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Devin spoke next, rejoining the conversation. “So instead of asking this girl out, whom you were obviously attracted to, you convinced her instead to set you up with other women?”
I realized how ridiculous this all must have sounded.
“Have you gone out with her yet?” Daniella asked.
“We went salsa dancing last weekend,” I answered.
“Dancing. That sounds like a date.” Daniella sounded hopeful.
“Yeah, except we spent most of the night dancing with other people,” I admitted, doing a silent face-palm with the hand that wasn’t holding my phone to my ear.
“Is that all?” Daniella again.
“I did go hang out with her at her place last night. It was just the two of us. I thought we were hitting it off, but when I went to leave, I told her I had a confession to make, and she told me that nothing good usually followed that statement.”
“Ouch,” Devin blurted.
“What did you tell her after that?” Daniella asked.
“I couldn’t bring myself to tell her anything after that, so I just told her I’d see her tonight and left.”
Daniella responded, “But you’re going out with her tonight? I mean, that’s a good sign, right?” She was grasping at straws.
I winced as the words came out. “Well… she’s meeting me there. But it’s basically just like the night we went dancing." I explained the process of our arrangement.
They were both quiet for several seconds, and I got the impression they were whispering a conversation between themselves.
Finally, Daniella came back on and said, “Yeah, I don’t know, Dylan. Are you sure this girl isn’t batting for the other team or something? The more you tell me about her, the more it sounds like she’s just being friendly. For goodness’ sake, she’s trying to pawn you off on other women every time you go out together. That’s not a good sign, Dylan.”
Leave it to Daniella to tell it to me straight.
“You’re probably right. When I say it out loud, it sounds a lot different from how I was seeing it in my mind,” I conceded in disappointment.
“Does she have any hot friends?” Devin added, and I swore I could hear him dodging a fist on the other end.
I laughed. “It’s cool, guys. I have my eyes open.”
“Whatever you do, I hope you guys have a good time tonight,” Daniella encouraged.
Devin added, “Where are you going, anyway? Big keg party?”
I laughed again. “No, we’re going to the Daylee Grind to see a cover band.”
I had been invited to several different things going on that evening. Jonas and Ethan asked me along to a costume party at a club that night, and I’d also gotten an invitation to a keg party at a sorority house.
Even worse, I had gotten a text earlier that day from Katy asking if I wanted to be her date for the night with whatever she was planning to do. I had steered her back in Ethan’s direction, hoping he’d never find out she asked me in the first place after I had just told him the day before that I hadn’t heard from her.
No, I was spending the evening in a coffee shop with a girl who wanted me to date anyone else but her. I’d never had self-esteem issues, but this really had me doubting myself.
Call me crazy, but even despite all that, there was still nowhere else I’d have rather been going that night.
* * *
As I walked into the Daylee Grind that evening, Zia was already sitting there at a table with a carbonated drink in hand. As always, she looked amazing, even in the novelty shirt she wore with a Cheshire Cat’s toothy grin beneath the words, “We’re all mad here.”
At the sight of her, my mood picked up and my excitement level rose, despite the downer of a conversation with Devin and Daniella earlier that day. Maybe now that my expectations weren’t quite so high, I could just relax and enjoy things as they were.
“Hey, Zia,” I greeted her with a smile as I approached her table.
