Chapter 20 (6/12/16)

I was still so upset about Kevin’s comments that I didn’t even want to respond to Mike’s text the next day, telling me that he’d had a lot of fun and was looking forward to seeing me again.  I felt so bitter and angry that I was worried it would come out sideways in my response to him.   Instead, I spent the morning finding someone to come replace my water heater.  The earliest someone could come out was early afternoon, so I did a little more unpacking and organizing to pass the time until he came.  4 hours and several hundred dollars later, I had a functioning (and non-leaking!) water heater.

Running had taken a backseat to packing, and the now significant amount of snow on the ground didn’t help motivate me either.  Snow aside, I admitted to myself that as much as I hated it, running sort of regularly had really helped my mood.  I checked the weather and saw a high temperature of 9 degrees today.  I didn’t think I could run in weather that cold, but I bundled up and went for a quick walk.  Despite the cold, it was a bright, sunny day and my short time outside did help cheer me up a little.

When I got home, I took a shower to warm up, heated up some leftovers for dinner, and texted Mike back, suggesting we go out Tuesday or Wednesday.  I already had a date with Dan on Monday.  I had completely skipped the early 20s “dating around” phase and was sort of embarrassed to admit that I got a bit of a thrill out of the idea of dating two men at the same time.  I had no intentions of being shady about it, and both of them knew I wasn’t interested in anything serious, but it still gave me that exciting “doing something wrong, could get caught” feeling.  Ridiculous, right?  I know.

When Monday rolled around, I was tired and cranky from my less than ideal weekend.  I kept to myself at work and had to give myself a pep talk before getting out of my car at the restaurant where I was meeting Dan. 

He was, as usual, already there.  He was one of the only men I’d ever dealt with that was consistently early.  He stood as I came in and greeted me with a smile and a kiss on the cheek.  He looked especially good in a dark blazer, crisp white shirt, and no tie.  “You look fancy,” I commented, checking him out.

“Thanks,” he said, chuckling.  “Big meeting today at work.  I had to impress the important people.”

“And did you?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

He shrugged.  “I sure hope so.”  Then he changed the subject.  I thought it was a little weird that he didn’t tell me what the meeting was about, but I quickly forgot about it when our server came to get my drink order. 

After dinner, I invited Dan over to see my new house.  I took him on the tour of the house, conveniently ending it in my bedroom.  “Very nice!” Dan said sincerely.  “I’m glad you finally found something.” 

I stood near my bed, willing him to come over.  Instead, he lingered in the doorway.  Finally, I gave up and walked over to him, sliding my hands up his chest and linking them behind his neck.  He grinned at me and kissed me, and I slipped my hands into his hair as I kissed him back.  We kissed for several seconds, then he pulled away, kissed my forehead, and said, “Want to watch a movie or something?”  Then, while I stood there and stared at him, confused, he turned and started for the stairs. 

I huffed out a frustrated breath, and he turned, puzzled.  “What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I replied, turning off my bedroom light and following him to the stairs.  “Do you have a movie in mind?”

“Why do you even bother continuing to see him?” Kelly asked me the next day.  We were having lunch together early in the afternoon.

“I don’t know, but it’s not like I can pressure him to have sex with me,” I exclaimed, much too loudly for the small restaurant we were in.  More than one head swiveled my way in surprise as I blushed. 

“I’m not telling you to pressure him to have sex with you,” she replied.  “But if that’s what you want and he’s not into it, then you guys want different things and you should probably just move on.”

“Dating is hard and stupid,” I grumbled.

“Not if you move on from the guys that there’s no point in dating,” she pointed out cheerfully.  “And anyway, you said you had a great time with Mike, right?”

“I did,” I confirmed.  “And we’re going out again tomorrow.”

“Focus on that.  See, dating isn’t that hard.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Easy for you to say,” I replied.  I changed the subject and she didn’t push it, which I was grateful for because I was irritated.  No, irritated wasn’t the right word.  Discouraged.  It seemed silly (even to me) to be discouraged about dating already, but I hadn’t been anticipating that I wouldn’t actually enjoy dating.  The idea of getting to know someone enough to be truly comfortable with him was daunting.  And I knew that I wasn’t to that point yet, and had no intentions of doing any serious or exclusive dating, but it was still hanging out in the back of my head, taunting me.  I managed to put it out of my head and enjoy the rest of my lunch with Kelly.

Despite my complaints of the day before, I found myself a little giddy before my date with Mike on Wednesday.  I’d had such a great time with him on our first date, and I was definitely looking forward to this one.  I went straight from work to the restaurant we were meeting at—after touching up my makeup in the bathroom at work, of course. 

I arrived first and waited in my car until he texted me to let me know he was there.  I got out and found him on his way to the door.  “Hi!” I greeted him cheerfully. 

“Hi, Jenna,” Mike replied, smiling warmly.  “It’s good to see you.” 

I grinned.  “It’s good to see you too,” I said.  “I’m glad we were able to see each other tonight.”  When I originally suggested tonight, Mike thought he had a work obligation, but soon realized it was actually on Thursday. 

He pulled open the door to the restaurant and held it for me, and I gratefully stepped inside.  It was seriously cold today.  “I’m completely over winter,” I complained as I shed my winter gear at the table we’d been shown to.   “Can you find me a new house somewhere warm?”

Mike looked at me with mock horror.  “Do you have any idea how hard it was to find the one you bought?” he asked jokingly.  “I’m never going to be your realtor again.”

I laughed.  “And I thought I was going easy on you,” I teased him.

We bantered back and forth until our drinks arrived, and then we settled into calmer conversation.  Mike still had me laughing throughout dinner, and I loved his sense of humor. 

When we finished, he asked me, “Do you want to go grab a drink somewhere?”

I shook my head.  “How about heading back to my place for a little bit instead?” I asked hopefully.

Mike grinned.  “I’d love to,” he replied.