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I noticed his beer was getting low, so I got up to grab him another while I asked, “So it was just you, your dad, and your brother growing up? No women?”
“Thank you,” he said as I handed him the beer and sat back down beside him on the couch. “Yep, it was just us guys. I really haven’t been around a lot of women growing up, now that you mention it, other than maybe a babysitter here and there, teachers, or friends’ moms, things like that.”
“So what does your dad do?”
“He owns an international company based out of Tennessee. He’s a pretty successful businessman, you could say. The company has branches all over the place,” Dylan explained.
“Did your dad spend much time with you growing up?”
“You know, he really did. My dad was a busy and important man, but he also made sure that my brother and I knew we were important to him. He was always at our games, always made it to parents’ night at our school. He’s a really good guy. A lot of people think because he has so much money, he must be some kind of jerk, but my dad is really a charitable person once you get to know him.
“He donates a lot of money to a foundation for cancer research, which of course was how my mother died. He donates gifts to the children’s hospital every Christmas. And, of course, he donates every year to the university. He got his business degree here himself a few decades ago now.” I could see the pride showing on Dylan’s face and in the way he held his head up high as he spoke of his father.
“He does sound like a great guy. I guess I know where you get it from now,” I complimented.
“What about you? What is your family like?” he asked as he touched my knee and then brought his hand back to his own lap.
I told him about being the oldest child with one brother who was a lot younger than me, so we had never really related very well to each other growing up. My parents had divorced when
I was young, and we did the standard visitation gig until I moved away to college a few years ago.
I explained how my mom was an assistant in a corporate setting, while my dad worked as an architect. They were very different people, but they still got along well after they had split. Both remarried, but neither had any more kids.
We talked about school for a while, how he was majoring in sports medicine with a minor in biology, and his ultimate goal was to find a profession helping people in some way eventually.
He talked about how different it had been last weekend going salsa dancing, being in a place where not everyone knew him. I had asked if it was different in a good way or a bad way. A very good way, he had insisted.
After a while, we got around to the topic of dating, and what type of girls he was attracted to as well as what kind of characteristics he would hope for, other than the basics we had already established when we had first met.
The verdict… he had no clue. He mentioned that everything he thought he wanted had turned out to be less than fulfilling so far, so he thought it was about time to figure out some new standards.
“What about you? Why aren’t you dating anyone?” he asked, turning the tables on me.
“Oh, I don’t know. I mean, I’m not closed off to the idea or anything. I just don’t feel like I need it to be happy. It also doesn’t help that the relationships I’ve had in the past did not do much to make me all that happy. So when you’ve been happier not being in a relationship than you’ve ever been while in a relationship, let’s just say it hasn’t earned a top spot on my priority list.”
“Wow, you must have really been burned,” he said, shaking his head.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’ve had my share of heartbreaks, but it really hasn’t been anything that traumatizing. I’m just content with what I have: my friends, my family, school. I’m okay with waiting for the right guy. I’m not so desperate for love that I feel like I need to go out and find it in just anybody.” I shrugged and took a sip of my wine.
The credits of the second Netflix movie finished then, so I asked, “Should I find another movie, or are you ready to call it a night?”
“Yeah, I guess I’d better get going. It’s been a long day and I’m pretty beat.”
At that, we both stood up, Dylan put his jacket on, and I walked him to the door. When I turned the knob and pulled the door open, Dylan unhurriedly walked through the doorway, but as soon as he got outside the door, he paused.
Then he turned around to face me.
“I have a confession to make,” he said.
“Uh-oh… Good things rarely follow that statement,” I teased.
“I noticed you that night at the Book Shelf. The night you said you first saw me. I’m not sure why I didn’t mention it before, but I saw you come in that night, and I saw you when you left,” he admitted.
I didn’t know where he was going with this, so after a brief moment, I said, “You did?”
He stood there for another second as though he were trying to read the expression on my face. I wasn’t sure what he found there, before he finally smiled and said, “Well, goodnight. See you tomorrow.”
Dylan waved as he turned to walk away down the hall, leaving the apartment building. I closed the door before he got out of sight and locked the dead-bolt. Then I turned and leaned my back against the door wondering what that look was in his eyes.
