We do a loop of the room, then head back outside, our time at the flea market at an end. I quiz him on his school days the entire time. A gifted kid and a childhood chess champion. Truly a gold-plated geek. I loveit.
We turn and wander up Columbus Avenue, and the area is bustling now. It’s a perfect spring day, and the sidewalk is lined by a farmer’s market. We stop at each stall.
Gradually, it dawns on me that Connor and I are on a date. There’s no other way to describe the events of this morning. We have spent the last two hours flirting our way up and down the Upper West Side.
We stop by a few more of the stalls, then Connor turns to me with a smile and says: “Well, there’s only one thing forit.”
We are now strolling through Central Park, asloverscolleaguesdo.
“Am I keeping you from anything?” he asks.
“Not really. My plan today was just to get ready for my sister.”
“Oh?”
“She’s coming to visit on Friday for the first time. I want it to be perfect.”
“Define perfect.”
“Just the usual,” I say. “A weekend so fun she leaves convinced to dump her fiancé and move here instead.”
“I think there’s a ‘36 Hours’ guide for that.” He nods. “What are your ideas so far?”
“Not that many, to be honest.”
“Well, what do you usually do on the weekends? What did you do last night?”
“Went to a rave in an abandoned warehouse.”
He pauses. “I was not expecting that.”
I start to tell him I’m not much of a raver, but then I have a flashback of the three of us losing our minds to a remix of Avicii’s “Levels,” me screaming over and over that it’s my favorite song, and think better of it. “Carrie loves house music,” is what I admit to him instead.
“Carrie as in, Carrie human resources manager who you accused me of taking on a lunch date?”
I cut him a look. “Yes.”
“I wouldn’t have taken her for a raver.”
“It comes and goes.”
“OK, so no raves. What else have you got?”
“Um,” I stall, knowing he’s going to make fun of me. “Visit Times Square.”
“I thought you said you wanted to have a fun weekend.”
“Ha ha,” I say, shoving at his arm. “I feel like she’ll want a picture of it for her Instagram.”
“I think we can probably source you some better options. Luckily for you, I was born and bred right here in Manhattan. They rarely let me leave.”
“You said you live in Brooklyn,” I pointout.
“They let me leave to sleep,” he concedes.
“Didn’t you tell me you went to college in California?”
“Yes, but if you read my Wikipedia page, you’ll notice I came right back.”
