Always Something There to Remind Me

I didn’t see much of Sid after the almost-kiss incident. The Penguins had started their playoff run, so Sid focused pretty much all of his attention on hockey, hoping that the team could have a better outcome than last season. When he did stop by to see Aiden, it was always for a little bit after his morning skate or practice, so I wasn’t home. I couldn’t tell if he was avoiding me.

Sid’s behavior must have had an effect on me, because Nanette, an older lady that works for me, insisted that I go on a date with her grandson, the “most handsome gentleman I’ll ever meet”. I knew it would have been pointless to argue with her since she would get her way in the end anyways, so reluctantly I agreed.

Now I found myself standing in my bathroom rushing to get ready. Lucky me, I ended up getting out of work late so I got to try to drive home in the middle of rush hour traffic. I had finally gotten home about fifteen minutes ago, and have been rushing ever since. Unfortunately, he was picking me up in twenty minutes, and I haven’t even begun to pick out possible outfits for tonight. I barely had enough time to take a quick shower. Even though I really didn’t feel like going on this date in the first place, I still felt that I should at least make an attempt for him and Nanette, so sweat pants and a hoodie were out of the question.

After I quickly blow-dried and straightened my hair and put on some light make-up, I ran to my closet and started emptying it on the bed. I finally settled on a pair of nice khaki shorts and a navy blue/white stripped cardigan with a white tank top to go underneath. An outfit that was nice and appropriate for the casual restaurant he was taking me to yet didn’t scream “I’m expecting to get laid tonight.” As I was putting some diamond stud earrings in my date rang the bell. 6:33, he’s late. Sid’s never late. Wait, why was I thinking about Sid right now? Shaking my head, I grabbed my flip-flops and jogged down the stairs to open the door. Here goes nothing I thought as I yanked the door open.

Wow. It was all I could do to keep my mouth from dropping to the floor. Nanette wasn’t kidding when she said he was handsome. The guy looked like a model – shaggy dirty blonde hair, gunmetal gray eyes. He appeared to be about six foot two, and had broad shoulders, a narrow waist and hips, and long legs. I could see some well-toned muscles through the white T-shirt he was wearing.

“Hey, I’m Steve,” he said, holding out his hand for me to shake.

“Nicole,” I answered. “Nice to meet you.”

Nanette also wasn’t kidding when she said he was a gentleman. He opened the car door for me, allowed me to choose what music we would listen to while in the car, opened the restaurant doors, pulled my chair out for me, everything.

He wasn’t very creative though. I didn’t know if he agreed to go on this blind date with me to please Nanette or because he was actually interested. If it was the latter, he wasn’t very impressive. He had decided to take me out to The Taj Mahal restaurant for some Indian cuisine, then going to the movie theater to see The Ugly Truth.

Dinner was relatively uneventful. We just spent the time with normal getting-to-know-you talk. I found out that he had just recently graduated from Harvard Law School, and was opening his own firm here in Pittsburgh. He grew up in Florida, but would always spend his summers in Pittsburgh with Nanette. He fell in love with the city, and decided when he was younger that, no matter what profession he chose, he wanted to be close to his grandmother. Overall, he seemed like a pretty decent, down-to-earth guy.

Before I even met him I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take our “relationship” past the first date, but was definitely changing my mind. I’ve been on a couple of dates after I had Aiden, but all of those guys had lost interest once they found out I had a son. Usually I would tell them about him during dinner to get it out of the way (let’s face it, not too many guys would be keen on dating a single mother, so there’s no point trying to put off telling them since they’ll probably run anyways), and the rest of the date would be full of awkward silences. It was the opposite with Steve. Instead of trying to think of a way to end the date early, he seemed genuinely interested in Aiden, and our conversation continued to flow. When he waited for his change after he paid for dinner, I was actually excited to continue our date. However, my good mood didn’t last very long when Carissa walked in the door on the arm of one of the Steelers.

“Shit,” I said, trying to turn my head so she wouldn’t see me.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Steve asked, concerned.

“I’m fine,” I started. “But, my ex’s ex just walked in, and she blames me for their break-up. It wouldn’t be that bad, but she’s one of those people that like to make a scene, and I’d like to avoid that if I could.”

“Ah, okay,” he nodded in understanding. “Well, let’s just get out of here then before she sees you,” he continued, standing up.

“Too late,” I grumbled, standing up. The hostess was leading Carissa and her date to a table in our area.

“Nicole,” she spat, eyeing me up and down. “On to the next millionaire’s bed I see.”

“Nice seeing you again too Carissa,” I told her as we were leaving, trying not to laugh in her face. Me, bed hopping? She’s one to talk. I’m not the one who went from the Penguins’ captain to the Steelers’ wide receiver.

Steve and I were pretty quiet on the way to the movie. I don’t know if it was because of the little run-in with Carissa had rattled him a bit, or if he was afraid that he might piss me off if he said something. Right before the movie started, and finally asked me what had been on his mind.

“Sidney Crosby is your ex?”

“Well, kind of,” I said, squirming in my seat, unsure how to answer. “We only went on one date (lie), and that was a couple of years ago. But, that was before he dated her,” I said, trying not to give away too much information. That answer seemed to suit him though, since he didn’t say anything after that, settling in to watch the movie.

The ride back to my house was pretty quiet too. Steve barely said two words besides what he thought of the movie by the time he pulled into my driveway. He shut off the ignition and leaned back in his seat to look at me.

“I had a good time tonight,” he started.

“I did too,” I said. “Thanks. Dinner was good, and you picked a nice movie to see.” The next thing I know, he’s leaning in and kissing me. It took a minute for my mind to register what he was doing. As soon as I realized though, I eagerly starting kissing back.

“Maybe we could do this again sometime?” he asked, breaking the kiss. Before I had a chance to respond though, he got pale and started to sweat a bit. “Um, do you think I could use your bathroom?”

“Yeah, hold on,” I said, practically running to open my door. “Down the hall, second door on the right.”

“Thanks,” he managed to squeak out before running to it. A few seconds later I heard him puking. Oh god, I thought. What a great way to end the night. I sat down on the couch and turned on the television so that he could have a bit of privacy, thinking he would only be a few minutes. But, the poor guy was in there for over an hour before he finally emerged, still looking sick.

“I think I have food poisoning,” he said.

“Do you need me to get you anything?”

“Um, maybe just a glass of water,” he said. “Or a Gatorade if you have any.”

“I’ll see what I can find.”

“Thanks,” he said before racing to the bathroom again. It was going to be a long night.