There stands Dan Schneider with a bouquet of purple iris.
And across the street, Wes Warren is leaning against his black Tesla, with hands in his pockets. He is looking at Rae. His face is hard to read.
"Um, is that your firefighter man?" Marina is stunned, eying Dan. "OK, he is hot. I won't blame you if you want to bail and go home with him."
"No," Rae says. She knows this is bad. She did not expect to see two men at the same time right outside where she works.
"Dan, I am so sorry, but I really can't hang out tonight. I'm going out with my friend." Rae walks over to Dan. He is still smiling. Marina also quickly follows.
"Hi, my name is Marina Baranski. Do you have a brother or a fellow firefighter who is single?"
"Hi," Dan says to Marina, "I have two brothers but they are both married. I can introduce you to some of my colleagues at the firehouse."
"Rae, he is so cool," Marina turns to Rae and whispers loudly.
Marina turns back to Dan. "In fact, do you want to go to the party with us, Dan...?"
"Dan Schneider. I went to high school with Rae." He nods to Rae.
"Cool, come with us, please." Marina smiles happily, "And if any of your buddies are still up, hey, they are more than welcome."
"Sure, I will ask if anyone wants to party," Dan then looks at Rae. He can see Rae is distracted.
"Rae, this is for you," Dan extends the bouquet to Rae.
Rae accepts it with a smile. "This is so nice."
"I don't know if you remember this, but I asked you what flowers you liked the other night, and you told me you liked iris. I think it suits you, too."
"I remember." Rae blushes. He asked that right after he had orgasmed and was still lying on top of her. He was still inside her actually. "This is really nice. Thank you. No one gets me flowers these days. You are the first." Rae tries to shake the image of Dan making love to her out of her head.
"Haha, I guess, I didn't know you are going to a party though. Will you be fine holding flowers at a party?"
"Oh I don't care. I will hold on to this bouquet all party long. But the question is, will you be OK? You have to work tomorrow."
"I should be fine physically tomorrow. But I guess I'm offended that you'd rather go to a party than hanging out with me."
"It's not like that—"
"I don't mind checking it out." Dan stops her from explaining, "If I get tired, I'll crash at your place." Dan winks.
Gosh, he is relentless.
But Rae is determined if he won't leave, then she's going to find an excuse to go home with Marina. Then Dan wouldn't be able to go home with her.
She needs to break this one-night-stand pattern now. Or it will just turn into a habit of his, where he just pops over to try to sleep over.
Rae now quickly glances over to Wes's direction. He is no longer standing next to his car. But his Tesla is still parked at the same spot. Maybe Wes is inside the car. Or maybe Wes goes somewhere else on foot and just left the car there. Nevertheless, Rae is relieved that there isn't going to be some kind of confrontation. She feels that if Wes comes over to join the conversation, it would be even more of a mess.
"Our ride is here!" Marina exclaims. The three of them get into the car.
It doesn't take them long to get to the party. They get out of the car, and Marina quickly decides that she will go searching for Zach Evans.
"Text me if any of his buddies show up," Marina whispers to Rae.
Dan stands next to Rae, watching the crowd quietly. It doesn't seem like he intends to mingle in the party.
"I'm sorry. You are very thoughtful to get me the flowers. But, I just don't.... You are not mad, are you?"
Dan shrugs, "Like I said, just a little disappointed that you'd rather go to a party with a lot of overly-dressed people than hanging out with me."
Rae turns to face him, "Dan, I guess I have to explain a little more. My impression is that you are not looking for an actual stable exclusive relationship. And, although I'm not saying I'm asking one from you, I don't think I can do this casual sex type of things. I think I'll get attached and then..., you know, you don't want attachment."
"Oh yeah. I understand. Just to clarify, I don't sleep with multiple women at the same time. And yeah, I have been looking for someone to have fun. But I'm only seeing you right now actually." Dan's brown eyes look so deep right now.
"Oh." Rae is a little surprised. She imagined he could have lots of girls.
"But, it's ok if you don't really want to see me tonight."
"I do." She then regrets saying that. Don't say that. Ugh, Rae always walks into passive aggressive traps. But she does feel guilty. He did come all the way here, and got her flowers.
"Well, I appreciate you telling me this," Dan says, but he looks like he is deep in thoughts.
"Isn't it funny that this is the type of relationship in our modern world now? We kind of talk about the end result or the goal we want in the beginning?"
"Dan, I'm sorry, I don't mean to bring it up like I'm asking a relationship from you. I just don't think I can have the same mentality like yours."
"No, I'm not blaming you. Back in the day, the only goal of dating is to be married. Since we have different options of relationships now, people do tend to talk about what they want first."
Rae is impressed that Dan contemplates on this topic. Men don't usually spend time thinking about stuff like this.
"Well, I don't have any opinion against what you want. You... you were married already, right?" Rae looks up at his face.
"Yeah. Marriage is not for me. That's why I am just dating now. I don't want to be married again."
Dan then puts one hand on Rae's back, "So, can I still have fun with you?"
Rae hesitates. She is trying to see from Dan's point of view.
Should she care if there's not going to be a commitment from him? He said he did not plan on seeing multiple women at the same time. He is only with her now. But he doesn't want to guarantee he would stay with her for a long period of time?
Well, Rae doesn't have anyone right now. Wes is out of the picture. In Rae's mind, Wes was cheating on his real girlfriend. Rae is never going to be a third wheel and she will not tolerate a cheater.
"Hello, Rae. You kissed Zach after you went out on a first date with Wes. Does that count as cheating?" Rae's conscience is suddenly talking to her.
"That doesn't count. That was nothing. It was just a moment of confusion. Zach and I were talking about the past, OK? I had wine at dinner, too. I was a little buzzed and I was just feeling a little...nostalgic. Zach is not attracted to someone like me. He likes models. I'm not attracted to some robot geek anyway. He just sucks fun out of everything. Ugh." Rae talks back to her conscience in her head.
And then she re-focuses. She looks at Dan's face again.
"I do enjoy hanging out with you, Dan. And you have no idea how hard it is to find a guy who likes to cook. I'm really determined to win the chili contest with you."
Dan smiles and leans in to give her a light peck on the forehead.
"You'd better bring your 'A' game. I am so going to win. There's cash prize for the champion, I believe. We can split it."
"That's awesome!" Rae places her head against the side of his muscular arm. Oh, he wore cologne for me tonight. Rae blushes. Should she still bring him back home then?
Rae sniffs at the iris bouquet while she watches the people at this party. She doesn't know anyone. Suddenly, she sees two men standing next to each other chatting. They clearly stand out to her.
Oh my gosh. No fricking way. Why the F are they both here?