"Hi Penny, I am so sorry to have to do this to you but I have to cancel our date on Monday. I figured since next week is my last free week before school starts I better go to SoCal to see my friends and my sister. I'll be back next Sunday. Can we meet up when I get back?"
Of course she was bummed, but he did still want to meet up. She didn't want to wait that long, she felt like they would lose momentum. Then her director told her that Friday they were getting bottle service at a club, and to invite everyone that she wanted to invite. She took a deep breath, and texted him to ask if he wanted to meet up, even though clubbing was not either of their scenes. He was a good sport yet again and said that if he could spend some time with her, that would be awesome.
Giddy, she barely registered the opening night festivities as she mentally prepared to see him again. She had thought she had a few more days to prep for potential kissing, so she was trying to mentally get there beforehand.
She closed up the theatre as soon as she could and headed over with SD and Dawn. The bottle service was under her name, and they made her pay the $20 gratuity before even walking in the door. She was a bit miffed but just put it on her credit card. By the time she got in, everyone was at the reserved table, filling it up so that she and Piz could only sit on the couch beside them. She felt a little left out, but decided that this was good alone time for them.
Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a man in a giant cowboy hat. After another minute she glanced over at the dance floor and saw people line dancing. Dawn looked over at her with an expression that seemed to say "Is it country night or something?" She shrugged back, as she had never been there before. As she looked around she discovered that a lot of people in the bar were dressed in Western Wear.
"I've been here once before," Piz yelled over the godawful music. "My old boss took me, and I didn't realize at the time that it was a country bar."
"Oh god, it is a country bar? I'm so sorry, I would have never come to this or invited you if I had known." She was mortified that she was tricked into a country bar outing. Since they were stuck for a bit, they enjoyed a couple of free drinks from the bottle service and exchanged "I was so drunk once that I" stories.
He had gotten his new job, and she congratulated him on it and asked him about the details. He wasn't actually starting until December, which was fine by him because he was just about to start school for his Masters degree in Finance. Then he dropped the news on her, gently as possible, that he also had 7 months of training starting in March...that was in Arizona, light years away. She felt a pang but pushed forward, congratulating him on the job yet again while wondering where in the world that left them, and how he felt about it.
