π½ππΈπβπΉπΈβπ #3
"I promise I don't normally ask strangers if they're dating."
"No?"
"No." I close my eyes, smiling.
"So, no boyfriend?" I asked.
She shook her head once. "No, my first one ended strangely, and I don't have the time for boys anyway."
"Do I make an exception?"
"Actually no, you don't. But you seem interesting."
That was fantastic, actually. Meant my chances of getting with Dixie Jones were higher.
"You?" She looked up.
"No girlfriend."
"Hm."
"What?"
"I assumed someone would've claimed you already."
I couldn't help grinning. "Claimed me?"
"You know," She waved her hand vaguely. "You're..friendly."
"You seem..."
She searched for the word. "...popular."
"Gee, I don't know about popular." I scratched the back of my neck.
"I just talk a lot."
"I noticed."
There was another comfortable silence. I found I didn't mind those with her. Usually silence felt awkward.
But with Dixie, it just felt like normal quiet.
"So. You like baseball that much?"
"I don't think there's anything I'd rather do." The words came out before I thought about them.
Then I remembered where I was. Business gala, future CEO.
Not a future baseball player.
I cleared my throat. "Besides maybe not wearing this tie."
"It is rather serious." She looked at my navy tie.
"I didn't pick it, my father did."
"I guessed."
I laughed.
"You don't seem like someone who'd wear this voluntarily."
"I don't think I'd wear any tie voluntarily."
"I don't think I'd wear one either." She took another sip of her sparkling water.
"You'd look nice in one."
She blinked. "Thank you, West."
That was the first compliment she'd accepted without immediately redirecting it.
Small victories.
I realized, with some embarrassment, that I'd spent the better part of ten minutes talking about baseball.
Again.
"...I'm sorry." I say.
"For?"
"I've been talking about myself. A lot."
She nodded once. "...Mostly baseball."
"I swear I have other interests."
She nodded.
I smiled. "What about you?"
"What about me?" She looked at her glass.
"Hobbies. What do you do when you're not surviving business parties?"
She thought for a second. "I read."
"What else?"
She shrugged. "I debate. School debates, specifically."
"I volunteer sometimes, I like puzzles. And I study. A lot."
"Is that it?"
"Mostly, yes."
"No sports?"
"I run."
"For fun, or..?"
"No."
"Apparently it's healthy, and it gets my heart beating, so might as well."
I stared at her. She really was funny.
She just didn't seem to realize it.
I stare at the water I've been holding for a while now.
"You know, you don't have to call me by my last name."
Dixie stayed quiet before speaking again. "Isn't West more respectful?"
I don't need respectful right now. Especially not with you.
"Totally. But I don't care. Just call me Cameron."
"Or Cam for short."
I looked up at her. She was smiling at me for a while before sighing.
""I promise I answer to Cameron aswell.West makes me sound forty."
It went silent after that. I didn't mind calling me West, but with Dixie, I wanted it to feel more intimate.
"Okay, Cam." She said quietly.
I grinned, biting my lower lip.
Hearing my name in her voice felt strangely different.
Somehow "Cam" sounded better coming from her than it ever had coming from anybody else.
I'd like to be treated like a Cameron, and not a West."
Before I could ask another question, Dad's voice drifted over.
"There they are."
I turned.
Dad approached with another couple beside him. The man was a little shorter than Dad, dressed in a charcoal suit.
His posture was confident.
The woman beside him wore a deep emerald gown and smiled warmly before they'd even reached us.
Dixie stood.
So these were the parents of my future wife.
"Cameron," Mr. Jones extended his hand first. "It's nice finally meeting you."
"You too, sir."
His handshake was firm.
"We've heard wonderful things about you, and your father's business." The lady said.
I smiled. Dad smiled even prouder.
"Cameron, this is Robert Jones." He pointed at the man beside him.
"And Kyla Jones. Jones Associates is their company."
There it was.
Now I knew who they were.
Dad turned toward them.
"My son."
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
"The future of West Holdings."
"So I've heard. I imagine that's a lot of pressure." Robert smiled politely.
Before Dad could answer for me, I did.
"...Sometimes."
Dad looked at me briefly.
Kyla laughed softly. "You sound honest."
"I try to be."
"I like that." She smiled.
Dad smoothly redirected the conversation back toward business, talking to Robert.
Kyla glanced over at Dixie. "Dixie, you know Cameron? Getting along?"
I glanced at her.
"We've been talking." She says, looking back at me.
My eyes wandered back to Dixie. She'd tuck one loose curl behind her ear whenever she thought, she held her glass with both hands.
When she listened, she looked directly at whoever was speaking.
I had learned a lot about her in the past twenty minutes.
And I don't ever think I was going to get bored.