hang out with guys your own age. I mean, no offense to Tim, but isn’t he like almost a decade older than you? Maybe that’s part of the problem, too. You need a nice, hip, younger guy who you can have fun with and now worry about jetting off in a limo with a gaggle of older, wealthier women.”
“Gee, thanks, Kate,” I said, rolling my eyes at the unwelcomed visual.
“You know what I mean,” she said.
“Just meet him for a drink,” Nick said as he tried to convince me more. “His name is Scott, and he’s super chill.”
Nick pulled out his phone and started texting someone.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He paused for a minute before answering me, and it looked like he was waiting on a response. Sure enough, his phone lit up, and then he answered.
“Seven o’clock tomorrow,” Nick said. “The little place around the corner, I think it’s called Taps or something. Scott will meet you there at the bar.”
He held his camera up to my face and took a picture.
“Hey, what was that for?” I hated having cameos taken.
“So that he knows what you look like and can find you.”
“Guess you’re going,” Kate giggled.
“Fine,” I said. “But just one date. Tell your friend I’m not interested in hooking-up, just having a drink.”
Nick nodded and sent another text that ended with a swishing sound as he hit send.
Why in the world did I just let them talk me into that?
17
*** (Brooke Continued)
The next evening after my shift, I ran back to Kate’s apartment to change. I grabbed a pair of distressed jeans and a retro, marigold-yellow T-shirt that was cropped to fall just above my belly button. I figured that since I was going out on an actual date my age, that I might as well look the part. Besides, it had been a while since I had worn some of this stuff.
When I got to the bar, it was a far cry from Plethora. For a minute, I stood outside and closed my eyes and envisioned the fancy rooftop bar and the way that the colored silk canopies blew in the breeze, which carried all of those delicious scents of exotic cocktails. Then I opened my eyes back up again and pulled the giant wooden slab of a door open and went inside.
I realized that even though Nick had taken and sent a picture of me to Scott, I actually had no idea what this guy looked like or how to find him. I messaged Kate real quick and asked her to have Nick send me a picture of the guy I was supposed to meet here. I was a few minutes early, though, so I sat down at the bar and ordered a glass of wine. When I felt a tap on my shoulder, I turned around, thinking it would be some cute, young guy.
Max.
“Hi, Max,” I said. I was always glad to see Max. He was just such a cool guy that it made you feel good just being around him.
“Hey, Brooke,” he said. “What are you doing here all alone?”
“I’m actually waiting on a blind date.” It was embarrassing to say for some reason.”
“A blind date?”
“Yeah, Kate’s boyfriend, Nick, set me up with one of his friends who is supposed to be meeting me here in a few minutes. I wasn’t real keen on the idea, but they both convinced me that it would be good for me to go on a date with someone my age, someone younger than—”
“Tim,” he finished my sentence.
I felt as sad as I knew my face was giving away.
“Brooke, I really think that you should just give Tim one more chance. I know you already did, but just one more. He really cares about you a lot more than you know. If you just gave him one more chance to show you, I think you would see.”
This was the part where I broke down and went home, or I stuck to the reason I came here tonight, to venture out a bit and try something new.
“I appreciate all that you’re doing to try to help bring Tim and me together, Max, really I do. But I’ve already given Tim way too many chances as it is. Despite the feelings that I have for him, I think it’s time for me to move on.”
That was so hard for me to say. I think Max could see how much it hurt me to vocalize that I was giving up