“Yes,” I lied. I picked up the menu and ran my eyes over it, even though I already knew what I would order.
Okay, this wasn’t right. I had agreed to this date so I could give him a chance, so he could sweep me off my feet, so I could forget Mason, and so I could live the life my mother wanted me to.
I set down the menu. “How have you been?”
His face brightened. “I’m great. I’m here with you. Work has been great too.” He launched into a detailed retelling of his week and what he was working on with his father.
All the while, I nodded and made sounds like uh and ah whenever it seemed appropriate. Like my mother, Donnie seemed all too happy to talk about politics. He easily got carried away, and I had to endure it. Like everything else in my life. Just endure it.
During dessert, I tried finding out more about him. “Do you have any hobbies?”
“I play golf.”
“What’s your favorite movie?”
“The Pelican Brief.”
“TV series?”
“Law and Order, though it’s not a true portrait of court life.”
“Favorite book.”
“Any biography by men of elevated position.”
“Song?”
“Anything by the Beatles.”
I was sure if I went on and asked what the most daring thing he ever did was, he would say that it was when he wore a bright green tie with a beige suit.
The worst part, he didn’t ask me the same questions. So what? He didn’t want to find out more about me? He reached over the table and ran his thumb over my hand. I watched it, expecting a shiver to run up my spine, a heat to settle low in my stomach. Nothing.
“Ready?” he asked, smiling.
I smiled back. “Yes.”
Back at my house, I let him open my door and guide me up the front stairs.
He looked into my eyes. “I had a great night.”
That made one of us. “Me too.”
In slow motion and awkward moves, Donnie reached for my hands and leaned toward me. I braced myself, preparing my mind for the kiss. I would kiss him back. I had to.
His lips touched mine in a shy peck. Before he could try more, I pulled back, fighting the urge to wipe my mouth in front of him.
A satisfied grin adorning his face, he clasped my hand, lifted it to his lips, and placed a kiss on my knuckles. “I’ll call you soon.”
“Okay.”
With a skip in his step, Donnie walked back to his car.
As soon as the car drove away, I rushed inside, eager to brush my teeth, even though he barely touched my lips.
Chapter Nine
Mason
My days were sucky. It was only the middle of June and I was already tired of summer. All I did was work some gigs here and there, go to bed late, wake up even later, and try to keep my mind off Charlotte. Two weeks had passed since the last time I had seen her at that damned club, and every waking hour, I had to stop myself from going to the Executive Mansion in Richmond or trying to find out her phone number and calling her.
It was odd how I only thought about Charlotte now, as if I hadn’t had a girlfriend before her. Tamara who?
Since that first ball, when I met Charlotte again, I said no to all other fancy parties that involved politicians. I preferred bartending clubs and reducing the risk of bumping into her again, especially if she could be with that guy, that Donnie Williams, the one all the newspapers claimed was her boyfriend.
But I needed more to do. This partying, but not partying life was getting old.
I made some pancakes and black coffee, picked up the newspaper, and sat down on a high stool at the kitchen’s island. I poured honey over my pancakes, while I flipped through the newspaper, trying to find a job that I could apply for, preferably something in civil engineering, in which I could work part time and still go to graduate school.
Nothing really grabbed my attention.
Cursing, I took my plate to the sink. I was rinsing it to put it into the dishwasher, when a knock on the door stopped me.
My heart paused for a second and my mind flew. Could it be Charlotte? But how had she found out where I lived?
Hope was in full bloom in my chest as I rushed to the door. I stopped for a second and looked down at myself. I was wearing cotton pajamas pants and nothing else. My hair was probably a mess. I probably should go to my room and at least comb my hair. Hmm, not that she hadn’t seen me like this before, and apparently she had liked it but—
The knock came again.
I stopped my mental diarrhea and opened the door.
“What the hell are you two doing here?”
Brody brushed past me and entered the apartment, looking around. “Hey, Mason, this place sucks.”
Matt pulled me into a hug. “Hey, big brother, how is life on the East Coast?” He stepped inside and joined Brody in analyzing the apartment.
Slowly, I closed the door. “What are you doing here?”
“Hey!” Brody made a hurt face. “You don’t want us here?”
“You told me to save money and come visit you,” Matt protested.
“No, man, it’s not that,” I said. “I just didn’t expect to see you here.”
Matt’s eyes widened. “You got a chick here? Hey, man, sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt whatever you—”
I headed into the kitchen. “There’s no chick here.”
Brody followed me. “So, what’s the problem? We thought you would love to see us. The gang back together, terrorizing the city!”
Matt chuckled. “He has been saying that since we bought the plane tickets.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “Weirdo.”
Brody bowed. “Thank you.” He started rummaging through the cabinets as if he had always lived there. “So, we’re here to party. Where are we going tonight?”
I put my dirty plate inside the dishwasher. “I don’t know. There is a ton of clubs and bars downtown.”
Brody found a clean mug and filled it with steamy coffee. “Just take us to where the cute chicks are, man. The rest is the rest.”
Matt leaned against the doorjamb. “Another thing he has been saying since we bought the tickets.”
I looked from my young brother to my best friend. It wasn’t quite who I had been expecting, but maybe it was better. My friends were here now and I hadn’t realized how much I had missed them until they were here, talking shit and making a mess in my kitchen.
Though I wasn’t in the best mood to party, I owed it to them.
“All right, I think I know a nice bar where cute chicks hang out. But”—I glanced to the digital clock on the stove—“it’s not even noon yet and the place opens at six.”
Matt, the history freak, grinned like a little kid in an amusement park. “We could go sightseeing.”
“What?” Brody asked, the expression on his face terrified.
I laughed.
“Seriously, come on,” Matt insisted. “Got anything better to do? Bet there will be hundreds of cute chicks to look at while we walk around the National Mall. Tell him, Mason.”
Brody sported a sly grin. “I have no idea what the National Mall is, but if cute chicks are going to be there, so will we.”
“I would be up for that,” I said.
While my brother and my best friend were here, I would take advantage of their push and hook up with some girl. It was the only way to forget Charlotte.
I hoped.
Charlotte
“I’m glad you could come,” Donnie said, opening the door of the car for me and offering his hand.
“Me too,” I lied, smiling as convincingly as I was taught.
My mother had set me up again. This time, I was to spend an entire Saturday with Donnie in Washington. I had no time to argue as she informed me of it two minutes before Donnie showed up at our front door.