I was late that day. Sometimes I am on time so often that it seems that it is my due to be late every once in a while. My watch is one of my treasured items -- it was given to me by my late grandfather -- and he used to explain to me with great pride that he had never been late for an appointment his entire life because that watch had kept perfect time. Okay, so it looked ridiculous on me, I am five feet tall and my wrist is so tiny that in order to wear a man's watch at all I had to wrap dozens of ribbons around the strap to thicken its grip. But a girl sometimes has to have her quirks, and my grandfather gave me that watch just a few days before he died, peacefully, of what he called worn out body parts and no desire to replace them.
As I ran up the steps of the library, I had to stop and look around. The city of New York is an amazing place to live, and I had moved there after college with the hope that I would, would what? Take the place by storm? Change the world, one city at a time? Let's face it, I am five feet tall and more often than not people think I am a child. I have to get really pushy when I am in line at Starbucks because taller people tend to not see me. I've even considered putting on 100 pounds so that I could make more of an impact on the world around me -- at least every time I put my foot down! The truth of the matter is, I moved to New York City into a tiny, cramped apartment with a girl that was a friend of a friend of a friend (seriously, that does happen) and we had nothing in common. Go figure. She is tallish, moody as hell and only eats chinese food, delivered at 6:30 on the dot. The thing is, I used to actually like chinese food. Now I think all of my clothes smell like it. I work (and I know you're going to think this is really fabulous but it's really not) at a bakery. And it would be, if I knew how to cook. But you see, I am an office person -- I can see all the creative people behind the glass making these amazing creations and I am just at a desk, answering phones, taking orders, writing checks and well, it's really boring, but I went to school for business and it was the first job I was offered and well, a bakery IS a business. Just, well, I'm really more of their secretary and I am completely over-qualified for that. And I did try out for big jobs in big corporations, but I think they thought I was too small.
Can you be too small? I admit, I tried heels. I have a bump in my nose to prove it too. First time I wore heels and had a cosmopolitan and actually had to get off the bar stool, well, even when you are short, falling on your face hurts. I am not a small person, I am just small. It's never bothered me much and I can buy clothes in the junior section so let me tell you, I am saving money like you wouldn't believe in that regard.
I glanced at my over-sized kind of ugly grandfather watch and realized that I was now close to 15 minutes late. For some reason that just made me happier than I already was. Because it was so unlike me to be late, and it was also unlike me to go on a blind date. Yes, I know, I should be full of trepidation, but I figure that since I ended up with an odd roommate based on this same theory of friend of a friend of a friend that my chances of having this guy be a chinese food lover was not that high. And yeah, at this point in time, my bar is not set that high. This guy is, and I repeat, this does happen, a friend of a friend of a friend.
I walked into the library with my head held high and turned toward the science fiction area. This had been his choice, and so yesterday I had scoped out exactly where that area was located, because let's face it, I don't read science fiction. And hopefully he doesn't either. Though it's probably not a very good sign that he chose that section to meet in. But, you have to remain positive, I always say, and my thinking is that he just likes the sound of those two words together. Science fiction. It does have a nice ring to it. And it sort of does describe what a date is like. First you either have chemistry, or you don't. And then you make up things about yourself (this would be the fictional part) so that you sound like the perfect person for that person. Like ... and I am being honest here, if he says he loves science fiction -- then I am going to admit that I love it too. Wouldn't you?
As I glanced at my watch again, I realized I was now over 20 minutes late. That was scandalous and not funny -- it was rude. And how could I claim I had no idea of the time when I had this enormous watch on my wrist? I made a hasty decision and pulling it off my wrist like a mad woman, I approached the desk and asked the man with the black glasses who peered at me quizzically if he would hold it for me.
"I'm sorry," he tilted his head and looked at me. "You want me to what?"
"Would you mind holding my watch?" I was speaking in an urgent tone because I was suddenly panicked that I had messed up this entire blind date by being so late. Let's face it, I believe that being prompt is courteous and being late is the opposite of that -- so therefore I had screwed this up royally. I leaned in and whispered "I know it seems kind of crazy but I swear, I can't just let it go and yet, I can't wear it."
The man sighed and held out his hand. "Will you be back for it anytime soon?"
Thrilled I nodded and blew kisses at him. "Thank you so much, I owe you." I walked quickly to the science fiction area and saw that there were two men sitting next to each other at a table in the midst of a heated conversation. Neither of them looked up, and I tentatively sat down at the far end of the table and looked around. There wasn't anyone else around that I could see, and I wondered if he had left, figuring that he had been stood up.
"Are you Sarah?" asked one of the men and I looked at him in surprise.
"Yes, are you Paul?"
The man nodded. "Yes, and this is my, um, friend, Levi."
