“Hey, man, sorry. I didn’t see your calls. We’ve been busy all day.” Matt closes his eyes as he listens to Vinny on the other end. “No, yeah. We pretty much got everything done. It went by really quickly because we were so focused, you know?”
I stifle a laugh.
“Yeah, I’m, uh, actually with her right now.” He winces in anticipation of Vinny’s reply. “Yeah, I know it’s pretty late, but we hadn’t eaten, and she just wanted to buy me some food and a beer as a thank you.” I check my phone. It’s only 8:30! My brother is being completely ridiculous.
Matt looks anxiously at me. I shoot him two thumbs up and add an encouraging smile.
You got this, Matt!
“Yeah, I’m gonna go home after this.” I roll my eyes at his line of questioning. “Okay, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, man.” He hangs up and looks down at his phone.
“I don’t like lying to him, Liza.” He looks at me seriously. “Do you want whatever this is?” He waves a hand back and forth between the two of us. “Because I do. And I don’t want to lie to your brother. If you want to do this, if you want to pursue this…I’m going to have to ask him if it’s cool.”
“Matt, you don’t needpermissionfrom my brother to date me,” I say, annoyed. This is such a ridiculous, antiquated thing. I know that my family is very Italian and traditional, but Jesus. Just because he’stechnicallythe oldest male of the Castelli family doesn’t mean we need to act like we’re in a movie or a different century. He’s not Vito Corleone, for fuck’s sake. And I am a feminist—I’m not about to let my brother control my life.
“I like your brother, Liza. And he’s always been a good friend to me. We stayed in touch after school, and I was actually really excited to get this new job because one of the perks was that it meant I got to hang out with him again. I don’t want to be a bad friend to him by going behind his back. I also don’t want to give him any ammo, anything that he can use against me.
“Vinny is an adult. I’m sure that once we explain that this isn’t some random fling, he’ll be okay with it.” He says it with such determination, with such rational thought supporting his theory, that for a split second I almost believe it. But that’s not how things are in real life.
I shake my head at him. “He’s not going to see it that way, believe me. I know my brother. Ever since my dad died, he’s had this protectiveness come out with me and my mom. It’s like he feels it’s his job to shield us from all the things he considers could hurt us in the world. I’m telling you, it would be best if we just see where this goes first before rocking the boat.” I take a deep breath and look down at my hands. “I really,reallylike you, Matt. But I’d rather chase this for a little bit, see where it goes, before stirring the pot and upsetting him or ruining your friendship. Like you said, Vinny means a lot to you, and you don’t want to mess things up. If you go to him with this and we don’t work out in two weeks because you don’t like my quirks or we have zero sexual chemistry…” He snorts, because there is obviously a ton of chemistry here. “…then you will definitely fuck up your friendship.
“Properly rekindle your relationship with him now that you’re both in the city again. We can hang out and date a little and reevaluate on December first,” I say.
Matt smirks. “You’re setting a deadline for us?”
“More like a checkpoint. It’s the academic in me.” I smile with a shrug. “It’s also the day before I start finals, and I don’t want to have to worry about this while I enter hell week.”
He laughs. “Fair. We can reevaluate on December first, then.”
“So…can we call this a date, then?” I ask, biting my lip and looking up at him with pleading eyes.
“Mmmm, I don’t know. I don’t even have your number yet,” he teases.
“Take out your phone right now, then. You owe me some pictures anyway.” I slap his arm playfully.
He laughs and takes a minute to scroll through his phone.
“Alright, I’m ready. Give me your number.”
I list off my digits and immediately get a ping. I expect to receive a picture of me and Leo or at least one with the three of us together, but what I get instead is a picture of Matt mid-laugh, staring down at me as I look up and beam at him. My heart starts doing backflips in my chest.
We look sohappy.
I feel a goofy smile spread across my face. “What is this?” I ask, completely smitten.
He looks down at me with soft eyes and shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess the woman who was taking our photo really did think we were a couple and decided to take one of just us, too.” I catch him glance at my lips before his eyes meet mine again. “I spent all week looking at that picture, Liza. All week thinking about you and our connection and wanting to see you again.”
Whoa.
“I was so happy when Vinny relaxed toward the end of the weekend, and I was able to spend time with you—even if it was practically chaperoned. And then, after I got back to the city, I kept counting down the days to see you, hoping to God you weren’t joking about brunch or that you would change your mind.” He puffs out a breath and scratches his beard. “Sorry, I’m being incredibly intense. I’m embarrassed.” He squeezes his eyes shut and pinches his nose between his thumb and forefinger.
I’m speechless. I think about maybe saying something dumb to relieve the tension but decide I don’t want to ruin the moment. Instead, I snuggle closer into his side and stare at the picture of the two of us on my phone, marveling at how two people can meet again at a different point in time and hit it off, how different things can be.
It makes me wonder whether everything in life really is about timing and how happy I am that we got a second chance to meet in order to get to this.
“JESUSCHRIST,you were right. This place is amazing,” Matt says around a mouthful of Wiener schnitzel. He swallows it down with a chug of Hofbräu beer.
“Wow,” I laugh. “You’re really going for it, aren’t you?”
