The weekend passed by in a blur. I had a ton of studying to do which proved difficult to complete with my mind constantly replaying Zac and I’s date in my head. I couldn’t say that it had completely restored my faith in the dating scene, because that simply sounded too corny and untruthful, but it had definitely taken me a step in the right direction. It amazed me how comfortable I felt with him, like I could be myself and not have to worry about what he would think. The only other person I felt that comfortable with was Gwen, therefore it scared me a bit. Zac and I had only technically known each other for a few days, not nearly long enough for me to be thinking the way I was, but I couldn’t help it.
Zac didn’t call me until Sunday. I had tried very hard to not obsess about it and had only allowed myself to check my cell phone twice an hour. Gwen laughed at me and told me it was just a guy thing. She assured me that it meant that he probably had really liked me but didn’t want to show it too soon. Guys were just as scared about rejection as we were, she told me. I didn’t understand how anyone as wonderful as Zac could possibly be worried. I also didn’t understand why dating had to be plagued with all these games. If we liked each other, couldn’t it be as simple as that? Why did we have to beat around the bush?
When my phone rang around dinnertime on Sunday, I couldn’t help but get excited as I saw the words “Unknown Caller” appear. It had to be him, or a wrong number, and oh how I hoped it would be him. I waited for one more ring before answering.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Hey Esme, It’s Zac.”
“Oh! Hi Zac. How are you?” I hoped I sounded casual, not like I had been waiting rather impatiently for his call for the past two days.
“I’m great, actually. You?”
“Very good. Better now.” I could hear him laugh lightly.
“Oh yeah, and why’s that?”
“Hm… maybe because the boy I went on a great date with on Friday finally called me,” I teased.
“Come on, Esme. I had to show off my macho prowess and make you wait at least two days.” I laughed.
“Telling me you were busy would have been a better answer, Mr. Hanson.”
“Well, I was busy, too. Heyy… how’d you know my last name? We never talked about last names, did we?” We hadn’t. Was that weird?
“You think I didn’t check into you before I went out on a date with you? Facebook is a blessing.”
“Tell me about it, Miss Lee, who enjoys U2, hanging out with friends, and is part of a group called ‘Viva la Vie Boheme.’ I can do detective work, too.”
“What can I say? I love me some ‘Rent.'”
“Apparently so. I’ve never seen it or heard any of the music from it before.”
“Okay, I am so making you watch it, I don’t care if you like musicals or not. It’s wonderful.”
“It’s a date. But, I have something really important to ask you, and I want you to be honest with me.”
“You’re kind of scaring me…” I said hesitantly.
“Will you be my Facebook friend?” he asked, a laugh escaping with the words.
“Don’t do that! You scared the shit out of me!”
“It’s a very important question.”
“Oh Zac, of course I will!” I laughed.
“Good. I didn’t want to send you a request only to find it rejected later.”
“You can send it worry free, Zac. I’ll accept it.” He breathed a loud sigh of relief and I could practically hear him smiling.
“Well I can sleep easy tonight now.”
“I’m very glad I could help out.” I heard a loud beep in the background.
“Shit, my dinner’s done. I’d better go before I burn the place down. I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked.
“At our special place?” I joked.
“At our special place. See you there, Esme.”
“Bye, Zac.” With that, we both hung up. I laid back on my bed and smiled. Everything with Zac had been so easy since I had first talked to him, and I knew I had Gwen to thank. I made a mental note to buy her flowers or something as I thank you, but also worried that it might be a little premature to do so. I was worried about how much I liked him already. Part of it came from how comfortable I felt with him, that much was obvious. I just didn’t want to get so invested in him that I would be crushed if it didn’t go the way I wanted it to. With a sigh, I grabbed the book I had been studying from and headed out to the living room to join Gwen.
* * *I woke up the next morning to a Friend Request from Zac posted on my Facebook homepage. I smiled and clicked accept, making the decision to skip the Friend Details section. I’d let him worry about that, I didn’t know what he was thinking and didn’t want to make a mistake.
Time flew by quickly as I got dressed and gathered my books for the day. I walked as fast as I could to the library and practically ran up the stairs to the third floor. I found Zac sitting in my chair, a smug look overtaking his face as I approached him.
“Um… excuse me. You’re in my chair,” I said as straight-faced as possible, placing my hands on my hips.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you name on it anywhere. I assumed that it was publicly available like everything else in the library,” he teased, settling into the soft cushions even more.
“Zac. Don’t make me.”
“Don’t make you what? Sit on me? Maybe that was part of my plan.”
“I don’t think that we’ll get a whole lot of work done if that happens,” I replied, his eyebrows raising slightly.
“Well I don’t know what you’re implying, but I was just saying that we could share this nice comfy chair.” He smiled at me as he rose and went over to his usual desk where the rest of his things were located. I just shook my head at him and sat down, reveling in the warmth his body had left behind. We did our work mostly in silence, sharing little looks and smiles when our eyes would meet. I felt like a sixth grader, butterflies in the stomach and everything. I wasn’t used to this, this coy behavior, the beginning of a relationship. Dating someone you were friends with before eliminated all of this, as did dating someone you’d already been intimate with. It had only been a few days, but all I wanted was to be his girlfriend. I realized how immature that sounded and that was why I didn’t verbalize that want to anyone. Patience was the key, I kept telling myself.
When it was time for me to leave, I stood slowly and headed over towards his desk.
“Yes?” he asked, grinning at me.
“I have to go to class now. Can I call you later?”
“No.” My stomach dropped.
“No?”
“What would be the point in calling me if we’re going to be hanging out?” he asked. I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself before answering.
“We’re hanging out tonight? Did I miss that part of the conversation?”
“No, this is more me asking if you want to hang out tonight,” he said.
“Well, I’d love to. What did you want to do?”
“I thought we could watch ‘Rent’ or something, you know, over at my place.” He was nervous, I could tell. He kept passing his pen back and forth between his hands while he looked up at me.
“That sounds good, where do you live?” He smiled at me and scribbled his address on a blank piece of notebook paper before ripping it out and handing it to me. “What time should I come over?”
“Seven? I was thinking of ordering in pizza tonight, what do you like?”
“Anything without veggies. The more meat the better.” He cocked an eyebrow. “On my pizza, I mean.”
“Yeah. Suuuuuure. So I should order extra sausage, then?” he asked, loving every second of my torture. I could feel my face becoming more and more red by the second.
“You’re terrible. You know what I meant,” I said, pulling on my coat and gathering my things as quickly as possible.
“Oh. I know what you meant,” he replied, still smiling, “See you at seven, Esme.” I nodded and fled to the stairs. A million inappropriate thoughts began to flood my mind.
“Stop it, Esme!” I said to myself as I pushed open the door and headed for class. Tonight would definitely be interesting.