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ysonesseTen minutes past seven, sitting in a café, doing a crossword puzzle…definitely not how Jamie thought he’d spend Wednesday evening.
Three weeks ago, they wandered around looking at Christmas decorations. Bonding over blintzes and tea led to plans for another date…tonight, here in the Blue Rose Café. Yet he sat alone in a corner booth, halfway through a puzzle downloaded sometime in the recent past. Allyson was late. Yes, she called ahead, explained there was another screw-up with a new temp at her work that needed to be fixed before she could leave. Her reason made sense; there was nothing to suggest anything suspicious.
He tapped against 12 Across: “To have confidence in”. Jamie looked up, noticed five blank spaces…yes, he was nervous. What if three weeks between dates killed her interest? Okay, that was ridiculous; if she wasn’t still attracted to him, would she have agreed to a second date?
Jamie returned his attention back to the puzzle. His grasp of vocabulary was obscured by these damned nerves. Self-confidence was never one of his noted attributes, not when it came to matters of dating, not since two years ago, when he was dumped via text message. Jamie was adventurous in other areas of his life: he opened the pub without any support from his father, once traveled across Morocco by taking buses, among other highlights. But love was confusing; girls, then women, always bound Jamie up in weird emotional knots. A flirtatious nature and shaky belief in his own attractiveness were paired in some unbalanced manner. Three girlfriends back home, then one serious relationship in the States, comprised his entire romantic history, supplemented with random dates which led to nowhere.
Maybe he scared Allyson by choosing to avoid the “common” topics. Seemed funny to imagine not speaking about families and philosophies could jeopardize a potential future romance, but some people needed instant intimacy from the beginning. Yet connections about each other’s personal lives might ruin any chance of a good relationship.
But he was jumping a proverbial stream without looking ahead. These were the present facts: he was attracted to her, she could be attracted to him…it was possible! If she agreed to a second date, then she could agree to more…
Jamie looked at the puzzle once again. He knew the answer to 12 Across: “trust”. Well, there was a lesson. Trust she was interested, and that his previous damaged relationship wasn’t a harbinger of bad romance.
A gentle hand touched his left shoulder. He smiled, then looked up. “Hello.”
Allyson laughed. “Hello yourself.” She bent down and kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry─”
“I’m not sorry!” His cheek tingled from the unexpected kiss.
“Are you talking about my lateness or my apology?”
“Everything,” Jamie grinned.
Three weeks ago, they wandered around looking at Christmas decorations. Bonding over blintzes and tea led to plans for another date…tonight, here in the Blue Rose Café. Yet he sat alone in a corner booth, halfway through a puzzle downloaded sometime in the recent past. Allyson was late. Yes, she called ahead, explained there was another screw-up with a new temp at her work that needed to be fixed before she could leave. Her reason made sense; there was nothing to suggest anything suspicious.
He tapped against 12 Across: “To have confidence in”. Jamie looked up, noticed five blank spaces…yes, he was nervous. What if three weeks between dates killed her interest? Okay, that was ridiculous; if she wasn’t still attracted to him, would she have agreed to a second date?
Jamie returned his attention back to the puzzle. His grasp of vocabulary was obscured by these damned nerves. Self-confidence was never one of his noted attributes, not when it came to matters of dating, not since two years ago, when he was dumped via text message. Jamie was adventurous in other areas of his life: he opened the pub without any support from his father, once traveled across Morocco by taking buses, among other highlights. But love was confusing; girls, then women, always bound Jamie up in weird emotional knots. A flirtatious nature and shaky belief in his own attractiveness were paired in some unbalanced manner. Three girlfriends back home, then one serious relationship in the States, comprised his entire romantic history, supplemented with random dates which led to nowhere.
Maybe he scared Allyson by choosing to avoid the “common” topics. Seemed funny to imagine not speaking about families and philosophies could jeopardize a potential future romance, but some people needed instant intimacy from the beginning. Yet connections about each other’s personal lives might ruin any chance of a good relationship.
But he was jumping a proverbial stream without looking ahead. These were the present facts: he was attracted to her, she could be attracted to him…it was possible! If she agreed to a second date, then she could agree to more…
Jamie looked at the puzzle once again. He knew the answer to 12 Across: “trust”. Well, there was a lesson. Trust she was interested, and that his previous damaged relationship wasn’t a harbinger of bad romance.
A gentle hand touched his left shoulder. He smiled, then looked up. “Hello.”
Allyson laughed. “Hello yourself.” She bent down and kissed his cheek. “I’m sorry─”
“I’m not sorry!” His cheek tingled from the unexpected kiss.
“Are you talking about my lateness or my apology?”
“Everything,” Jamie grinned.
