“What?” he gasped. “You spend more time with me than you do anyone else? That makes me feel pretty damn special, not going to lie.”
I shook my head, unable to hide the smirk that spread across the lips. Nick always had a way of making me laugh, no matter what. And I was okay with that.
“Anyway, what are you going to take this girl to do?” he asked. “I hope if you’re trying to make a lasting impression on her you’re not going to do your typical boring regimen.”
“First of all, I don’t think you know the first thing about my dating techniques. Second, I don’t know what we’re doing yet. I just know I want to take her out and have a good time,” I said.
“Odd,” Nick replied.
“What is?” I asked.
“It’s just strange that you, of all people, get bitten by the love bug, and all of a sudden you want to be out there doing your thing and having fun and doing everything you like never do besides,” Nick said with a shrug. “I don’t do that when I’m with someone. I tend to live my life the same way regardless of whether I’m single or not.”
“Which is why you are most of the time,” I told him. “The more you can keep it in your pants, the better. I think when you finally make that connection in your mind, you’ll finally find the girl who can put up with you.”
“If I even want that,” he said with a shrug. “But anyway, if you want to go tie yourself down to someone and you wind up living one of those nine to five kind of lives, then go for it. I just don’t know if I am ready for it, that’s all.”
He wiped a fake tear from his cheek, and I shook my head. “I’m not going to stop being a doctor. You’re going to still be seeing me just as much as you do right now, so can you stop acting like this is the end of the world just because of the fact I’m interested in someone?”
Nick smirked. He enjoyed his own sense of humor, so there was that at least. I didn’t mind the way he was teasing me. It was fine with me for him to be in that good of a mood. Not to mention it was nice to be teased about spending my time with a girl for once, rather than being the only one in the room who wasn’t going to have a date that night.
I had been that person more than once, and I didn’t want to be anymore.
In fact, the past few days I’d spent on top of the world. I didn’t know I could be so happy after going on a single date with anyone, but Harper showed me just how fun that could be, and I couldn’t wait to be around her again. It amazed me how smitten I was with her, and we hadn’t even had sex.
It didn’t make sense to me, and it told me she had to be something special.
If she had me that much on the hook and we hadn’t even landed in bed yet, I could only imagine what it would be like if she and I took it that far. But, to get there, we had to get through all the little details that went along with dating, then we could talk about what was next.
I wasn’t ever the kind of person who was in a hurry when it came to relationships, so I wasn’t in a hurry to put any sort of label on it. But, I was in a hurry to get through the rest of the day and pick her up.
I’d already called Harper that morning and asked her if she wanted to go out with me that night, and smiled to myself when she agreed. I refused to tell her what I was doing with her, and stubbornly insisted that it would be a surprise. I could hear the excitement in her tone despite the fact she was annoyed I wasn’t spilling the secret.
But, the day went quickly enough.
I always took a change of clothes to work with me to put on after my shift, and I had showered that morning, so I was able to just change clothes in the back room before heading right over to Harper’s place.
“Are you going to tell me what you want to do with me now?” she asked when she slid into the passenger seat of my car.
“I’m afraid not,” I said with a wink. “I’m a gentleman and I’m afraid I can’t tell you all the things I want to do to you without you running for the hills.”
She smirked and let out a short laugh. “I don’t know if I should laugh about that or if I should take it as a real red flag and get the hell out of here while I still have the chance.”
“They say people really only joke about things they would do if they thought they could get away with it,” I said.
“Is that true?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“I don’t know,” I said with a laugh. She relaxed, and I shook my head, the amused smile still on my face. I loved the conversations I had with her, and was glad for what I had chosen that night. There was one place I wanted to take her where I knew she would be an absolute blast.
And when we got to the wax museum, I quickly learned I was right.
“I’ve always wanted to come in here, but I never had anyone to go with me, so I never did,” she squealed when we pulled up in front of the museum.
“What’s wrong with going on your own?” I asked. She shrugged but looked embarrassed as she brushed the hair out of her face.
“Nothing, I guess, but I mean, I’ve done so much on my own, I guess it’s nice to have someone to go do things like that with. I always feel like everyone in the place is staring at me and feeling sorry for me when I get up and walk out and I’m all by myself,” she said.
“I guess I never really thought that much about what anyone else thinks,” I said. “I mean, I’ve never gone to the movies and saw someone else there and assumed anything about them one way or the other besides that they must have liked the movie, too. The mutual interest is what brought us together.”