Carlos was taken off-guard, but he merely gave the other a contemplative frown before reaching out to comply. “Uh… alright,” he said.
Her stomach dropped when he laughed. Had she said something wrong? Oh… Well now she felt like an idiot. Wait. Oh. Oh! He was agreeing to this! Okay, good! The changes in her face as he spoke were barely perceptible, but her eyes definitely lit up as he confirmed their plans. “Sounds perfect,” she grinned. “Yeah, that sounds great.”
Carlos smiled to her and nodded. “Alright then. So the
Starbucks? Or do you have another coffee joint in mind? I’m not really picky.”In all honesty, she really didn’t care for Starbucks. Their coffee was too bitter and always tasted burnt, and the syrup they used for flavoring was way too viscous and all kind of tasted the same. She was probably far more picky than most people were about this kind of thing, and was more of a tea person anyway, but she was enamoured and had been out of town for too long to think of any other good coffee shops. So all she could manage was, “No, no, Starbucks is fine. Starbucks is perfect.”
Carlos nodded again. “Sounds good then! I look forward to
it. Until tomorrow?” He didn’t think they’d quite picked a day, just a time.“Tomorrow,” she confirmed with a grin. “I’ll see you then,” she added, giving him a wink.
Carlos was a little surprised by the wink. He cleared his
throat slightly and offered her a smile. “Um, well, until then,” he said. “I’ve
got some science to get back to – it was nice running into you.”Had she been flirting with him? Well obviously, when asking
to hold his hand. Carlos just had a little trouble believing anyone would try
to flirt with him. Well… he’d see how
it went as they got to know each other.“That it was. Enjoy the rest of your day. Hope your science goes well.” And with that, she twirled around, long hair cascading behind her and leaving the faint scent of roses as she walked away with a slight sway in her hips.
With Carlos behind her, he couldn’t see the giddy, triumphant grin on her face. That had gone better than she had hoped. A couple hiccups maybe, but it all worked out. She waited until she rounded a corner and knew she was out of earshot to let out an excited, happy giggle and break into a run to get home. She needed to start planning out an outfit!
“Thank you,” Carlos said to her. “Have a good day!” Carlos
watched her turn and leave. She was cute, he thought – both in looks and
personality. He liked her. He kind of hoped she wasn’t too interesting for him –
she might not like him as much if she ended up finding him dull.
Oh well… he could see about that soon.
The Perfect Scientist 