Missed Connections, page 2
That was the last straw for Abby. It really did sound like he was assuming they were having sex tonight – you know, Mr. Casual, here. Honestly, she already knew that she didn’t want to see Adam again. But… she wasn’t just going to let him get away with this. She needed a date to talk about with the girls, and Abby was sure that they were going to point out that she didn’t stick through it. More than anything, she wanted to be petty and get a free meal out of it now.
“So, what do you do for a living?” She figured that she might as well start a conversation so she didn’t end up bored to death. Plus, Adam was already coming off as the type that liked to talk about themselves.
And it sure as shit perked him up. “I work in real estate.”
Adam kept talking until the food came, and there was only silence when he took a bite. It was like he couldn’t help himself. He must have thought that everything he was saying did nothing but impress Abby – when that was the furthest from the truth. With minimal nodding and one-word answers, she was getting through dinner.
Adam turned down dessert for them, which was fine. She was ready to be done with this night. He handed over his credit card without a second thought, probably thinking that Abby was impressed enough to be a sure thing tonight. And if he hadn’t been such as ass – and she gave him a chance to turn that around – she would have at least tried to pay for her half.
“I’d like to see more of you tonight.” Adam sounded confided as he held open the door for her.
She was going to have to break it to him now. “That’s not going to happen.”
“What do you mean?” It was the first time in the last hour that he bothered to ask a question.
“I don’t think we’re going to work out or go further than this. I just don’t feel like we clicked.” If he wouldn’t accept that, she could either lie about an early start tomorrow or see if she could get an escort from the restaurant to her car.
“So, I paid for you for nothing?” Adam had the audacity to look disgusted by that.
Abby nodded. “It was a date where you’re supposed to get to know the other person. I learned that we’re not looking for the same thing, so there’s no point in wasting each other’s time. It’s even on my profile that I’m not looking for hook-ups. Plus, I never promised anything other than dinner with you.”
“But I got us a bottle of Merlot.” As if that was enough justification to sleep with him.
“Lots of people have a glass of wine with their meal. It’s very common in Europe and not everyone’s having sex because of it.”
“This isn’t Europe, Amy.”
Wow.
Just wow.
He still couldn’t get her name right. Yea, that was hot. Totally made her want to have sex with him now.
Abby knew that she was worth a lot more than this. She didn’t have to deal with him or his ideas on how this should be going.
“Another fucking cock tease,” he mumbled under his breath.
There was no way. “Excuse me?”
“You’re a fucking cock tease. You use men for a free meal and never put out. I should have known that you were a bitch.”
She wanted to know where this attitude was coming from. Adam, seemingly, did a complete one eighty when he realized that this wasn’t going to end the way that he thought. If Abby hadn’t already ruled him out, it put him in the same category as Simon now, and that was a pool she wasn’t dipping her toe in again.
“Well, I’m sorry that you think that. Just block me on the dating site and move on.”
Adam laughed. “Oh, I already did that.”
So, it didn’t matter how this date went. Adam had already blocked her. He was really upset that he wasn’t getting laid tonight and – probably more so – that someone was rejecting him.
Abby watched him stalk off towards his car while she waited next to the restaurant door. She didn’t think that he’d be following her home or causing her trouble now, but just in case. He drove off and disappeared around the corner before Abby made her way to her own vehicle.
For a split second, she missed Simon. Only because this dating thing wasn’t fun. She still had someone making her question her worth. At least she’d have a body to go home to and lay with until he pushed her away. But Abby knew in her heart that it was better to be alone than to be in that place again. She couldn’t take the verbal abuse and mind games. There was nothing like walking in on him with another woman in their bed, and then to be scolded like a child and told to wait in the living room. She was made to believe it was all her fault for something she was lacking.
Abby pulled up to her townhouse, parked the car, and headed inside. There was no one waiting for her on the street or sitting in the dark when she opened the door. Which reminded her that she needed to text the besties and let them know she survived and made it home.
Abby Date sucked. Made it home safe.
Chapter Two
The lads wanted to head down to the pub to watch the rugby game between Connacht and Benetton. Connacht was on a roll and needed to keep the win going to tell off those Leinster bastards next week. This year was Connacht’s!
They got us a table in the back, near one of the tellies with the match on. It was the perfect spot to watch the lads and the girls – Danny was into sport until there was Guinness or fanny involved. I had his priorities.
“First round on me,” he announced before heading to the bar. With five lads out, there was a weak chance that they’d go through and he’d have to buy another. Best to be grand and get it down fast.
“Cheers to a good match and always remember to forget the things that made you sad,” one of his mates toasted.
“Sláinte!” Cheers.
Danny took a long drink before surveying the pub tonight. Most were lads out for the match, and probably to escape their women. A few girls were about, but they were there with their man. A girl in a jersey would fit in grand with me and the lads. It seemed like tonight was going to be stag.
