I whipped my head towards him. “What?”
“I thought to myself, ‘There has to be something this woman isn’t amazing at.’” He cast me a mischievous glance. “I’m hoping this is it.”
I attempted to scowl at him, but a smile poked through. “Sorry if I disappoint you.”
With a smile that seemed oddly warm for him, he led me forward towards one of the stations. I could see as we got closer, that there were a couple of nameplates on it that had Carson and I’s names scrawled on. As we got settled behind the station, a tall woman with short, pixie-cut, red hair and a flirty cocktail dress on, walked over.
“Hello. I’m Mamie,” she announced in a high voice.
Carson grumbled. His warm expression disappeared and he didn’t even acknowledge her presence other than to offer a quick, “Hi.”
I was slightly taken aback by how dismissive he was; it was rude. “Hi,” I greeted, holding out my hand. “I’m Sascha.”
Mamie took my hand and shook. “Hi, Sascha. That must mean that this is Carson?”
“He is,” I said. I looked over at him, but he’d pulled out his phone and had his head down, completely ignoring the interaction. “Sorry, I’m not sure what’s gotten into him all of a sudden.”
Mamie’s joyful attitude didn’t waver. “No problem. We’ll get some liquor in him and I’m sure he’ll loosen up.” She winked at me and twirled away.
“That was rude,” I hissed. “What’s your deal all of a sudden?”
“It’s nothing,” he said back. “I just didn’t want to talk to her.” It didn’t seem truthful. There was something specific that he wasn’t saying, but I decided not to press it for the time being.
More people filed in over the course of the next ten minutes, and then eventually the music dimmed and Mamie walked to the head of the row of minibars, taking place beside a pseudo-bar in an L-shape, that was open so everyone could see what was behind it. She began to lead the class in teaching everyone how to make a variety of cocktails, shakers and mixed drinks. Carson and I followed along, using our matching materials, practicing how to make each drink she went over ourselves. Once everyone had gotten enough practice, she set us off to practice making and consuming drinks on our own. It was during this time that a batch of well-dressed waiters walked around and delivered finger foods to be munched while working. They were presented based on which drinks they paired best with. We nibbled the food and worked together to practice the drinks. It was lovely.
“Sorry, about before,” Carson said suddenly.
I was confused. We were having a really great time. “For what?”
“The way I treated the teacher at first. She, uh, reminds me a lot of my ex,” he explained. “I won’t say anything else about it. One’s ex is not good first date conversation.”
“It’s clearly still hanging on to you though. Talk about it. Trust me, it won’t change my opinion of you,” I assured. “Get it out.”
He looked up at me and my heart stopped for a moment. There was true pain behind his eyes, the kind that shattered his confident exterior and made him look like a child who’d just received his ‘do you like me’ note back with the ‘no’ box checked.
“Alia Creer,” he said, with a waver to his voice. “We were together for,” he hesitated, “some time. I was madly in love, and to be fair, so was she, with sleeping with every man in town besides myself.”
I cringed, wondering how someone could have someone as good looking as Carson and stray. “I’m sorry.”
“I ended things with her. She kept my head tied up in knots. I didn’t have control over myself. It was terrible.” He poured a shot from one of the bottles of tequila and knocked it back. “The last guy I found out she was with, after she swore they were just friends, I finally lost it.”
“Good,” I told him. “You deserve better than that.”
“I know how I come off, but it was weird. I just liked the domesticity. Having someone to come home to. It’s life-changing,” he said.
I was shocked. It was such a soft, emotional side to him that I wasn’t expecting. He was afraid that it would ruin the date, but it had done quite the opposite. I found myself more attracted to him. More than things with Ian and Ryland, though, he was even more vulnerable. He was so attractive, and I did want him, and part of me really wanted to take him for a test drive the way I had the other two, but that felt unfair and I wasn’t sure how’d he react. I decided in that moment that I wasn’t going to sleep with him no matter how much I wanted to, and turned the conversation towards lighter topics, and back to practicing our new skill.