At 9:15pm, Kevin found himself surrounded by a clump of screaming women doing shots. They had arrived to the bar five minutes before that, and Carly made the rounds hugging everyone before a shot was thrust into her hand. Kevin cheered once with them all and then tried to find an escape. He saw a gap and backed out of it, then moved halfway down the bar to get himself a beer.
Stephanie sidled up beside him a few minutes later.
"Are your ears bleeding yet?"
"Not quite. But that was a lot. I just needed a few minutes to breathe and hear myself think."
"Yeah, I get that. Her coworkers are very enthusiastic, and this was a big thing for Carly. They'll party hard tonight."
"I don't think I will even try to keep up."
"If you want to be a functioning human tomorrow, that's for the best."
"Cheers to that," he clinked her glass and took a swig of beer. "We should probably rejoin them at some point though."
"Actually, if we don't get back over there soon, we will miss the actual celebration part and it will just be dancing."
Kevin was confused and began to protest, "there's barely any music playing, and hardly a dancefloor."
"You think that will stop a group like that? You've got a lot to learn, my friend." She turned on her heel and sashayed towards the table the rest of the group had commandeered. Kevin shook his head, and followed.
At the table, Denise was telling a wildly animated story about a co-worker responding to her reaction to Drew's text. "He honestly just about turned purple. He had these huge bug eyes staring at me, as if I had grown a second alien head on top of my own!" The group was laughing loudly, and Carly started hiccupping.
Seated across from Stephanie, he could see to the main entrance, and he thought he saw someone familiar walk into the bar. He was too far away for Kevin to tell for sure, but he thought it was the guy he and Stephanie had run into at the Thai place. The guy glanced around and then headed to a booth in the corner. Kevin watched him meet with a small group and order a beer. He couldn't shake the bad feeling he got from seeing him walk in, but tried to focus on the group he was with.
An hour later, Carly, Drew and her co-workers had made their own dancefloor, and Denise, Stephanie and Kevin were left sitting around the table. Kevin excused himself to go to the men's room.
On his return to the table he noticed a man had approached the table. Now he was sure it was the guy from the Thai restaurant. He couldn't see Stephanie's face, but Denise looked fed up and was shaking her head slightly. Kevin got a little closer and was about to interrupt when what he heard stopped him in his tracks.
"Come with me. I'll give you a ride home. I just want to chat, but its so crowded in here."
"No, David. Just leave me alone. What about the people you're with?"
"No, they're leaving soon. I just thought I would do you a favour and give you a ride. No need to take the subway or rideshare that way."
"No David, I'm not interested. Please just leave me alone."
"I'm just trying to be nice."
"And I'm just trying to have a fun night with my friends. Goodbye."
Kevin watched her get up and join the other girls on the dance floor. Denise spoke to David next, "whatever this play is, it is not going to work. She is not interested in you so just leave her alone. I don't want to keep hearing stories about you showing up everywhere. Go. Home." David stood a little bit taller and stalked away, nostrils flaring slightly.
Kevin slithered into the seat across from Denise, they watched David return to his group and continue to stare across the room at Stephanie.
"I do not like that dude." Denise said.
"I'm starting to not like him either. What's his deal?"
"I don't know exactly. He won't leave Stephanie alone. All I know is he is best friends with Mark, and their other hot shot friends, who all got pretty lame once they found their hot shot jobs. They think they're better than everyone else." She took a long drink from her beer. "I called them all out on it once. That was funny. They all just dismissed me like I was trash.
"I hated seeing Stephanie always forced to hang out with those guys when they sat around drinking whiskey and talking about their big deals, fancy cars and latest settlements. She was too blinded by the idea of love and her happily ever after to realize how immature they all were. Broke my heart." She looked thoughtfully down at her hands. "Broke hers in the end too."
Kevin looked out and watched Stephanie dancing. She had her eyes closed and was smiling to the music as she danced. He wanted to go out and join her, to feel her body move beside him, to wrap his arms around her waist, or to spin her around, but his nerves kept him rooted to the spot.
He cleared his throat. "She'll find someone better."
He turned back around to see Denise staring directly at him. She nodded. "Yeah, she will." He was starting to feel uncomfortable under her gaze when she suddenly changed topics. "So, I heard you made a decently convincing Han Solo at Com-Expo." Denise raised an eyebrow at him and they talked for another twenty minutes about the convention, and Kevin's night really started to pick up when she told him about her interest in Dungeons and Dragons.
Whether or not Stephanie also participated in D&D campaigns seemed of little importance from then on. Her best friend was a fan, so obviously she wouldn't think it was too lame of a hobby. He couldn't help himself from hoping for a future writing campaigns for her and her friends. It made him smile. He knew he wanted to be more than friends.
Denise redirected his attention to David, who had moved and was now watching Stephanie from a different spot near the bar. They decided they should probably head out sooner rather than later. Denise headed over to the dancefloor and spoke to Stephanie, her light expression clouding over instantly, and they headed towards the ladies' room.
