Lucas. I was really interested in seeing if he was the sort of guy that could give as much pleasure as I thought he could. Yes, he was handsome, and yes, it didn’t necessarily mean that just because he was handsome, he’d be good in bed. But I had a feeling the way he’d been touching my leg the night of our date that he knew what he was doing.
“Okay Gemma, you’ve got this, you’ve got this.” I walked back to my computer feeling happier. “And you know what? If it doesn’t work out with Connor, you’ve always got Lucas, and you’ve got loads of other guys that want to go on a date with you. So don’t get down on yourself and don’t feel bad. Okay? Give guys a chance, don’t judge them any more before you meet them, give them at least one chance, one date. And if it clicks, yes, another date can happen. And if it doesn’t click, just tell them, ‘Sorry this isn’t working and leave.’” I lectured myself as I sat back down. Sometimes I had to do that. Sometimes I let the anxiety of guilt weigh me down. It most probably had to do with my Catholic upbringing, but I wasn’t going to let that happen again, especially not in the dating realm. Pep talks reminded me that I was beautiful, confident and deserving.
“It’s okay to be picky, and it’s okay to be choosy, Gemma. Remember that.” I spoke out loud to myself again. I had to remind myself that it was okay to say no, it was okay to not like a guy. “And you know what? Sarah said he sounded like a creep too, remember?” I smiled to myself. “You don’t have to convince yourself that you’re in the right, Gemma. You’re okay.” I sat back on the couch and groaned, “Oh my God, I’m losing my mind. I’m sitting here talking to myself.” I started laughing. It was definitely time for me to get a man. I hit play on the first album that I had downloaded and listened to the music. The warm sounds of a saxophone filled my living room and I closed my eyes trying to let the music take me over.
There was something about it that was familiar, yet different. It was comforting and alluring. It wasn’t so bad if I just let the music carry me away. It was a different experience than the music I listened to normally. I wasn’t singing and dancing along. I was letting the music carry me and it was, it wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t so bad at all. I looked at my watch and realized that I had an hour and a half to get ready and get down to Tribeca where I was going to meet Connor outside a hotel called The Roxy. Apparently they had some underground jazz club that not many people in the city knew about, but he’d been able to get us tickets. That was really cool. I’d been impressed. He’d gone above and beyond what the dating agency had been able to do. And that showed me that he really wanted to impress me, which was a really good thing.
I pulled up the email again and looked at his photo. He looked like a bad boy, I couldn’t deny that. With his blond hair, all tousled and long, and that six-pack, whoa. I ran my fingers down the screen. Hot, hot, hot. “Just remember, you cannot go back to his place tonight if he wants you to Gemma. No sex on the first date. Remember that.” I laughed to myself and then hurried to the shower. It was time to get ready. No point me daydreaming about what could possibly happen tonight if I didn’t make it to the date on time.
The Uber pulled up in front of The Roxy Hotel with approximately two minutes to spare. “Thank you.” I said and jumped out of the car and looked around to see if I could see Connor. He was standing outside the front of the door, leaning against the wall. He had on a black leather jacket, black jeans and a white crisp shirt. I looked at his shoes, pleasantly surprised to see that he was wearing nice Italian leather shoes. “That tells me a lot.” I smiled to myself, “Tells me a lot.” My grandparents had always said you could tell the worth of a person by their shoes. If they