SHORT STORY

A Blind Date Goes Awry

A fight between strangers…

Thank you to JF Danskin for another great prompt. I chose #17 in “100 Prompts in 20 Minutes.”

Sarah raced home, cutting a few yellow lights a little too closely. She wanted something good to come out of her crappy day, and she was tired of being late all the time. It was kind of a family curse. Her mother had a chronic lateness problem, and her grandmother before her. But this time was going to be different. She was turning over a new leaf. She was determined to make a good impression on her blind date.

She had been put through the ringer already that day. She was stuck on a call for twenty-two minutes, and her boss was livid. The call-center had very strict metrics, and anything over six minutes put you in the red. Everything you did had to be coded in the system, including restroom breaks. You only had eleven minutes a day for those.

But sometimes calls just went long. Sometimes you got difficult customers who needed to be babied. And sometimes you let calls get away from you because you were daydreaming about your date. Shelly from dispatch set her up this time. And it certainly wasn’t her first time being set up. She was considered kind of a project amongst her friends.

They were all married or in committed relationships. But nothing seemed to stick with Sarah. She always picked the wrong sort of guy for her. She was smart, way too smart to be working billing in a call-center. And men found that intimidating.

But all of that was beside the point. New leaf, fresh start to her day. She arrived home at six, which meant she had exactly forty-five minutes to get ready. She was going to go all out. Something she hadn’t bothered with in a while. The hair, the makeup, the cocktail dress, the heels…all of it.

She did one last cleavage-check in the mirror, and she was ready. Sarah rushed to her car, and took off, still determined to not be late. She was told that Jeff was the sort that was early everywhere he went. And punctuality was Sarah’s new middle name. She was also told that he was good-looking, but not too good-looking. He was recently single, but not too recent, and funny. He sounded like a catch.

She got to the restaurant five minutes early, she was so proud of herself.

She’d never been there before, it was hard to get a table since they were awarded their Michelin star. But apparently Jeff knew somebody, which was another check mark in his column. She straightened herself out and headed in.

He was sitting at the bar when she walked in, and they realized who each other was right away. Shelly was right. He was cute in an un-assuming way. Too cute to be an accountant. She approached him with a great big smile.

“Wow you look great!” Jeff said.

“Thanks, I appreciate it. It’s so nice to meet you finally, Shelly has such nice things to say.”

“We should grab our table!”

Jeff grabbed his drink and they went over to the hostess, who brought them right over to the perfect table.

“Wow Jeff, this table is amazing!” They were seated right next to the window. The candlelight reflected off of the glass, creating a glow around them.

“It better be, I do their taxes.”

Sarah giggled. It all made sense now. What a catch.

“No really, I do their taxes, I could really screw them over.”

Sarah feigned another giggle. She wasn’t sure whether or not to take him seriously. “So I hope you weren’t waiting long.” Sarah hoped Jeff would mention something about her punctuality.

“Actually I waited for over half an hour. Early is on time, on time is late and late is unacceptable.”

Sarah smiled, now unsure of what to make of this guy. “Yeah I’ve heard that saying too… good thing I was early…” She paused while Jeff downed the rest of his drink.

“Waitress!” He bellowed.

Sarah was beginning to think that this guy was wasted, and possibly a bit of a dick.

The waitress came right over and took his glass. “Another scotch for me and my friend here, what’s your name again?”

“Me?” Sarah couldn’t believe this was happening, she shaved her legs for this guy. “I’m Sarah.” She looked at the waitress apologetically. How many drinks had this guy had?

“Oh right, right… I knew that.”

“Thanks, but actually… I’ll take a Chardonnay.” The waitress turned and booked it.

So, he had a few too many, maybe he’s just nervous.

“So Shelly is pretty great, right? And she and Hank make such a nice couple. How did you meet?” Sarah tried to turn the night around.

“Well that’s an interesting story…”

Sarah waited, but nothing came.

“Oh yeah? Please tell me more…”

This was going to be painful.

“Well, Shelly and I screwed a couple times before she met Hank.”

Ok, too much information. Plus, seriously?!

“Ok. Well I guess that is interesting.” Sarah said dryly.

The waitress brought over their drinks, and Sarah downed hers in one big gulp. “Another please, I’m going to need it.” She smiled across the table.

“And some appetizers, whatever is on special. Only the best for my Susie here!”

“It’s Sarah…” She muttered under her breath. It was about five minutes in and she was pretty sure she’d already had enough.

“Of course.” The waitress shuffled away as fast as she could.

They stared at each other across the table. Sarah didn’t even know what she was still doing there. Morbid curiosity probably.

“So you’re not as fat as I thought you’d be. All of Shelly’s friends are fat.”

Alright. That. Is. It.

“Fat?! Alright buddy, you’ve had enough to drink.” As Sarah stood up her chair fell backwards. “Do you have any idea what it takes to look like this?!”

“What? Put on a cheap cocktail dress?!”

Sarah looked around desperately, wishing she hadn’t finished her wine. So, she took his scotch right from his hand and tossed it in his face.

The entire restaurant started clapping.

“Hey, hey wait a second… it’s not my fault you showed up in bridal hair… and what’s with those earrings? I didn’t realize the nineties were back in…”

“For your information the nineties are back in… and who made you the fashion police anyway? You’re wearing khakis!” She was really beginning to lose it. “You don’t like my earrings? Huh?!”

She wasn’t bothering to be delicate anymore, she ripped off her hoops and tossed them in his face. “And this so-called bridal hair?! Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to put together an up-do like this?!” She was fumbling with her hair as she yelled, “Take this too, khaki man!” She tossed her hairpiece right into his lap.

“Whoa, what the hell is that?!” Jeff backed away and the hair flopped down onto the floor in front of him. He looked up in horror. “All I said is you aren’t that fat, and then you go and flip out on me…what the hell, give a guy a break… I mean jeez…”

Sarah hadn’t stopped yet, she tore off her eyelashes and tossed them in the air. They began giving off a burnt-tire smell the second they hit the flame of the candle. “You want those too? Huh?!”

Sarah took off her shoes, and for one-second it looked like she was about to throw one right at his face. “You know what, I was about to toss these right at your head, and I have excellent aim by the way, but I love these shoes. I think I’ll be taking them with me.”

“And to think, I shaved my legs for this!” Not the best exit line, but it’ll have to do.

Sarah turned around and left, barefoot, one shoe under each arm.

Thank you for reading my story. I’d love to hear your opinions.

Get an email when I publish a new story. (She, Her) A proud member of the LGBTQ+ family. I am a writer and a freelance editor. I edit all genres, and I specialize in Romance. I write a little bit of everything, whatever is on my mind at the moment. My writing is greatly influenced by my past trauma, and I enjoy speaking openly and freely about my mental health diagnoses. You can check out some more of my writing and follow me here.