Nerd Alert

“That night was devastating, but it was all okay cause the food was bomb!” Connor laughed as he took a seat next to me. “I have to admit, I've been pretty addicted to it ever since.”

“I'm sorry, Connor.” The smile on my face slowly faded.

“Hey, I thought we were past that.” His hand sympathetically caressed my back. “What are you doing here by yourself anyway?”

“Just grabbing dinner for one.” I pointed to myself.

“No plans tonight?” He looked over his shoulder at me.

“Not tonight. What about you Mr. Hot Shot Doctor? What brings you here?” I spun my bar stool until my legs were facing Connor.

“I'm here with a few friends.” He pointed behind us to a table of young looking professionals. “I saw you so I thought I'd come over and say hi. It's been a while.” I smiled at him and he did the same.

Our moment was interrupted by the hostess handing my meal over. I was embarrassed that I'd told Connor I was eating dinner alone. The amount of food I had in my bag said otherwise.

We both stood up and gave each other a hug before saying goodbye. As I proceeded to the door I heard Connor call out. I turned around to see him walking back towards me.

“There's a new exhibit of Monet's paintings at the Met. He's one of your favorites, isn't he? Anyway, I thought I'd tell you.” Connor nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

It was cute to see a bashful side of Connor. I couldn't help but let out a laugh. “Oh, okay. Thanks for the heads up. I'll make sure to check it out.” I smiled again before continuing out of the restaurant.

“Wait, Lynn.” Connor called after me again. “Would you be free tomorrow? Maybe we could go together?”

I stopped walking and looked towards him. I thought about it for a second before answering. “Pick me up around noon?”

Connor nodded his head and simpered before he returned to his friends.

Once I was home I stuffed my face with Thai food, caught up on Suits, and laid in bed listening to Bastille's Bad Blood album while contemplating major life decisions. You know, just a typical Saturday night, alone.

It was already 11:30 AM by the time I woke up. I scrambled for a quick shower and threw on a cotton dress with leggings and a cardigan. There was a knock at my door as I stumbled through my apartment to find my flats. I hopped on one foot at a time while I tried to put them on. Once I was completely presentable I opened the door.

“Hey” Connor stood in my door way. He was dressed casually, but even his “casual” looked dressed up.

“Perfect timing!” I cheered as I grabbed my purse and walked out of my apartment. We headed down towards the subway and made our way to the Met.

Once we were inside we checked in our coats and began walking towards the exhibits. Connor wandered through an atrium of Roman sculptures. “Ah, my man Octavius.” He stood in front of an art piece.

I walked up behind Connor and stood next to him. “Founder of the Roman Empire” I whispered just under my breath. I folded my arms as I admired the intricate details on the ancient sculptures.

From the corner of my eye I saw Connor, wide eye, turn towards me with his head slightly cocked. “How'd you know that?”

Instead of answering, I smiled and continued walking around the exhibit. Connor trailed after me. We stood in front of another sculpture before he asked me again. I walked around him until we were face to face. “Promise you won't make fun of me?”

Connor laughed at the request. I gave him a look and he tried to hold it back. “I took Latin all through out high school. I was even president of the club.”

His reaction wasn't what I was expecting. His brows furrowed and his face grew serious. “Wow, you're such a nerd!”

I playfully punched Connor's arm. “Hey!”

He faintly pushed his shoulder away to block my punch. Instead he grabbed my arm. “I took Latin, too” The grin on his face grew with each word.

“So then who are you calling a nerd? Nerd.” I squinted my eyes at him.

“I said I took Latin. I didn't say I was president of the club. You take the cake for that one.” He began laughing and I couldn't help but join in. We walked through the rest of the Roman exhibit competing with who had the better facts.

The next wing of the museum was a fashion exhibit. It displayed dresses from 1800's Europe. It wasn't anything we were interested in, but it was on our way to Monet's artwork. We decided to make the exhibit worth our time and began posing with the mannequins as crowds of people walked by. It slowly became a contest of who could hold their pose the longest without breaking character.

After we were done publicly humiliating ourselves we made our way to the paintings. We quietly strolled through admiring each piece.

“What is it you like about Monet?” Connor whispered in my ear as we stared at San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk.

“He does such an unbelievable job of conveying the mood and atmosphere of the time and place. It's as if I can smell the sea and feel the breeze just looking at his paintings.” I pointed around the gallery, “Every one of his pieces are so beautiful, calm, and dreamy.”

Connor nodded his head in agreement as we moved on to the next painting.

“Are you an art buff too?” I whispered to Connor. His concentration stayed focused on Garden at Sainte-Adresse.

“Yeah, mainly my mom's doing.” The corner of his mouth curved into a smile. “She would always take us to art galleries and museums when we were younger. She wanted us to be cultured.” He continued to smile at the memory.

We headed back to the main lobby to grab our coats and made our way outside. There was a street vendor selling food. The smell was so irresistible we had to stop. Connor bought a pretzel for me and a hotdog for himself. We were just outside of Central Park, so we decided to take a leisurely saunter.

As we entered the center of the park we decided to take a seat at an empty bench. We had a beautiful view of a quiet little pond surrounded by greenery. Tall buildings peaked through the trees reminding us we were still in the city. We watched as dog walkers and joggers pounded the pavements.

“You really impressed me today, Lynn.” Connor looked over at me with a grin.

“I don't know if I should be offended or not.” I picked at my pretzel.

“You shouldn't be. It's just nice to know there's more to you then what I thought.” Connor tried to rebuttal.

As bad as it sounded, I knew Connor didn't mean it offensively. “Well, maybe if you didn't have the “no personal talk” rule, you'd know more about me.” I looked over at him as I tore off a piece of my pretzel.

Connor began mumbling under his breath, “I was afraid I would fall for you.”

I chose to ignore what he'd said. Instead we sat quietly and stared into the distance. I finally built up the courage to ask what was going on. “Connor, why'd you have a sudden change of heart?”

He waited a while before he responded. “I missed you.” He pulled his arm behind the bench and turned towards me. “I went to go see Colleen a couple of weeks ago.” I turned my head towards him, but my eyes were focused on the ground. “After you and I had our talk, I knew I needed closure from her. And in all honesty, I feel like I can move on. It's like this tension I've had building up inside of me has just been wiped away. I don't want to rush into anything, but I want to get to know you better, Lynn.”

My heart skipped a beat as Connor's words lingered.