Page 46 of Cocky Nerd
“I would definitely cast Michael Fassbender as you in the movie of your life.” She doesn’t even have to scan her eyes down the front of me to let me know that she’s thinking about mydick.
“I’m definitely not going to argue with that.” I take her hand. “You look beautiful.” She’s wearing billowy pale pink pants and a matching top that hangs loose and only hints at the subtle but devastating curves beneath it. Her hair is up in a tight ballerina bun. She is summery, elegant casual andperfect.
“Thank you,” she says, reluctantly. She doesn’t pull her hand away, but she doesn’t squeeze mine either. “I guess you’re going into to good boyfriend modenow.”
“Yes, there was an update, which I just downloaded. It addresses a few bugs and user-relatedcomplaints.”
“We’ll see aboutthat.”
Finally, I get the reassuring hand-squeeze, and even a littlesmile.
Just like that, my heart skips a beat, and I’m back in herorbit.
The banquetthat I’m co-hosting tonight is for twenty-four people and was organized by a young entrepreneur named Mei Li. She is one of the happiest entrepreneurs I’ve ever met, but her sunny personality belies a shrewd business sense and a fantastic mind for internet technology. We have the private room of a classic Chinese restaurant in another hotel on the Bund, with a fantastic view of the futuristic Pudong district across thewater.
The Encompass Foundation means a lot to me, and the women in tech that I’ve met here are brilliant and strong and they will make a real difference. As I say in my little speech when I give a toast, there’s already an organization called Project Include, formed by women in Silicon Valley who help CEOs implement diversity and inclusion at their companies. I don’t want this organization to overshadow theirs, I want to join forces and expand our reach. When I start talking about my mother, how she has always worked twice as hard as my father (which is saying a lot since they’re both workaholics), as a woman in the tech industry, and mention that she is on the board of this foundation, I notice Olivia sit up and pay closerattention.
She always looks so perplexed by me. How can she not know how simple a creature I am when it comes to her? I raise my glass to everyone at the table, and then toher.
She rubs my back when I sit down, and I can tell she wants to ask me about my mother, but the servers start bringing in the next course of this feast, and Mrs. Chen, who’s seated on the other side of her, is explaining all the food toher.
Olivia’s enthusiasm for new experiences is one of the sexiest things about her. Watching her try every kind of food that Mrs. Chen piles onto her plate is entertaining; watching her knock back four shots of Maotai liquor (which is essentially lighter fluid) is a tiny bit frightening. I’ve never been around her when she’s drunk. Surely four shots and a glass of beer will make her drunk, although she seems to be holding her own against everyone who calls out “Ganbei!” while holding up a shotglass.
I myself draw the line at two shots and put my hand on her arm when she reaches for the fifth shot. I make a face and people laugh politely. Olivia, I can tell, is torn between defying me and being a proper date, and when she acquiesces, pushing the shot glass away and taking a sip of beer instead, I’m ready to get down on oneknee.
One of thegreat things about Chinese banquets, besides the food, is that they are always over by the time most Western dinner events are just getting started. Mr. and Mrs. Chen invite us to join them for karaoke at a club nearby, and we refuse the obligatory three times, before politely sending Mei Li and the driver home so that we can walk back to ourhotel.
It was blessedly breezy today, so the air is relatively clear and it’s a beautiful warm night along the riverbank. If Olivia is inebriated, she isn’t showing it. She must have a high tolerance level, which is surprising given her compact health-conscious body. I guess everything about her surprisesme.
There are hundreds of people with us on the promenade. They are milling about, or sitting around fanning themselves. There are plenty of tourists taking pictures. Olivia pulls out her phone and hands it to me while hanging her purse from myshoulder.
“Take pictures of me! I need ballet shots for Instagram!” She pulls off her heels and shoves them into thepurse.
I get shots of her leaping and twirling, with the river and sci-fi inspired skyscrapers in the background. When she leans against the railing by the water, raising her leg up in the air alongside her head and grasping her ankle, crowds gather around her, taking their own pictures. She does more dance-y poses and finally stops when people have started applauding. She thanks them and returns to me to check the images. I got some with my own phone and post it on my Instagramaccount.
When she posts her picture and checks her account, she says: “Holy shit! I have two thousand more followers since a few daysago.”
I hold up my hand for a high-five and remind her to put her shoes backon.
“I have more followers than Kennedy Sloan now!” This is a little victory for her, I suppose. “Eat my dust, KennedyOnPointe!” she says, jumping up anddown.
It’s so cute. I kiss the top of her head when I put my arm around her shoulder and she leans into me, sighing. “Thank you for bringing me here,” shesays.
“Thank you for coming withme.”
She wraps both arms around my waist. “You’re impressive,” she says, without a hint ofirony.
“Thankyou.”
And that’s when we both hear the man singing into his karaoke machine a ways down the promenade. “Wise man say…onaly fool rush in…bud I can’duh hep falling in alove, widuhyou…”
She lets go and starts dancing the ballet routine she did when she was twelve. “Oh my God—do you rememberthis?”
“I remember—” “You remember everything, Iknow.”
When she spins around I catch her and pull her tome.
We slow dance to the most beautiful-terrible version ofCan’t Help Falling In Lovein the middle of the Bund, by a river that flows gently to the sea, with people all around us taking pictures and videos with their cameras. We’re both here now, and there back then at her recital, ignoring her brother with his threateningfist.
If I had to pick one moment to live over and over again, it might be this one, though I know that she still has no idea how much every moment with her means tome.
