With Much Belonging

To flirt with a professional

The table they choose to sit at was closer to the pit of fire then it was to the stage, it left a comfortable impression and allowed room for conversation. William dragged Nova by the hand, pulling her in the direction of the table he chose. 

She allowed it, feeling that odd fluctuation of giddiness rooting in the pit of her stomach. In less than twenty-four hours, she managed to meet a man and accept a date with him, rekindled a favorite spot of hers, and brazenly flirted her pride away. 

It's not like her to usually act this way. Recently, she was used to being shut in and had normalized not going out anymore. Before the pandemic, Nova played volleyball and competed with friends in her school's tournaments. She was very much an athletic, busybody that loved to travel. When the pandemic shut everything down, she also shut down, basically plummeting into depression and anxiety. Her quirky personality was unrecognizable to her now, she turned into a heavy stoner and revived her old Tik Tok account. It was a low blow that the soon-to-be twenty-one-year-old junior missed the chance to get blackout drunk for the first time after going to a bar. 

She also fell hard for the thirst traps on a very addicting app. The people she saw in her Zoom calls couldn't compare to the guys that liked to dress up nerdy or with sweatpants to only- by the end of the video transform themselves into very edible hunks of meat. Pre-transformation they didn't look bad, so they looked even better with a little bit of effort! How could the men in her digital class even compare to the eye candy on her 'for you' page? 

With so much spare time on her hands, she use to fantasize how she wanted a man as beautiful as the ones on Tik Tok. It was very shallow of her, but still knowing that she imagined all sorts of scenarios. The longer her mind immersed itself in her imagination, the dirtier they got. She created a 'to-do' list for her future boyfriend. The realistic part of her gnawed the dream down, as long as a nicely dressed man approached her, she would give it a chance. 

Nicely dressed meant he valued his appearance, which also meant he put effort into looking good and cared about his first impression. She yearned for someone to make cute couple videos with and someone to spoil and pamper her. She wanted to do the same! To be the woman calling the shots behind her man, to be the one he confided in and told everything to. She wanted someone to cling to her and get jealous and be protective of her-basically she was looking for husband material. The only problem was her friend-zoning personality. No matter how many people she met, they all exchanged snaps and Instagrams because they liked her and 'thought she was funny.' 

...until WIlliam...

William watched Nova in her daze, unknowingly on the same page as her. William wasn't a man that went out of his way to date. He met people through work and sometimes had a fling, but he's never been with someone longer than two weeks. He always felt that his expectations ruined him every time. His standards were simply too high that when he would get a significant other, he started to feel like he was grading the woman. Although he has had girlfriends in the past, it never started off intentionally. They would always be people he worked with, they'd flirt and share the same beds and meet each other's friends- he called it a relationship, but in the end, it never lasts. Their conversations died, the sparks faded, they looked for excuses more than they went out, and it didn't feel worth it anymore. Somehow, William fell into this pattern and couldn't break it. 

He wanted someone to blow up his phone and send him good night texts. He wanted to share his most insecure and intimate thoughts with only one person who wouldn't judge him or damage his mentality. He wanted someone bold and eccentric, a woman that could keep him on his toes and be the support he needed at the same time. 

With one glance, he knew that it was Nova. 

The woman came to his job in a tight dress that bound into a knot on her thigh. Her curly hair was in a messy bun, and a pair of Ray-Bans stood in front of it, giving off a bold vibe. He only stole a few glances at her while she shopped around for one of the latest iPhones. At first, he didn't pay her any mind, but when she approached him asking if anyone turned in a pair of sunglasses, he was thrown off his guard and was momentarily surprised.