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From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: What do I do?
You know who called me? You’ll never guess. Remember James, the guy I drank beer with at a party at the end of last semester? We had sort of a date after? Remember, he was the one who thought it was a good idea for Lord Chocolate to mingle with Lady Strawberry. Anyway, we caught up, just talking about whatever, and he asked me if I wanted to go out Saturday.
I don’t know, Rhys. What should I do?
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: What do I do?
What do you want me to say…?
Go out with him, Ginger. He seems like a nice guy, right? (Ignoring the chocolate, which is unforgivable.) You can always just take a car home if you get bored.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: What do I do?
So what did you end up doing? You have a date this Saturday? I barely slept. I went out with people from work when we were done. You can imagine how late that was. We wound up laid out on the beach with a couple of bottles of rum. It was fun, but I had to pull Tracy out of the water; she almost drowned. She’s completely nuts. My boss said he was going to give me a raise. Don’t know if he’ll remember today…
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: My date
I decided to meet with James on Saturday. I’m crossing my fingers for everything to go well so I don’t end up booking a car before dessert.
Who’s Tracy? You never mentioned her.
And nuts…? Like me?
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: My date
Yeah, I haven’t given you the rundown on my coworkers. There aren’t too many of us. There’s Garrick, the boss (or rather, my boss, because the big boss is usually at his club in LA). There’s Josh, a server who makes these amazing vegetable sandwiches before night falls and they close the kitchen. There’s Tracy, who works the night shift with me. She’s a bartender. No, she’s not nuts the way you’re thinking; she’s actually crazy. She’ll do anything that pops into her head.
I guess you’ll tell me how your date went…
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: Arrrrgh
I know I’ve still got another whole day, but I’ve gone through my whole closet, and I don’t know what to wear tomorrow. I don’t have ANYTHING that looks good on me. All I want to do is cry, curl up in bed like a cat, and stay there forever. But Kate said we just have to go have a beer with some classmates at this place nearby, so I’ll make an effort.
Help me, Rhys.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: Arrrrgh
Simple: put on something revealing.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: RE: RE: Arrrrgh
You’re such a pig. Anyway, I finally found something decent, and now I’m waiting for James to come pick me up. I’ll tell you how it went.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: Up late
I’m back. And since I can’t sleep, I ended up turning on my computer to write you. Everything went well. It turns out he was going out with a girl this whole time, and that’s why he didn’t call me after the summer. It was an ugly breakup, so I guess he’s not looking for anything serious. Me neither. It doesn’t make sense if I’m going to finish college in a few months and move away. It’s not so far away, but I’m also not into the idea. We went to a restaurant I hadn’t been to. It was fun. At least he’s not one of those guys with whom the conversation doesn’t flow. He works at a law firm, I think I told you that. I talked to him about my senior project, and he loved it. He doesn’t think it’s idealistic at all, can you believe it? Before I knew it, we had already had dessert and the place was about to close, so we took a walk and had a drink nearby. Then he walked me to the dorm.
I think I’m getting tired now…
Good night, Rhys.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: You sure this isn’t a movie?
For real? People actually go on that kind of date? I thought you were just going to hang out for a bit. I guess I thought the classic “date” went extinct decades ago. Did he kiss you on the doorstep? I think that’s the one cliché you’re missing. It makes sense for you though.
You can’t imagine the ordeal at work yesterday.
Tracy lost it. She got up on the bar and started dancing. I don’t know when the rest of us decided that was a good idea too (we were drunk and about to close). Anyway, the bar broke. Craaack —the end. We’re all going to chip in to replace it before the big boss comes back. Luckily, he’s still in LA.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: RE: You sure this isn’t a movie?
Yes, Rhys. There was a kiss on the doorstep. It was perfect.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: [No subject]
Did I make you mad? I was just kidding…
I’m glad you had fun, Ginger. This James guy sounds all right. I wasn’t making fun of you, I promise. And what if I was—that’s okay, right? You like classic things. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: RE: [No subject]
I didn’t let it bother me, but you made it sound boring. Or bad. Or out of style. I’m sorry I’m not fun or crazy or wild like Tracy. But look, there are simple girls like me who are happy to just have a nice evening out, normal, peaceful, talking with someone and getting to know them. And instead of going skydiving on the third date or getting up on a bar and dancing (is that supposed to be cool? It sounds dumb to me), we’re happy to choose a nice dessert, like chocolate mousse with orange.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: RE: [No subject]
I don’t get it, Ginger. I never said you were simple. You’re the opposite of simple. That’s why I like you. For how complicated you are.
So what? Are you going to keep going out with James? Even though he allowed Lord Chocolate to have a dalliance with Miss Orange? I wonder what Lady Strawberry thinks of all this. I doubt she likes it one bit.
PS: You’d have thought the dancing on the bar was funny if you’d seen it in person. It’s one of those things that isn’t funny unless you’re there.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: RE: RE: RE: [No subject]
We’re going to the movies tomorrow.
I know it’s predictable, but don’t say anything. You know what the temperature is here? We don’t have an idyllic beach or anything like that. Plus, he let me pick the movie. That’s sweet and adorable, don’t deny it.
I’ll tell you how it went later. And sorry if I’ve been a little defensive these days, but I thought you were making fun of me. I don’t know, Rhys, with emails it’s hard to grasp the tone behind a person’s words. That’s probably it.
I hope you fixed the thing with the bar.
Tell me how everything’s going there.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: No options
You’re not giving me many options, Ginger. But let me just say I’m happy that you’re happy. And that you’re not going to freeze tonight. You’re right, I remember the cold in London… I was in the snow there with a complicated girl a few months ago…
Everything’s cool here. I like it.
We fixed the bar.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: RE: No options
Sorry I didn’t write much this week. Between my final project, my exams, and going out with James and the girls, I can hardly remember my name. I got an interview with the founder of the publisher Bday. Her name’s Lilian Everden and she’s…amazing. I don’t know, I hope I don’t start shaking in front of her. She started from nothing, and she’s done amazing things without help from anyone.
I’m seeing her tomorrow. And then I’m going to have dinner with James at his place. I’m not stupid, I know what that means. I’m kind of excited. I haven’t slept with anyone in more than a year. At the same time, I’m scared I’ve forgotten how the hell it’s done. I mean it. I’m afraid I’ll mess up. Fall off the bed. Say something stupid at the wrong time. We’ll see. I don’t want to imagine it.
Tomorrow I’ll tell all. I’m crazy nervous.