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Nick arrived at Le Café in a dark blue polo shirt with black dress slacks. His hair finally cooperated and it now appeared to have the structured just out of bed look he liked so much.  He sat at the table the maitre’d showed him to ten minutes earlier sipping his water and waiting. He could feel the sweat start to build up on his hands, he noticed the maitre’d leading Elizabeth to the table; he quickly wiped his hands as he stood up and moved over to hug her and kiss her cheek.  

“Have you been waiting long?” She asked while taking her seat opposite the table from where Nick was sitting.  He watched as she started to straighten the tablecloth, noticing that she was nervous too.  

“I haven’t been here long.” He picked up his glass of water and gulped it down.  The two sat in silence for another twenty minutes as they looked over the menus and ordered their food. After the waiter left they both sat up and looked at each other, apparent that neither one of them knew where to start the conversation.  

“You missed a great party last night,” Elizabeth spoke, finally breaking the silence between them. “Where were you, we all tried calling you at least once, Adam tried probably ten times.”  

“I had a migraine and needed to sleep it off.” It wasn’t a lie, but she didn’t need to know why his head was pounding, causing him to feel incredibly sick. 

 “That’s too bad.” Elizabeth continued, “The music was sick. They had this new DJ who knew exactly what to play and when to keep the party going. Me and the girls were non-stop dancing…” Elizabeth continued to explain the evening to Nick, he phased in and out of listening to the girl ramble on.  He stared off to the street outside watching the cars race by and the pedestrians going about their daily routines unaware of anyone else’s troubles, they all had their own problems to deal with, Nick knew that but he felt that they should all stop and pity him at least for a few minutes before continuing on. How many of those people have a problem that involves being forced into marriage.   

“Nick?” Elizabeth’s voice brought him back into the moment. “You look a thousand miles away, where did you go?”  

“Sorry, I am just kind of hungry. Please continue.” He told her, not sure why, he wasn’t exactly interested in hearing all about how drunk people got the night before. In the last few minutes, something inside him clicked. The reality of the situation dawned on him and he knew it was time to grow up. No more all night partying and clubs until four a.m.

“Elizabeth, where do you work again?” He was sure that he was told at one point when they first met, but the discussion of their employment was never what they got together to discuss before.

“I wait tables at Antoinette’s down on Versailles.” Elizabeth replied before taking a sip of her coke the waiter had placed on the table in front of her.  “The tips are good and it lets me get some rest in the mornings with plenty of time to go clubbing afterwards.”
Elizabeth beamed at Nick waiting for him to respond about how smart she was to maneuver her schedule that way.  

“Nice,” was the only reply he could come up with, he could see her face drop upset he didn’t have more to say. Thankfully, he was rescued with the arrival of the food.  Nick ate in silence as Elizabeth continued to ramble on about all the clubs and parties she’d attended in the last couple of weeks, every now and then, he would nod or add an “oooh” to let her know that he wasn’t completely ignoring her.  Nick didn’t think it would have mattered in the end she would have discussed spit on the side of the road, it was more and more apparent that the girl liked the sound of her own voice.  

Dinner ended and Nick paid the bill thankful for the date to be over. He helped Elizabeth with her chair and walked with her through the exit. “Thank you for meeting me,” Nick leaned forward and kissed Elizabeth’s cheek.  

“Thanks for dinner. I had a blast. Next time let’s go clubbing.” She hugged Nick tight and walked off towards her car. Nick said a small “Thank goodness” when he realized she was walking the opposite way from his own car.  

He drove back to his house in silence, his thoughts playing on which girl he was going to ask out next. He needed to remember more about them, try to think which girl would make better match with him versus which girl he had more fun with when they went out, someone who would care about more than just herself and a good time.  He stopped at a light turning red and looked down at his lap remembering a time he slipped on a spilled beverage, a drink spilled by Elizabeth now that he thought about it, Staci had been the one to help him up, she also opted out of dancing so she could sit with him, making sure he wasn’t seriously injured.   

They talked for the remainder of the night, joking and laughing, it was one of the few times he recalled Staci being with him and his other friends, so he knew that she did more then just party. Staci would be his next choice.  

Nick pulled into his driveway and made his way to his bedroom, checking his room and the bathroom to make sure he wouldn’t startle Roma yet again before pulling off his shirt and shorts and falling onto his bed. It would be too late to call Staci; he would call her tomorrow morning to set up a date with her. He hoped their date would go better then his date with Elizabeth, time was ticking.