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Two weeks, five days, and twelve minutes. That's how long Sam had known Jessica before he finally worked up the courage to ask her out on a proper first date—no coffee, no apologies for spilled drinks, just them, seated in a well-maintained but affordable restaurant. She’d said yes, and now he couldn’t stop staring at her, pretending to flip through the menu with more deliberation than he actually felt.
“Awkward?” Jessica teased, using her finger to nudge the menu down. Sam smiled, sheepishly, feeling his cheeks burn.
“I haven’t particularly done this before,” he admitted, shifting his arms awkwardly, trying to find a comfortable position.
“Well, luckily for you, I have done this tons of times,” Jessica joked, returning his smile. She was pretty—he’d noticed that before—but sitting here, with the soft lighting casting a glow around her and that sly expression on her face, he really noticed it. He liked this, liked her, maybe more than he’d allowed himself to admit.
“Really, my last date took me to some sushi restaurant,” Jessica said, shuddering dramatically. “Wouldn’t recommend it.”
“Not into fish?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.
“More like not into guys who talk about investing and trading being the next big thing for three hours straight.”
Sam whistled. “Well, there go my dinner plans.” He grinned as he felt a playful kick against his legs and met Jessica’s pouty look.
“Please tell me you have more adventurous things going on in your life than watching numbers go up and down all day,” she challenged, leaning forward slightly.
“Yeah, you could say that”
“Oh?” Jessica giggled, he had piqued her interest even more now, not that she had considered him uninteresting before, she rather liked looking at him if she had to be completely honest.
“My father was a mechanic”
“A stripper mechanic?”
Sam looked at her, taken aback by the question.
“What? You brought that fact up with such a look on your face that I thought you were going to share some big bad secret or something.”
Sam grinned, a warmth spreading across his body, he could just tell her, right here, right now. It is not like his father would know he spilled about the family business anyway, but he bit his tongue.
“Not particularly”
Sam’s answer had come out a bit clumsily and by the way Jessica nodded she didn’t buy it for a single second. Luckily for Sam, who had attempted to stammer some explanation, a chipper server soon stood at their table to get their order and deliver their drinks, the conversation quickly returning to more comfortable topics; their favorite classes, professors they couldn’t stand, plans for their future – Jessica admitted she wouldn’t mind studying forever, both because she couldn’t stick to any one dream and because she just loved knowledge – and eventually some form of a mild drinking game. Their night filled with banter and laughter as they got to know the very basics of each other though Sam had to admit – and he did so verbally – that this was his first time actually thinking about what he himself was actually like.