Page 14 of Certified Heartthrob

She sank down in the booth a bit. “Huh.”

“You seem perplexed.”

“I just find it odd that people are so insecure that they can’t be confronted with a differing opinion without it destroying their whole night...and their investment in the app.”

“Believe it,” I sighed. “One after another. They storm right out on me. Wouldn’t you do the same?”

“I’d be pissed you wasted my time,” she admitted. “But that’s why I don’t date. It’s a waste of time.”

The mood between us changed. She looked like she had just been caught red-handed, and she had. I had my slip of the tongue, and she had hers.

“So, I was right. You don’t date, but you sell a dating app to millions of people.”

“I don’t work in marketing,” she defended. “I simply handle our investors and business plan. I help with strategy for growth sometimes, but that’s hardly me trying to pull over some scam. If people don’t want to date...fine, they don’t have to. There are plenty of other willing customers out there.”

“Which is why I must drive you mad.”

“Yes, precisely. If you would just go live your life and stop trying to dictate what everyone else does, I wouldn’t need to be sitting here right now.”

I was drawn into her sassy confidence and the way she spoke with such certainty and authority. I got lost there for a moment, staring deep into her eyes.

“To be honest, I’m kind of glad you are.”

She looked away and blushed, just as the waitress came back with the check.

As we walked away from the restaurant, everything was suddenly quiet. We couldn’t shut up before, but now we both seemed afraid to speak.

“You okay?” I asked finally.

She nodded her head, but didn’t look at me. Her hands stayed planted firmly in the pockets of her jacket and then she stopped right in the middle of the sidewalk.

“I’m a little drunk,” she confessed. “But truthfully...I can’t help but wonder if maybe part of the reason you’re so dissatisfied with dating is that…”

I stepped closer, gravitating towards her warmth in the cold. “Yes? Go on.”

“Is that...well...they don’t end with the most important part. Your dates are storming off before…”

Without saying another word, she stood on her tiptoes, stretching up for my mouth with her eyes closed. Instinctively, I wrapped my hand around her arm and pulled her in closer, meeting her lips with my own. I collided with the softness of her kiss and tasted a mouthful of the mint she ate after dinner, mixed with the remnants of red wine. Deepening the kiss, I tilted my head and rolled my tongue across hers.

Making out was not the determining factor in my verdict on dating. But she was right. It was a lot more fun when the night ended like that.

7

Camille

Idon’t know what I’m doing. It wasn’t until Mark’s brows furrowed that I realized I’d said the words out loud. But since they were out there, I figured I might as well go ahead and say them again.

“I don’t know what I’m doing!” I repeated, shriller this time, flailing my arms as I started to manically pace the sidewalk. “You were right. I was never supposed to come see you in person in the first place. I was never supposed to try and set you up or follow you around like this. We certainly weren’t supposed to have dinner and let it spiral into…” I stared at his lips, suddenly longing to shrink away their absence. I wanted them back against mine, where they were moments ago.

“It wasn’t supposed to spiral into that,” I concluded more calmly, feeling embarrassed.

Mark simply smirked. “Do you want to go somewhere more private to talk?”

Just as he said it, a couple awkwardly navigated their way around us on the narrow sidewalk, looking painfully aware that something serious was going down between us.

“No,” I hissed, whispering as if the strangers could hear us...even though they had quickly scrambled on. “I know what that means. You’ll lure me off somewhere with the promise of talking. Then we’ll get there and we won’t talk at all! It will just be more of...that!”

“Kissing?” he offered. “You can say it, you know. It’s not a dirty word or act. We just kissed. So what? You’re the one who pounced on me.”

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