by J. S. Cooper
I broke into a jog because I really wanted to get there before anything happened that I had no control over. Not that I could just barge in and stop Olivia from dating, no. But I could sit by the side, observe, and see how things were going. I didn't know if I wanted Olivia to see me there, but if we accidentally bumped into each other at the end of the event, well, who could help that? She knew that I liked to drink, and well, there weren't that many bars in San Francisco. It would be totally inconceivable that I would end up at the same one as her event.
I walked into the next venue, which was a small bar with a restaurant and looked pretty dead. There were four guys and four girls standing in opposite corners. All of them looked miserable. Nope. This wasn't the place. I hurried out and looked at the next address that I had to go to. Thank God, it was only two blocks away. I ran to the next bar. This place looked like it was more upscale. I had a good feeling about it.
I walked into the bar and I knew immediately that Olivia was there. I didn't even have to see her. I could sense her presence. It was like something in my body was attuned to her. I knew when she was around even when I didn't see or hear her. I smiled to myself. I didn't even have to look to see if my sixth sense was right. I already knew that it was.
I walked over to the bar. To the right, there was a line of tables, and I could see women sitting there waiting patiently. The tables all had red roses on them and I cringed for the women. Speed dating really was tacky.
And then I saw her, sitting there looking beautiful and bored, and my heart exploded.
I didn't want Olivia to see me, not right away, so I decided to stay in the far corner of the room. I ordered a beer and sat down and waited. I would know when it was time for me to act. In the meantime, I would watch and see how it all went down.
Chapter 11
Olivia
* * *
"Hi there. How are you doing, pretty young thing?" An older man sat across the table from me. He didn’t look like he was within the age range for the event. I looked over at Birdy, but she was busy chatting to the guy that was opposite her, so I turned back to the guy in front of me.
"Hi. Nice to meet you."
"So, what's your name, pretty young thing?"
I withheld a sigh. If he was going to keep talking to me like this, he was getting to get on my nerves very, very quickly.
"I'm Olivia, and you are?"
"I'm David."
"Nice to meet you, David."
"Nice to meet you, Olivia."
"So where are you from?"
"Florida, you?"
"Oh, I'm from here in California. Yep. I'm in tech."
"Oh, okay. Yeah. I guess a lot of the guys here will be in tech."
"Yep. I make a lot of money."
"Okay. Well, that's good."
"So, what do you do for fun, Olivia?"
“I like to go dancing."
"Oh yeah, I love me a girl that can dance. Get on my lap, grind those hips."
"Uh, not that sort of dancing. I'm talking about regular dancing at the club."
"The strip club?"
"No."
I looked at him and he looked at me and we both realized this was not going to be a match. I waited for the bell to ring. And then the next guy approached.
"Hi," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
Already I had my doubts, but I wanted to give him a fair shot. "Hi. Nice to meet you." I said confidently hoping that he would speak up a little bit. "I'm Olivia, what's your name?"
"Mike," he replied. Again his voice was barely audible. He looked like he was about 20 years old. Did the speed dating event even care about the age of the guys, or had they just grabbed any male they could find?
"Oh, okay. Mike, well it's nice to meet you. What do you do?"
"I'm a student at San Francisco State University."
"Cool. A grad student?"
"No, I'm an undergrad. I'm studying biology."
"You're an undergrad?" I couldn’t keep the disappointment out of my voice. "How old are you, exactly?"
"I'm 21. You?"
"I am 27. Er, I thought this event was meant to be for 25 through 35?"
"I don't mind. I like older women."
"Yeah, that's nice. Okay." I sat back and waited for the bell again. The next guy came to the table and I was praying to God that he’d be an improvement.
"Well, hey there. How are you doing tonight?" A tall handsome black man sat across from me. I smiled at him. Now, this was more like it.
"Hi. I'm good. How are you?"
"Yeah. Yeah. You know, I'm doing pretty well. Pretty fine on this fly night."
"I'm Olivia, what's your name?"
