CHAPTER TWO
The wind sweeps up the street and blows my hair around behind me. I contemplate putting it up in a ponytail, but I want to look nice for this first date. A guy shouldn’t see me in sweats with my hair pulled back until at least date five. If he has potential, maybe date ten.
Hair whips around my face again and I reach back with both hands to tame it, holding on to the ends. It’s cold in San Francisco and, while I’ll never admit this to Aspen, it might be time to upgrade my winter jacket from the thick black fleece I have on today. I'd rather not walk around ready to go on an Artic expedition like Pen, but a little more warmth wouldn’t hurt. I’m a southern California girl, even if I’ve been here almost five years now.
I jump a few times and stomp my feet in a half attempt to warm them up. If my date isn’t here in five minutes, I’ll leave the sidewalk to wait for him inside. In order to make it here on time, I left right from work and my thin black pants offer little protection against the wind.
“Marissa Melrose?”
I spin around toward the voice and remind myself to smile. Guys like girls who smile, right?
“James?” I question the blond hair, blue-eyed man in front of me.
His squint reveals a few wrinkles in the corner of his blue eyes, but they don’t hinder his cute factor. “That’s me. Are you ready?"
Okay, if this blind date goes well, Aspen’s off the hook for subleasing me an apartment with a crazy landlord. I’m still not over our tumultuous first meeting two days ago. I haven’t seen Ryland since the first night and Aspen assured me Finn smoothed it over. But I plan to fly under the radar until he leaves again. Soon if I’m lucky.
I walk behind James. He must have come from work as well. Unless he’s like Cody and wears a suit to the pool. The black two-piece ensemble looks good on him, and what woman doesn’t love a man in a nice-fitting suit?
“Don’t we need tickets?” I ask as we bypass both ticket counters.
“No.” James stops at the back of a line for concessions. “I bought two tickets forKillers on the Looseon my lunch break.”
“Killers on the Loose? I thought we talked about the one where the guy goes off to war leaving his true love and dog behind.Love Notes?”
“That’s a chick flick,” he responds like I wasn’t aware of the fact when I suggested it. “Don’t worry. This is better than a war romance movie.”
Says him. Isn’t the girl supposed to get to pick the movie on a first date? What happened to the era where guys at least faked caring for a while? Have I been out of the field too long? Cody at least pretended to enjoy the same crap I did for the first few months.
The line moves up two people and I lose my chance to suggest another movie. Not that it would have mattered. What guy thinks a girl wants to watch a gore fest on a first date?
Snails move faster than our line as James regales me with tales from his work with Aspen’s sister-in-law. I’m sure he thinks he’s interesting. He's not. He stands with hands in his pockets and his elbows thrust out creating space for himself in the squished line of people. It’s a pose reminiscent of Cody and reminds me how annoyed I’d get when my ex fiancé did the same thing. Do these men think they’re too good to stand close to the person next to them? I considered this attractive at one point in my life?
James drones on and on about interest rate spikes or something equally boring, and I pretend I’m absorbed without a single eye roll or grimace. He doesn’t once ask me about my job. Even Cody would attempt to care about my job as a marketing assistant. A simple, "How was your day?” while he stared off into space calculating the latest stock trends.
It takes fifty years and I’ve grown three grey hairs, but we make it to the front of the line before James killed me from boredom. It’s a win.
James approaches the counter to place our order while I linger around the candy display. The brightly colored packages call out to me, but there’s only one you can mix with popcorn.
“Combo number two.” James slides a credit card across the smooth black counter surface.
The glowing order board on the wall behind the counter shows one popcorn and one soda for the second combo. Ready to order my own snacks, I step to the side of James and lean over the counter.
“A bag of M&Ms please and a…” I pause deciding how big of a popcorn I need.
“I already ordered.”
I flick my eyes in his direction. “There’s only one soda.”
“Yeah, we’ll share.”
He’s so assured with his words I’m surprised. Share a drink with someone on a first date? I don’t think so. We haven’t even kissed, but he wants me to put my lips all over his straw? I dated Cody for four years and we never shared a drink. I’m not about to start now.
“It’s okay I’ll pick up my own.” I try again but refrain from telling him his idea is horrible.
“Not on a date with me.” He turns, apparently done with our exchange, the decision made. “Add the bag of M&Ms.” He pushes his credit card against the counter a few more inches without even a please or thank you.
I ask again, was there a time I found this pushy attitude attractive? Am I vitamin deficient somewhere? Aspen hit the nail on the head when she set me up with James. He’s Cody in a different body. Does my best friend think I want to date self-centered assholes?
