40 Leti
Leti
Two gigantic metal bowls of fries plus our burgers and milkshakes take up the entire table between us. I can eat, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish everything Julian ordered for us. As soon as I tap out, Julian pulls out a legal pad and pen from his side of the booth.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking my list.” His eyes sparkle with mischief. “I picked you up ten minutes early, which makes up for the tardiness from our last two dates. Not once have I touched the food belonging to you unless offered to me, so that’s another check.”
I’m the one who suggested splitting our burgers and ordering two different kinds of fries since I know he likes to share food. I drew the line at sharing shakes, though, because I don’t play when it comes to cookies and cream.
“I haven’t checked my phone once, so that’s a point in my column,” I say, and he grins at me across the table.
“And it only took me four years, but I think I’m getting the hang of this maintaining eye contact thing,” Julian adds. “Though, unfortunately I do remain a chatterbox. I only hope I haven’t bored your ears off.”
“Not any more than usual.” I shrug, to which he guffaws. “Though I’m still not sure how you managed to come off as a commitment-phobe on our second first date. Unless there’s something you’re not telling me?”
“I guess there sort of is.” I’m almost nervous until he says, “I don’t want kids. That’s a big deal-breaker for a lot of people, and it comes with a lot of assumptions from people who do want them.”
“I get that.” Then I laugh. “God, we’re more compatible than we even knew.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want them either,” I say. “I love Mari, Alicia, and Matteo to death, but I’ve seen firsthand what their mothers go through. Besides, I’d much rather spend what little money I am making on myself.”
“I couldn’t agree more. And raising the hellions in my classroom is more than enough exposure for me,” he says. “What about marriage? Think you might want that one day?”
“Oh, for sure,” I say. “It’s the wedding part I don’t want. My mom will try to control the whole thing like she did with Elena’s, and it’ll turn into another nightmare, like my quince.”
“You know, I’ve always liked the idea of eloping,” Julian says. “You bring two witnesses, one for each side, head down to city hall, and then you’re out of there by lunch.”
“Oh, man. My family would murder me if I eloped.” I take a sip from my shake, pondering the idea. “Which means I totally have to do it.”
“Obviously,” he says. “It’s settled, then. Our future visions for what our lives look like are aligned. If this thing works out, we agree to elope and not have kids.”
He raises his hand over the table and I high-five him.
“I still can’t believe I didn’t remember you.
” I tilt my head at him, taking in his features as if for the first time.
Our original date is still a bit hazy, but it’s bonkers that I didn’t recognize him right away.
“You haven’t changed that much in appearance in four years, and I don’t think I have either.
Geez, do we need to get our eyes checked or what? ”
“Check your eyes.” He pops a fry into his mouth. “I remembered you fine.”
“What?”
He stares at me, the picture of casual and calm as I try to grasp what exactly he’s telling me.
“What do you mean, you remembered me? We both forgot all about that first date. That’s what you told me.”
“I never said that,” he says, and I rack my brain for confirmation but can’t quite remember what it is he said after I realized we’d been on this date before. “Leticia, I knew who you were the entire time.”
“But…wait.” I still can’t wrap my head around this. “You were just as confused as I was. How could you possibly have remembered me?”
“Because I saw you back in April.” At this, the edges of hesitation begin to show in the crease at his forehead and the frown pulling his mouth down. “You walked into Havana Bar for my cousin’s scavenger hunt, and I hid behind a barstool.”
“You did?” I try to recall ever seeing him that night. “What else do you remember?”
“We met again briefly after the scavenger hunt, at Angela’s party.
We’d barely shaken hands when someone called for your attention.
I was…thrown, I guess is the right word.
I still had your death glare burned in the back of my brain, hence the hiding behind barstools when I first spotted you.
My cousin was fucking with me when she introduced us later, but you didn’t recognize me at all. ”
I met so many different people that night, it’s easy to understand how he could’ve gotten lost in the shuffle.
And yet, it isn’t. My focus was set on Angela and winning the scavenger hunt, despite her changing the incentive at the last minute after falling for Krystal.
I was bummed when I lost the competition, sure, but how I could’ve completely overlooked Julian being there that night is baffling.
“How do I have zero memory of this?” I shake my head. “Julian—”
“Then, at the end of August, I came across your profile,” he continues.
“I wasn’t going to swipe right. Not at first. The mere memory of you laying into me four years ago was still terrifying as fuck.
I’m not sure why I changed my mind.” A low, rough laugh escapes him.
“Actually, that’s a lie. I know exactly why.
Because even when you’re terrifying, Leticia, you are endlessly fascinating.
When we matched, I thought you finally remembered me.
It wasn’t until we started messaging for a little bit that I realized you had no idea who I was. ”
Tiny aspects of our initial interaction start clicking into place.
Leticia Maldonado, as I live and breathe.
I can’t believe how easy this is.
Talking to you. Last time didn’t work out so well for me.
He didn’t mean the last time he matched with someone on a dating app. He meant the last time we spoke, four years ago. Maybe even the last time we saw each other back in April.
“Hold on a minute, is that why you took so long to respond when I asked you out? Because I didn’t remember you?”
“I was trying to find a good way to say no,” he admits. “Until I finally realized I didn’t want to. Damn the consequences. I had to see you again.”
I had to see you again. There’s no logical explanation for the way those words make my heart race inside my chest. And then we did see each other but our date wasn’t at all what I thought it would be.
Would everything between Julian and I be completely different if I’d given him a real second chance?
“You’ve really known who I was this whole time?” I ask him. “How come you never said anything? All this time, when we became friends and then slightly more than friends. Why did you never tell me?”
“I didn’t want to scare you.” He blows out a breath. “Even after you agreed to let me take over your dating apps, I was so focused on trying to get you to tolerate me, let alone like me as a person.”
“I more than tolerated you,” I grumble. “I just didn’t want you to know that yet.”
“Yeah, I figured that out for myself fairly early on.” He smirks. “Still, you were skittish. Too much all at once would’ve had you running for the hills. Believe it or not, I wanted to ease you into the truth better than this, but…” He shrugs. “I don’t want to lie to you anymore.”
“There are worse lies you could’ve told, I guess,” I admit. “Honestly, though? I feel kind of stupid for not remembering you.”
“You’re not stupid, Leticia,” he says. “It was hard not feeling like a stalker, and then you went and accused me of being one, and I wanted to die of mortification. But it wasn’t like that at all.
I never willingly sought you out before August. It was a series of strange coincidences that led me back to you. ”
I don’t exactly believe in fate, but even if I did, being fated to meet the same person three times feels a bit like overkill. Then again, maybe the universe knows I’m stubborn.
“Definitely strange,” I agree. “But not totally unwanted either.”
“Not anymore?”
Maybe not ever. But that’s the scariest thing I could ever admit to Julian, so I hold my tongue. Instead, I nod in agreement.
“Come on. We have a long date ahead of us,” he finally says. “You want to get out of here?”
He slides out of the booth and reaches for my hand, and I follow him out of the restaurant.