"I'm Malcolm. Nice to meet you, Olivia. You sure are pretty. I didn't expect to see someone as pretty as you here tonight."
"Oh, well thank you. You're not bad yourself."
"I know, I'm an R&B artist. Maybe you've heard of me. Fly Malcolm"
"No. Have you had any like top hits or anything?"
"What do you mean by top hits?"
"Have you been on the billboard chart? Or on the top 100 songs played on iTunes?"
"Nah, I don't believe in that sort of thing. That's just for the white people."
"Okay. So where would I listen to your music, if I wanted to?”
"Oh, you can find me down on Powell and Market sometimes."
"What do you mean, find you down on Powell and Market sometimes?"
"That's where I be selling my CDs. In the streets, get the music to the people, you know what I mean, sister?"
And then it dawned on me that he was one of those guys that harassed you as you walked by trying to sell his music. " Oh, I see. Okay. Well, it's nice to meet you, Fly Malcolm."
"You know it, sister, you know it. You ever want to go out for a drink, you just let me know. You can take me anywhere you want."
"Okay. Thanks." I sat back and this time when the bell dinged I didn't even bother with having any expectations for the next guy that was going to approach.
"Hi. Do you mind if I take a seat?" A man with short, dark hair and dazzling green eyes sat across from me. I looked at him suspiciously. How could a good-looking guy with manners be at this event? It just didn't seem possible.
"Sure. Go ahead."
"You look like you're not having a great time tonight." His smile was warm.
"Let's just say it's not been what I expected it to be."
"I know what you mean." He chuckled. "My best friend brought me here, and I'm starting to think that this is not really my sort of event."
"Oh, yeah?” I laughed. “Are the girls as bad as the guys?"
"Well, you seem like you're very nice, normal. That's all I need—normal."
"Well, I can assure you that I am very normal. I'm Olivia, what's your name?"
I'm Brandon.”
"Brendon or Brandon?"
"Oh, I'm Brandon. Sorry. I have a little bit of an accent."
"Oh, what's your accent? Where are you from?"
"Missouri."
"Oh, nice."
"Yeah, I know it's not anywhere exciting, but you don't seem to find many guys from Missouri here in California."
"I guess they stayed in Missouri."
"I guess so. So, Olivia, tell me a bit about yourself. What do you do for fun?"
I was about to say dancing again, but I decided to keep that to myself. I didn't need another guy thinking I was a stripper. "I like to go to the beach. Though that's kind of hard here in San Francisco because the water's so cold, but I do like to swim. I have a membership at the YMCA. What about you?"
"Oh, I love going to the beach. I drive down to LA and go to Santa Monica Beach all the time."
"Oh, really? That's cool. Do you have a car?"
"Yeah, it's nothing fancy, but it gets me by, a Toyota."
"And you live in the city?"
"Yeah. I live in Russian Hill."
I raised my eyebrows playfully. "Russian Hill, fancy!"
He laughed. "Oh no. I have three roommates. Oops. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. I don't want to turn you off."
"Oh, no. It's okay. I know what it's like here in San Francisco, the rents are so high."
"Yes, they are." He leaned back and smiled. "It's been really nice talking to you, Olivia. I don't know if we're meant to say this, but I'm definitely going to check you on my box. I'd love to see you again."
"You know what, Brandon, it's been really nice talking to you too. I'd love to see you again as well." And then the bell dinged and the organizer stepped forward.
"Hey, guys. I hope everyone's having fun. We're just going to pause here for a little bit so everyone can get some new drinks and take a five-minute break. I hope it's going well. And I hope there are lots of connections tonight. If you do make a connection, please leave a review on Yelp and Trip Advisor and Google, and any other sites that you know. We are looking for more clients to help them find love in the beautiful city of San Francisco. Yay to love!" she sang and then walked away.
I rolled my eyes and then looked back at Brandon. "Well, it was good meeting you, Brandon."
"You too, Olivia, you too." He got up and headed toward the bar. I turned to Birdy, who was grinning at me.
