Page 67 of Mr. February

“Nah, that fell through. Not all of us have a matchmaking boss who sets us up with our dream girl. My dream girl would have taken one look at me and— Never mind. If you haven’t proposed, what are you freaking out about so hard? Did you come on too strong?”

“Not exactly. Maybe. I’m not sure.”

“Fucking hell, man. Why did you call me if you’re not going to tell me anything?” Kyle’s frustration seemed real this time. “You don’t have to give me the details, but can’t you at least give me a clue what’s going on? Why are you freaking out so hard after one date?”

Wade stared up at the ceiling. Whywashe so stressed about this?

“Okay, here’s the deal. Like I said, we talked a lot. I learned more about her dating history, and it’s shitty.”

“How shitty?” Kyle snarled.

“Not as shitty as you’re thinking. Verbal, not physical, as far as I can tell. But she’s nervous. And I made the mistake of saying we should take things slow because I didn’t want her to regret anything we did.”

“That sounds smart to me. Does she think you’re rejecting her instead of looking out for her?”

“Yes and no. But we talked about it and ended up fooling around—”

“Nice.”

“—and then we had more deep conversation. I thought things were going great, but then she pulled back. And I don’t know what I did wrong.”

“Why do you assume you did something wrong?”

“Because she’s not ready for me to tell everybody we’re dating.”

“This is still after one date, right?”

“Well, yeah, but like I said, we’ve been together all week. We just made it real.”

“Today; you made it real today. You need to slow the fuck down, bro. For real. You’ve been interested in her for a while, so to you, this isn’t sudden. But it’s new for her. She was dating someone else. They broke up, and she had to adjust to being single again. That whole time, you were there, but she didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, but—”

“No, listen to me. I was right about her interest in you, and I’m right about this, too. You’ve had a year to think about what it would be like to date her. She needs time to catch up, and if you don’t give it to her, you’re going to push her away. You’ve never been like this about a woman before.”

“I think she’s it for me, Kyle.”

“Shut the fuck up, asshole. You’ve been on one real date.”

“You’re right, I need to slow down. The last thing I want to do is freak her out. But it’s more than one date, and you know it. We’ve been friends for a while, and we’ve connected these last few days. When you spend almost all your waking hours with someone, you get to know them faster than random dinner dates over weeks. But I understand what you’re saying, and I’m going to slow things down.”

Wade snorted at his own words.

“Well, I’m not going to slow things down, but I’m also not going to tell her everything I just told you. But she’s everything I never knew I wanted. It’s not just an attraction, though there’s plenty of that. She makes me feel calm and excited at the same time. Like parts of me are at ease just from being around her, but my heart is going a million miles a minute.”

Kyle’s silence rang out until he heaved a sigh of his own.

“Wow. I don’t know what to say. In all the years I’ve known you, you’ve never said anything like that before. That was like poetic and shit.”

“Yup. I’ve never felt like this about anyone. And before you ask, it’s not a reaction to Suzanne’s presence. I started feeling this way before we ran into her. It’s so much bigger than attraction and liking. When she’s around, something in me settles down.”

“Woah, that’s wild. Congratulations, I guess.”

Wade snorted.

“Yeah, that’s getting ahead of myself. I need to convince her not to run away first. She’s not used to being an object of desire much less anything more serious. But thank you. I feel a lot better now that I understand why I was panicking so much, but I also understand why she’s not on the same page yet.”

“I hate to bring it up, but you realize she might never get there, right?”

---