Bryce couldn't believe how well his gamble had gone. Was it really this morning he had been worried that Tessa wouldn't accept the flowers and would tell him to beat it?
They had held hands. Danced together. Hugged. He had even gotten a second date set up. It all seemed too good to be true.
Initially he had wondered why she agreed to go out with him, especially on such short notice, but now he had an inkling. Something was going on right now that was making her seriously upset and she had needed a friend.
That was why Bryce went miles out of his comfort zone and hammed it up during karaoke. He had never done anything like that before in his life! But he hadn't been able to stand the look in her eyes while they were talking. She had thought of something that made her sad but he had no idea what it was.
It didn't matter though. All he cared about was making her smile again and, boy, did she!
Goofing off like that probably improved his image too. Maybe Tessa didn't think he was so boring after all.
There was one problem after that wonderful date though. Friday suddenly seemed very far away. Bryce was spaced out all throughout work the next morning and barely managed to respond when people were talking to him, which got him in a bit of trouble, but he was too happy to care.
The memory of Tessa's smile was imprinted on his brain. There wasn't room for anything else. He was functioning on autopilot getting his tasks done but only because he had done them a million times and could do them in his sleep. Anything requiring human interaction was the problem.
"I take it the flowers worked?" David asked with a smirk after catching him spacing out for the fourth time.
Bryce didn't respond to his teasing with a scowl though he wanted to. Giving this guy a reaction only made things worse. "Yes."
"Way to go! Flowers fix everything. Women love to be spoiled."
"She wasn't mad at me. I bought them to cheer her up because she's been a little down lately."
"And who is 'she' exactly? Your wife? Your girlfriend? You don't wear a ring but that doesn't necessarily mean anything these days," David said dismissively. "People don't buy flowers for simply anyone."
"Neither," Bryce said coolly. "We don't all have the same standards for being nice as you, David."
He seemed slightly offended by that but his nosiness was annoying! Maybe that would get him to butt out. "Well then! Look at Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes over here buying flowers for no reason."
"You're an idiot," Frank pointed out.
"What?!"
"If they weren't for a wife or girlfriend, they're clearly still for someone Bryce cares about. So she wouldn't be 'simply anyone' either way. Did she like them?"
Bryce didn't like talking about his personal life at work but he couldn't help but smile at the memory of how happy Tessa had been to receive the flowers. "Yeah, she did."
"Who is this girl, anyway?" David asked unhappily. "You never seemed interested in anyone in the office, even Lisa in Marketing and she's hot! How long have you known her?"
"Not long. I think it's been about a couple of months now."
"How far have you gotten with her?"
Bryce finally did scowl at him. "Keep your mind out of the gutter. It isn't like that."
All he had done was hold Tessa's hand aside from those somewhat steamy dance moves they had only done as a joke. And even if they had done something else, he would NOT tell someone like David who would view it as nothing more than a conquest.
She wasn't an object. She was a person and deserved to be talked about with dignity no matter how beautiful she was. It had always bothered him when other men he knew objectified women because they were pretty as if that precluded them from having brains.
"You're lame," David sneered. "I'm only having a little fun with you."
Bryce didn't care if a man like that thought he was lame. He was the truly lame one for being disrespectful.
"Let's get back to work, shall we?" he asked neutrally. "We wouldn't want HR getting wind of this conversation…especially what you said about Lisa."
That immediately shut him up. No one liked being threatened with HR. The sexual harassment in the workplace training they had to go through a couple of times a year was bad enough.
David stopped ribbing Bryce about his spacing out for the next couple of days. He hardly noticed anything was happening and continued to function largely on autopilot but when he was at home he frantically researched the best restaurants to go to since it had been ages since he went on a proper date.
By the time the end of the day Friday rolled around he snapped out of his daze and began to panic. What if things going well on Wednesday had been a fluke? What if the chemistry they had together during that song failed him this time because that was so out of character for him?
He tried to force himself to breathe. Everything would be fine. It was fine before so it would be fine now. If all else failed, they could talk about video games again.
Bryce exchanged his dress shirt, coat, and tie for a navy blue sweater. The restaurant they were going to was nice but not to the point of needing to wear a suit. He had told Tessa which one in advance to make sure she was okay with it, being sure to have a couple of backup options in place in case she wasn't. She would know what to wear based on that.
Besides, last time she wore a dress to a bar. That was definitely enough for where they were going. She had looked really nice too. More than nice. Beautiful and classy, even with the purple hair.
He was curious why she had dyed it but wasn't sure they had reached a point in their relationship where he was allowed to ask about it. Maybe she would tell him as they got to know each other better. Or maybe the mystery would haunt him for the rest of his life.
He sighed. He needed to stop being dramatic. He tended to do that when he was stressed. Was it so terrible of him to be worried about tonight going well though?
When Bryce arrived at Tessa's building he wasn't sure which apartment was hers so he texted her. 'Hey, I don't know which apartment is yours'. That gave her the option of asking him to come up or coming down herself without feeling uncomfortable about it.
His grandma always used to tell him to pick a girl up at her door but times were changing. A lot of women weren't comfortable having men they didn't know well know exactly where they lived.
Tessa replied quickly. 'I'll be right down'
A minute later she appeared next to his car and waved. He unlocked the door so she could get in and his breath caught in his throat when he saw her. She was even prettier than he remembered and it had only been two days.
She was wearing a white, blue, and green floral dress with a leather jacket and black heels with an ankle strap and her hair was up in a curly ponytail. The lipstick she was wearing instantly drew his attention to her lips then he chastised himself for even thinking about kissing her since they had only been on one date.
"You look beautiful," Bryce told her honestly after clearing his throat.
Tessa smiled sunnily at him. "Thanks! You look nice too."
He was about to ask her how her day was when she suddenly reached for the volume dial and cranked up the radio. She started singing along and nodding her head to the beat before realizing he was still there and blushing.
"Sorry. Do you mind? I took control of the radio without even asking."
"Not at all."
Mind? How could Bryce mind when Tessa had clearly been having fun? He had been drawn in by that sparkle in her eyes when she was enjoying herself from the first time they met.
She ended up singing along to the next three songs in a row before turning the radio down and looking at him. "Okay, you have my undivided attention. How was your day?"
"Long," he admitted. "I'm glad it's the weekend."
Tessa laughed. "Amen to that! I still have so much to do though."
"Let me guess…homework." That had consumed his weekends fairly often when he was in school.
"Well, there's that too, but I still work in the afternoons and volunteer in the mornings."
Bryce's eyes widened in disbelief. That was way too much for one person to do! Didn't she ever take a break? "You work seven days a week on top of going to school and volunteering? Do you ever sleep?"
She snorted. "Sleep and I aren't exactly on the best terms these days. I get what I need to keep going and nothing more. I only work about four and a half hours a day so working every day is still part time. Classes or volunteering in the morning, work in the afternoon, homework at night. It's really not so bad."
That sounded terrible to him but it wasn't his place to judge. If she thrived on being busy, let her be busy.