Ex game chapter 5

apartment in Chelsea, he
had a house in the Hamptons and an apartment in San
Francisco, He preferred the West Coast but had to stay on
the East Coast due to work. He loved dogs, but traveled so
much that he thought it was unfair to have one. He loved
Mexican food and jazz and collecting first edition books. He
was also 35. When he first told me that, I felt my heart stop
beating. 35 sounded so much older than me. 35 was old
enough to be my dad, if he had had sex at a young age. 35
made me feel guilty for having him think I was 22, about to
turn 23. 35 made me keep my real age a secret. I didn’t
want to stop talking to him. I didn’t want his calls to end,
and I very much wanted to go on that dinner date with him.
35 made me realize that I couldn’t let him know that I was
18, even though I very much wanted to be honest about my
age. “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.” He whispered into
the phone. “I’m going to take you to dinner and then we can
go dancing if you want.” “That would be nice. Do you know
what club you’re thinking of?” I grabbed my laptop so I
could check yelp to see if they let in people under 21. “Oh,
not a club.” He smiled. “I was thinking we could go to some
salsa classes.” “Salsa?” “Yes, you know, the Spanish
dance.” “Oh, yeah. I just never heard of a date where people
went to classes.” “What are you used to, Katie? Burgers and
movies?” “Something like that.” I laughed. “Then that just
means you’ve been dating boys, and not men like me.”
“Yeah, that could be right.” If he only knew just how true his
words were. “Men in their twenties are still chasing the
almighty dollar and trying to get laid. Men in their thirties
know that money and sex are not important.” “It’s not?” I’d
had neither and still hoped for both. “I mean, we need it to
live, of course. But it’s not worth losing your life for either.”
“I suppose that’s true.” “So tomorrow, shall I pick you up
from your apartment?” “My apartment?” My body burned as
I stared at my roommate’s empty bed. “Uh, no. I’ve got a
late day at work tomorrow. I can meet you at the
restaurant.” I couldn’t believe how easily the lies slid from
my mouth. “Okay, that makes sense.” He yawned.
“Tomorrow will be our first date.” “I know.” “I can’t wait to
see you again.” He chuckled. “And if anyone I knew heard
me say that, they’d think someone had stolen my body.”
“Why?” “This isn’t me, Katie. I’m not a romantic guy. I don’t
do relationships.” “Oh, I didn’t know.” I felt disappointed and
confused. “Why are you talking to me, then?” “I don’t know.
I guess there was something about you that touched me as I
walked by.” “You mean my puke?” I joked and he laughed.
“Thank God, no.” He cleared his throat. “I’m not really sure
why I stopped and took you home though. I’ve asked myself
several times what I was thinking. You could have been a
psycho.” “I could have been a psycho? *You *could have
been a psycho.” “I’m glad neither of us are psychos.” “Me
too. Sweet dreams, Brandon.” “Sweet dreams, Katie.”
“Have a good day at work.” “You too.” “Thanks.” *I’ll be
doing the assignment I didn’t do tonight because I was
waiting for your call*. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” “See you
then.” And then we hung up and I lay in my bed and hugged
my pillow tightly. I was so excited. This was going to be my
first proper date and it was with a man that knew the world,
and he was interested in *me*. I couldn’t believe it. I was
worried about what we would talk about. What if I sounded
like an idiot? “You up?” The door creaked and Meg walked in
with a handful of books. “Yeah,” I sat up and looked at her
with a guilty pang. I hadn’t studied all week. It was only the
first week, but I knew I had to keep up or I was going to fail
out. Everyone in my class at Columbia was smart, and they
all seemed to know more than I did. There was no way I
was going to be able to sail through my classes without
studying like I did in high school. “How was Mr. Wonderful?”
She giggled as she sat her books down on the desk and
then pulled out her pajamas. “He wants to take me salsa
dancing.” “But you don’t know how to salsa.” She frowned
as she pulled off her t-shirt and pulled on her nightgown.
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