2 Getting to Know You

"Yeah," he said, his dark eyes moving up and down as well. He broke off into a smile ." I should've gotten here earlier. I would've bought you that drink." He inclined his head towards the glass of rosé. "What is that, by the way?"

"It's rosé."

"Ah."

"Yeah, I'm a girly- girl who likes fruity drinks. I'm not one for real hard liquor," Lizzie said.

"Well, I drink sometimes. I don't like whiskey or anything but I do like beer," He responded. " Speaking of," he waved his hand, immediately getting Diego's attention. "Can I get a whiskey?"

Diego nodded, smoothly and quickly grabbing the beer in question and opening up the cap before setting it in front of David. " Can I get you anything else, guys?" He asked, his eyes darting to Lizzie.

"I'm good," David turned to Lizzie. " How about you?"

She shook her head. "I'm fine, thanks."

David then pointed to Lizzie's drink. " Yeah, we're good. You can put her drink on my tab."

Lizzie tried to hide a smile but failed miserably. Though she had many friends who took offense when a guy paid, she personally appreciated a man footing the bill on a first date. It said to her that he was serious.

After Diego took off, David tentatively moved closer to Lizzie. " So, do you come here a lot?  I haven't been here in ages."

She shrugged, twirling the little black straw around her drink. "Not really. I agreed with meeting here because I thought this would be the safest meeting place."

"Safest? You think I'm sinister or something?" he said, grinning.

"Maybe, you never know."

Lizzie stared deeply into his dark, brown eyes, feeling heat course through her whole body. This might make someone else break eye contact, and move farther just to stop the intense feeling of being exposed and showing how sexually attracted she was. But Lizzie wasn't going to back down. She could use this heat between them to her advantage. Because if she was right, and David was feeling this unspoken chemistry as well, how could she be embarrassed by it?

"I thought it was usual standards for online dating," she said, still holding his gaze.

David cleared his throat. "I think that online dating now is regular dating. Nobody really meets the old-fashioned way anymore."

"True, but a girl can never be too careful."

He was the one who broke the connection by taking a swig of whiskey. "So, looking at me now, do you think you need to be careful?"

Lizzie made point of scrunching her eyes and pursing her lips. "Right now, no. But who knows later on down the road."

"Man, what a burn," he said with a glint in his eye.

"Don't worry. I'm pretty sure you can change my mind. You already impressed me by deciding to meet me."

He took another sip of his drink before turning his entire torso to face Lizzie, given her his full attention. " I wouldn't take a beautiful woman like you out to any place. No, the minute I saw your pictures, I knew you were just like me... and liked the fancier things in life."

Now Lizzie was all ears. It always surprised her how little any other man could read her, really observe her, her pictures, and how she spoke and come to the correct conclusions about her. It was too soon to admit it, but David was the man that she was the most interested in and she knew she couldn't let him go.

But she also couldn't be too eager. She knew from her mother's advice and the many dating books she read that she had to play a little aloof or hard to get.

"So," she said, following David's lead and taking a sip of her own drink. " Tell me a little more about your family."

"Well, I have a younger sister and two stepsisters. Both of my parents are divorced," he said.

Lizzie raised her eyebrows. "Me too. I have a younger sister and my parents are divorced. Have been since I was fourteen."

From that point on, they had a steady flow of conversation, with both of them finding out they had even more things in common than they thought.  They both went to NYU ( with David having graduated two years before me and Lizzie just last year) both loved History- especially British History, and they even had the same birthday- August 8th. THIS was why meeting in person, going on actual dates, was the only way to quickly move anything along. You can only find out so much through texting or writing on the website. A person can take hours to respond, whereas now, you answer immediately and there is a steady stream of conversation... as well as feeling if there is any chemistry or not.

But as the night progressed, she realized from the sudden light that appeared on her phone signaling a text, that they had already spent two hours talking, while ordering appetizers in between.

"Wow. It's ten already," Lizzie remarked, swiping her phone quickly to check Andrea's text. During a blind date, Andrea always texted her, asking if she was okay or if she needed to call stating a fake emergency in order to get Lizzie out of there quickly. It was a girl-friend code that each of them did for each other.