That was why Danny wanted out of this town. He was done with the girls here and they were done with him. The lads had been able to find a girl – well, most of them – and their wives warned their friends against him. They claim they didn’t want to keep it in the family and cause drama. Not that Danny could blame them. He was pretty sure that things would work out – but he couldn’t believe they wouldn’t want him to try and be happy with their friends!
Sighing, he pulled out his mobile and check the socials. If there wasn’t a girl to chat up, then he might as well kill time while the game went on a bit. Even with a good match, the first bit was never exciting enough to hold Danny’s attention. He wanted that nail-biting last try.
Danny popped open the dating app to see what was out there tonight. Maybe he could land a ride around the corner, seeing the pub was dead. If nothing else, maybe someone would be up for a chat.
“Mate, how are you not into the game? What better match could you want? It’s class!” Duncan jabbed him in the side. The man had been his best friend since primary school. He was one of those lads who wouldn’t help a mate out with a date or two.
Try as much as he could without being obvious, Duncan still noticed what he was doing. At least enough to ask. “What ya doing there?”
“Don’t be an eejit, Dunc. I ain’t got nothing.” Danny hoped that he could just play it off. Maybe if he could play dumb long enough then something would happen in the game to get Duncan’s attention.
“I ain’t the eejit. I know what I seen and can’t believe it from our Danny boy.” He laughed and leaned over to our mate. “Get this, Danny Boy is on a dating app!”
“No shit?” He laughed. “You that desperate, Danny?”
“Fuck off, Aaron.” Great – half his mates knew and all of them were going to give him shit.
“Doesn’t Mary have a cousin you can get to meet him, Dunc?” Aaron asked before downing half his pint.
Duncan shook his head. “Naw, Mary’d have my head. Said I best not bring her ‘round and ruin her with Danny.”
“Thanks, mate,” he said sarcastically. Danny rolled his eyes before adding. “Glad your wife thinks the worst of me.”
“But how many girls have ya been with last week? Can’t blame our women for thinking you only break hearts.”
“No idea how you two gobshites got wives,” Danny muttered.
Aaron laughed while Duncan went back to watching the game. Connacht was making taking a risky try but it definitely was going to put them ahead if they won it.
Rolling his eyes, Danny went back to his mobile. It was sad to see how many heifers were in the area, but that was already what he knew. That was the point of using the app – he needed to see something outside of this pub and this town. It could be fun if he found himself a little Galway girl or a sexy Dubliner. Honestly, Danny thought it wouldn’t be bad to land a city girl. It might even give him some bragging rights. Jesus knew he needed that after his mates started in on him.
There was an Aoife from Cork with blonde hair and a pierced nose that looked like she’d be up for a good time. Probably would want to see some concert or some art hanging on a wall. Ava from Dingle looked deadly in a purple bikini on some tropical beach on holiday. Erin and Emma both were taking courses in Dublin at university, but you knew what they said about college girls. They probably could give Danny the fun that he was looking for.
Are you from Dublin 6w? Cos I can see myself Terenure clothes off.
My mate wants to know if you’ll meet me.
Heading to Coppers tonight?
He was convinced that first message was the best pick-up line. It was class. Now only to see which ones would take the bait. Between them, they were everything that he was looking for. He could see having a ride or two with them. Maybe they’d even join the lads at the pub. Or maybe one would be good enough for mum.
The app had an option to broaden the search but, honestly, Dublin and Dingle were opposite sides of Ireland. The only thing Danny could guess was it meant Cork and Belfast, the ups and the downs. He wasn’t sure he’d really want to hop a plane to the UK every week for a date. Not unless she was planning to take care of him and be a sugar mammy.
“Yes! Yes! Yes!”
Danny glanced up from his phone to see the Connacht took the conversion and was heading to score, but there was no way they were going to make that. “No way in hell he makes that.”
Aaron looked back over his shoulder. “Naw, mate, he’s been deadly this year.”
“Dooley wins the try!”
“Jesus…” Danny couldn’t believe it. Connacht scored and widened their lead, even with Benetton’s defense stacked like that. “Glad I didn’t fucking bet on it.”
“Shit, yea.” Aaron nudged another one of the lads. “Dude, pay up.”
“Jesus, fine… I’ll grab ya a shot of Jameson and call it.”
Aaron laughed. “Got a deal there.”
With the bet settled and the telly going to commercial, Danny went back to his phone. If anything, playing the numbers game was more exciting than the rugby one. But that’s when he saw an auburn-haired one with a nice smile. It looked like a bathroom selfie but she was cute. She baked cookies – how could he go wrong with that?
Chapter Three
It was so disheartening after last night’s date to think about keeping this thing going. That’s why Abby hadn’t bothered to login this morning before work. While she had been talking to other guys on there, Adam had been the only one that she got comfortable enough to meet in person. But now, Abby was questioning everyone. Was anyone actually interested in her?
The worst part was that it seemed the longer you were on a dating site, the less it seemed to match you with people. Not signing on every day probably would kill her chances of a real match too. It seemed like new profiles or ones that paid for the service got any attention, and Abby wasn’t about to go through the trouble of making a new profile.
