Page 125 of The Dating Ban
I shift awkwardly, and the trousers remind me of their ongoing assault.
Theo scratches the back of his neck.
Then, simultaneously:
“I guess—”“So maybe—”
We stop. Awkward laugh. Silence again.
He tries first. “I mean, maybe it’s just... one of those things.”
“Yeah,” I say quickly, “like, not everything needs to turn into something, right?”
“Exactly,” he says. “Sometimes it’s just—nice to know.”
“To try,” I add. “To rule it out.”
We nod. Too much.
A pause.
Neither of us looks directly at the other.
I want to sayThis wasn’t what I hoped, but instead I say, “Thanks for dinner.”
He smiles. “Thanks for letting me talk about coffee. And... 17th-century history. And clouds.”
“Very educational evening,” I say, mouth dry.
He chuckles, almost embarrassed. “Yeah. I should... probably go. Let you get out of those trousers.”
My eyebrows shoot up.
“I mean—” He grimaces. “Thatcame out wrong.”
I burst out laughing. It’s the first real one I’ve had all night. “Go, Theo. Save yourself.”
He grins, backing away. “Night, Ivy.”
“Night.”
And just like that, he turns and disappears around the corner. No kiss. No lingering look. Just a faint whiff of aftershave and the sound of retreating footsteps.
I unlock the door, step inside, and lean against it once it clicks shut.
Well.
That could’ve gone worse.
Technically.
But in the pit of my stomach, there’s a hollow sort of ache. The quiet, resigned kind. The one that comes when something you really wanted... doesn’t want you back in quite the same way.
And now I’ve got to get out of these trousers before they become part of my skeletal system.
35
Austen-esque
