“No, I want to make it!” I said, thinking of how he had grilled everything on the night that I had been to his house. “But not after I get ready. I hardly want to smell like chicken and curry.” I giggled.
“Okay then, if you wait for the oven to be done you’ll only have about a half hour to get ready, so if you can manage—”
“Of course,” I cut her off, grinning once more. “My boyfriend is coming. Part of the charm of that particular terminology is that I get to spend less time getting all dolled up. He has seen me right out of bed and right out of a shower so he knows what I really look like.”
“Shower?” Stacey looked at me with her eyes wide open. “You guys have already managed to hit the shower?”
Nick, who had been sitting on the couch and too busy munching on chips so far to speak, chose this moment to quietly exit the li
ving room.
Stacey and I both giggled for a second because of Nick’s reaction. “I thought I told you. So much has happened these last few days. The shower was fun…but Zayden will be here soon, so we better get all set up. Thanks so much for agreeing to hang out with us tonight.”
“Are you kidding?” She pointed her spatula at me. “I’ve been dying to properly hang out with the dude since we first – ahem – corresponded about you.”
“Yeah, I haven’t forgotten,” I said, trying to be reproachful, but was glad that all those months ago Stacey had tipped off Zayden, believing he would be the right guy for me.
---
“So, where is your living room?” Zayden looked at me expectantly as he sat on our couch sipping on the margaritas that I had freshly made.
I looked at him with my mouth open, unable to answer, while Stacey and Nick burst into a chortle.
“Did I say something funny?” he asked.
Before Nick or Stacey could answer with something sarcastic, I jumped in. “We only have one. Most people only have one, Zayden.”
My face was getting scarlet red.
Zayden grinned softly. “I was only joking.” He chuckled.
“So, uh, Zayden,” Nick said nervously. “What do you do for fun?”
Zayden shrugged, non-committal. “Stuff. Work mostly.”
“You do work for fun?” Nick was trying hard not to laugh.
“No, I mean…I work a lot. Sometimes I go golfing, but it’s mostly for networking purposes. Can’t say I particularly enjoy the sport. I did play basketball in college, but no time for that sort of a thing these days.”
“You watch TV!” I interjected. “Why else would you have an 80-inch television in your room?”
“News, mostly. Bloomberg is usually always playing in the background wherever I go.”
Stacey, who had been quiet so far in a respectful attempt not to laugh, spoke. “Bloomberg is not watching TV, and you sure don’t need 80 inches of television screen to analyze the stock market. Wanna switch?” She pointed her head towards our regular 32-inch TV.
“Sure, you can just have mine. I hope you don’t feel offended if I pass on yours, though,” Zayden said nonchalantly, to everyone’s surprise. We all sat quietly for a few minutes before we burst out laughing.
“We don’t actually want your TV, Zayden. Stacey was joking.”
He probably knew that, but with his kind of money, probably didn’t care.
“But why not?” He raised his eyebrows. “You guys seem to have a real interest in it and sure look like you could use a better set. A wedding present perhaps—”
Everything escalated after I gasped and gave Zayden a look that meant to say I was ready to commit murder. Nick looked like he would throw up, and Stacey just sat there motionless in complete shock.
“He doesn’t mean you guys,” I said lamely, trying to rectify the situation, while still glaring angrily at Zayden. “My other friends are getting married. From my Stats class. You don’t know them.”
I was rambling nonsensically, making the situation worse and worse. After a few minutes, things got increasingly uncomfortable, so I looked at Zayden and said, “Can you come with me to my room real quick? We need to talk.”