by Mia Archer
I blushed and looked down at the burger I still hadn't touched. I was going to have to dive into that thing at some point. And so I did that now. Taking a bite meant I didn’t have to talk to Tiffany for a moment, but only for a moment. She was still waiting when I was done chewing.
"I might have given her my number," I said.
I allowed myself to smile for the first time tonight. There was something about sitting here discussing this with Tiffany that made the whole thing seem more real.
All night long I’d felt like I was in a daze. Like I was in a fairyland. I felt as though the whole thing wasn't actually real.
Talking about this with Tiffany made it real though. And the sudden feeling that it was real made a giddiness spread through me. Tiffany’s knowing smile was infectious.
"So?" Tiffany said. "Are you going to dish or am I going to have to keep drawing this out of you?"
"So she's incredibly hot, it turns out she works for some tech company in town…"
"Tech company?" Tiffany said. "So she’s a huge geek just like you?"
I lobbed a fry across the table. If she was going to start of the war with potato products then I was more than happy to go along with it.
"I have no idea," I said. "That's probably a pretty safe bet though."
"Good," Tiffany said. "It's always nice if you like the same movies when you’re pretending to watch something as an excuse to fuck.”
My eyes went wide, but the thought of watching a movie with Taylor as an excuse to get down and dirty was pretty nice.
She shrugged. "What? Isn't that what this is all about in at the end?"
“There's more to relationships than fucking,” I said. "I think you've been spending too much time with our clients if that's what you think."
"Hey, I've never dated a client. At least not until after they've been coming around for a while."
"Yeah yeah," I said. "The point is this girl seems pretty cool."
"So why don't you call her?" Tiffany asked.
I shook my head. "No way."
"Why not? Don't be such a wimp!"
"It's not that I'm a wimp," I said. "Do you even realize what time it is? People with real jobs are all at home and asleep!"
"I bet your nerdy friend isn't," she said. "She probably still stays up late because she got in the habit playing World of Warcraft back in college."
I fixed Tiffany with my best glare. Not that it did much this late at night. Or maybe it would be more accurate to say this early in the morning.
The point is Tiffany was so exhausted that she refused to be intimidated.
"Come on Tiffany," I said. "Not every geeky person is into World of Warcraft and Star Trek."
"Go ahead and ask her the first time you go on a date," Tiffany said. "I bet she enjoys at least one of the holy trinity."
I cocked an eyebrow. “The holy trinity? What are you going on about now?"
Tiffany held up a hand and ticked off three points on her fingers. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and World of Warcraft. TV and movies, books, and video games."
Now it was my turn to look at her in pure disbelief. "You seem to know an awful lot about a geeks’ favorite things."
She shrugged. "What can I say? In my line of work you happen to run into a lot of geeky guys, and I figured out that they tip a hell of a lot better if they think you're into some of the same things they are."
"You slut,” I said.
"I prefer to think of it as being a savvy businesswoman rather than being a slut. Especially since I'm not sleeping with my client."
Not sleeping with her client. That sent a fresh wave of guilt running through me. Sure what I did in that back room wasn't exactly sleeping with Taylor, but it was pretty close. Things got hot and heavy, and I felt a longing deep inside me, a tingling that started in my stomach and moved down between my legs, as I thought of some of the things we did.
"Earth to Jasmine," Tiffany said.
I looked up and blinked.
"Sorry," I said. "Got a little lost there."
“I’d say," Tiffany said. "So you're going to call that girl, right?"
"If I call her do you promise to get off my case?" I asked.
"I don't promise to do anything of the sort," she said. "But I do promise to continue bothering you until the two of you are happily married."
"I'm in my early twenties. What makes you think I want to be a happily married to anyone any time soon?” I asked.
"I'll settle for you happily in a relationship with a girl. The point is you need to call her and you need to get this locked down!"
"Fine, fine," I groused. "I promise I’ll call her!”
And with that I went back to enjoying my burger and fries. No matter what Tiffany wanted I had no intention of calling Taylor this late in the evening. Or this early in the morning.
I’d give her a call soon though.
9
Taylor
“So?"
I turned away from my computer and looked up at Dan who was hanging over my cubicle wall. "So what?"
So was last Friday night awesome or what?"
I tried to hold in my grin. I tried to hold in the giddy excitement that had been threatening to burst free ever since that night.
I woke up Saturday morning, though it would be fair to say it was closer to Saturday afternoon, filled with excitement. I was ready to take on the world. That euphoria kept me going all the way through Sunday, though by the end of the day Sunday I found myself glancing at my phone more and more wondering if Jasmine wasn't going to call me after all.
Now it was Monday and I hadn't heard anything. I guess there really was a part of me that had been hoping something might've been growing there.
"Yeah, it was a good night,” I said when I realized Dan was still standing there waiting for an answer.
