Wine by the Pool

I left the conference after my poster session was over and met my mom to continue our San Francisco exploring. I was fully present for all our activities and really loved seeing the different sites in the city, but I was definitely a little distracted. When I met my mom at the hotel, I told her I needed a few minutes before we could head out. I immediately searched whatever I could about Web Matcher. I obviously knew about the company; it was a pretty popular dating site, but that was pretty much all I knew. What new service was Lillian talking about? I had so many questions, but I didn't want to spoil the rest of the weekend so I put it out of my mind while on the West coast.

Even though I hadn't seen Scott in a few days, I opted to see my friends for a bit Monday. I was feeling slightly jet lagged but powered through it and drove to Anna's house. She wanted to have me, Darlene, and Jess over to swim and drink wine.

It was a little too cold to go swimming, but we dangled our feet in the water and gossiped while passing around a few bottles of Sauvignon blanc. While things had been tense among the four of us the past few months, it seemed like a little time apart had made things better. I was really enjoying my time with these three.

We got on the subject of Moose and I quickly realized that I had completely no idea what his relationship with Beth was really like. Darlene started talking about the Friday before when Darlene, Jess and most of the guys went out.

"She got wasted, but what else is new? So Moose got pissed off and left for like an hour.  It was ridiculously awkward for us."

"Yeah," Jessica interjected. "I was trying to talk to her but she couldn't really hold a conversation and when she realized Moose wasn't just in the bathroom, she started balling."

I saw Anna cringe. "Fuck, that sounds so uncomfortable," Anna replied, since she hadn't been there either.

Darlene started giggling to herself. "Jessica, when I saw you just robotically patting her on the back, I almost died." We all started laughing and I looked down at my feet in the pool.

"It kind of sucks, though," I said after a few seconds of silence. "I mean, it's funny to us, but can you imagine being Moose? I don't get why they're still together."

"Caroline, you have a boyfriend," Darlene began. "Don't think about breaking these two love birds up."

I reached down and splashed some water at her. "I'm serious!" I knew she was joking but I still shot Anna an annoyed look when Darlene and Jessica weren't looking. I would never try to steal Moose from another girl even if I was single and even if I was interested.

"Yeah, I agree," Anna quickly said. "But I get why he's with her. It took him so long to find someone up to his 'standards.'" Anna put that last word in air quotes because Moose was always weird about which qualities were acceptable or unacceptable in his potential girlfriends. He actually broke up with his high school girlfriend when we started college because her major wasn't "challenging" enough.

Jessica was nodding in agreement as she replied, "And I don't get what makes him feel entitled to be so picky. It's not like he's perfect."

"I guess he'll break up with her when he's ready," I said before finishing off my second glass of wine and pouring myself a third. I was eager to change the subject so I decided that moment would be a good time to tell them about my encounter with Lillian at the conference in San Francisco.

"Caroline, that's amazing!" Jessica said before I was even done telling them about the encounter.

"So what would you be doing?" Anna eagerly asked.

"I'm not really sure," I said as I felt my eyes widening. "But I'm excited. I'm going to call her tomorrow."

"We can be commuting buddies if they're in the city!" Darlene squealed.

I waved my feet up and down in excitement. "Yeah, I figure that's where I'll be working! But I should probably focus on getting the job first." I nervously laughed.

"People don't hand out those cards willy nilly," Jessica said as she narrowed her eyes at me. "Just don't shit the bed on the interview and you'll be fine."

"I don't even have the interview yet!" I protested. "Anyway, tell me more about what's going on with you guys. I'm getting anxious."

We talked for a while longer until all the wine was gone and it was too dark to comfortably sit outside, which thanks to the change of season was after 8 o'clock.

When I went to bed that night, I understandably had some trouble sleeping. I was so nervous that I had to take two antihistamines after almost an hour of tossing and turning. I was able to distract myself from thinking about my important phone call by thinking about what Darlene had said to me. Sure, I'd probably commute from my parent's house for the first few months of working. The train to the city only took me about 45 minutes. But if I liked the job and saw myself working there for a while, I'd probably want to move into the city. I thought about the possibility of moving in with Scott and started to get excited at the dream life I was dreaming up. I vowed that if I did get the job, I'd sit and have a real talk with Scott about our possible future together. I just hoped it wasn't going to scare him away.

The next day, I waited until my lunch break to go outside to my car. My hand was shaking as I pulled out Lillian's business card and carefully dialed the number.