Not Scared Anymore

Chapter 17 - Kevin

By Thursday evening Kevin was a ball of nerves. He had already made a list of his favourite books, subdivided into different categories. He'd figured out the answer to her question, but wanted to be prepared for anything else she might throw at him.

His gut told him he was going to meet the woman he kept seeing on the train. He felt ready. He hadn't seen her up close on the train, but it was her face he was seeing anytime he thought about Stephanie from the elevator.

Afraid to jinx it, he didn't tell anyone about his upcoming coffee date. He didn't want to be forced to tell Jared about another bad date if Jared asked and it went poorly, he'd much rather surprise him with news he had a decent date.

He stayed in on Friday evening, wanting to go to bed early. He was too restless to actually sleep, so he read late into the night until he fell asleep with his book on the couch. He stumbled to his bed around 2:00 AM; when he woke up at 7:00 AM, he decided he would workout to calm his nerves. His brain was working too fast to let him sleep in any later.

He felt good after his run and quick weight routine, and went home to shower. He wanted to be early, and could always wander around the bookstore first. Being surrounded by books was a sure way to calm down and find his zen.

Kevin saw Stephanie arrive ahead of him and head to the coffee shop. He waited a few more minutes before joining her there. 

"Stephanie?"

She turned to smile at him. "Kevin! Hi... again. Have a seat."

She had found two of the cushy chairs by the window, and he offered to buy the drinks before he sat down. He deflected her attempts at giving him money, "Hey, I owe you for that granola bar remember. That thing saved me from starving!" She laughed, and the sound made his heart skip a beat.

He returned with two hot chocolates; he handed her a cup with a large dollop of whipped cream on top, and settled in to the chair across from her. Her face lit up. If everything else on the date went south, he would treasure the memory of her brilliant smile directed at him for the rest of his life. She pointed out that they were no longer on a coffee date, since neither of them were actually drinking coffee.

If hearts were capable of smiling, Kevin knew his would be. She was funny, incredibly friendly and attractive, and Kevin was really starting to worry he would screw this up. She got right down to business, putting her hot chocolate down and leaning forward in her chair.

"Okay, I've waited nearly a week, I need to know your favourite adventure book of all time."

"Alright. It took me a few days, but I finally have the answer. But its not my favourite book of all time."

"Go on... but you know you'll have to tell me that now too," she said with a grin.

"Okay, well my favourite adventure story is The Martian. And my favourite book of all time is The Princess Bride."

She looked at him closely for a minute with her head cocked to the side, then leaned back in her chair and took a sip of hot chocolate.

"Okay, what about The Princess Bride makes it so good to you?"

He held up his hand to stop her. "No wait, first I need to know your favourite, so I know what kind of person I am dealing with here."

She blushed and reached into her purse, pulling out a folded piece of stationary. "Don't worry its all on here. You're dealing with a crazy book lover who wrote them all down by genre, so I'm probably not going to judge anything you say too harshly."

He smiled back at her and pulled out his phone to put it on the table beside her list. "Good, because I did the same thing."

They talked about books for an entire hour.