Page 71 of Hesi-Dating
I hit the backspace button to delete the words, but my finger slipped. I heard the beep of a sent text.
Fuck.
Happy Thanksgiving.
JOLEY
…
It looked like she was typing. My heart jolted. I stared transfixed on the screen. Thirty seconds. A minute.
JOLEY
Happy turkey day right back at you, hot potato. Give Henry and the horses a hug for me.
Was she still thinking about me as much as I did her?
ChapterTwenty-Seven
JOLEY
"We had misdirection from the futures with a down market this week. Probably because of the holiday, you know. Hedge funds are positioned long-short and with the payday next week we have to control the market. We can't let it lift."
I flashed my date a smile, which I hope didn't come off anemic. I had no clue what the hedge fund manager, Vijay, meant. Nor what he'd been jabbering about for the past ninety minutes that we'd been forced to wait for our table after a booking snafu at this high-end sushi place. They'd apparently "lost" the reservation Vijay made. I remained skeptical he'd made a reservation to begin with, but didn't want to further his humiliation when we'd arrived at the check-in kiosk. Who knew this was a Thanksgiving dinner hot spot?
Finally, at ten-thirty we'd been seated. Hunger had come and gone for me long ago. Had Vijay asked me once about my life or job or anything about me since I arrived to meet him at the restaurant? Nope. Not that this was new for me on first dates. Many guys were too nervous to try to ask questions. They wanted to beat their chests and show how smart or rich or powerful they were.
My attempt to bust out of my dateless dry spell had led me to choose this straight lacer from an online app. He was someone I'd normally steer a mile around. My thought had been to date someone different. Someone looking for a future, and not a one-nighter.
I wanted to bang my head on the table over my stupidity. I could read app guys. I knew he'd be like this after we texted a few times this week.
I shouldn't have gone out on Thanksgiving, but I didn't want to sit at home feeling sorry for myself. What I should've asked was why didn't Hedge Fund Vijay have a family to be tortured by on the holiday?
If Amber had been in town, we'd have done a family dinner, but she postponed it to when she returned from San Francisco. The reality TV show had forced her to go do something with her new "boyfriend." Marino had gone over to his girlfriend's family. Bruno had arranged to game online with a few friends and even though I was invited, I wasn't into car racing games.
Vijay wore a blue button-down with one button open at the top. It showed off a lot of dark chest hair. He wasn't in bad shape, but he also didn't look like a guy who worked out more than once a week. To dress the shirt down, he'd rolled up the sleeves.
He leaned forward, brown eyes bright with belief I was into whatever the hell he was talking about. "Do you have any stocks?"
"I thought about buying Apple."With the sixty bucks in my account? Um…not really.
"We've been seeing a lot of quick buying with Apple this week while it's at 60. I've been taking notice of it. I need more people selling before I'll jump in. You know what I mean, right?" When I shook my head, the pen from his shirt pocket came out. He started diagramming something on a paper napkin.
Kill me. Please.
I faked interest in the graph he drew while sipping my cocktail. He might be cute in a late twenties, big brain, nerdy way, but I had a bad feeling he'd be spewing stock information when he orgasmed. I tried to stop thinking unkindly, but when he looked up from the paper napkin diagram his gaze didn't make it to my face. He stared at my chest for ninety percent of his monologue.
Barely breaking from his lecture, he ordered for both of us when the waitress appeared without consulting me on my dinner choice.
Without. Asking. Me!
I could tolerate a lot on a first date, but not being asked formyfood order was a serious no. "I don't want sushi," I said to the waiter before he turned away. "Can you just bring me some soup and green tea, please? I don't care what kind of soup so long as it's not too fishy."
Twenty minutes later our food arrived, and I'd learned too much more about hedge funds and trading. For the first time since we sat down, he took a break from talking to shove a piece of sushi in his mouth. "You're going to eat some of this."
Did he seriously point at me with his chopsticks and order I eat his food while showing off half chewed shrimp?
"No thanks."
