Page 67 of Glass Half Full
“Dylan, you are not that guy.” Stella reaches for my arm again. “That guy doesn’t ask himself if he’s that guy. That guy just goes around being that guy. You understand?”
“Uh, maybe?”
“You didn’thire a hottie.” She shoots Owen a glare—or the closest thing to a glare that she’s got. “You hired someone who was the right fit for the job, and you ended up developing feelings for each other. I can tell just from the way you look when you talk about her that she means the world to you. Nobody who knows you would mistake you for ‘that guy.’”
“Agreed,” Owen pitches in. “I know I sounded sceptical, but Stella’s right. You’re clearly crazy about her. So what exactly is going on between you two? Are you dating?”
“We...We’ve been taking it slow.”
Flashes of last night play across my conscience: her hands digging into my back, the glint of her eyes staring up at me in the dim light of my room, that wild hair splayed out across my pillow.
Owen tilts his head to the side. “You’ve slept together, haven’t you?”
I really have to get my damn face under control.
“Just once,” I bite out. “Recently. Maybe we should have waited longer, but she...she had a rough night, and she just needed someone to be there, and...”
I wait for them to make a crude joke. My explanation is just begging for it, but instead I find them both watching me with understanding.
“You really care about her,” Stella says softly.
I nod. “She’s...she’s incredible. I’ve never felt like this before, not even close to it. We’ve just been meeting up on our days off, getting to know each other better. It’s been...everything. I could listen to her talk about anything for hours. I just keep thinking how damn lucky I am to sit across from her at a table, never mind have the chance to be...but that’s the thing. What are we going to be?”
“Boyfriend and girlfriend?” Stella prompts like it should be obvious.
I wish it was that obvious.
“So I’m just supposed to date my ‘young employee?’”
Stella waves her hand dismissively. “It’s not like you’re the prime minister and you’ve suddenly decided to date the latest parliamentary intern.”
The arrival of our milkshakes saves me from having to reply. Owen and Stella start slurping theirs down, but mine just looks like a pile of sludge to me.
“You know what?” Owen grabs a napkin from the stack and then pulls a pen and his phone out of his messenger bag. After a few seconds of writing, he hands the napkin to Stella. “It’s your number. If you don’t give that to him, I will. He was totally checking you out.”
“He was not!” Stella blushes as she turns back to us after watching the waiter walk away again. “Was he?”
I nod. “I think he was.”
“Oh my god, you guys, I can’t do this. Should I do this?”
Owen and I continue to egg her on until she finally throws her hands up in the air.
“Okay. I’ll do it when we leave, and just so everyone is aware, if I can be brave enough to do this, Dylan can totally be brave enough to date Renee.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “You’re giving your number to a waiter you met an hour ago. Is that really on par with me dating Renee?”
“You’re going to date a girl you’re in love with,” Stella drawls. “Seems pretty straightforward to me.”
“She’s a girl who deserves way better than me.”
There it is, underneath the small talk about our jobs and our ages. There’s the real road block I can’t get past, the one I keep butting heads with over and over again.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Owen makes a slow-the-hell-down gesture. “I thought we were discussing the logistical difficulties of you dating. You thinking she doesn’t deserve you is a whole other question. Is that the real reason you aren’t together yet?”
“There’s more to it than that.”
Way more.