He caught Denise's eye and went to settle his bill at the bar. Unfortunately, David was near the register, and caught his attention. "Hey, are you with that group over there?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Oh, I'm really good friends with Stephanie. How do you know her?"
Kevin wasn't sure why he didn't want to tell this guy the whole truth, but he just felt that the less he said, the better. It was as if David was trying to stake a claim, "Oh, uh, the group of us play board games together. Just hanging out, you know?"
David seemed to stand a little straighter and glanced back towards the ladies' room at that.
"Okay, cool. Well, good talking to you, man." He turned and headed towards the men's room while the bartender settled with Kevin. Kevin watched as he crossed paths with Stephanie and Denise, but they both shook their heads at what he said to them, and returned to the dancefloor to hug Carly.
David never went into the men's room, but trailed them with his eyes. They collected their things from the table and Kevin threw one last glance over his shoulder as they headed out the door, but he couldn't see David anymore.
At the corner, Denise headed back towards the streetcar to head home, but Stephanie and Kevin turned towards the subway station. They walked in silence; she seemed deep in thought and Kevin didn't really want to disturb her. He walked with his hands in his pockets, and after a block she looped her arm through his.
Startled, he looked over at her, but her gaze was fixed into the distance as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Kevin's heart started to pound, and he relished her closeness. Scared to break their cozy spell, he didn't say anything, but continued to walk, a grin plastered across his face. When they reached the turnstiles, she detached her arm from his. They could feel the train leaving, signaling at least a fifteen-minute wait at this time of night. Kevin finally broke the silence between them.
"So, was that the same guy from the Thai place"
"Ugh. Yes. He came over the second you left and then tried to give me a ride home."
"Huh."
"He was there with some other friends though. Not people I knew. Still so weird." Her phone beeped and she pulled it out of her jacket pocket, frowning as she read the screen. "And now he wants to make sure I got home okay." She sighed and turned her attention back to Kevin. "You totally nailed the candy choices today though."
"Thanks. I just went with my favourites."
"Well, you have good taste. Then again, most candy is the right choice. But sour or gummy candy are always winners."
"Glad you liked it." They stood in silence for a few more minutes before Kevin continued. "So, have you ever watched firefly?"
She pulled a face "I have."
"That seems like you didn't like it."
"No. Not even a little bit. It totally deserved to get cancelled."
Kevin was flabbergasted, and clutched his chest to show it. "Wow. I could not disagree with you more."
"It's a poorly executed space western. Those should not combine." Her expression was resolute.
"It won an Emmy. If a show was bad enough to get cancelled, it shouldn't win an Emmy. That means the network made a bad decision."
"No, I don't know how anyone could keep watching after the pilot."
"Pilots aren't supposed to be the best in a series. It just kept getting better with each episode." Kevin felt himself getting fired up about it. "I can't believe you don't like it. I've never met anyone who claims to like as many fandoms as you who doesn't also love Firefly."
Her eyes narrowed in at that statement. "Wait, what do you mean 'claims' to like?"
"All those tattoos at Com-Expo. You had an armful of them, so I assume that means you like them all. You better not have been pretending."
"Pretending? Are you kidding me? Com-Expo is for my people. Everyone is so excited, and so passionate of what they like, and so inclusive. So many different opinions, but everyone can share them and do what they'd like. You can find people who are into what you are into, and if no one else you know is, you feel less alone." She took a steadying breath and walked further from Kevin, before turning back to face him from twenty feet away.
"You know why Denise is my best friend? She's the only person I grew up playing sports with who is still my friend, and that's because she got that. She was the only one who could ever reconcile being a 'jock' with being a 'nerd'. You don't have to be 100% anything. You can be more than one thing. Just because I'm not 100% nerd like you doesn't mean I'm wrong."
Kevin just stared at her, and the train pulled up. She turned from him and stepped onto the train as soon as the doors opened.
He followed, but the train was packed again following the hockey game. Stephanie had already squeezed to the middle of the train car, and Kevin's path was blocked. She looked determinedly at her phone, and away from Kevin.
*
Kevin did not sleep well that night. He couldn't help but think he had royally screwed up with Stephanie. The thought of her pretending to be into so many different fandoms terrified him; he hadn't meant that he thought she pretended about all of it, and he hadn't meant to be mean. It spun out of control quickly after that.
She had exploded at him, and being called '100% nerd' could hardly be thought of as a good thing. He thought they were getting close and might even have a chance together, but now he wasn't so sure. In fact, he thought his chances were gone completely. They were never meant to be more than friends, and even that was gone.
He finally gave up on sleep at 4:30am, and decided to head to the gym, hoping a few hours sweating would clear his head. He planned to meet Jared and Katy for lunch, and needed to get Stephanie off his mind.