His friend? He brought a friend on a blind date? Well, no fair, if I'd known then I would have brought a friend too. I nodded to both of them then went to fondle my watch, which is what I do when I am nervous or upset or a little freaked out that I was now on a blind date with two men. And as you well know, that watch was not there. Now I panicked at the thought that the man behind the desk might keep my watch. I couldn't lose that watch. Not over a stupid blind date with two men in the science fiction section of the New York City Library. I stood up.
Paul cleared his throat and stood up too and glanced at his friend Levi. "I know this might seem a little strange, but I was hoping ..."
I really didn't want to hear what he was hoping. Paul was not my type. He was short, which you would think would be my type, but just because I am short does not mean I like short men. No, in fact, I like them of average height. And I hate and despise facial hair, and this Paul, he was covered with it. Really, all you could see was his eyes, the rest was just hair. He was an ape. I hated him. Despised him, really.
Paul began to approach me and I panicked. Then Levi stood up (seriously, who names their kid Levi?) and I turned to run. But somehow Paul had reached me and he had his hand on my shoulder. "I know what you are thinking," he said in a low tone. "But just let me explain."
What was I thinking? How could he know what I was thinking? All I was really thinking about, beside the fact that he was an ape, was that I wanted my watch. Now.
"When Roger called and asked me if I would go on a blind date with you, I had to say yes. Do you understand?"
Understand? I shook my head and again felt for my beloved watch.
He sighed and glanced at Levi, who gave him an encouraging smile. "Roger is my boss and he is also ..." he shook his head and Levi came over and squeezed his shoulder. Paul took a deep breath and looked at Sarah. "Listen," he said softly. "This was an awful thing to do to you, and I apologize. I just didn't know what else to do."
Sarah was confused. She looked at both of the men and then looked closer. Levi's hand was still resting on Paul's shoulder and they were standing so close they were touching. Huh?
"We're gay," Levi said in a matter-of-fact tone. "And Paul's boss Roger is a homophobe, so Paul can't let on that, well, that he doesn't date women. And Roger has been trying to set him up for years and ..."
Suddenly the fact that my roommate had a chinese food fetish paled in comparison to the thought that my blind date was gay. This was the end of the friend of a friend of a friend. Finite. "So, please explain why you didn't just say that when we spoke on the phone?"
Paul shrugged. "I thought maybe I would date you for a little while, you see we have this office party coming up in a few weeks, and I thought that if I took you to that, it would get Roger off my back for a while."
Sarah was shocked. "You were going to use me?"
Levi shook his head. "No, it wouldn't have come to that, he has been in anguish over this ever since he set up this meeting. Which," and he raised an eyebrow, "you were very late for."
I was still a bit floored, but the reminder of time reminded me of my watch, and I wasn't interested in this conversation any longer. "Well, thank you for not using me, I appreciate that, and I apologize for being late ... but that was because I was so happy at the thought of a fabulous date tonight." She laughed. "I am never late for anything, I must admit."
"Well, lucky for you, you were," Levi said. "Because it gave me time to convince him not to do it."
"Ahhh, yes," I turned on my heel and left the two men behind. And I'm not kidding, I left a scent of chinese food in my wake. I approached the desk and the man looked at me.
"Is your watch afraid of books?"
I laughed and held out my hand. "It's a long story."
"I work in a library," the man smiled. "I love stories."
I looked at him closely as he handed me my watch. He was kind of cute, in a bookish kind of way. No, he was kind of cute in a cute kind of way. He had just taken off his glasses and his brown eyes sort of swept me off my feet. I actually leaned forward and caught myself on the front of the desk.
"You okay?" he smiled and his teeth were so white they did that glisten thing you only see on tv. I might have imagined that, but I was a bit dizzy. "I, umm, I umm," I stammered and then I got a grip. "I just had the shortest blind date in history with two gay guys."
Cute guy looked at me for a second, then burst out laughing. "In the Science Fiction section?"
"Where else?" I laughed and shrugged, then tried to push my watch over my wrist.
"I can fix that if you'd like."
I looked at him. "What would you do?"
"Shorten the strap and punch some new holes. I have the tools for it, my grandfather was a watch maker."
"This is my grandfather's watch!" I exclaimed, since that surely proved that we were a match made in heaven.
He chuckled and handed me a card. "My name is Will and there is my address. I will get out of here at six and if you'd like, you can meet me there and I will fix your watch. And even make you dinner."
I looked at him, somewhat amazed that my blind date had turned from disaster into destiny in such a short amount of time. My grandfather knew exactly what he was doing when he gave me that watch. I always wondered why he winked when he strapped it on my wrist.
"So?" Will tilted his head and gave me another one of his gleaming smiles.
"I'll see you at six," I beamed him what I hoped was my own version of a gleaming smile and tossed my hair for good measure.
"Great!" there was so much beaming and gleaming going on between us we were going to hurt ourselves.
I turned to go and looked at my watch. This was one date I wasn't going to be late for.
"You can't miss my apartment," Will offered as I slowly walked away. "It's right over a chinese restaurant."
Of course it was.
No comments:
Post a Comment