Page 94 of Time Loops & Meet Cutes
ME: of course
CAM: So is it a bad time to ask if you want to eat some more?
CAM: Maybe Saturday? My roommate’s out of town and I thought you could come over for dinner. Or we could go out.
I’ve never been to Cam’s apartment before, though he’s been to mine.
It’s nice that we don’t have to rush to get everything done in one day; it feels like we have all the time in the world now. And he invited me over, which makes me suspect he has something other than food on his mind.
Saturday, I have a late lunch with Veronica. We meet at a congee restaurant, and she gives me a big hug. In some ways, as we reminisce about our university years, it feels like no time has passed.
Veronica, who’s also Asian, has always been louder, brasher, and more chaotic than me. She’s wearing a chunky necklace that I love but would never wear myself. To be honest, in different circumstances, we might not have become friends, but in our engineering discipline, there weren’t a ton of women in our year, and she made a point of talking to me.
There were a few other classmates from university that I spoke to after graduation. However, they felt more like Dave’s friends than mine, and I didn’t try to stay in touch after the breakup. None of them reached out.
“What about you?” Veronica asks after updating me on her life, her voice carrying better in the crowded restaurant than mine does. “Are you at the same company?”
Veronica, naturally, isn’t. She’s just started her third job since graduation.
A part of me wants to ask if she knows a place that’s hiring, but then it would feel like I texted her just to ask for career advice, and that’s far from the truth. Instead, after confirming that yes, I’m still at Woods & Olson, I tell her that I’ve started seeing someone.
“Is this the first guy you’ve dated since Dave?” she asks.
“Yeah.”
“Oh my god!” She slaps my arm. “Tell me everything. How did you meet?”
“He owns a brewery with a couple of friends. He was behind the bar in the taproom when I walked in. I didn’t say much, but I returned the next week and flirted with him. I wrote my number on the bill.”
Veronica’s mouth drops open. “You, Noelle Tom,flirtedwith a bartender?” She’s not saying it in a mean way. But she knows me, even if we haven’t seen each other in a while.
“Uh, yeah.” I don’t, of course, mention all the practice I’d had.
“Can I see a picture?”
I haven’t taken one, but I bring up the brewery’s website and show her a photo.
“He’s cuuute,” she says, dragging it out in a way that offends my eardrums.
“So, yeah.” I slip my phone into my purse. “That’s what’s new with me.”
“When are you seeing him next?”
“Tonight. I’m going to his place. He’s supposed to cook for me.”
“Ooo-ooh.”
I laugh. “Stop it.”
She does not. She waggles her eyebrows, and I kinda like being teased by an old friend.
“Have you done it yet?” she asks.
“No,” I say, and I feel like I’m rewriting history.
“But maybe tonight?” She shimmies in her seat.
“Veronica!”
