“You got it.” Alistair closed his menu then said, “Speaking of jerks, your roommate is a bit of a dick.”
My stomach sank, and I wracked my brain for a response. “Jake? He’s not that bad. He’s a bit of a ball-buster, that’s all,” I said immediately downing my water.
“He seems like a loser.”
Excuse me?
Hearing him call Jake a loser really pissed me off. There were many words I could use to describe my roommate: sarcastic, intimidating, wiseass, even dick fit the bill sometimes. But “loser” certainly wasn’t one of them.
“Why do you say that?”
“I mean, look at him. His fucking eyebrow is pierced? He just seems like a loser.”
Okay, now I was really getting angry.
“So, you are judging him because he has piercings and tattoos?”
“Yeah…among other things. I’m sure his mother is real proud.”
“A lot of people don’t view things like that as negative. Many find them quite interesting, even attractive, particularly women.”
Particularly me.
“Well, I think he just looks dumb.”
“He’s actually an engineer, and he is really smart.” I looked down at the napkin on my lap and sighed before saying, “Let’s drop the subject.”
I decided it was best to just end that conversation before I said something I would regret. I was expecting the fire alarm any minute because I was sure there was enough smoke coming out of my ears to set it off.
Alistair nodded. I think he could tell he had upset me. “Sounds good.”
Maddie came back over to take our order. On the outside, I put on a cheerful front, but on the inside, I was disappointed at how close-minded and judgmental Alistair really was. There was no doubt that Jake was a total jerk to him. If he had just called him a dick and ended it, I might have been fine. But to attack someone based on looks, was just ignorant and unacceptable to me.
Our dinner conversation fell flat, as we sat there eating our meals amidst large pockets of silence. I was starting to think the highlight of the night was learning the true meaning of Shrimp Scampi.
Needing a breather, I excused myself to go the ladies room and lingered in the stall much longer than normal. My mind drifted again to thoughts of Jake and the disappointed look on his face when I left with Alistair.
When I exited the stall, I looked at myself in the mirror. I closed my eyes and thought about the way Jake stared me up and down when he first laid eyes on me dressed liked this. The look in his eyes gave me chills and I wanted so badly to just walk across the room and kiss him. But what else is new there? Then, he asked where “we” were going. If I hadn’t gone on this date, would I have spent the evening with him? The truth was, I would have wanted to spend any amount of time with Jake, even if it were just for an hour before he had to catch his train. I would have loved to have just sat with him and talked or even studied. I looked forward to time spent with him more than anything because I never felt more alive. I wanted to be with him all of the time.
I just wanted…him.
I wanted him.
I couldn’t deny my feelings or the fact that I was sure he was going to break my heart, even if he never so much as touched me. I started to get really emotional all of a sudden, so I concluded that it was the wine and tried to shake myself from thoughts of him for the moment.
Alistair was going to think I was doing drugs in here if I didn’t hurry up, so I grabbed my bearings and reentered the dining room.
“Hey, I was about to send search and rescue in for you,” he said smiling.
“Sorry about that.”
Alistair placed a menu in front of me. “How about dessert?”
Why not? It’s the one thing that sounded good all night.
Alistair pointed to the dessert list. “Didn’t you say something earlier about Bananas Foster? They have that, if you like it.”
Great.
“Actually, I think I’ll have the chocolate cake,” I said, which of course reminded me of Mrs. Ballsworthy’s cake…which then reminded me of…yeah, this was a hopeless situation.
We placed our dessert order and Alistair excused himself to use the bathroom.
I took my phone out to check facebook, because this date was just too exciting for words, and my heart dropped. I had missed a text from Jake that came in about an hour ago.
Nina, I was a jerk to you and your little friend.
I’m sorry.
And the Barney joke was stupid.
Actually, you looked stunning.
Stunning. Stunning. He thought I looked stunning. This was the first verbal indication that he found me attractive and the butterflies in my stomach were now doing a Greek circle dance.