I wasn’t doing that shit. No way. Not even to alleviate the disappointment in her eyes when I flatly refused. I did watch her do it — twice— and then I took her to lunch.
“So, tell me how a tall, buff, manly-ass man like you wimps out of a simple little free fall,” Stacey teased, closing her lips over the straw of her fruity drink.
I took a swig of my Jack and coke. “That was not a little free fall. Maybe to your little fearless butt, but this “thrill park” shit has me drinking at lunch. I’ll be a wimp, punk, whatever you want to call me today,” I laughed. She could tease all she wanted — I was alive, and at that point, it was my only goal for this date.
“Maybe we should have had the drinks first, huh? Come on, Avery. This stuff today was nothing. I’ve done much more invigorating things than all of that!” I sat in awe as she gave me a rundown of all of the crazy shit — I mean ‘life changing’ adventures — she’d experienced. I was thinking she was going to tell me about zip-lining, maybe skydiving— normal people’s adventurous stuff. No. This girl was running with the bulls, and hunting alligators, shark diving, bungee jumping out of helicopters, storm chasing and a whole list of other dangerous things. I realized Stacey wasn’t really having fun unless she was risking her life, and that wasn’t the life for me.
When I got home from our date, thankfully in one piece, I messaged Tori.
“Another no go. Girl has a damned death wish. - MatchedAce.”
“ :( I’m sorry Avery! So Stacey is a little too carefree? - MatchedTori”
“A little? - MatchedAce.”
“Yikes. Okay, well no worries, but maybe we need to make a few more modifications. I know that sometimes the way WE perceive things isn’t the way they actually are. I’m looking at both you and Stacey’s profiles right now, and there’s a question specifically about willingness to do something “crazy”. Obviously, Stacey rated herself a ten, but you rated yourself an eight… maybe we need to slide you back to closer to a five? - MatchedTori”
“Please do. I’m not into the daredevil life. - MatchedAce”
“Okay. I’ll do that, and we’ll keep on moving forward. I’m still waiting on the next date to get back to me with her schedule, and we’ll set up a meeting from there, okay? - MatchedTori”
“Okay. I trust you to do your thing. - MatchedAce”
I logged off after sending that last message, intending to go over the numbers for a deal that would allow me to buy out a smaller chain of shops similar to Ignition, rebrand them, and add them to my store count. It was big, but it was also complicated, and stressful, and quite honestly, a little scary. I wasn’t in the mood for any of that after that crazy date. On a whim, I logged back into my Matched profile, where I saw that Tori had sent one last message, after I was gone.
“I appreciate that. Stay positive! - MatchedTori”
Before I could second-guess it, I tapped out and sent her a response.
“Have dinner with me tonight? - MatchedAce”
Ten minutes went by without a response. Then thirty minutes. Then an hour.
“Uhh… not sure about that, Avery. - MatchedTori”
“Why not? - MatchedAce”
Ten more minutes.
“It would be inappropriate. - MatchedTori”
“Not like that. I wanted to discuss what we might need to do differently to make these dates and stuff work. -MatchedAce”
That was a lie. I wanted to see her.
“We can do that here, or we can speak on the phone if you’d like. Or we can set up a meeting time. - MatchedTori”
“That’s what I’m trying to do. I want to talk face to face, and I don’t know when I’ll be free this coming week. - MatchedAce”
Five minutes went by while I waited on her response.
“Victor Tango’s. At seven. Do NOT make me wait for you. - MatchedTori”
Yes!
I took a moment to pump my fist in victory before I sent one last message back.