I’m about to yell at him for not telling me sooner, thinking she needed my help at the hospital after all, but I’m mortified instead.
Mari’s doing fine, just got discharged with a prescription for an antibiotic. Luis is with me, so please don’t worry about us too much. I hope you’re having fun with Julian on your second date! Or is it technically your third? Bah, I can’t keep track anymore. I’m gonna need details when I get back!
I breathe a sigh of relief that Mari is okay, even as I inwardly cringe that he read the message.
I clear my throat before texting back that I’ll explain more when she gets home and mute my notifications. “Let’s continue.”
“Okay, sure.” He sits up straighter and holds out his hand for the phone, back to business. “Before I start reaching out to your matches—”
“Wait, wait, wait.” I snatch my phone back. “What do you meanyou’regoing to reach out to them?”
“With your approval, of course. I figured you could use my help in that department too.”
“Excuse me,” I scoff. “I am an excellent text conversationalist, I’ll have you know.”
“I remember—”
“In fact, I’d say I’m better than you.” He raises an eyebrow, but before he can argue, I remind him, “I seem to recall two instances of you giving me the runaround at best, flat out ghosting me at worst.”
“I never ghosted you.” He guffaws. “And before I slipped up, we had good banter. Don’t you dare tell me otherwise.”
We still do.
I tamp down the reply at the tip of my tongue, becauselordis that a road I’m not about to go down. Not now, not ever. Been there, done that twice over and look where it got me. His eyes flick to my mouth, and I realize I’ve bitten down on my bottom lip to stop the reply from slipping out. He opens his to say something, then seems to think better of it and shakes his head.
“I figured we could talk a little about what you’re looking for before we move on to the next step. Tell me what’s most important to you in a relationship. You’re not looking for casual, correct?”
“Correct.” I nod. “I’m not a casual kind of person.”
“I figured.” He nods. “So we have to establish what you’re looking for, and make sure the other person is on board. Ask them a series of questions to gauge who they are as a person and how compatible you feel they are.”
“That makes sense.”
“Good,” he says. “Tell me why you’re looking for a relationship.”
I roll my eyes. “Is that really necessary?”
“It is if it’ll help me find the type of person you’re looking for.”He nudges me slightly with his elbow. “Come on. Don’t be afraid to dig deep.”
The problem is, I’m not sure I want to. Dig deep. I thought I’d have it all figured out by now. That’s what your teenage years are supposed to be for, right? And then an extra four years of college to fuck and fuck around before finding the one. Love, career, family. That’s what adulthood’s all about.
Except, I’ve never quite fit that mold.
But so many of my friends do, even if they did it out of order. Or they have it at least partially figured out, but me? I’m so far fucking behind them it’s not even funny.
“We’ll circle back to that one,” Julian says. He must sense the thoughts storming in my head to backtrack so easily, when up until now he’s pushed further than I would normally allow. “What are the qualities you’re looking for in a significant other?”
“Kind. Nice smile. Similar interests.” I list them off my fingers. “Someone I can have interesting conversations with.”
He opens the Notes app in his phone. Damn, he is taking this seriously. “Anything else?”
“That’s all, for now at least.”
“Okay, that’s a good baseline,” he says. “What about physical compatibility?”
“I’m graysexual. Sometimes it happens, most times it doesn’t for me.” I shrug. “I’m much more interested in romantic compatibility.”
“As a demisexual, we’re in complete agreement.” He smiles. “Besides, passion fades. And sure, there are always methods to rekindle the spark every once in a while, but it’s not always needed. Sexual attraction isn’t a guarantee for some couples. Not even for somepeople. That doesn’t stop you from falling in love with someone.”
