The Way We Were

Hey Dani, it's Keith. I hope it's okay but I got your number from Haley. Any chance you want to grab drinks this week? 

I was embarrassingly excited when I received this text from Keith on Tuesday. It wasn't until half-way through Sunday morning yoga with Elena that I realized Keith never asked for my number. I skipped over to Elena's desk on Tuesday to show her the message. 

"Ohh what are you going to say!" she asked excitedly. 

"Yes," I replied. "I haven't heard a peep from Bray since Thursday, therefore I'm just going to assume he has moved to Zimbabwe with Chelsea. Onto the next!"

"Atta girl," she laughed while casting a side-eyed glance at Jeff. I could feel his eyes on us as we talked. He had responded to Elena's text Sunday and told her they could talk whenever she wanted, but she still hadn't replied. I kept telling her that was super awkward, seeing as they saw each other every single day at work. But she argued that she still needed time.

"Are you ready for tonight?" she asked, referring to my date with Nick that evening.

"I guess," I said with a shrug. "It's weird, every other time I've seen him in the last few months I've been a nervous wreck for days beforehand. And now, I haven't even mentally chosen my outfit." 

"Woow," she answered, half-mockingly. I gave her a small shove.

"Okay back to work," I said as I headed back towards my desk. Once I sat back down, I typed a response to Keith.

Ugh that damn Haley, always giving my number out. But I'd love to. How is Thursday? 

I immersed myself in some website updates to avoid staring at my phone for him to text back. I tried to find his Facebook, but Haley wasn't friends with him and I had no clue what his last name was. My stomach did a flip when I felt my phone vibrate across the desk. 

Perfect - how's Guilty Goose at 7?

Never been! But see you then.

I quickly googled the bar, which was down on 23rd. It looked nice though, despite the weird name. I gave myself a mental high-five. This was now the second new guy I was dating since Nick and it definitely felt like it was getting easier. 

By 7:30 that night, I was sitting in front of my mirror applying makeup for my "date" with Nick. It felt weird - like some sort of combo between a first date and an interview. Because if this dinner didn't go well, there really was no point in trying to make it work. After having a fun night out with Keith I had more confidence in the idea of being single. Even though my heart still jumped into my throat every time I saw Nick, he was starting to seem like more drama than I needed. 

I grabbed my bag (a recent Michael Kors splurge for summer, which ensured that I would be eating pasta and stale crackers for two weeks straight) and headed out the door. I was meeting Nick at a tiny Mexican restaurant that had been a favorite of ours when we were together. A light rain had begun to fall, so I pulled my denim jacket up over my head and hustled the six blocks to the restaurant. I pulled open the heavy door and shook myself off, which probably slightly resembled a golden retriever. 

"Hi, I'm meeting someone?" I said to the hostess, while scanning the tiny restaurant. I was ten minutes late, but there was no sign of Nick. 

"Name?" she asked.

"Um I guess it's under Murray?" I offered. She scanned the list and grabbed two menus. 

"You're the first to arrive, right this way," she said flatly and turned on her heel towards the dining room. 

I followed behind her and settled into the tiny table. I whipped out my phone, he was now 13 minutes late. I figured the rain made it tough to find a cab, so I ordered a margarita and looked around the room. It was surprisingly full for a Tuesday, and I was glad that Nick had the smart sense to make a reservation. 

By 8:20, Nick was officially twenty minutes late. I sent him a quick text.

Running late? 

I didn't want to sound like I was pissed, even though I kind of was. Even if he had trouble finding a cab he could at least have called. 

Ten more minutes passed before I officially started to feel stupid. I had housed the first margarita and nearly finished the bowl of chips in front of me. I was debating between ordering a second drink or leaving, when Nick finally walked in. He spotted me and loped casually over to the table.

"Hey gorgeous," he said, giving me a kiss on the cheek. 

"Seriously?" I said, fuming. He was thirty minutes late for our date, the one he had planned. 

"What?" he asked, settling in across from me. 

"You're a half an hour late!" I said, trying to keep my voice down so that the other patrons wouldn't hear. 

He looked at me and frowned, glancing down at his watch. "We said 8:30."

"No, we said eight," I snapped. "You made the reservation! It was literally under your name when I got here." 

His face fell, "Oh my god you're right, I'm so sorry. Work has been so crazy I just got confused. Have you been here long?"

I rolled my eyes, "Only a drink and a bowl of chips long." 

"Shit," he said. "I guess I'm doing a crappy job of winning you back aren't I?" He gave me his most charming smile. I took a deep breath, determined not to let him off the hook.

"Yeah, you are," I replied. We spent a few minutes in silence as he looked over the menu. We both ended up ordering chicken tacos, which was what we had always gotten in the past. Nick and I had almost the same exact taste in food, which usually resulted in ordering the same thing when we went out. Most people said they would be annoyed at this, but I always found it comforting. Like a weird declaration of our compatibility. 

By the time I was halfway done with my second margarita, I was starting to forgive him. I mean, it was an honest mistake, right? We were flirting and the tequila was making me feel warm on the inside, and the rainy weather increased the cozyness of the restaurant. 

"Want another?" Nick asked, gesturing towards my empty margarita.

"I don't know, tequila will start to give me impure thoughts about you," I joked. 

He laughed loudly and raised his hand, signaling for the waiter. "In that case I will be ordering you two," he winked. I must have been buzzed, because I didn't even want to make a quip at the fact he felt bold enough to wink at me.

The rest of dinner passed in laughter and I was beginning to think we might actually be able to be friends. We avoided any talk of dating - other people or each other - and fell into the steady rhythm of the way we were. 

The rain tapered off by the time we got up to leave. "Can I walk you home?" he asked hopefully as we stood outside of the restaurant.

I shook my head, "I'm okay." 

He reached for my arm and pulled me closer to him, "Are you sure?" 

His face was inches from mine and his familiar smell surrounded me. But I was firmly listening to my head and not my lady parts this time. "I'm sure," I said with a smile.

He gave an audible sigh and leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek, which he held for a little longer than he should have. 

"Wanna catch a movie or something later in the week?" he asked as I started to pull away.

"Um I'm pretty busy actually," I answered staring down at my toes. 

"Oh? With what?" he asked.

"Boundaries, Nicholas," I joked. "Have a good night." 

With that, I turned around and headed towards home. I didn't even look back to see if he was watching me walk away.