POV: Charlotte

Things were going well with Sergey. We had been dating for almost a week now and he was taking me out again tonight. I had no problem getting him to talk about his brother. Sergey described him as an introvert whose entire life revolved around his work and his cat. I had to laugh because it reminded me of John. Of course, I couldn't tell Sergey about my boyfriend John. Instead, I told him that his brother reminded me of my roommate's boyfriend including his cat centric life. Sergey and I bonded over our familiarity with cat people and our own suspensions that cats were planning to take over the planet.

Sergey and I bonded over a lot of other things too. If he weren't my current assignment, I would seriously be falling for him. That made me feel even more guilty about standing John up this past weekend. John and I weren't really that serious. I was just helping him get out of his shell, but he is a good guy, and I don't want to hurt him. So, wouldn't you know it. The maître d' sat us at a table near where John and a woman were sitting. Was John on a date? What the hell was he doing in this part of town? Was he already dating another woman after I only stood him up once? Well, good for him. Maybe he is not as broken as I had feared. This makes things a lot easier. And apparently, he is smart enough not to try and talk to me. Still, I figured that I should get out of there before he did try.

Sergey and I had a couple of drinks and some tapas then I told him, "Sergey, food is not what I'm really hungry for. Why don't we go back to your place and see if we can't satisfy other hungers." Sergey smiled and agreed. He paid the check and we left in hurry. John gave me a strange look on our way out. At least he kept quiet.