Blindsided Date
We're still basically strangers
This was originally written for Gaby Jai-Devi Brogan’s first open mic night on March 29th, with the theme ‘Strangers’. It was not selected as one of the winners, but I still think it’s pretty fun.
Hopefully I’ll get to read for the second open mic, whenever that may happen.
“My sister set this up. I had no idea it was with you.”
Twisting the cuffs of her handknit sweater, Mirela looked down at her hands and thought, for a split second, that they looked a lot like a slice of Gouda forgotten on the kitchen counter. Sweaty cheese aside, she needed to say something. “I didn’t know either.”
Daniel rolled his shoulders back, relaxing into his sticky cafe chair. Mirela wondered why he didn’t just swap seats, but she wasn’t going to hike up the tension even more.
“So,” started Daniel, voice slow and raspy.
“I’m sorry,” said Mirela, her voice smeared with discomfort. “Last time we started on a bad note, I know. I’m super sorry. It was a really bad time for me, and I promise I’m actually a really nice person.”
Daniel squinted. “Really.”
“I really, really am.”
Another beat of silence, marked by a sort of lo-fi mix thumping slowly from behind the bar. Perhaps she should explain.
“I was genuinely super interested to get to know you,” she said, her words dripping out one at a time. “And I was actually looking forward to our date, you know?”
With a furtive glance, she dared to scan his face for a clue. Nope. Still unmoved and stony.
“But literally one hour before we were supposed to meet I got the greenlight results for my thesis…”
Daniel blinked slowly, like an old dog drifting to sleep.
“...and I’d failed. So I was in a horrid state and didn’t really feel like going out anymore.”
“You could have messaged.” His thick accent spread like molasses, cloying and slow, dragging her deeper into sticky, hot discomfort.
“I didn’t want to let you down, and I genuinely wanted to meet you! Like I said on Bumble, I think you’re really cute. And I think we have lots in common! But when I got there, I don’t know, something just came over me. I tried to push it down and ignore it, but I just couldn’t.”
Her words came out faster now, spilling onto the table between them like sloshes of curdled milk.
“You ordered the goat cheese salad for us to share, which is super sweet of you…” A shaky breath, rattling in her throat like pouring sugar. “...but my thesis focused on the role of goat milk caseins in the longevity of isolated shepherding communities and I just lost it. I went to the bathroom to calm down and I guess I was in there for super long because by the time I came out you’d left. And you’d blocked me.”
Daniel stared at her, eyes the size of onions and arms folded on his chest. “You were still in the bathroom? I thought you’d escaped out back.”
Mirela allowed herself a grin for the first time. “We’re not in the movies, there’s no ‘out back’.” She fussed a little more with the cuffs of her sweater, then finally sat down. “Let’s start over, alright? We’re still practically strangers, we can just pretend we met for the first time.”
“Sure,” he said, and the building pressure collapsed like a poorly baked Pavlova. “Let’s start over. Daniel,” and he extended a short, muscular hand to shake hers.
“Mirela. Hi,” she grinned.
“So you’re studying food science, huh?”
“Well, not anymore. I did manage to graduate! I have a Master’s now. But I don’t really use it, I decided I liked the food part more than the sciencey bit and I’m working at a bakery now.”
“Sweet gig,” he drawled.
“Literally!” she squealed, a bit too fast. “Hey, how about I get us some drinks? I owe you for the goat cheese salad, so it’s on me.”
“Sounds good. Black coffee please.”
“Righty-oh!”
Jumping back to her feet, Mirela grabbed her phone and dashed to the counter.
Daniel waited until Mirela was busy ordering their drinks. Eyes glued to the back of her head, he reached for the purse slumped on her seat. Just before she went to tap her phone to the POS machine, he found her wallet and extracted a 20 euro bill from inside.
He slipped out undetected, hidden by a group of highschoolers that had just blasted through the door.
“Sucker,” he mumbled and ducked down a side street.
Author’s note: Normally I spend a lot of time on a short story and sometimes I feel like I overthink them. This year I’m trying my hand at being a little more free with what I write, and this is one of the first results of that experiment. Hope you enjoy!
Damn, what a great way to make a buck! If only he waited around, he could’ve gotten a free coffee out of it too.
But I think this was very believable. So, reads like a success for your more free writing experiment to me!
This "Daniel blinked slowly, like an old dog drifting to sleep" is a great line!