Chapter 1 - The Professional
"He's... nice."
After a nearly three-hour dinner date, that was the highest compliment Madison could conjure. He dressed well, his hair was neatly trimmed, and his cologne was most definitely on point. He drove a nice car, he was on time, didn't complain when she ran late, and he was polite and courteous. He was safe and non-threatening, and Madison even enjoyed his company a little bit. But there was just something missing.
His name was Greg Something-or-Other, an alleged "up and comer" in the accounting department. The dance team rules might bar its members from dating the players, but the rules said nothing about dating the men in the front office. That left the legal and accounting departments wide open, and they could provide a girl with a nice life. Hence this date with Greg Something-or-Other, her latest selection from the eligible front office bachelor pool.
Like Greg, they all dressed well and kept themselves in shape and well groomed. They lived in stylish apartments in notable neighborhoods and drove nice cars. They all had... decent... manners when properly motivated, and they took her out to nice places. Yet they all lacked the same thing.
If she was forced to articulate it, Madison would have used the word "plain". Nothing about them was hidden or unusual; nothing mysterious or romantic. Dating them wasn't "bad", it just didn't interest her much, because they all told pretty much the same story; they were their work and while they could talk all night about it, they didn't seem to understand that their work didn't necessarily interest her. Greg was the fifth guy from the front office she had dated and, depressingly, she could have interchanged any of the other four men for Greg and had the exact same date.
They picked her up at eight dressed in trendy business-casual attire in their spotless Mercedes or BMW, took her to a nice restaurant, bought expensive wine, and fed her expensive food. They knew which fork to use, and they prattled on about work as if to impress her with their importance. Then they carefully laid out their plans for work, family, and a vacation home. Once that was done, they would gossip and tell her who they liked, didn't like and who screwed whom at the office. Madison would nod and smile at the appropriate points.
No, it wasn't bad. Plenty of dates were worse than these. After all, the food and wine were always good and, every so often, she got a juicy tidbit of gossip. She never had to worry about an abduction or assault, and she was always home by a decent hour. Not bad. Just a touch boring.
Greg Something-or-Other had done his best, which made him a step better than most of the rest of the cookie-cutter type men. He selected a nice restaurant and was a gentleman and he did look sharp in his tailored blue sports coat and tie. His light citrus cologne was a highlight in Madison's opinion. His car was clean and appropriately sporty, and he had returned Madison to the front door by 10:30 PM because it was a weeknight after all, and they both had to work tomorrow.
As they stood outside her door, his face showed that familiar hint of hopeful expectation like the rest of them as he and Madison shared the usual end of the first date awkward pause. Like the others, Greg obviously hoped Madison would invite him in for a nightcap, but that was not in the cards, even after a first date of surf-and-turf at a trendy restaurant that required a little juice to get a reservation. Madison and her roommates had a strict rule: no dates allowed in the apartment.
But there was still the awkward pause to deal with. Greg wasn't a bad guy and he had listened to her a little and it had been an enjoyable meal, so she went to her tip toes and gave him a light, good-night kiss on the cheek. It was just enough to leave the possibility of a second date, but non-committal enough to avoid the impression that his status had changed from "a man I dated" to "someone I might be interested in".
In reality, Madison viewed dates as a kind of tryout for a man like Greg Something-or-Other. A good first date could earn a second date, which could then earn a third and, after that, things got more formal. In Greg's particular case, he might have done enough tonight to earn a second date from a practical standpoint but, unfortunately, he was in serious jeopardy of the Friend-Zone. As such, a kiss on the cheek and a "thank-you-and-good-night" smile as she shut the front door left her options open until she talked things through with her roommates.
And speaking of her roommates, Deva, Adalina and Ivy all waited expectantly on the giant wrap around sofa while they ate popcorn and allegedly watched a Rom-Com. Adalina and Ivy shared a fuzzy pink blanket and a bowl of popcorn. Deva reclined regally on the other side, poised like a delicate feminine sculpture draped in a powder blue blanket. Their house version of Netflix and chill was to hang out on the sofa and wait for the roommate on the date to come home and dish it up. No one would sleep until the man of the evening was thoroughly weighed and measured against the house standards.
"Well, you're home at a decent hour," observed Adalina. That observation sounded polite, but it was the house code for "the date was a dud, and he's off the list, right?"
Madison kicked out of her pumps and took a seat near Deva. She dipped five fingertips of popcorn from Deva's bowl even though she felt stuffed from dinner. There was a tacit agreement among the roommates to participate in a ritual evaluation of every man they dated so everyone could get an inside scoop. The popcorn was necessary to set the appropriate mood.
Right away Madison could tell Ivy had made this batch of popcorn because Ivy always used extra butter, much to everyone's delight. Madison gave Ivy a little nod of respect and licked the extra butter off her fingers.
"It was nice," she Madison said in a neutral tone.
"And?" prompted Ivy.
