Page 24 of Finding Romance
“I mean. I laid my dating life, or lack thereof, out on the table. It’s your turn. Quid pro quo,” she challenges, her singular eyebrow over her green eye moving higher on her forehead.
“Fine. My first kiss was when I was thirteen. I had two long-term girlfriends in high school and probably went out on a dozen or so dates with other girls. I went on a few dates during my time in the Navy, but honestly, it was more one-night stands when I had leave. Then in college, I had a long-term girlfriend for a year, the longest girlfriend. After that, I’ve had a string of dates, but mostly I kept a hook-up buddy for emergencies,” I state matter-of-factly.
“For emergencies?” she asks.
“Yep.” I don’t elaborate. I honestly haven’t spoken to that woman in over three months, right before I left on what was supposed to be a work trip but turned into nearly three months of staying with my grandmother.
She drops her hands from her hips. “Dinner and maybe a movie,” she says.
“OK. I can do that. When?”
“Tomorrow?” she asks.
I have a standing online game tomorrow. Shit. I don’t want to tell the boys what I’m doing. Then I remember Roxy and Al heard our conversation. Would they tell the others?
“How about the day after tomorrow? I have a previous commitment tomorrow,” I offer, deciding I should keep my standing game even if they do find out.
She looks at me with curiosity and then her face falls. Damn it.
“Not that. It’s a game with friends,” I admit.
“Oh, OK. That works,” she says. She goes to leave and looks back at me. “What should I wear?”
“Whatever you’ll be comfortable in. But it’ll be a nicer restaurant, not a local bar,” I say as I decide on the location.
“What does that even mean?” she protests.
“It means, no jeans and T-shirts, but dresses, pants, nicer tops are fine, nothing too fancy. We aren’t going to prom,” I try to explain.
“What are you wearing?” she asks. Now I’m getting exasperated.
“Black pants, gray sweater,” I say with a clenched jaw.
Her lips twitch and then she manages to say, “OK, I’ll see you at…?”
“I’ll pick you up at six,” I state.
“Oh, uh, can I just come over here? I don’t want my aunt knowing,” she says.
“What about Al and Roxy?” I ask because they clearly know.
“I’ll tell them to keep it quiet,” she says.
“Good luck with that,” I tease and she groans.
“Fine, pick me up at six. But I’m telling them we are just going out as friends,” she grumbles.
“Fine,” I reply as she leaves me standing there wondering what I just agreed to.
“You agreed to do what?” Bray asks as we play the game. Bray, when he’s not working, joins me online and so does Hutch. Gray and Drew tend to not play but they will consume a drink and chat with us. I specifically made a setup at my place where we can connect all our computers separately and still hang out.
“I agreed to a practice date. I mean, shit, someone needs to teach her,” I huff, suddenly feeling overprotective of Piper.
“What the fuck do you know about romance?” Hutch says with a laugh.
I glare at him and he just keeps laughing.
“Fuck you,” I curse.
