Breadcrumb 4 - Ginger Bread

Sooooo, here I am. Again. Dining. Together.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not the dating kind of person. At all. I don't do dating. I don't do guys. I don't do lovey-dovey stuff. And it's not what I'm doing right now, if you'd think so. No-no-no. It's just... Ace invited me to this bar. A pub really. Where you can eat small snacks and stuff, nothing fancy. So, I don't consider it as a date really. We're just at this place, Waylon's Haunt. It's far off the city center and not the typical place where people go. Not that I know anything about the hotspots of Bridgeport. Let me think... what have I been doing here? Not anything else then hanging around my own apartment, getting lost in the busy and crowded street, and working at the lab.

"So I wanted to take you out to this place, just to show you the hidden secrets of the city." Hidden secrets. Sounds like a contamination to me. Did he mean it was supposed to be something I shouldn't miss when being in town?

The evening ended pretty unexpected, as I don't really consider myself a drinker. But it was Happy Hour and the bartender shouted the second drink would be for free, so we took the opportunity, and one drink later... we just took another one.

And I must say... several drinks later (I forgot to count, or couldn't keep up tracking) we were in quite some state. An exurberant state, so to say.

"You're a funny guy, Ace Wilde. I like that."

"Yeah, I know."

Next day, after work, I came into the hall of my apartment and there I found Jessica, almost in tears. Not what I'd have expected from such a tough girl. At least, that is was she seemed to me. But it turned out things were going in the wrong direction with her and Rafael Striker, who was her boyfriend. Was indeed, because they were in their breakup period by now. He'd been seeing another girl, which Jessica obviously didn't like when she found out. She heard from it via some vage acquaintance even! Can you imagine what that looks like!

So we settled ourselves on my flowered couch with big cans of icecream and talked, or kept quiet - whatever was appropriate. I have seen this on television, in the chicklit movies, this is what girlfriends do. So I suppose she really considers me as a good friend!

So I decided it would be right to tell her about my colleague and the evening we had visited Waylon's Haunt and how we had so much fun, and that I didn't really know how to deal with it.
"You should have a real date together," Jessica offered as an answer, and I couldn't do anything else than laugh at her.

"That's just silly. Why would I ever ask him on a date? It was just a strange evening. Do you ever go out with your colleagues? I mean, it's so personal. I always wanted to separate friends and work." As if I ever expected to have friends...

"It seems like he's into you. You're not into him?"

"Wha-at? Into what?" Okay, maybe I had thought about it. About him fancying me. Or something. But yikes - isn't that grose?!

"It seems like he likes you, girl, and you should put some effort in it too, if you like him too!"
Which left me to consider if I did like him. I had never been into boys, or men, or whatever. I'm not really the flirty type. I don't like the whole process, or whatever you call it. Just be direct, say what you have to say, and leave all the fuzziness behind. It is of no use... So dating is just stupid. Especially calling it dating. You just hang around together, talk, get to know each other, and finally decide whether to move in together or not. No fuzziness.

So, that I was cleaning my house some evenings later, was only coincidence. Or... would you want your guests to visit you in a untidy and stuffed house? Of course not. And... I had to keep up with the promise to tidy my bed every morning (which I obviously didn't).

It was definitely not Ace that made me take a long shower...

... or made me put on my "Sunday"-outfit.

Beside, we were just hanging around in my apartment, really. Just hanging around. Making a dinner together.

And me trying to hide my clumsiness...

Well, turned out I wasn't the only one... Ace managed to set my stove on fire, again. I promised him it was probably because the stove was just old and used. I was sure not to tell him that this new stove was delivered only some weeks ago.

Anyway, he turned out to be quite the hero, also extinguishing the fire. Which made me think of Jessica and our well-developed friendship. This might just be a precursor of the friendship that would bloom between Ace and me. Why not a opposite-sex friendship? I've always wanted that when I was a teenager.

We ended up eating the burned mac and cheese, complimented by my fresh salad. I think we both were pretending the main dish was good, but I assume he also didn't like the burning taste too much.

Alright... Maybe that wasn't exactly where the evening ended...