He held out a hand for me to high-five. I eyed it for a moment. I felt like giving him a high five would be acknowledging that he'd been absolutely right with his persistent bothering last Friday.
If I let them know that he was absolutely correct in persistently bugging me that meant a possibility that he’d have absolutely no problem bothering me again the next time they had a party like that.
Finally I relented though. After all, he'd been right. I'd had a good time. I met a hot girl, and I had the blush-inducing memories of everything that had happened that night.
Even if nothing else came of it I had of those wonderful memories.
“So what would you say to making that a thing we do every week?" Dan asked.
"Not a chance in hell," I said.
"How about every month?" he asked.
I eyed him for a long moment. "I'll think about it."
"Good!"
It didn't occur to me until after he said that with a twinkle in his eye that maybe he’d started with once a week as a negotiating point and he'd always meant to go for once a month. Though I had trouble believing Dan could be that sneaky.
“So did anything else happen with you and that hottie?" Dan asked.
I looked up at him sharply. Narrowed my eyes. "What I did with anyone this weekend is none of your damn business."
Again he held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "Hey! I'm just making conversation here."
“Sorry," I said. "I just…"
"I know. You get touchy every time someone starts talking about your love life," he said.
"Am I that obvious?" I asked.
“Pretty much,” Dan said.
"You’d get annoyed too if you had a bunch of people walking around talking about how hot your love life was," I said.
Dan frowned. "I don't think anyone's ever accused me of that. Not even the girls I've dated."
"Maybe someday you'll find that right girl," I said.
"Maybe," he said. "But in the meantime, I can promise you I'm not asking you this because the thought of you getting a lap dance from that woman is totally hot."
; I cocked an eyebrow. He blushed.
"Sorry. That came out all wrong."
"I'll say," I said.
"But you know what I mean. I was just trying to make friendly conversation. I’m trying here.”
"I know exactly what you mean Dan,” I said. "You just have a really bad habit of putting your foot in your mouth."
“Maybe, but you’re avoiding the question. Did you hear from her?"
I sighed. That was the rub of it. That was why I didn’t like bringing this up. It was a reminder of how little had happened after that first promising night.
“Not a peep. And I was so hopeful after everything…"
I clammed up. That was getting close to the sort of titillating territory I tried very hard to avoid. I didn't want to go there.
"Well I'm sure she'll give you a call soon enough," Dan said. "Or you could shoot her a text."
"Maybe I will," I said.
And with that Dan was gone. Though it was nice to have his words to think over. After all, what was stopping me from texting her?
I pulled my phone out and tapped out a message. Sent it off before I had a chance to think about it too much. A simple “hi how are you doing?” I wasn't sure what else to say.
Thanks for the free lap dance? Thanks for that incredibly hot moment when you were on top of me and…
I blushed and put my phone down. I didn't want a record of that in my texting history. If somebody were to grab my phone and figure out my password then it would be ridiculously embarrassing.
Not that I thought it was likely somebody would grab my phone and figure out my password, but you could never be to safe.
And then the waiting game started again. I kept glancing at my phone. It was a semi-welcome distraction from the normal ho-hum frustration of working. The never ending annoyance of having people calling in and asking questions about a specialized software platform they should damn well know how to operate by now.
There were times when I wanted to scream at clients that they'd been using this software for longer than I’d been employed at the company. Why the hell didn't they know what they were doing at this point?
But I didn't.
Though I came close a couple of times. I was a little more on edge than usual because of waiting on Jasmine to text me back. Wondering if she was ever going to text me back.
The work day ended. No text. I braved the drive home. No text. I got home and decompressed. No text.
I didn't get any response until I was about to turn in for the night. And by "turn in for the night" I meant I was about to sit down with my laptop and delve into a fascinating video game and keep going until I dozed off and the computer fell to my side in my depressingly empty bed.
Some nights that meant I went right to sleep. Other nights that meant I was up well past midnight.
Then my phone buzzed and all my plans changed. I looked down and saw it was a message from Jasmine. My scalp tingled and my blood got pumping..
"Hi.”
One word that could mean so much. I tried not to overthink it. Tried not to go too crazy analyzing it. So she just sent a simple message. Hi. One word.
What did that mean? Did a one word response mean she wasn't interested in me? Did it mean she wanted me to leave her alone?
I shook my head. I was overthinking this. So I put down my laptop, picked up my phone, and tapped at my screen.
"Hi yourself," I sent back.
"Sorry it took so long to get back to you," she said. "I tend to sleep through the day since I mostly work nights."
I shook my head. Of course that made sense. If I worked a job where I was up that late I’d probably get used to vampire hours too. Heck, there'd been a time in college when I’d been so into World of Warcraft that I'd regularly gone to bed just as the sun was coming up.
I’d nearly failed out that semester, just passing by the skin of my teeth. I was one of the lucky ones. I’d played with college students who hadn't been so lucky.