But obviously now there was no need, and Lizzie would be seriously pissed at her if she dared come up with a lie now to get her away with the best date she had ever been on.

"Already?" David asked. "Man, I've enjoyed talking to you so much that I didn't even realize two hours passed. To be honest, I usually dip after two."

"Really?" Lizzie asked slowly, trying but failing to multi-task at the same time by answering Andrea with It's going great. Tell you all about it later before putting her phone away in her purse.

"I do the same thing," she said. It was almost at the tip of her tongue to ask if they could hang out a bit longer, but she remembered what had been instilled in her since she started getting interested in boys over a decade ago.

End it now. Keep him interested and wanting more. No matter how great the date was, she shouldn't extend it more than two hours... and definitely no going back to her place or his place afterwards. That was just a nice way of asking for sex and Lizzie usually always said no and never answered a text again from any guy who asked to take her to his apartment on the first date. She just didn't do that.

" I had a really great time, but I do have to go into work early tomorrow and I usually get sleep after 10, she said, finally sipping the last bit of her rose.

David nodded. "Yeah, me too. I got a report I have to finish up early tomorrow so I got to be in the office around 7."

He then raised his hand up in Diego's direction, who was chatting with his co-worker, the night clearly dying down and not many customers left on the bar. It wasn't that the place wasn't a happening restaurant, but usually this early in the regular week wasn't like  Saturday or Sunday, where people at this time would've continued to crowd the bar not giving a care in the world to sleep since they didn't have to wake up early the next day.

Diego walked over to them. "Anything else I can get you?"

"Just the check, please."

"Sure thing."

Once David paid for their drinks and appetizers, which Lizzie did not mind in the least, they headed out the door together, with David holding the door for Lizzie with all the casual ease of a true gentleman.

They stood on the sidewalk, staring into each other's eyes again. Though their conversation was light-hearted and became more friend-like once they realized they had many things in common, the sexual tension eased away as they became engrossed in discussing old t.v shows they watched as kids and so on. But now, once they were at the point of ending the date, the sexual attraction that Lizzie felt for him returned in full force. Her blue eyes met his and tingles ran all through her body; she felt heat in her cheeks and a longing in her nether regions just by being near him in this silence that seemed to stretch into eternity.

He stared back at her just as intensely, and Lizzie was wise enough about the male sex to know that he was just as attracted to her as she was to him.

David cleared his throat. "So...I don't play around the bush here... I'm interested in you. I'm extremely attracted to you...and I would like to see you again." He stepped closer to her and Lizzie's heart beat faster. Her breathing became more labored. God, control yourself, she thought. Stop panting for him like a dog.

Lizzie also cleared her throat. At this point, David was so direct, that she needed to at least tell him some of the truth- that she felt the same way.

"I'd like that. I really liked our conversation and I wouldn't mind seeing you again." Good, that's the way to do it. Let him know and focus on the conversation, the things you had in common. Don't let him even think that you want him so bad and you almost wet yourself with excitement.

He smiled and leaned in close to her.

Oh, shit. Was he going to kiss her? This was too soon. But it would be so awkward to just turn away. Even worse, was he going to ruin it by asking her to go to his place? Please, please don't let him be a jerk in disguise.

But he didn't kiss her, just gave a slight kiss on her cheek. His too short wet touch sent shivers down her spine and did nothing to lessen the heat coursing through her body, though the action was as innocent as it could get.

"I'll definitely call you," he said. "Maybe we can meet again this weekend? I know another great spot that has excellent food."

Lizzie let out a sigh of relief. "That'll be cool. Maybe we can get a table this time?"

He laughed. "Yeah, of course."

All laughter left his face once his eyes met hers again. "Good night, Lizzie."

That was the first time he said her name all night and she knew right then and there that she loved the way he said it. Loved the way the consonants and vowels sounded to her ears, and knew that she could spend the rest of her life listening to him saying her name.

"Good night, David."