Wedding Mates And Dinner Dates

I flung my door open to find Jaime standing outside.

Immediately after my outing with Connor I'd sent Jaime a 911 text. Fast forward to an hour later and here he was. Oh Jaime, if only you weren't gay!

“I need an IV of gossip, STAT!” Jaime slapped two fingers on his forearm as he walked inside. He dropped his over-night bag on the floor and jumped onto the couch. He'd spent the weekend with his parents and came straight over to my place after I'd sent him the text. “Seriously, Linda and Tom have sucked me dry of all things fun. I need something, now!”

“Whoa! Hold your briches, it's not that juicy!” I plopped down next to Jaime and handed him a can of Dr. Pepper. “I just needed your help figuring something out.”

Jaime hesitantly opened his can of soda, “Well, what is it?”

I went on to tell him everything that happened between last night up until an hour ago. “I just don't know what to do. A part of me is saying I should give myself some time, and the other is curious to know more about Connor.”

We sat in silence for a moment while we thought to ourselves. Jaime opened his mouth as if to say something, but then stopped. He did it again. And then finally spoke on the third attempt. “This is hard.”

“You're telling me!” I threw my hand in the air and leaned my head onto the couch pillow.

“Do you even like Connor?” Jaime asked curiously.

“I don't know,” I stared down at my can and ran my finger around the edges. “I thought he was cute when I first met him. Then, I thought he was such a douche bag because of everything that happened afterward. And now that I'm learning more about him, he's turning out to be a decent guy.”

“Good luck figuring it out” Jaime got up from his seat and walked into the kitchen.

“Jaime!” I called after him.

He rummaged through my pantry until he found some snacks. He came back over to sit down and poured out a variety bag of candy in the space between us. “I'm only eating these because I'm a good friend and I can't let you get fat.”

I sighed and looked over at him, still waiting for an answer. Jaime rolled his eyes, “Fine, you want to know what I think?”

“Please” I mumbled, sarcastically.

Jaime shot a side eye glance before he went on. “I think you're going to do whatever it is you want. You're just looking for me to reassure you, and I'm not going to.”

“Well then” I folded my arms across my chest. Jaime and I stared at each other as I reached over for a Snickers. He slapped my hand so hard it fell from my grip. Instead he picked it up, tore off the wrapper, and ate it.

“I hope you get fat” I whispered. Jaime's eyes widened as he gasped loudly. It was so dramatic we both ended up laughing until we fell over.

“You might as well join me,” He tossed me a mini Milky Way. “Look Lynn, I saw how hurt you were that night over Jonah. I don't want the same thing happening with Connor. “ He popped the last bite of his candy into his mouth before he finished. “But, this is exactly why we established the three date rule.”

“So you think I should use those three dates to see if Connor is someone I really like or not?” I fiddled with the Milky Way in my hands.

“Exactly! Don't put yourself into anything exclusive until you know for sure.” Jaime gave me another stern look.

Suddenly remembering Lacey's wedding, I turned towards him,“Speaking of dates, what are you doing next weekend?”

“Nothing that I know of, why?” He looked concerned.

“How would you like to be my plus one for a wedding? My friend in Texas is getting married.”

“Is Joshua going to be there?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Oh, hell yeah you can count me in!” Jaime excitedly cheered. He grew quiet when he saw the look on my face. “What? You know I love drama...”

It was already past midnight when Jaime and I were done catching up. Jaime had an early morning shift at the hospital. So, he ended up staying the night in order to get to his clinical on time.

Monday morning wasn't very kind. I woke up with my eyes half opened and a throbbing headache. I pulled on a sweatshirt and jeans and did the zombie walk all the way to class.

“Oh dear God!” Sarah whispered, disgusted. “Bad weekend?”

“Late night” I tried saying before letting out a yawn. I looked around and noticed Sarah was alone. “Where's Henry?”

“He figured since all the lectures are online and we didn't have any assignments to turn in that he'd stay home with Poppy today.” Sarah spoke without breaking concentration from the front board.

I winced at the thought of Poppy.

The rest of the day dragged on. During our break Sarah and I went down the street to grab some coffee and crepes. We went back to class and then our study group shortly after. The sun had began to nestle itself between the City's tall buildings as I headed down into the subway. It was out of sight, only leaving behind orange and pink hues where it once sat by the time I'd made my way out and on to my street.

Since I was going to be out of town over the weekend I figured I'd spend a few extra hours studying every night. It was going great until Connor texted me on Thursday asking me over for dinner. I figured I had to eat anyway so a couple hours break wouldn't hurt.

After our study group I headed straight over. “What's on the menu?” I greeted him with a hug as he opened his door.

“Italian” He smiled and hugged me back.

As Connor plated the food I set the dinner table and poured out a couple of glasses of wine. I sat down and waited for him to clean up and take a seat. I rested my head on my hand as I admired Connor in the kitchen. His buttoned down shirt was still neatly tucked into his slacks. He seemed to be doing everything so effortlessly.

Once he sat down, we began eating dinner. “Oh my God, Connor.” I covered my mouth as I chewed. “This is so good!” I pointed at my plate. Connor had made baked Italian chicken and a side of pesto pasta. He smiled at my compliment.

After we were done we grabbed our glasses of wine and went into his living room. I gawked over all of his pictures he'd printed and framed around his apartment. Ice glaciers in Greenland, White sand beaches of Bora Bora, poor children in the streets of India. I was thoroughly impressed.

“Photography was a hobby I picked up in high school. I was on the school news paper.” Connor noticed my fascination with his pictures. “I stopped when I was in college, but then started again when I was traveling the world. I was always so captivated by the things I saw that I just wanted a way to bring back those memories with me.”

“That’s so sweet” I whispered as my finger lingered across a frame. Connor pulled my arm to sit down on his couch.

He sat down, only inches away from me. I was scared to look up at him, knowing that things would go differently if I did. I felt his eyes on me. They moved from my face down to my neck. I was startled as his hand tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. His hand crept around my shoulders, finally resting with his fingertips just above my chest. He felt my heart beat racing. His nose brushed up against my ear and he softly whispered, “What's wrong?” I felt my breath becoming more and more shallow as I fought the urge to look over at him.

I stammered to find the right words, “I...I...I think we should take this slow.”

“Why?” He whispered back. His mouth had moved from my ear down to my neck. My body was covered in goosebumps as his warm breath touched my skin. “I want you, and you want me. Let's just go for it, Lynn.”  he kissed my neck as he said my name.

It took every bone in my body to pull myself away. “I'm sorry Connor. But, if you want to get to know me. We can't do this.”

Connor let out an aggravated sigh and leaned away from me. “We can be exclusive and still get to know each other.”

“But first I need to know you're someone I want to be exclusive with.” Connor furrowed his brows at my words. He wasn't too happy to hear what I had to say. Catching the sudden drift I stood up and walked over to the kitchen counter to grab my purse.

“Where are you going?” Connor called

“I want to get to know you Connor, but I don't think we're on the same page. I think I should give you some space to think about it. If you really want to be with me, we have to take it slow.”

He stood up and met me by the door. As I was walking away he grabbed my wrist. I stopped and looked back at him. His eyes were begging me to stay. I had to stand up for myself and stop falling for his demands. I shook my wrist free and walked out the door.