Jennifer Lutz: Serial Dater

Chapter 4

Saturday 6 April 2013 17:22 Brown Auction

When he first walked in I had no idea our lives were going to overlap with each other. He was wearing a crisp white button-up polo, obviously from Ralph Lauren, and that’s how he had caught my attention in the first place. He was wearing a smart casual attire to a black tie event and no one seemed to mind him.

     Is he rich? Is he famous? Why doesn’t anyone care that this man right here just made a huge sin punishable by the Fashion Police were they here to see him?

     I was so interested in his courage that I didn’t even have time to compose myself when he asked me if I wanted a drink since the Danielle’s family’s annual auction hadn’t started yet. Then I realized by the slur in his speech that oh my goodness this was Carter Stone and he had just offered me a drink.

     Carter Stone is one of the most famous artists in the world and looking back on it now it’s quite embarrassing for me not to have recognized him at first glance because I had done quite a lot of research on his family in the past.

     His great grandfather used to be one of Coco Chanel’s “number two’s.” I had been meaning to write him about how much I loved his new masterpiece just so I could get the inside scoop on Coco but never got the chance to because I’m always so lazy when it comes to things that I don’t need to do.

I mean, dating millions of gentlemen for one is part of my quest. It is absolutely necessary for me to know that by dating those many gentlemen I am eliminating the possible non-Mr. Jennifers in Manhattan. It’s just how I operate.

     “Jen, has it ever occurred to you that Mr. Jennifer might not live in New York?” Gabby asked me once.

     “What are you talking about? The only potential Mr. Jennifers are in New York at this very moment, Gab. He has to be, or else he isn’t Mr. Jennifer at all,” I dismissed her with an urgency I couldn’t help but direct not only to her but to myself as well.

     I had debated whether or not she was right, but who was I kidding? My type is in New York. It’s the best place in the world to house the best people in the world. New York is the world. I’d visited other states, Canada, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and none of them seemed to match up to the Empire State.

     Mr. Jennifer is here, and when I find him I would never let him slip out of my size 5 hands and let all of my hard work and improved abundant tolerance for stupidity go to waste.

Back to Carter Stone. I presume he had approached me in the first place because I was staring at him and only him so curiously the moment he stepped into the big white tent. When he had given me my drink―non-alcoholic because weak livers run in the family―he introduced himself to me, as if I didn’t already know who he was.

     “Carter Stone, and you are?” he held out his hand.

     “Jennifer Lutz. I know who you are,” and I shook it.

     He laughed. He sounded like a stereo on maximum volume when he did. It was tolerable at first, but as days went by I learned how annoying it could get.

     “Of course you do. What brings you here, Ms. Lutz?”

     “You can call me Jen. Danielle Brown is one of my best friends.”

     “Ah, I see. I dated her sister once.”

     “Monique? And how was she?”

     “Absolutely horrifying.”

     I pretended that was funny and laughed my fake laugh. I started looking around for Dani since the poor rich man in front of me whom I had been so interested in at first turned out to be the most boring creature on earth. Unfortunately, luck was not on my side; Dani was nowhere to be found.

     “Would you like to get dinner Monday night?” he asked me almost too eagerly after looking me up and down.

     “Ooh, I have a tight schedule on all weekdays. How about just coffee tomorrow afternoon?” I replied, pretending to feel bad. In reality, I meant to say, “Ooh, you wish. But since you are Carter Stone, I think coffee would do.” He was one to dream. But then again, maybe I just wasn’t that well acquainted with him yet. Besides, he did have clean cut hair, brown eyes, and his name started with the letter C, so he had potential.

Boy, was I wrong.