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Date 9: Ladies Dancing
“Enough with this dating frenzy,” Stephanie tells me. “We are having a girls’ night out. Wear the black dress I lent you. You look gorgeous in it. This will be our Christmas party for ourselves.”
“I am running out of time to find a date for Christmas,” I wail.
“No, you’re not. Emilio will go with you, I’m sure. He must have really liked you to take you to the ballet gala.”
Of course, I can’t tell Stephanie that Emilio doesn’t play on our team. I could tell Josh because he’ll never run across my ballet date. But I can’t tell Steph because they run in the same circles. If Emilio wants people to know he’s gay, he’ll tell them when he’s ready.
“He’s really nice,” I agree. I know I could ask him. I haven’t yet, I still have a week to go. I can fit in two or even three more dates before I have to decide. Maybe in the next two weeks I can find a charming, handsome, rich guy who’s available.
It could happen.
This is the season of miracles after all.
We start out at one of our favorite clubs. There are six of us women, all single and in our early thirties. Meredith, a gorgeous Asian-American investment banker just got engaged. We all squeal over the ring and order champagne.
I love my women friends. We laugh our asses off and when her favorite song starts playing, Meredith drags us all out on the dance floor. I glance up and see a group of guys come in. My eyes bug out. One of them is Josh. I guess it’s not that much of a coincidence. This is one of those places where you run into everybody on a Friday night. Seems strange to see him here, though. He’s up dressed more than he usually is. He’s got a real shirt on with his jeans.
“Who’s the cute guy?” Stephanie asks following my gaze.
“That’s Josh. The one I told you about.”
Two pitchers of beer get thumped on the guys’ table. “He’s cute.”
“Yeah.” It’s weird watching him across the room. Like he’s in a movie. Strangely, the next thing Stephanie says is, “Who would you cast to play him?”
Well, it’s not that strange. We play this game all the time. “Paul Rudd.” I don’t even have to think.
“Yeah. I see that. He’s the nice guy, the cute best friend, the sort of goofy one who has a great sense of humor. I wonder what he’s like in bed.”
“He reads comic books,” I tell her.
“Oh. Too bad.”
Maybe he senses us staring at him for Josh suddenly looks over. Sees me. Does a classic double take, and waves.
Within thirty minutes Josh’s group of guys has unofficially joined up with our group. I’m still not sure if it happened organically or if Stephanie the professional party planner somehow staged it. The guys all seem nice but I’m sick of making small talk with men I don’t know. Mostly, I talk to my female friends or I talk to Josh.
“Great dress,” Josh says, “You look hot.”
“Thanks.”
“You found your perfect Christmas date?” he asks me, loud to be heard over the music.
“No. I’ve got a coffee date tomorrow. Maybe he’ll be the one.” I sip my drink. “What about you? What will you do for the holidays?”
“Haven’t decided yet. My folks are in Florida but I like to be somewhere cold. I’ve had a couple of invitations to Christmas dinners. Or I might go skiing.”
I don’t even know how I end up in a cab with Josh. I didn’t drink that much! However, somehow it’s the two of us and I have this funny feeling in my stomach. Sort of excitement and dread and, maybe lust.
The skirt of my dress has got pulled up in the car and I see him glance at my legs.
The cab pulls up at my place. “Give me a sec,” he says to the driver and gets out with me and walks me to my door.
“You looked so sexy tonight,” he says. I’ve known, of course, the way you do, that my borrowed finery was not lost on very heterosexual Josh.
“Thanks.”
I don’t think either of us intends what happens next. It simply happens. One minute I’m saying good night and the next minute I’m in his arms. He kisses me slowly, sweetly, but with the kind of banked passion that gets all my girl bits revving.
I am thinking of inviting him in, trying to ignore all the reasons why it’s a bad idea, when he pulls away.
He’s warm and sexy and I don’t want the night to end. “Enjoy your coffee date in the morning,” he says.
With a backward wave, he jogs down the path and back to the waiting cab.