Man in the Middle
“The best way toget over one man is to get underanother.”
“I can’t believe I let you talk me intothis.”
I watch as Alice touches up her lipstick in my bedroom mirror. We’re both dolled up in heels and short skirts, waiting for Sexy Carl and his older brother to come pick us up for the double date Aliceplanned.
“You’re all mopey, which was fine for a few days, but prolonged dejection is not a part of the Christina Dominguez I know and love. You just got a job with Palmer & Turquot, for god’s sake. We have to get you to lightenup.”
“And you think your new boyfriend’s brother is going to be able to dothat?”
Alice gives me devilish look. “If he’s anywhere near as good as Carl in bed, thenyes.”
I’m really not looking to sleep with anyone right now, even as a casual hookup, but Alice is right: I’ve been mopey. A social outing of any kind might be what I need to get me back on my game. Plus, Carl’s brother is also an advertiser and graduate of our program, with a few years’ experience in the field. At the very least, it will be a chance tonetwork.
“And no turning our date into a networking opportunity,” Alice chides, as if reading my thoughts. “There will be no mixing business withpleasure.”
“Trust me,” I sigh, “I won’t make that mistakeagain.”
Alice pats me on the shoulder. “Come on, mopey. Carl just texted me that they’rehere.”
Two hours later, I’m sitting in a booth with Dean, my date for the evening, as Alice and Carl wait at the bar to get themselves another round. I’m still nursing my first gin and tonic while shooting daggers at Alice’s back. From the wink she gave me when getting up, I know she only left to give me and Dean some timealone.
The gene pool seems to be a good one in the boys’ family; Dean certainly also deserves to have ‘Sexy’ as his nickname. With a chiselled jaw, aquiline nose, and perfectly sculpted black hair, he looks like a Grecian statue brought to life. He’s also charming without being creepy, intelligent without being irritating, and funny without being obnoxious. He interned at Summit Strategies before getting a permanent position with the firm, and seems dedicated to his job without letting it take over hislife.
He’s basically my man-in-the-middle personified, and it’s making me hatehim.
I should be all over this guy. I should be hanging on his every word and already planning our second date. He ticks off almost every single box on my potential boyfriend checklist. I’m sitting here next to the Mr. Perfect I’ve been searching for, and yet I just feel so bored by everything hesays.
Alice and Carl come back, rescuing me from having to carry on with a direct conversation, and I excuse myself to the bathroom just as they’re settlingdown.
I stare at myself in the mirror. Some sort of impending crisis is coming on, bubbling inside me like a volcano about to erupt. I can’t shake the feeling that Dean’s entire existence has been conjured up by Aaron just to mock me. I can practically hear him speaking in his cockiesttone:
Here’s Mr. Right for you, Dominguez. Oh, what’s that? He’s not so right now that you’ve had a taste of thePenn?
I don’t know whether I want to laugh or smash something. What I do know is that sitting next to Dean and feeling absolutely no interest has made me realize something about what I used to be looking for in aguy.
All those traits I wrote on my Venn diagram were things I value in myself, things thatIstrive to be. I wanted to be with someone on who was on my level, and would always keep me pushing to reach the next one up. I thought dating someone equal to me meant dating someone identical tome.
I see the problem with that now, though: there’s nothing to learn. There’s no room to grow and expand, nothing to be gained from being with someone who sees the world exactly the way you do. Relationships require contrast as much as compatibility. Someone who shares all your flaws will be just as blind to them as you are. You need someone who can see your weaknesses and challenge you to overcome them, someone who can help you find the strength in yourself that you may never have noticed on yourown.
Aaron Penn is my opposite in so many ways. He’s irreverent when I’m serious, immature when I’m doing my best to adult, but he’s also calm when I’m stressed and positive when I start drowning in negatives. He makes me feel good about myself, like everything I accomplish matters. He forces me to smile when it’s the last thing I want to do, but the only thing I reallyneed.
“Foda-se!”
I slam my palms onto the bathroom counter just as a middle-aged woman opens the door. She glances at me and then quickly averts her eyes before ducking into astall.
I turn the water on and wash my hands, just to give myself something to do for a minute while I collect myself enough to go back to thebooth.
If Aaron was so perfect for you, I tell myself,things wouldn’t have ended likethis.
Back at the table with Alice and the Sexy Brothers, I do my best to keep up with the conversation, but I barely contribute more than a fewwords.
“So Christina,” Dean says, turning to me, “Alice was telling me you’ve starting working with P&T.”
“Yeah!” Alice gushes. “It’s a major opportunity. I can’t believe you didn’t tell him yet,Christina.”
“I wouldn’t really call itmajor,” Icorrect.
