Page 5 of Too Much In Common
Chris wished he had a reason to ask her to stay and start over. He walked her to the door. “If your name is Christian, how did you shorten it to Tian?” He pronounced it in two syllables,Ti-ann, like he’d heard her roommates say.
“I used to go by my full name. Some kid at church was teasing me, singing, ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’. The way he sang it broke the word into an extra third syllable. I liked it, so instead of being a Chris, I became a Ti-an.”
“Your birthday isn’t October sixth, is it?”
“No, it is in April. Why?”
“Because if we had the same birthday, I don’t think we could be friends, but since we don’t, maybe we could start over and meet less awkwardly?” Where he could prove to her he was the type of man his mother raised him to be.
Her smile didn’t reach her weary eyes, but she extended her hand. “Hi. I’m your new neighbor, Tian.”
“Hi. I’m Chris. Would you like to go out for coffee?”
“Maybe some time.”
He recognized the brush off for the “no” it was. “See you around?”
“Probably.” She waved and walked down the hall.
Chris watched until she turned the hallway corner before shutting the door.
“Now I know why you have no dates. You took down the lady and then asked her out for coffee. You’ve got no game.”
“I wanted to make it up to her.”
Javier shook his head. “Coffee is ‘I saw your profile online and want to see if you are human.’ Not ‘I’m sorry, I just scared the life out of you.’”
“She didn’t seem scared.” As he said that, he remembered her wide eyes—frightened but determined—and how she’d tried to fight back.
“Probably because I was laughing my head off.”
“Why didn’t you stop me?”
“Why didn’t you stop yourself?”
Chris couldn’t answer that question. He hadn’t analyzed things well. From her wide hazel eyes to the airline t-shirt, he should have realized she wasn’t a threat. “Then what, flowers?”
Javier turned and walked away, muttering in Spanish. Chris caught one word—estúpido.
“I am not stupid. You could have told me her name and avoided this entire thing!” Chris went into his room and pulled up his relax playlist. Tian had been on the receiving end of too much leftover adrenaline from the day. Normally, he wouldn’t have taken down a person Javier let into the apartment without assessing the situation better. Somehow, he needed to make it up to her. He needed ideas. He texted his sister.
Chris: I made a stupid mistake with a woman I met. How do I apologize?
Janet: How bad?
Chris: I embarrassed us both, and Javier cussed me out in Spanish.
Janet: Chocolate.
Not helpful. Chocolate and flowers were the usual defaults. Chris scrolled through his phone. There had to be a better way to apologize.
* * *
Tian kicked the door shut behind her, not sure who frustrated her more. Chris or herself for flying across the room like a screaming banshee. He hadn’t hurt her. His grip had been firm, but not bruising, and her fast landing on the couch was soft. Still, she didn’t need an aggressive man in her life. She walked into the living room and dropped the box onto the table hard enough the cup bounced out. “I found my delivery.”
Simone picked up the menstrual cup and put it back in the box. “He opened it?”
“Did he know what it was?” asked Brit.