There were times when I wondered how many of my generation had been lost to the war in Azeroth. Even if it wasn't a war like any other generation had waged.
"I'm glad to hear from you," I said.
"And I was glad to hear from you," she replied. "You have any plans tonight?"
I thought about that. I had to be up for work in the morning, but staying up past my bedtime was hardly something new. I suppose it wouldn't hurt anything if I was staying up late to spend time with Jasmine rather than staying up late playing another round in Civilization.
"I don't have plans," I said. "But I also have to be in bed by at least one so I'll have enough sleep to function at work tomorrow."
"Amateur," Jasmine said. "Coffee should solve all of those problems. Trust me, we’ll have a good time.”
I was genuinely curious to find out what she had in mind. It's not like there was much to do after dark. Not in this town.
"I could go out. Any idea what we could do? My activities at this time of night usually involve playing World of Warcraft or some other game," I said.
"Wait. Are you serious? World of Warcraft?"
Worry lanced through me. Worry that maybe I’d revealed to much of my geeky side.
Then again I told her I worked in tech support. What did she expect from a girl who had a job in tech support? Being a geek was pretty much one of the resume requirements.
"Is there a problem with that?" I asked.
I was both annoyed and worried. Annoyed that she might think gaming was a disqualifier. Worried that she would think it was a disqualifier. I didn’t want to be disqualified from hanging out with her.
"No, it's nothing," she said. "Just something I was talking about with a friend."
"Oh. So do you have an idea for something we could do that's not video game related?"
"Well I've got an idea, but I'm not sure how much you'll like it."
"Really? What?"
Color me intrigued. What could she be talking about that had her worried about how I would react?
"Well it's one of my favorite things to do, but I can never get anyone to do it because they think it's silly."
Okay. Now I was really interested. What could she possibly want to do that was more socially unacceptable than staying up all night playing video games?
Though, come to think of it, that had become a lot more socially acceptable in recent years.
"Come on," I said. "I promise I won't think it's weird or anything."
"Fine. What would you say to a game of laser tag?"
I stared down at my phone for a long moment. Was she serious? I mean it's not like it was something to be embarrassed about, but laser tag wasn't something I'd thought about since I was in middle school or high school maybe. And even then it had been with little cheap toys and not a facility.
My hometown was small enough that they didn't have that sort of thing.
"Are you serious?" I asked.
"I'm sorry. It was a stupid idea. We could go out and have drinks or something…"
I had a feeling and that going out for drinks was the last thing she wanted to do. She was surrounded by people who were "out having a drink" all night long at her work. I could feel of the disappointment coming through her text.
"No! Laser tag sounds awesome. Where is it? I didn't even know they had places like that around here."
"Trust me. I know a great place. Want me to pick you up?"
I grinned and blushed. “Pick me up? This is starting to sound like a real date.”
"Isn't it?"
Again I was brought up short. Again I was left staring at my phone and searching my feelings. Looking for what I knew to be true.
Was this a date? I know I wanted it to be a date. Sure there was a part of me that still said this was crazy. That this was a girl I met at a strip club.
But you know what? Fuck that little voice. That was the same voice that whispered to me that it was wrong to date girls, and the little voice had sure as hell been wrong about that.
So it was probably wrong about this too. That was one of the liberating things about going through the experience of coming out of the closet. After you told your friends and family you were gay pretty much everything else was small potatoes in comparison.
"Yeah, it's totally a date!"
"Glad to hear that. It would've been really awkward to get to the arena and find out we were trying to frag each other as just friends."
"Yeah, totally awkward," I said.
"So where should I pick you up?"
Once more her question gave me pause, only this time it wasn't any sort of existential debate about my love life. No, this time pause was to think over some practicalities of meeting someone for the first time.
It was something I had a lot of practice with since most of my dating experience since leaving college had been of the online variety.
I could still remember a time when online dating was so new that you weren't supposed to meet anybody you talked to on the web. You weren't even supposed to online date. I could also remember the number one piece of advice back then when I was very young.
Don't give someone your home address.
This wasn’t exactly online dating since we’d met in person, but it was close enough. The same rules applied. I didn’t know her, not really, even if I had a good feeling. Better to be careful.
Luckily there was a restaurant just down the street from my apartment complex that would do nicely.
"There's a Taco Fiesta on Wilson Street. Pick me up there in twenty minutes."
“Clever girl. See you then."
I put my phone down. I wasn't sure if she was saying I was a clever girl because I was having her pick me up somewhere other than my apartment or because of my choice of restaurant.
Not that any of that mattered. No, the real problem now was I had to get ready for a date and I told her to pick me up in twenty minutes. It would take me at least five to make the walk which meant I had a grand total of maybe ten minutes to and get out of my comfortable pajama shorts and tank top and into something presentable for a date.
Damn. I should've asked for a half-hour at least.
10
Jasmine