...

Lou didn't know exactly why she had agreed to the date. She sensed it was primarily to have a conversation with someone new. She was curious in a mostly-disinterested kind of way. Was she being misleading by calling it a date? Maybe. But she found that people thought it was wierder to meet with a stranger just to chat than to go on a 'date' that went nowhere. So after every hour-or-so of encounter she said semi-apologetically but very certainly that she didn't see it going any further but it had been lovely, really lovely.

People found her intriguing. Her distance complemented her masculinity in a flattering way. She came across as mature, confident, and keeping deep secrets for good reasons because she had seen so much and lived so much and loved so much (it was incredibly hot). This wasn't entirely inaccurate. Lou felt pleased. She looked pensively out of the window with her hand under her well-defined chin at the blurred cars passing and felt very old and very lonely.