I snorted. “I know better than to trust youwhen it comes to something like this.”
“Because you’re smart.” Then his tone turnedmore serious. “But you know you can trust me if you need to talk to me aboutanything, right?”
“Of course.” Gray might have been the guywho’d instigated all the crazy when we were in college but he was also the guywho’d do anything for a friend. “It’s just a first date.”
It was just a first date.
****
There were betterthings to do on a first date than dinner, but I hadn’t been able to think ofanything else. I’d thought about the movies, but I wanted a chance to get toknow him. I wasn’t sure why it was so difficult. In the past, I hadn’t thoughttwice about going to dinner with someone on the first date. It was easy, aninstinctual invitation when I thought about dating someone.
Was I worried about impressing Lane?
No. He hadn’t seemed to be the type ofperson who would care where we ate.
Was it because he was a guy?
That was harder, but I didn’t think so. Thelast time I’d remembered being as nervous over a first date was back in highschool. It felt like a lifetime ago, but I’d been nervous and excited and ithad felt like small gremlins had invaded my stomach. Amy. I thought she’d beenperfect. We’d dated for about a month, which seemed like a lifetime back then.
Something about Lane made me want to smileand find out more about him. I was excited, and a little bit nervous. But itwas like the way every cell would tense right before the roller coaster startedto reach the top of the hill. It wasn’t bad, but it was still stressful.
My phone call with Gray hadn’t been verylong, but it had been just distracting enough to keep me from focusing on mywork. But it also gave me an excuse to text Lane. He’d said he wasn’t much of anight owl when we’d traded numbers, so I hadn’t wanted to wait too late to texthim. I’d hoped to get more work done before we spoke, but Gray had killed myfocus earlier than I’d planned.
Swiping my finger across the screen, Itried not to overthink it as I brought up Lane’s name in my contacts.
I hope the rest of your day went well.Are we still on for dinner tomorrow?
Hitting send, I ignored how stilted themessage felt. I wasn’t sure how long it would take for Lane to respond, butwhen he texted back quickly, it felt like a weight was lifted off me.
The day went great. No shoot today but Igot a lot done on the blog. How was your day? And yes I still want to go todinner.
I hadn’t realized how tense I’d been untilrelief went through me. I’d basically cornered him earlier, so I hadn’t beensure if he was just agreeing because I overwhelmed him or because he’d actuallywanted to.
The day was good. I had several clientsso I was busy. Any idea of where you want to go eat?
There hadn’t been time to learn if he wason any kind of weird diet or just had a passionate hatred for fish. I’d metsome people who automatically assumed everyone was on some kind of crazy weirddiet so they hadn’t even thought to mention it.
I thought that telling me you didn’t eat meat,gluten, or dairy would be important, but evidently not.
I’m good with almost anything…and that’snot helpful to you at all LOL
He was right, but he had me chuckling as Itexted back.
Yep. Not exactly a font of informationthere.
His reply had me laughing.
So you don’t want me to be mysterious?As your stalker I think I’m supposed to play it cool.
I could picture that teasing grin of his,slightly embarrassed, but still trying to put himself out there.
You were so mysterious I didn’t evennotice you were stalking me. I’m thinking you should go for something morenoticeable this time. Like talking lol.
As I read his reply, I imagined the blushthat sometimes crept up his face.
You’re asking for a lot. Stalking is asolitary pursuit.
I didn’t want solitary. I wanted to get toknow my funny stalker.
