t tell. All I can see are the glasses. Do you think he is from the past and traveled to the present day for your date, but forgot to switch to modern glasses?” Cora joked.
“Okay, okay. They aren’t that bad. He got me interested in his personality, and I was able to look past it on our date, so we’ll just have to see what happens,” I replied, trying not to panic about the glasses.
“Are you nervous about going to his house? Should I go with you and wait outside, or call with a family emergency after thirty minutes? If you don’t answer, I send in SWAT?”
“How about I give you his address and let you know when I get there and when I leave.”
Cora downs the rest of her drink. “That works, but if you decide to get physical, I’m not staying up until 3 a.m. to wait for your call.
I give her a pointed look. “Have I ever in the history of our sisterhood relationship stayed up until 3 a.m.?”
“Good call. I’ll expect you home by 9 p.m.”
Since Luke’s apartment is really close to mine, I decided to just walk over there to burn off some nervous energy.
Despite the bit of April chill in the air, I was working up a bad case of the anxiety sweats by the time I got close.
Upper lip, pits, buttcrack—all drenched.
This was a bad idea. So there I was, standing outside the front door to his building, looking at the names to buzz, having so many regrets and contemplating running home, when I heard someone yell my name.
I looked up, and Luke was waving at me out of his window.
“Are you coming in? I saw you walk up and didn’t hear the buzzer, so I looked out to see you just standing there,” he shouts down at me. He holds up his hands so I can see them. “Look! No murder weapons!”
This is so embarrassing. I can’t turn around now that I have been spotted.
“Ugh, I was just down here contemplating my life choices, but since I have been spotted, I'm coming up.”
I hear the door buzz, grab it, and open it.
I text my sister about my arrival as I walk up the stairs.
Luke is already standing at the door waiting for me by the time I get to the apartment.
He is dressed more casually than on our first date and is wearing a baseball cap backwards, which is a really good look on him.
Glasses are still there, along with a giant, sparkling smile on his face.
He really is cute.
“Hi,” I say as I walk up to his door.
He pulls me into a hug and says, “Hi, to you too. Last chance to run away if you’re still contemplating it. Once you get in here, it will be too awkward.”
The way he joked around helped me relax, and I said back to him, “I saw your fire escape, so I’m good with coming in.”
My joke is rewarded with a big smile and a laugh.
“The food is almost ready. I would like to have impressed you with a five-star meal, but I mostly survive on frozen food, so I had to call in reinforcements.”
Reinforcements? “Did you order takeout? If so, that is totally fine with me. I like trying new places without actually having to go to the new places.”
“No way! I said I would cook for you, and I did. I just had my mom come over and help me. Pretty dorky, huh?” he said.
“Pretty sweet that your mom will come do that,” I replied, internally dying of cuteness.
“She’s a great cook, and I had her help me make my favorite. She didn’t even ask questions about who I was cooking for, although I could tell she was dying on the inside to ask. She is happy to have me back from college and see me more, so she is pretty down for anything I ask her to do.”
“Well, thank you to you and your mom for going to all of the trouble. I’m pretty reserved, but I’m not a girl who holds back from eating around guys, so I hope you made enough.”
“My mom is used to cooking for eight; trust me, there is enough.”
Luke’s apartment is clean and minimal. It’s one step up from a bachelor pad, which I appreciate.
Perhaps this is a pleasant part of dating someone a few years older.
We sat down to eat a chicken, rice, and vegetable dish that was shockingly delicious.
Luke started telling me about his big family.
He is the oldest of six kids. His home life sounds like a riot, with a lot of people and chaos at every turn.
It was just my sister and me growing up, and we were a few years apart, so we were often in different places in our lives.
“Do you want to have a big family?” I asked as we finished eating.
“Not really, at least not as big as the one I grew up with. I can vaguely envision myself with kids someday, but not in the near future. I have a lot I want to do with my career, and the whole world to explore. What about you?”
“I want a big family. I'm mostly introverted, but I also don’t like being alone all the time. I like to be with people I'm close to and comfortable with. So I would like to create those people and have them live in my home for my entertainment until they become adults.”
“That makes sense. Why go out and make friends when you can stay in and literally make friends?” He gave me a little smirk. “Should we clean this up and go watch our regularly scheduled Thursday night programming?”
After cleaning up dinner, we settled on his couch for American Idol.
I make it a point to never schedule anything on Thursday nights, and I hope that he takes this as seriously as I do.
If he interrupts while we are watching, I am going to have to ask him to wait in the hallway of his own apartment.
“Do you want to tell me who you think is going to win?” he asked during a commercial break, which is permissible.
“I’m not really interested in giving you hints about who the best singers are,” I replied.
“Ah, pretty cocky about our picks, I see. Maybe we can make a friendly wager.”