Fairy Tale Fail

Chapter 10 - Part of the rumor cycle

"Ellie Manuel!" Charisse yelled, grabbing me by the arm as soon as I got out of the elevator at the lobby.
   I knew what she meant, but didn't expect that she would be this... excited. It wasn't like anything major happened anyway. But as soon as word got around that Lucas and I had been stranded together during the storm, Charisse invited me to lunch and demanded that I give her every detail.
   So, tucked away in a corner table at the Italian restaurant four buildings away, I told her all that would fit in a lunch hour. At least, I told her about the bulalo restaurant, that I told him about Don, that he told me about Patty, and that I spent the night on his Tita Claire's family room floor after he gave me love life counseling. The next morning he found me a cab home, and I showered and dressed, and was back at work before lunch.
   "That's it," I said, in conclusion.
   "That is not it. I've seen you two at lunch already. Like, a few days ago. What's up?"
   Well yeah, we had lunch together since then. The day after the storm, Lucas stopped by my desk as he went to get his coffee and asked if I was sleepy. I said kind of, yes, and on his way back he left a Styrofoam cup of black coffee beside my keyboard.
   The next few days I barely saw him, until three days ago, when he just casually invited me to lunch, without drama or pretense. And when we talked, it was like there had been no gap between conversations.
   I found out that he was a Business Economics guy in college, who collected anything and everything Star Wars (episodes four to six only, he made sure to emphasize), and that he had been working for financial firms since stumbling onto one right out of school, but never really thought about where it would take him. I told him about college, about experimenting with various fields of Comm, and also ending up in Marketing because it offered the path of least resistance.
   "In other words, you were just as lazy as I was," he teased.
   "Work does not define us," I retorted. "Those were your words, and I prefer them."
   The next day, I didn't see him at all. Like, the whole day. And then yesterday, he suddenly showed up at shutdown time with two tickets to a movie premiere – some adaptation of a video game that I had never heard of.
   Now, if I were crazy into him, I would have been freaked out by this erratic sked. I would have expected a call the next day, and wondered hourly if he was really interested. But for some reason I felt no rush to do anything. I was just enjoying it.
   "We're friends now," I said, giggling.
   Well, sort of. It was a bit hard to explain, but Lucas and I weren't on the same page like Don and I were. Don and I had the same opinions about a lot of things, but not exactly the same interests. Like, he wouldn't feel like going to a movie with me initially, but if he did, we usually had the same opinion of it after.
   Lucas and I, on the other hand, seemed to have the same interests, but our opinions could be radically different. Like, he loved that video game movie, while I squirmed over the bad acting and overdone action. We liked to talk about our traveling, but I wanted international trips, and he was intent on seeing as much of the country before he used his passport again. We were not on the same page, but on opposite pages of the same spread. Did that even make sense?
   And why was I comparing?
   "You've become like those girls we have code names for!" Charisse gasped. "The girls we see him with."
   "Is there gossip about me? What are people saying?"
   Charisse paused. "Well, nothing bad. I think it's the residual sympathy from the whole Visita Iglesia thing. Normally anyone they see with Lucas gets the nasty judgment, but with you they're actually kind."
   I rolled my eyes. "Great. At least that trauma was useful for something."
   "So what's up? Are you dating or what?"
   "I don't think so," I said. "I mean, we've gone out, but I don't think those are dates. He's cool, but the reasons why he's not right for me haven't changed." Except him having a lovechild. And smoking. "Well, some have changed, but most of them are still there."
   "Are you kidding me?" Charisse said, her voice going up to a higher pitch. "He's Rock Star. You are this close to dating Rock Star. And you're holding yourself back because he doesn't fit some Prince Charming template you designed way before you met him?"
   What was wrong with my template? Even after my failed relationship I still wanted one that started as friendship. I still wanted a good guy, someone responsible. It was an important decision in my life, and I wasn't going to just wing it.
   I mean, if I obsessively planned my trips months or years before I even set a foot on the city, how could I make a decision about the guy I would love based just on gut feel? That didn't make sense to me.
   So yes, Lucas was damn sexy, and surprisingly easy to talk to, and seemed to want to continue talking to me even after I shared how pathetic I was. I was having fun, and my confidence in being around guys was coming back.
   But that was not the basis for a relationship, no matter what my friend said.

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Haha. So now I'm a little annoyed at Ellie. But I did pattern her after people who held themselves back from things for a variety of reasons - so this is just realistic? :)