"Why are you grinning at me like that?" I said, suspiciously.
"You seem like you really got on with that guy. How was he? Was he nice?"
"He was okay. But he's the only nice guy I’ve spoken to tonight. Please tell me you're having better luck."
"Well, let's just say there are four guys that want to take me out tomorrow night, and I'm thinking about going out with all of them."
"What?"
"Not all at the same time silly, but scheduling dates. Maybe one for 5:00 p.m., one for 7:00 p.m., one for 9:00 p.m., and one for 11:00 p.m. Phew, I hope I don't get any more dates. I don't want to have to go to 1:00 a.m. as well."
"Birdy, you can’t meet a guy for a date at 11:00 p.m. He's going to think it's only for one thing."
"Well, that's why I'm going to schedule the best-looking guy for last." She giggled. "Oh, Olivia, I'm just joking. Of course I wouldn't do that. I'd schedule the better-looking guys for earlier because I don't want them to think I'm easy."
"Oh my gosh, Birdy, you kill me. Absolutely kill me. And I want to know which guys you've been talking to because frankly, aside from that last guy, Brandon, they were all duds."
"Well, you know what? Olivia, we're looking for two different things. I want a nice guy. I want a boyfriend, but you know what? I'm not going to say no to a free dinner."
"Oh, Birdy, don't be one of those girls! That's awful."
"Is it really awful to get some free drinks and some free meals? And they get my company."
“Birdy, tell me you're joking."
"Okay. I'm kind of joking. I mean, I do want a boyfriend. You know that. That's why we're here. We're here to meet good guys. But if I'm not meeting good guys, am I just meant stay at home, watch TV, and cry into my pillow?"
"Oh no, Birdy. I didn't know that you were crying into your pillow. Have you been okay?"
"Oh, I'm fine. It's okay. It's not like I'm crying every night, but you know, I want love too. Magnolia's got love. Jane’s got love. Millie's got love. Even you seem like you've got love."
"I just met Brandon five minutes ago,” I reminded her. “We haven't even been on a real date."
"I don't mean with Brandon. I mean with Tyler."
"Tyler?" My voice came out much louder than I meant it to and I quickly lowered it again. "What are you talking about?"
Birdy rolled her eyes. "I mean, it's obvious to me and to everyone in the office that you guys have chemistry. You totally have a thing for each other."
"We do not have chemistry, and we do not have anything for each other."
"Okay. Let me ask you one question, Olivia.”
"Go ahead."
"Have you ever thought about kissing Tyler?"
I could feel myself blushing and I was glad it was dark inside. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, have you ever thought about Tyler in a sexual way?"
"Why would you ask me that?"
"Why do you think I'm asking you that? Because if you've never thought about Tyler in a sexual way, then yes, fine. You're nothing more than friends and he is nothing more than your brother's best friend. However, if you have thought about him in any way sexually, kissing him, touching him, sleeping with him, then it is more than just a friendship."
"I don't know how to answer that Birdy. I mean ..."
"Oh my gosh, you have totally dreamed about having sex with him!" she squealed, "Oh my God, you love him. You love him!"
"No, I do not love him. It's a lot more complicated than that. Yes, when I was younger, I had a small crush on him because he was always around, and he was cute, and he paid me attention. But it was nothing more than that."
She arched her eyebrows. "So you're telling me you never kissed him?"
I groaned inwardly. "I never kissed him when I was younger, no."
"What do you mean you never kissed him when you were younger?" She paused and her eyes grew wide. "Ohhh, so you kissed him when you were older?" She looked at me suspiciously. "Have you kissed him since he's been on this trip?"
"I'm not going to answer that, Birdy."
"Oh, my gosh, you have totally kissed him!" she screamed. "Oh my God. You love him! You love him!"
"Stop saying that. I do not love him. It was one kiss. We were … angry. It was an angry kiss, that's all it was."
"What you mean it was an angry kiss. Like angry sex?"
