weird costume live action activity, it’s just too much. I don’t want to be judgmental, but clearly, this is not someone I’m going to click with.
I make it through the rest of the evening as David insists we split a dessert and order coffee. I feel badly, letting him pay what has to be a substantial dinner bill, because I’m nearly positive that I don’t want to see him again. But etiquette dictates that I do not insist on paying my share after he refuses my wallet reach gesture.
After dinner, when we step outside into the cool evening, David turns to me. “Would you like to take a walk to the commons?”
I check my watch. It’s nearly midnight and the last train stops running around 12:30. I tell him this and he shrugs as though it doesn’t matter.
“You did take the T in right?” I ask.
He nods. “Did you?”
I shake my head just as a sinking feeling begins in my stomach. Does he expect me to drive him home or, gulp, take him home with me? “I think we’d better head back so you won’t miss the last train,” I tell him.
He stares at me for a beat, seeming to try to read me, before nodding his agreement and turning back the way we came.
I’m exhausted from my week and I’m looking forward to getting home, but I keep pace with his slow, not-a-care-in-the-world, ambling stride, hiding my impatience.
“Where are you parked?” he asks after a block.
I point to the garage on the corner near the theater. Clearly, he intends to walk me to my car. I can’t help but feel disappointed that David is doing everything right this evening, but he himself just isn’t right for me.
We finally reach my car parked on the ground floor and I turn to him, keys in hand. “Thank you,” I say. “I had a really nice evening.”
He’s standing close to me. His eyes are level with mine as they lock on me. His hand finds my waist as he leans in and touches his lips to mine. I don’t feel anything other than the desire to pull away. But I respond. It would be way too awkward to refuse the kiss. I’m going to take the coward’s way out and tell him later on the telephone that I don’t think there’s any chemistry between us. Actually, that isn’t the real coward’s way out. When I’ve been on the receiving end of rejection, it generally came in the form of an email or text, or it was made apparent by the black hole the guy in question suddenly disappeared into. But I don’t operate that way. I prefer the honest and direct approach. Not so much in person though.
When David tries to deepen the kiss, I do lean back, noticing an older couple walking in our direction. I take the opportunity to cut my eyes to them, hoping David will assume I’m just embarrassed to be seen smooching in public. Whether he does or not, I’m not sure, but he gives me a good-natured hug goodbye and tells me he’ll call me tomorrow. Now I feel badly. He is a genuinely nice guy. Perhaps I am counting him out too quickly?
I cringe at my wishy-washy attitude, realizing that if I’d had met David a few years ago, I would have easily discounted him. I decide not to decide anything about David yet as I turn on the radio and point my car toward home.
twenty-two
Katie comes over on Sunday. Morning sickness has taken hold--only it lasts all day, she tells me. We’re camped out on the living room floor with the Sunday paper spread around us, looking at ads from local department stores, browsing for children’s furniture and supplies, trying to see what types of styles there are for cribs and changing tables. It’s too early to start purchasing anything, and Katie is being superstitious about stocking up on major baby items so soon, but it’s fun to look.
While we peruse the paper, I describe David and my date with him to Katie. As I knew she would, she urges me not to hold LARP against him. Although she does agree that it sounds pretty ridiculous. But Katie, similar to my family, is not to be trusted when it comes to this sort of thing. My family, especially, cannot be counted on to judge my dates impartially. Their agenda to have me married off, or at least in a relationship, taints all their opinions.