“So, what happened last night?” Sophia asked, poking her head over the cubicle wall between them when she got in the office.
“Ugh, it was so bad.” Abby groaned. She reached for her coffee to get some liquid energy for this conversation. Especially when she could see Harper coming down the hall.
Harper set down her purse and lunch bag. “What was so bad? Did I miss the date talk already?”
Sophia shook her head. “No, Abby was just getting to it.”
“Well, first, he had on this awful tweed jacket and pink tie. Then he didn’t even stand or pull out my chair,” Abby explained.
Sophia shrugged. “Well, some guys don’t pull out your chair for you. It’s kind of an old man thing.”
“Not really, Soph. You do that kind of thing on a first date if you want to seem romantic,” Harper interjected.
“Yea, and what would you know? You’ve been married for how long?” She countered.
“Five years,” Harper said, unaffected. “Anyways, get back to this date.”
“So, like I was saying, that was just the start. Then he told me the best item on the menu for this steak place was a salad when there was only like three options,” Abby paused for them to fully take that in.
“Wow,” Sophia chimed in.
“Then he orders himself a steak and pushes this bottle of wine on me. I’m not going to lie; it was the worst date that I’ve ever been on. It wasn’t that he got a red when I’d have wanted a white.”
“Tell me that he did not order for you.” Harper groaned.
Abby shook her head. “No, he let me order for myself and I got a pasta dish. It was just that as we were leaving, he was basically telling me that I owed him sex because he paid for dinner.”
They both gasped.
“There’s no way someone in this world is still that dense.” Harper pinched the bridge of her nose – something she did when she was trying to keep it together. “Tell me you kicked him in the balls.”
“I wish.” She’d probably would have ended up hurting her foot or landing on her ass. “I did call him out on it. He stormed off, got in his car, and left. I made sure to wait just so he couldn’t follow me him.”
“Damn, that really sucks.” It was all Sophia could say after that. “Hope you’re not just not giving up and calling it quits.”
Abby shrugged. That was what she was kind of thinking of doing. Adam claimed that he blocked her last night, so there wasn’t much of a point of logging on to check. Actually, she could see him sending her an invoice for dinner.
“Maybe I’m not ready to get back out there and date yet.” That was a real possibility. It had only been a handful of months since things with Simon were officially over. “Or maybe all guys are just trashy assholes and I need to settle for one that doesn’t make me feel as bad as Simon did.”
“You know that’s not true.” Sophia rolled her eyes.
“She’s right. Not all guys are like that and you’re probably more ready to date than you think. If you weren’t ready, you wouldn’t have gone out last night. You would have cancelled and ghosted him. Hell, you even seemed excited for it. I just wish he wasn’t a complete asshole.” Harper leaned in for a hug. “Trust me. I’m married and Peter’s a great guy. Sure, I lucked out and found him in high school, but I know lots of people who had to date a bunch of losers before finding the guy for them. Just don’t give up, okay?”
Signing, Abby knew that she was right. Hell, they both were right. It was one bad date with one bad guy. That didn’t mean that her chances were shot or that it was the end of the world. It just meant that it wasn’t meant to be with Adam… or Simon.
“Fine,” she conceded, “I won’t give up just yet.”
“Good.”
Harper walked back to her cubicle and booted up her computer. She had things to print for the Marketing meeting this afternoon. She had only mentioned it like every other minute. If she could pull it off like some big shot, there was probably a promotion in it for her – a well-deserved one.
Sophia had popped her earbuds in and gone back to work. She was so far in the zone that the fire alarm or a nuclear bomb could go off and she’d be oblivious. There was one time that Abby tapped her shoulder to ask for something and she jumped out of her skin. Half of the office floor thought she was being murdered.
One was married and the other had a long list of lovers. They both had set plans and goals. Then there was Abby. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to be a big shot or the person bringing in the most clients – wining and dining them too.
She opened a new tab on her internet browser and slipped into private mode. Abby didn’t need corporate seeing what she was doing on company time. She brought up the dating site and typed in her password – screwing it up the first time because she fat-fingered it – and saw red notifications.
A new match and a new message.
Abby was used to the heart emoji that basically said someone liked you, but just not enough to send a message and you’d never know who it was. Well, unless you paid the monthly fee, which Abby couldn’t rationalize doing.
DrLuv I’d love to taste your cookies. Chocolate chip are my favorite. Would you want to meet up and give me one?
It wasn’t a corny pick-up line or something gross and disgusting. It wasn’t an offer to suck her toes or a marriage proposal. He actually read her profile. It made Abby smile to think that he was that interesting in her enough to send a nice message like that and – kind of – ask for a date.
Abby went to his profile and was met with stunning blue eyes. His smile was even sexy. There wasn’t much information on his profile, which was a bummer and hopefully not a sign that he was lazy. Maybe all that he needed to say with that he was Irish to get women fawning all over him. For many, that was probably all that they needed to know. Yea, Abby thought it would be kind of nice having a sexy Irish guy messaging her and saying things that make her zone out because of that accent.
