Nerd Girl(9)

“Well, congratulations then,” he said with calm enthusiasm and held up his glass to toast me. “Cheers! To Julia and her new job.”

I held up my glass and clinked his. I couldn’t help returning his smile. It felt great to have someone to celebrate this momentous occasion with, even if it was someone who was essentially a stranger; a hot stranger, at that.

Right on cue, the hostess approached me and politely interrupted. “Your table is ready.”

“Oh, um, actually, my friend cancelled on me. I’m not going to need the table anymore. You can give it to someone else,” I said regretfully.

Ryan interrupted our exchange. He nodded towards the hostess and asked, “Can you hold on a moment?” He then looked back at me with a curious smile. “It’s not even 6:30. You haven’t had dinner yet; I haven’t had dinner yet. We’ve both been stood up. You have a new job to celebrate. Since I hit you with my car and I totally owe you more than just this drink, what do you say we keep the table and have dinner together?”

Well, that was unexpected. I stared at him and blinked a few times, not knowing what to do. I raised one eyebrow and without much thought, I very tentatively nodded. What a surprise gesture.

He beamed, revealing his adorable dimples and straight white teeth. He was obviously pleased at the prospect of having dinner with me, a complete stranger, but how did I feel about having dinner with him? It was too late to back out now, when an attractive, sexy man just asked me to dinner. Don’t overthink this, Julia. Recognizing my good fortune, I shrugged. “Sounds great,” I said confidently, nodding and laughing quietly to myself

He looked back at the hostess to confirm what she had already overheard. “We’ll keep the table.”

I liked the sound of we. I liked his confidence more.

Ryan motioned his hand in front of him, allowing me to walk before him. We followed the hostess to a private corner table near the back of the restaurant. Ryan held out my chair like a gentleman and then sat himself on the booth side of the table against the wall.

Betty’s was one of my favorite restaurants. It was a great neighborhood bistro on top of Queen Anne hill, located in the shadow of the Space Needle. I loved the ambience; it was warm, inviting, and casual, but also elegant with a good wine selection. The room was dimly lit from candles glowing at each table. Sitting in the back corner with Ryan felt very private and intimate.

And as if Ryan could read my mind, he said, “I love this place. Have you been here before?”

“Yes, many times. I love it here. The food is always great, especially the shoestring fries,” I gushed.

He nodded in agreement. “Ah, yes! We should order the fries then.”

“My friends and I come here often. I live down in lower Queen Anne, off Taylor and Ward. What about you?”

“I live in Queen Anne, too. I’m on the west side, facing side of the hill on 9th Avenue.”

I did another little happy dance in my head, realizing we lived probably less than a mile from each other. Visions of carpooling together ran through my head. “Do you have a view, by chance?” I asked. It seemed like everyone had a view of the water from that side of the hill.

“Yeah, I do. It was one of the big selling points when I bought my house a few years ago.”

“That must be so great. I’m jealous. I just have a little two bedroom condo with a view of a parking lot. If you look really hard, just beyond it, I have a lovely view of Hwy 99 with Lake union   in the distance,” I said, feigning excitement and rolling my eyes.

He laughed. “Hey, a condo around here isn’t cheap, even one with a view of Hwy 99. You must be doing something right.”

I was pleasantly surprised by how he just turned my innocent comment into flattery.

“By the way, how old are you, anyways?”

“I’m twenty-nine. Why?”

“Just curious; you look younger than twenty-nine.”

People had always told me that, so I wasn’t too surprised or offended. “Fair game, then,” I warned. “How old are you?”

“I asked for that,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m an old man compared to you. I’m thirty-seven.”

“But you look good.” I made a show of looking him up and down. “No gray hair or anything,” I teased. My elbow was on the table and my fingers were resting on my chin. I contemplated his age. “I’ve never dated anyone more than a few years older than me. He looked really good for thirty-seven, very good. He gave middle age a whole new something to look forward to.”

He raised his eyebrows and blushed. “Thanks,” he said shyly.