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“I should probably get home and work on some homework.” It wa
s a valid excuse. I did have some homework to work on tonight, so at least I wasn’t lying to him.
Dylan nodded quietly for a few seconds as we continued on in our original direction. “Yeah, I have a few assignments I should probably work on, too. So I guess I’ll see you this weekend?”
“Oh, yes! I almost forgot. Clara, my roommate, asked if we wanted to go with her and this guy she’s been seeing to the Thunder Lounge this Friday. It could be a good place to try out your new skills and maybe apply some of what you’ve learned so far.” I smiled with raised eyebrows, letting him know I was waiting to hear what he thought.
“Okay, sounds great. What time?” he asked.
“How about ten?” Thunder Lounge was one of those places that didn’t really get busy until around eleven p.m. so I thought getting there a little before that would give us time to get a table and hang out with Clara and Cason for a while before we started scoping out the place for potential girls.
“Cool. I’ll pick you up and we can ride over there together if that sounds good to you,” he offered.
“Yeah, sure. That sounds great. I’ll see you Friday, then,” I said as we got to the front entrance to my apartment building. I kept walking inside so that there was no opportunity for an awkward or drawn out goodbye.
“See you Friday,” Dylan said as he stood outside the entrance and waved as I disappeared into the building.
* * *
When I walked into my apartment on the fifth floor, Clara was sitting on the couch with the television on and was sending someone a text from her phone.
“Hey, Zia.” Clara smiled as she looked up at me. “What did you and Dylan do tonight?”
“Yoga,” I answered as I sat at the opposite end of the couch and grabbed a throw pillow to hug in my lap.
“What I wouldn’t give to see Dylan Porter doing a downward dog,” she said suggestively. “Why didn’t you invite me to that one?”
“Next time,” I laughed. “But it looks like we’re all set for Friday.”
Clara sat straight up facing me, eyes wide. “He agreed to a double date? I knew it! I knew it was more than some psychology experiment! Zia, this is excellent news. I know exactly what you should wear.”
“Wait, Clara, slow down! I wouldn’t call it a date for Dylan and me. I’m still going to be helping him find someone he can connect with. That is the whole point of the time he and I spend together,” I explained for what felt like the hundredth time.
Clara sighed as she leaned back into her comfortable position on the couch. “Zia, don’t you think it’s funny that you’ve helped him meet several different girls already, and yet he hasn’t had a second date… no, scratch that, he hasn’t even had a first date with any of them?”
“I don’t know that he hasn’t seen any of them outside of the times I spend with him,” I justified.
“Oh, come on, Zia. Most people do their real dating on the weekends. And who has Dylan been spending the past few weekends with? Oh, that’s right, you.”
I thought for a moment before I responded, because I knew her mind was pretty much made up about this at the moment, even though I knew she didn’t know the whole story. I knew it wasn’t like that with Dylan and me, as much as I had been increasingly wishing it could be.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about that,” I said as a transition into getting her to help me with my idea.
“I’m listening,” Clara said. She grabbed the television remote and turned the volume down, even though it wasn’t very loud to begin with.
“I was actually going to see if you might still be willing to set me up with Becker,” I admitted shyly.
“Becker? Seriously?” Clara questioned.
“Yes. I know the timing is weird, and that I had no interest in meeting him before. But… I guess things have changed and I’d be open to meeting him now,” I explained.
Clara sat quietly, looking at me for several seconds. “You’re right about one thing. The timing is definitely weird. But if you really want to meet him, I’ll send him a text and have him get in touch with you,” she said as she grabbed her phone. She held it in front of her face, but continued looking at me, waiting for my affirmation.
“Okay, thank you.” I smiled and I moved to hug Clara before I got up and walked into my room to go take a shower.
By the time I had got out of the shower, there was a text on my phone from an unknown number. Becker didn’t waste any time, I thought. I read the message from him as I walked into the kitchen to make something to eat, since I was still hungry from the appetite I had worked up in the yoga class.
Clara had migrated to her bedroom to study, but came back out when she heard me moving around in the kitchen.
