After several violin serenades (and one dramatic break up because a hapless dingbat had requested her ex-girlfriend’s favourite song instead of her current girlfriend’s…) and Kamala was very done with the whole holiday. The tips were good, and it was a lot less stuffy than wearing a nice dress and playing the same repetitive repertoire at the high end restaurant, but it was a good change of pace, not something that she’d want to switch over to.
Her older sister was also sending a lot of adorable selfies with her supremely nerdy husband. It really was an overload of cutesie. The moment that her older brother started sending pictures with his fiancee, Kamala would not be able to be held accountable for tossing her phone into a swamp.
So texting Dylan had been a spur of the moment thing. She’d never said outright no to getting a drink, just always laughed it off. And Dylan seemed as good a bet as any to get drinks with on Valentine’s. He clearly wasn’t looking for a relationship to make things weird. Getting a prompt text back and making plans to meet was not what she had been expecting, but after five renditions of “I Will Always Love You”…she needed that drink.
She’d fired off a couple of texts to her friends, mostly questioning her sanity, and had found a perch on one of the low cement barriers while she waited for Dylan to show up.
“Thanks, you look… like you,” Kamala said, ending on a less than eloquent note. But it was Dylan, so, looking like Dylan was a compliment - doubly so when one had such a strong sense of self worth as Dylan somehow managed. “Really? I wouldn’t think you’d get turned down a lot,” Kamala said. He’d asked a couple of times - never in a creepy way, just in that friendly way that people who just naturally flirted did. She wasn’t sure how much of his awkward posture was genuine awkwardness, and how much was just something he played up as part of the game, but it was certainly an endearing contrast to his typical bravado.
“So,” Kamala said, hopping to her feet, “Are you more a whisky or martini or whatever kind of guy?”
After the comment about him not getting turned down very often, Dylan laughed heartily. She wasn’t wrong about that, it was part of what had drawn Dylan to Kamala so much. He wasn’t used to a girl laughing at the prospect of going out with him. “Well no, not a lot.”
Dylan immediately fell into step with Kamala when she got up. “I’m mostly a beer drinker but I’ll drink pretty much everything.” He said with a shrug. “Alcohol is alcohol.” Dylan had even been known to try some very out of character drinks and shots, usually when impressing or flirting with some random girl at the bar.
It did not take long to get to the bar, and Dylan held the door open for Kamala as the two entered. Dylan led the way to a table in the bar area. Once they were seated, he flagged down a waitress. “I’ll have a beer, what are you drinking?” He asked Kamala. After Kamala rattled off her drink order, the waitress departed to get their drinks. “If you’re hungry at all, feel free to order something.” Dylan said shrugging. “I figure playing violin for the couples today probably didn’t leave you many breaks to eat. How was that by the way?” Dylan had heard all about the music-grams for the holiday. He hadn’t gotten to witness any, but didn’t feel he was really missing out there.
