Ready or Not

Chapter 15

Your Wednesday morning and afternoon goes as planned without any complications. Today at 4:00 PM, Austin will be coming by to pick you up for a movie night. On your way back from your tutoring sessions, you decide to pick up a bottle of wine and some petits fours. By the time you get back to your apartment, It is little after 3:00 PM. You decide to grab a quick shower, blow dry your hair and get ready for.... What is this? Is this a date? You think, "No, this isn't a date because I would never go to a man's home on a first date. This has got to be just two friends getting together to watch a movie. Yea. That has to be it." By the time you are dressed and ready to go, it is five minutes to 4:00. You grab your host gifts and head down to your lobby. You have not a clue what kind of vehicle Austin will be driving, so you decide to text him.

You:
Austin, what kind of vehicle should I be looking for?
I'm in my lobby now but have no idea what I should expect so I know when to run out.

Austin:
I'm already outside.
Just come out and I'll see you.

You:
Oh! Okay. I'll be right out.

You grab the pastry box and the bag with a bottle of wine and walk out. Austin is leaning against his car with his arms crossed in front of his chest with a smile on his face. Seeing him like that, the first thing that comes to your mind is your dad. "That's how he'd wait for me whenever he came to pick me up from anything."

When Austin sees that your hands are full, he comes to help you. "Here, let me get that."

You reply, "Thank you Austin. I have to tell you, I'm kind of excited about this movie night thing. I can't remember when the last time I saw a good one was. Thanks again for doing this."

"Well, thanks for agreeing. C'mon. Let's go."

It takes about ten minutes to get to Austin's apartment. You realize that his apartment is only 3 blocks away from Namjoon's place. You think, "God... All I need is to run into him around here. I need to be careful, I guess." As you and Austin walk up his stoop steps, you say, "You know my recent CIC, he lives like 3 blocks away from here. I'm thinking maybe I need to widen my search area on my dating app."

Then Austin says, "Or maybe you won't need to be on the darn thing at all in the future."

You look at him and say, "Or that...." As you blush a bit.

Austin chuckles and says, "I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. This is not a date. This is just friends watching a movie together. I swear."

Laughing, you say, "It better be. Because I'm not one of those women who will go over to a man's home on the first date!"

"Yes, of course not. I figured as much."

Austin lives in one of the brown stone buildings, third-floor walkup apartment. There are seven apartments in the building, three above ground and 1 basement apartment. When you walk into his place, you see that the floor plan is similar to Namjoon's. He asks, would you like a quick tour? It really isn't much." There are 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, dining room, living room, and laundry room. Before Austin shows you the spare bedroom, he warns you and says, "I am a computer engineer. You need to remember that I work with lots of tiny little parts and lots of different tools. Also, I am a total gaming nerd. Please don't judge me."

Filled with curiosity now, you say, "Zero judgement, scout's honor."

When Austin opens the door to his spare bedroom, you stand by the doorway looking in. What it reminds you of is those Asian herbal medicine shops with hundreds of drawers covering the walls. Except the drawers that cover the walls of Austin's spare bedroom are tiny. You've seen these at your local hardware stores before. They are often marketed as drawers for organizing nails, washers, screws, etc., and Austin must have hundreds and hundreds of these tiny drawers, all meticulously marked. He has a huge L-shaped desk several different types of lamps, magnifiers, several computer screens, all kinds of electrical equipment/tools that you have never seen, and shelves and shelves filled with old and new computer parts. You ask, "Austin, how long did it take you to assemble a room like this? This is a bit Dexter-esque. So organized." Then when you turn around to see the other half of the room. What you can see is a gaming setup with five monitors, big speakers, all kinds of gaming consoles on a tower, a monster of a desktop and the world's most comfortable-looking chair. "Seems like you sure love what you do for a living. How often do you get to play?"