She didn't have to work for a couple more hours, however, so with her cash in pocket she took the opportunity to stop and look at cribs on her way home.
What she had left from her "Matt Money" was all set aside in her baby fund, which she planned to use to buy her baby a pretty crib that she couldn't otherwise afford. The bedding would have to wait, since Julie couldn't pick a theme before she knew if she was having a boy or a girl. Still, it couldn't hurt to take a peek. Of course Aaron would have to go with her to make the final choice, but since he was so busy she figured she could do the leg work.
As soon as she got to work at four Aaron asked her how her day had been. She told him briefly about how much she already loved her literature class and told him she had taken a preliminary look at cribs.
Frowning, he said, "Hey, don't leave me out. This is the only crib I get to buy."
"I didn't pick one yet, I was just looking. Next time we get a chance I'll haul you in there and we can see which cribs we both like."
"It's a date," he said.
Rolling her eyes, she said, "Yeah, right. What's a date? I don't believe those exist anymore."
With a smile, Aaron said, "Well, start believing. What are you doing tomorrow night?"
"Hm, I'll have to check my schedule but I think I'm very busy doing absolutely nothing tomorrow night."
"Well, can you reschedule?"
"Maybe. What's the occasion?"
"I was thinking since Leigh’s closing tomorrow anyway and things are… a little bit weird right now, you and I could go on a date."
Gasping, she said playfully, "A real date?"
"The real thing. I want to go kind of early though, if that's okay with you. I was thinking I'd leave work at 6, we could leave by 6:30?"
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"Sounds great," she stated. "Where are we going on our date?"
He smiled a little. "It's a surprise. But don't worry, I think it's one you'll like."
---
The next day was one of the longest days of Julie's life.
It seemed like 6:30 was determined never to come, and all the time she seemed to have just gave her opportunity after opportunity to find renewed hatred for every item of clothing that she owned. Four times she had found the "right" outfit for her date, but then after looking at it long enough each outfit inevitably began to disappoint her.
Aaron wouldn't tell her where they were going or what they were doing, so she wasn't even sure what to dress for. With Aaron and his penchant for proper first dates, she didn't know if she should expect a fancy dinner at a restaurant that required reservations like two years in advance, or perhaps the more casual dinner-and-a-movie. Should she wear jeans or a skirt?
In the end, she decided to pick out three outfits—one that she intended on wearing, a fancier one to change into in case he walked in, took a look at her, and told her she was dressed all wrong, and one last back up in case she changed her mind ten minutes before he got home and decided that she didn't like the black skirt with the black tights, and the cranberry button-down blouse made her look too much like a secretary or a librarian.
Reasonably she could tell she was overly prepared, but she couldn't help it. She was so happy that she and Aaron were actually going on a date, and that everything was going wonderfully with very few bumps in the road.
When 6:25 approached and Aaron still wasn't at the apartment, Julie began to worry a little. He said they would leave by 6:30, so he had to show up sometime within the following 4 minutes.
And if they were going somewhere he could wear his café clothes, she was definitely dressed all wrong and she would have to change again.
Going out with Jack had never required so much thinking and planning.
When the clock hit 6:26, she decided to take a little walk downstairs and ask the doorman if he had seen Aaron. She felt silly doing it—he couldn't have gotten lost on his way to the apartment, after all. But if she sat in the apartment a moment longer she would have to change clothes again, and then she would probably mess up her hair.
Tucking her cell phone into her purse, Julie ventured out of the apartment and made her way down to the lobby. As she walked she daydreamed about different scenarios of their date—a quiet café date where they could eat paninis across from each other and discuss likes and dislikes sounded good to her. A movie would be okay, but since she wouldn't actually get to see him and they wouldn't get to talk at all she found that prospect a little disappointing. Of course in a theater he would hold her hand while they watched the movie, but… she would still rather more face to face. Another idea she had was that he might take her down the Magnificent Mile to the Ghirardelli store—she had always thought that would be a nice place for a date—and they could have a seat by the window and talk while they ate ice cream sundaes.
She was just about to think up a new date idea when she was brought to an abrupt halt by a scene she somehow hadn't imagined when she thought about what the day of their date would be like.
Matt and Aaron standing in the lobby bickering like the brothers that they were.