"No. An angry kiss is not angry sex. We were just arguing and fighting, well, play fighting, and we ended up kissing. It was nothing."
"Did it feel good?"
"It felt okay," I admitted. "I mean, he has soft lips and he knows what he's doing."
"So then why are you here tonight?"
"What do you mean, why am I here tonight? I came here because you asked me to."
"Yeah, but if I knew you already had a man, I wouldn't have made you come."
"I don't have a man, Birdy. He's not my man. He's just my brother's best friend who happens to be staying at my place because my brother is a douchebag and brought some skanky girl to his hotel room and Tyler had nowhere to go. We got into an argument last night, which led to us arguing very loudly, which led to us play-fighting, because we were drunk, which led to a kiss."
"Oh, wow. So, if you get drunk tonight, what's that going to lead to?"
"It's not going to lead to anything."
"Are you sure about that, girl?"
"Yes. I'm sure—"
Ding, ding, ding!
The organizer interrupted our conversation, and I was never more grateful to hear someone else's voice. "Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we're ready to start back up again. We're ready for everyone to find love. Don't forget to leave your reviews later. And if you do find love tonight, go ahead and feel free to leave me a tip. I accept fives, tens, and twenties. Ha ha, I'm not joking."
I walked back over to my table, sat back in the chair, and rolled my eyes. This lady was an embarrassment to speed dating events. I was going to leave a review on Yelp, but it wasn't going to be five stars. It was getting to be one star and it didn’t even deserve that.
As I sat there, waiting for the next guy to join my table. I took a sip of my margarita. I needed to relax. Birdy had riled me up with her talk about my kiss with Tyler.
I knew she was right. I did have feelings for him, but I didn't really know what those feelings were or where they would go. I hadn't seen Tyler in a long time. Over the last couple of years, he'd all but disappeared from my life. Derrick had said it was because Tyler had been so busy at work, but I wasn’t sure. I'd actually been surprised that he'd come on this trip. But Derrick said that Tyler really wanted to see me and that he needed a break.
It was weird seeing Tyler again, he was so familiar and yet he was so different. I could remember the days ba
ck when I had a crush on him in high school, when he would tease me and play with my hair, and all I’d been able to think about was melting into him, having him kiss and hold me. And last night it happened. He really had kissed me. He really had wanted me. I’d felt his erection next to me. I knew that he was sexually attracted to me. And part of me had wanted him to go even further, but it was also complicated. Where could anything between us go? He lived in Florida. I lived in California. He was my brother's best friend. He was a player. He wasn't looking for a relationship. Where did that leave us? Could I have one night with him and just be okay with that?
Could I have one night with him and then see him again at family events when I went to Florida and pretend it never happened? And what would Derrick do if he found out? Would it ruin their friendship? Would Derrick think that Tyler had seduced me? Would he be mad that Tyler didn't want an actual relationship with me? Would he get over it? Would I ever get over it? Would I be okay with Tyler just moving on? What if he actually found someone else and got married? That would break my heart. It hurt just thinking about it.
"Hey, there you look like you're thinking really deep." An older man sat at the table across from me. He was definitely not 25 to 35. If anything, he looked like he was 55.
"Hey, no, I was just thinking. How are you doing this evening?" I said, trying to muster up some enthusiasm for talking to him.
"Oh, not bad. You know, I'm kind of excited to be going on all these dates with all of you hot young things."
"Oh, yeah. I guess I would be too if I was you," I said, not really knowing what to say.
"Yeah. They even paid me to do this thing, it's awesome."
"They paid you to come here tonight?" I shook my head. This was just getting absolutely ridiculous.
"Yeah. I guess they didn't have enough men and well, they came round and they found us."
I narrowed my eyes. "They came round and found you where, exactly?"
"Oh, at the food shelter up the street."
“At the food shelter?” My suspicions grew. “Are you a volunteer?"
"If you mean am I volunteering to collect some food? Sure. They give you three hot meals a day. It's great."