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His eyes warmed as he smiled. ‘I think you’re a little tipsy, Charlie.’
‘I promise you, I’m not,’ I said with feeling. I wasn’t quite sure if the warmth I was feeling all over my body was because of William’s existence in my space or because of my one-and-a-half margaritas, but I knew I was cold sober. ‘You probably forgot, but I have this superpower that makes me ramble on endlessly if there is too much quiet. I’m making up for it. And…’ I kept going under his watchful gaze, ‘as fun as that is, I’m sure, I should probably leave soon. I should get Pepp from my neighbours. They’re looking after him until I get back.’
‘Let me finish my drink and we’ll share a cab. Is that okay with you?’
Normally, it wouldn’t be, but as we lived on the same street, going separately would’ve looked weirder on my part. Acting as if I weren’t affected by him all that much would make me not as weird, so I decided to go with that.
‘Of course it’s okay. We live on the same street.’
There was another long pause, and I watched as William kept turning his glass this way and that way instead of drinking it so we could leave. He had recently divorced, maybe he didn’t want to go to an empty home? Maybe he wanted to stay out late? Meet new people? He was new in the city after all.
‘If you want to stay, I can get a cab or an Uber on my own. I’m not drunk, I’m serious.’
He gave me a sideways glance. ‘No, I need to get back too. It’s been a long day.’
After another nod, I took one last sip of my unfinished margarita and pushed it away from me. Neither one of us said anything for a full minute. I wasn’t drunk, that was a fact, but it didn’t mean I wouldn’t put my hands on the bar top, palms down and close my eyes. The music, the chatter and all the sound around us blended perfectly together.
I took a deep, quiet breath and got a whiff of William’s heady cologne. I remembered it from the day before when I was in his office. It was subtle, fresh and a little woodsy – nothing that would give you a headache. The cologne just took me somewhere completely different and I sat there, right next to William and imagined myself with a boyfriend. Someone who was flawed, but someone I could trust and share a life with.
‘What are you doing now?’ William asked with an amused voice.
‘I’m… trying to dream a little,’ I answered honestly.
‘Don’t make me wait now.’
‘Are you using your personal question?’
‘Looks like I am.’
‘Okay.’ I cracked one eye open and looked at him for a quick second, only to find his gaze on me. I closed it again. ‘I’m thinking of my dream boyfriend. How it would be.’
‘Let’s hear it, then.’
I hummed. ‘If I say it out loud it probably won’t happen.’
‘It works like a birthday wish?’
I could still hear the amusement in his voice, so I fully opened my eyes and looked at him.
I was supposed to answer his question, I knew that, but instead I found myself blurting out things he absolutely did not need to know. ‘I think first I should admit that it’s been quite a while since I’ve dated dated someone. So I’ve had quite some time to think about what I want.’ Needing to busy myself with something, I hauled the margarita glass back and started playing with the stem.
‘Dated dated? How does that work, exactly?’
I thought about it and realized maybe I was a little tipsy. Especially if I was sitting here and talking about my lack of love life to William just to distract myself from staring at him.
‘I feel like I should maybe warn you, I might be a little tipsy.’
‘Does that mean I’m gonna get a good answer?’
I thought about it. ‘It might.’
I looked at him as he gestured to the bartender.
As soon as the bartender showed up, William asked for a glass of water for me.
‘Thank you,’ I said.
William’s eyes found mine, and I couldn’t look away. ‘You’re welcome. Now don’t leave me hanging. Tell me about this dream guy. Do you have a description? What does he look like?’
I tried my best to break eye contact, but couldn’t quite find the strength to do it. He was the first one to look away when our bartender showed up with my water.
William turned to me with his drink in his hand, settling in his new position. One elbow on the back of his seat, one on the bar top. ‘Or maybe you should explain the dated part first though, so I get the whole picture.’
I drank half of the water. ‘I just meant I went out with a few people, three to be exact. Three relationships in total, I mean. I’ve dated, but I haven’t been in a relationship in the last year. Going out on dates with the same person more than once, that kinda thing.’
