“Sure.” I’m grateful from the diversion of my inner thoughts. When he sits, I say, “What’s up?” as I clasp my hands on top of my desk.
“That night we all went out,” he begins. “I was trying to ask you out.” Oh, boy, this is going to get weird. “Because I wanted to talk to you about Mandy.” I inwardly sigh, both relieved and mortified. I’d assumed he was into me. “I’ve liked her forever. Only she sees us as just friends.”
Interesting.
“What about what happened that same night between you two?”
I’m not sure I should let him know I know what happened between them. Then again, he’s here for advice. He has to know girls talk.
“What about it? She was wasted and tried to pull my clothes off,” he admits freely. I relax because he’s okay talking about it. “When I wouldn’t comply with her grabby hands, she took off hers.” He face reddens and he actually blushes. It’s sort of cute. “I tried to fend her off because I didn’t want her to regret anything that happened between us the next day. She persisted until she finally passed out face first on her bed.”
“Nothing happened that night?” Mandy has no idea and she does regret what she thinks happened.
He shakes his head. “I slept in her bed only because you hear about drunken people choking and dying on their vomit. I didn’t want to leave or sleep on the couch knowing I could have saved her, in case something like that happened. When I woke up, she was already up and talking on the phone to someone.” That someone was probably me. “She practically shooed me out of her apartment. And ever since, she’s done her best to offer up friends and relatives she wants to set me up with.” His eyes are earnest and I can tell he’s at a loss. “What should I do?”
I love Mandy, but she’s lying to herself about her feelings for Daniel. She’s totally into him but for some reason won’t admit it.
“Give her a dose of her own medicine,” I say with a shrug.
We talk for a little while longer before the office starts to come alive. Mandy makes her way into my office when she stops short.
“Daniel,” she says and the shock is evident in her voice. I hope she doesn’t think something is going on between us.
He turns in her direction before he stands. “Thanks, Cate,” he says over his shoulder. To her, he says, “Morning Mandy. I was just telling Cate that I plan on taking your advice. I’m going to ask Tammy out. You know—the Tammy downstairs. She’s a receptionist for the law offices.”
Mandy nods and Daniel walks out after his declaration. I watch her pale.
“I can’t believe he’s going to ask her out. She’s cute and busty but …”
“She’s not you,” I finish for her.
She nods before shaking her head. “No, that’s not it. It’s a good thing he’s moving on.”
Clearly, she isn’t ready for a reality check. I decide to clear her mind about one thing.
“He came in to talk about how weird you’re acting. He says that nothing happened between the two of you that night.”
Her eyes snap to attention.
“We didn’t have sex?”
“Nope. He says you were all over him though until you passed out.”
“I was naked,” she says absently.
“He says that was all you. And he blushed while recalling it. I think you’re crazy for not going out with him.”
Just when I think I’ve gotten through to her, she asks, “And what about you and that gorgeous doctor?”
I chew on her words all morning long. Hadn’t my words been advice I should take for myself? I glance at my phone. Andy hasn’t texted me back. If he were any other guy, I would let it go and consider it a loss. But he isn’t just another guy. We have history. History I’m not ready to give up on, I realize.
I pick up my phone and try again.
ME: I am sorry. I wonder if you would be up for a blind date.
I stare at my phone and wait for a reply. After a couple of minutes, I set my phone down. He’s probably working and not ignoring it, I think, giving myself an internal pep talk.
Just as I start to type again, my phone rings. I’m so hopeful it’s Andy, I don’t bother to wait until the caller’s name pops up before I grab it and place it to my ear.
“Hello.”
“Sorry, huh?”
Despite his gruff tone, his voice is the oxygen I need to breathe. I say, “Truly.”
“So sorry, you want to send me on a date with someone else?”
I hear people talking in the background. He must be at work. I clamp a hand over my eyes. I guess what I thought were clever words come off as an epic fail.
“No, no one else. That wasn’t what I meant.”
“But—”
I cut him off. “Me. I want you to be blind to how stupid I’ve been and give me a chance to take you out to dinner.”
“Oh,” he says taken aback. “That kind of blind date.”
“Yes, it seems I’m not the wordsmith I thought I could be.”
There is a lingering pause that crosses into heavy awkwardness.
“Cate,” he begins and it sounds like regret.
No one likes rejection, least of all me. “We can go as friends,” I blurt. “Just let me make it up to you.”