Carlos was taken off-guard, but he merely gave the other a contemplative frown before reaching out to comply. “Uh… alright,” he said.
She smiled back at him and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I think you’re right,” she agreed. Wait, had- Had Carlos said the D word? Had she
said the D word? Were they actually discussing the possibility of…
dating? “So- So wait, are- are we actually talking about… the
possibility of, like… starting… something?” she asked, voice nervous.It was Carlos’ turn to be bashful. He dropped his gaze and
reached up to scratch his cheek. “Well… I’ don’t know,” he said honestly. “I
mean, there certainly is a possibility…
but at this point in time I am unable to calculate exactly the variables
and percentages with which I can articulate our chances. I would require more
time with you… more outings… more, um… more dates.” A thought occurred to him
and he grinned. “I guess you could say… I need more date-a!”She laughed at his pun, scrunching up her nose. “Oh that was bad,” she grinned. “But… I wouldn’t say no to offering up my time to assist in any further studies you may wish to conduct,” she said with a happy smile. So maybe she hadn’t ruined everything. Maybe things had gone just as they were supposed to. Maybe everything would be okay. “If that’s alright with you.”
Carlos just kept smiling. “Absolutely! If you’re up for it,
then I am!” Things were going so much better now – thank God! And Selina seemed
to be a lot more comfortable now. “I believe we have reached a point where the
two of us can exchange phone numbers… how does that sound to you?”“Yeah, that sounds great!” she said, enthusiasm exuding from her as she spoke. “I’m… really glad you agreed to meet up with me. I feel like initially I came on really strong, and came across as really weird, so I was… kind of worried I’d scare you off,” she said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. She unlocked it, pulled up the screen to put in a new contact, and slid the phone across the table to Carlos.
Carlos took the phone and started to put in his number. “It’s
okay,” he said. “Like I said, we still have time to get to know each other better
and get past the awkwardness.” He added his name and saved the contact. He
handed the phone back to Selina. “Go ahead and text me so I have your number
too.”
The Perfect Scientist 