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dinner?
    “I’m going back.” She turned and stomped back to the table. She slumped in her chair. Ugh.
    Kate looked sympathetic. “He’s really cute, huh?”
    Lia felt a light touch on her shoulder. 
    A voice whispered into her ear, “He’s a heartbreaker, isn’t he?” 
    Lia’s skin crawled. She looked at the whisperer. Farahnaz. “Get away from me.”
    Before Farahnaz backed off, Lia saw the mocking raised eyebrow and upturned corners of her lips. 
    *************
    Colin stood there, watching Lia storm away. She looked so good in those jeans that followed her curves, and that low cut V-neck shirt. He wanted to kick himself. What had he done wrong again? He was trying to do things right, and ask her out on a date. But something had been completely misunderstood. The one woman he felt that he might actually want to get close to, was shutting him out. 
    “Give me a Guinness,” he asked the bartender. He had to go back to the table, but he just wanted get out of there. The bartender handed him his dark and frothy drink, with a knowing look. Colin shrugged at him, and dragged his feet back to the table. Dr. Peterson waved him over.
    “Colin, there you are. Would you like to start by telling us about your progress last week?”
    Dr. Peterson picked on me to go first, great. 
    “Okay, sure.” He found an empty seat, far away from Lia. He didn’t need the added distraction, though he could feel her presence even from a distance. 
    “You all right Colin?” asked his labmate Ken. “You look kind of pale.”
    “I’m fine.” He pulled out his iPad to show pictures of his latest results. Talking science was much easier than talking to women.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    Colin had been sitting at the bar for a few hours. He had called Noah after the first beer, and by the time he started on his fifth beer, he knew he was going to regret it the next day. He felt good though, the buzz had worn off the agonizing memories of that afternoon. Noah sat next to him at the bar, his head propped on his arm.
    “I don’t know, I just don’t get women,” Noah said, breaking their silence.
    “What happened with Anu?” Colin was curious. Things had seemed so good a few days ago. He hoped that Anu hadn’t dumped Noah after reeling him in. He felt very protective of his best friend. 
    “Things were great, right.” Noah said. “She came over, we spent the night together. It was amazing.”
    “Sounds good, so far.” Colin looked closely at Noah. His friend looked tired, with puffy bags under his eyes and disheveled hair. 
    “She said I was the first guy who, you know, took her all the way, so it felt extra special. It was beautiful, I felt really close to her, like no other woman I’ve been with.”
    “So it was good for you?”
    “Yeah man, it was awesome.”
    “And?”
    “Well, the next morning, I got ready to go to work. She was still sleeping, so I left.”
    Colin nodded. “Seems fine so far.”
    “Well, later in the day, I get this angry call from her. She was saying something about me just ditching her in the morning, like some cheap date.”
    “Why would she think that? You let her stay at your place, you didn’t kick her out.” Colin was indignant.
    “Yeah, that’s what I thought. She went on for a while about that, saying she won’t put up with being treated like a one-night stand.”
    “Uh huh.”
    “So, then I asked her, what she expects from me. It was an honest question. She lost it. Said that I had to figure that out myself, that it should be pretty obvious what she expects. Then she hung up.” 
    Noah looked away. Colin patted him on the back.
    “What are you going to do?”
    “I guess I need to think about it. I’m going to talk to my sister.”
    “Do you want to be with Anu?” Colin asked.
    “I think I do. I haven’t felt the way I do with a woman until I met her. But I’m kind of wary of moving too fast, you know.”
    “Yeah, I would be too. You need to be