“Because there’s a reason I bombed those two first dates with you.” He pops another fry into his mouth. “I’m a lot better at giving dating advice than I am at actually dating anyone.”
“That can’t be true.” I’m not sure why I’m defending him. I don’t even know Julian, and I never planned on doing anything to change that. Not that my plans mean anything, these days.
“Oh, but it is,” he says with a self-deprecating laugh. By the smirk lifting the right side of his mouth, he doesn’t seem to mind much either. “I’d tell you to check my track record, but you kind ofaremy track record. You and one other person anyway.”
“Well, now I don’t feel so bad about driving Erica away.”
He opens his mouth, then closes it before speaking, an intensity burning in his eyes I don’t recognize. I can sense he wants to say something but maybe doesn’t know how to broach the topic. He probably wants to ask me about what I told Erica before the conversation turned around on me. Inexplicably, my dating hiatus started and ended with this man. There’s a strange contradiction in that. I haven’t allowed myself to think on it too much until now.
Instead of voicing whatever’s on his mind, he leans forward and rests a reassuring hand on my shoulder. His smile is tentative. “I hope you find what you’re looking for.” It’s not what I’m expecting him to say, but it soothes my roiled nerves the same.
“Thanks.” I mirror his tentative smile. “I hope so too.”
10
Leti
I run into Julian in the mailroom of our apartment complex the next day. He’s dressed casually in sweatpants, a loose T-shirt, and glasses. He looks so rumpled and undone it melts my heart a little. This is how he’d look spending a cozy day inside with someone. He’d order takeout so we never had to leave the apartment, put on Netflix in the living room, and then spend the entire time cracking jokes over the movie. We’d end the night making out on the couch, but not before I slid the glasses off his face and cast them aside somewhere to be found later.
Back up.When didsomeoneturn intome? We already established why we don’t work.Twice.
“Morning, neighbor.” He nods, curly hair flopping over one lens. My throat works on a swallow the longer I stare at him. If I’m acting weird, he has enough grace not to comment on it. “How are you feeling after yesterday?”
“Better,” I say as I finally regain some sense. “If only because my new set of amiibos came in.” I wave the package I took out from my mail slot.
“Nice.” He flashes white teeth. “For which game?”
“Animal Crossing.” It’s been years since I played this gamespecifically, but lately I’ve been feeling nostalgic. It’s the game that inspired me to make a Twitch account. What started as something fun quickly turned into a monetized side gig that allowed me to move out of my parents’ house. I could probably afford an apartment by myself, but online content doesn’t exactly guarantee a steady paycheck. Between work and my less-than-stellar love life, video games have become the thing I look forward to the most every day. Is it sad that as a twenty-six-year-old the only thing keeping me going is a video game? Maybe, but it’s something I try to not dwell on.
“Cool,” he says. “More gaming, fewer shitty first dates.”
“I’ll toast to that.”
He holds up his stack of mail and taps my package with it. I resist a laugh, biting back a cheesy smile. It feels strange not to be at odds with Julian, even if it was only one-sided. We may have had a moment of peace, but that doesn’t make us friends. Acquaintances, maybe. If nothing else, I can be grateful I no longer feel the urge to duck and hide when I see him coming.
“You’ll have to teach me how to suss out the red flags one of these days. I’m one more bad date away from quitting dating for good.Again.”
“Oh yeah? What’s in it for me?” His mouth quirks up at the side as I roll my eyes at him. Then his eyes light up. “Actually, I have an even better idea.”
I’m not sure I like the way his brown eyes shine suddenly. Mischievously.
“What’s that face all about?” I point directly at it, and he feigns an innocent look that is somehow so much worse. I have a sneaking suspicion he’s taking my lighthearted suggestion a little too seriously.
He wraps a fist around my finger, lightly squeezing until I find it a tad harder to suck in a breath. “You should let me take over your dating accounts.”
“Right.” I laugh humorlessly, snatching my finger back. “You know I wasn’t serious, right? Asking you to help me suss out the red flags was like asking an old high school acquaintance you run into at HEB to grab a coffee and catch up sometime. We both know it’s never gonna happen, but we say it to make conversation.”
“So this was you making small talk in the mailroom?” When I nod, he doesn’t look any less undeterred. “Come on. I think you’ll have a lot more fun on the apps if you have someone checking these people out alongside you.”
“You’re probably right,” I say, and he immediately brightens. “But that would mean actually hanging out with you, which isn’t something I’m all that eager to do again.”
He lets out a great, big howl of a laugh.
“Don’t be mean to me, Leticia.” His grin does something strange to my heart that I refuse to analyze too closely. “I think I like it too much.”
I roll my eyes and turn my face away from him, because for some godforsaken reason my cheeks feel hot.Blushing. I’m actuallyblushing. Who am I?
“I have references, if that’ll help.”
