Chapter 3: Chapter 3
"I think your boy's here, darling." Michael breezed past Marie's desk as he spoke.
She looked up to find Leo looking for her. He was early again, but she told Piper to cover her before waving him down.
"Hello again," Leo said.
"Hey. Um… the break room's this way."
The room was blessedly empty. Marie would be lying if she said she wasn't shy about having a date in front of her coworkers. She rarely ate anywhere that wasn't her desk.
"So, here's what we've got." Leo started pulling dishes and flatware out of the bag he had. "This is a smoked trout with risotto and broccolini. And some pasta in case you decide you hate the fish."
Marie couldn't help but laugh at his shy, crooked smile. "That's sweet of you."
"Can't have you going hungry, can we?"
"With the amount of food you brought, I don't think anyone's going hungry."
Leo laughed along, plating the food beautifully. "What can I say? My mom's a typical Jewish woman – when there's food, there better be too much of it."
"You're Jewish?"
"We're not practicing Jews, but the culture is still there."
"Alright, question three: what's your ethnic background?"
"Like I said, my mom is Jewish. Her family mostly came from Israel, some from Morocco. My dad is English and German mostly. What about you? We can call that my fourth question."
"So, so French. There's some Romani that a lot of my cousins don't like to talk about. But I'm too dark to deny it." She took her first bite. "This is really good."
"Oh, thank goodness. I was hoping I wouldn't completely embarrass myself."
"Question four, then: do you like to cook?"
"Love to. If I didn't like computers so much, I would have gone to culinary school."
"You would have done well!"
Leo did a dramatic bow in his seat. "Well, thank you. You should see me updating the servers for every computer in this building."
Marie broke into giggles. "Very sexy, I'm sure!"
"If you find monotony and frustration sexy, maybe. Question five: what's your type? You mentioned that you just got out of a relationship. Anything I should look out for?"
"I don't really know if I have a type. I've dated all shapes and sizes, even a few women. I guess the common thread is… bad for me. Which sounds really typical to say of exes, I know, but I mean it. I guess I like intelligence and humor." She stopped herself before she could say too much. "As for you, I don't see any red flags yet. What about you?"
The crooked little smile was back. "I have an unfortunate soft spot for women who crave stability. I always wanted that myself, so I do my best to give it. I end up with people who use me as their only support, which I don't mind, but it gets exhausting."
"I can imagine."
"That's not what I look for, obviously! I like dark hair and sweet smiles. An adventurous streak, someone with a lot of interests." Marie nodded silently for a moment, mentally ticking the boxes. "Hey, since we're only five questions in, what do you say to a few rapid-fire questions? We still switch off asking, but we both answer. Sound good?"
"Sure."
"Ladies first."
"Favorite color? Mine is yellow."
"Green. Early mornings or late nights?"
"Late nights."
"Same."
"Coffee or tea?"
"Coffee."
"Coffee in the morning, tea the rest of the day."
"Worst habit? I bite my nails."
"I have a very messy desk and don't care enough to clean it up. Do you like strawberry shortcake?"
"Wait, what?" Marie chuckled and repeated the question. "That's an oddly specific question, but yes."
"Good because I brought dessert."
Marie walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the two tiny cakes. She wouldn't admit that she had stayed up until midnight stress baking them, but she was very proud of how pretty they were. Leo's mouth hung open slightly in pleased awe.
"I hope you won't critique it too harshly."
"I would have absolutely no place to critique anything. These are beautiful."
"And to answer my half, strawberry is my favorite flavor."
"You know, somehow that fits perfectly."
They ate their little cakes in silence, stealing smiling glances at one another. Leo packed the dirty dishes away in his bag, insisting that he would wash them at home. As Marie's alarm went off, they stood awkwardly, neither quite wanting to leave just yet.
"Before I go, I'd like to kiss you," he said. It wasn't exactly a question, but it wasn't insistent.
"I don't think I would mind that at all."
As first kisses went, it wasn't earth-shattering. He bent down to close their height gap, placed warm fingertips on her cheek, and gave her a gentle peck. It released a kaleidoscope of butterflies in her chest. She swallowed against the sensation.
He smiled. "I'll see you soon?"
"Yeah. I'll message you."
"Alright. Bye."
Marie watched him go in a sort of fog. It was the closest she had felt to subspace in months – from a kiss! She shook her head. This was moving way too fast. She steeled herself and marched back to her desk where Piper and Michael were already waiting.
"Well?" Michael asked.
"I'll tell you two later. Want to grab drinks tonight?"
Over mojitos and martinis, Marie told them everything. She had diligently answered messages from Leo the rest of the day, but hadn't set up any more dates.
"Interesting," Piper said. "And not a bad move on his part. Who would have thought the IT nerd was suave?"
"So what're you going to do now?" Michael asked.
"I don't know! I feel like this is all happening so quickly. I don't think I'm ready for it to get serious." Marie chewed her lip.
"Honey, it doesn't have to get serious. It can burn hot and fast and get you over Nate, then blow over."
"I don't think getting over Nate is the problem. And you know I don't just sleep with anyone."
"Which I, frankly, cannot fathom why. You've got such a cute little figure and your accent is adorable." He pinched her cheek playfully.
"I don't have that much of an accent!"
"That's why it's cute," Piper offered. "Maybe talk to him about it? Cool the jets a little."
"I don't want to scare him off."
"If that scares him, he doesn't deserve you," Michael inserted.
Marie sighed and sipped on her chocolate martini. They had known one another less than two days, spent a total of two hours together. Why did she feel so drawn to Leo?
Her phone pinged with a new message.
*What are you up to this weekend?* it read.
"What should I say?"
"Do it!" Piper replied immediately. "Get out of the office. Maybe without the time limit, you can relax."
*I have nothing planned. What about you?*
*Well, I was hoping I might get to see you.*
"Um… should I invite him somewhere? I can't bring him back to my place-"
"Of course not!" Michael said. "Take him to the movies or something. Somewhere public that doesn't immediately scream 'fuck me'."
*Do you like art? I hear there's a new Romantic exhibit at the Hansen.*
Piper face-palmed. "Really? An art museum?"
"What? I like art. Maybe he does, too."
*That sounds great! I think they open at 9 on Saturdays if you want to go tomorrow.*
Marie stuck her tongue out at Piper before replying. *Tomorrow at 9 works for me.*
"Well, obviously we're coming home with you to pick an outfit. Come on, ladies, pay your tabs and we're off."
The outfit the three settled on was a cornflower blue wrap dress with sprigs of white flowers throughout. Made to hit mid-thigh on a model, it fell comfortably at Marie's knees and the long slightly puffed sleeves made her waist look smaller than it already was. Michael insisted she leave her hair down and naturally wavy for what he called "that French look". A pair of wedge heels and she was out the door.
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