My palms are sweating as I approach the museum the next day. I'm nervous, which is ridiculous, because this is not a date. It's just friends, hanging out, getting to know each other.
"Cosima!" I hear my name in that glorious accent once again.
"Hey, Delphine!"
She pulls me into a hug. "Let's go inside. I'm so excited about this!"
I follow her inside. The space is beautiful, so open, with extremely high ceilings. We get tickets and make our way through the exhibits.
"Oh, Cosima, look at this. It's breathtaking," she says, standing in front of one of the paintings in the music exhibit. It's so cute that she is getting so excited.
She grabs my hand and leads me to the next piece of art. "Oh wow," she squeals.
I can't stop smiling. I have this giddy, lighthearted feeling in my body, along with this terrible aching in my chest. I have fallen hard. It's bad.
After walking for a couple hours, moving through exhibit after exhibit, she turns to me and asks, "Do you want to have lunch here? They have a great restaurant."
"Yeah, sure," I say.
We grab lunch and sit, both a little bit exhausted from being on our feet.
"So, Cosima, I don't know much about you. What do you do?" she asks.
"Oh, I'm a science teacher. I teach at a high school in lower Manhattan."
"Oh, wow! I loved science as a kid. That's wonderful. Those kids are lucky to have you."
She makes everything sound so sexy with that accent. Fuck. Me.
"How about you?" I ask. "I know you sing, amazingly, by the way, but do you do anything else?"
"I'm a writer actually. I write for a bunch of online blogs and guest write for magazines sometimes. I work from home, which is wonderful. I can make my own hours."
"Cool, that's awesome."
We chat for a while more, talking about her job and her interests. I am fascinated by anything she has to say. We finally get up to leave after about an hour.
"Cosima, can I get your phone number?" she asks me in front of the museum. "I had a good time. I like spending time with you. Maybe we can hang out again." She puts her hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, of course. Me too. I mean, I had a really good time with you too."
We exchange numbers and go our separate ways after a quick hug.
Wow, I think. Three days in a row. I've seen her three days in a row. This certainly is ridiculous.
