Between Merlot and Men

“Ahhh. Tonight is the perfect night to open up this new bottle of Merlot. Special occasion be damned.” Josephine said aloud even though she was the only one currently in her one bedroom apartment. She drank the wine slowly allowing her to taste every bit of those crushed grapes. This past week was a frustrating and more than slightly unnerving one for her. It started so promising too. She had just started dating a really attractive man the week before who seemed to be such a gentleman; so unlike the last string of man child wannabe rock star divos who think they are God’s gift to women and she should consider herself lucky to be with them at all.

Marc was his name. He politely asked her if she was waiting for someone at the bar where they met. He introduced himself and offered to buy her a drink. Already lightyears beyond what she normally receives from men today. Men who think it is supremely unmanly to respect a woman and cater to her desires if interested; hell, if even married to her. How dare a man be considerate at all to these lesser beings was the messages she received daily from YouTube, podcasts, and men in every social interaction she had in the last few months. So Marc was a breath of fresh air to say the least.

He was polite and respectful, showing interest in her quirky interests such as Korean soap operas and 90’s teen boy bands. She thought there was finally a ray of hope in the land of F-boys. Marc asked her out on a proper date where he picked her up at her door. He took her to her favorite bar/restaurant in center city with romantic lighting and intimate booths with the candles lit low. It was almost like a dream.

“Do you come here a lot?” He asked with a smile.

“Yes. It is one of my favorite places as they have a lot of great cocktails and vegan food.”

“Oh have you been a vegan long?”

“Not very but I love the food here even if you’re not a vegetarian, they have a lot of tasty options. Do you ever go meatless?”

“Sometimes. I have read a lot lately about the dangerous environmental effects the meat industry has had on global warming and starvation worldwide so I’ve done the go meatless one day a week challenge with no problem.”

“ That’s very morally intelligent of you. I myself have chosen veganism due to the damage meat has done to humans and animals.” She smiled relaxing quickly into a candid conversation with Marc about her world feelings regarding our personal responsibilities toward the word at large. “So there has been a question gnawing at me lately. Why is such a great guy like you single?”

Marc managed to blush a little dipping his head with a small smile on his face. “ Well I guess not every woman thinks I’m such a great guy. Luckily for me too, or I would never have met you.”

Now it was Josephine’s time to blush as she slightly lowered her head and smiled. “I’m glad you met me too.” Just then their server came to the table asking if they would like to begin with a drink before the order. Josephine took this time to take the lead as she knew this place better than her date. “We’ll have two glasses of the Merlot and an order of the spaghetti and meatballs, and the crab cake sliders, oh and the charred broccolini as well please.” The server stated ,”Certainly” and disappeared quickly to put in their food order to the kitchen. The wine arrived quickly and Marc and Josephine toasted to the beginning of their newfound romantic relationship.

After enjoying each other’s company for about an hour in the restaurant, they decided to call it a night and Marc took Josephine home. “Well, it has been a fun evening. I hope I can see you again.” She stated after opening her side door of his car.

“Wait.” Marc stated and then smiled seductively. “You’re not going to invite me up. It’s been such a good evening that I don’t want it to end.” His mouth opened and closed slowly with his tongue darting out the side.

“The seduction must be beginning. Nice try.” She thought with a smile. Sure it was tempting as he was being a total gentleman and he was looking quite attractive but she had gone down that road before in a previous relationship and decided from now on she would wait for a commitment before starting a sexual connection. “ I don’t think so. Not tonight. Maybe some other time.” She continued to leave the car even as he called after her with sweet pleas of romance. She reached her door and pulled out the keys from her purse. As she was turning the door knob she felt her date’s hand on her shoulders. He spun her around a little too swiftly.

“Hey. I know women say ‘No’ all the time but they don’t really mean it. You don’t have to play games with me.” His smile slid from his face as his brows lowered and his lips hardened as he pulled her closer to him brushing his mouth against her neck and parted lips that opened to shriek her dismay.

“Well I mean it when I say ‘No.’” She managed to eek out as she wrenched her face from his as she kicked his shin and pushed her way towards her front door. As her keys were still dangling in the door, she just turned and pushed her way inside quickly shutting her date out as she locked the door. She heard his grumbled cries to let him in but she quickly ran up her stairs to her 2nd floor apartment leaving him behind. After catching her breath from her sprint up her stairs, she leaned against her closed locked door with her mind racing about the night’s events. She was thinking that maybe she was just overreacting about her date’s aggressive behavior; but her past convinced her that any man that didn’t respect “No” for an answer was trouble.

Still it was difficult to trust her initial instincts so she contacted her sister for some clarity. After explaining to her sister Chloe everything that occurred, Chloe in all her succinct glory said, “Why are men so awful?! They should all be eliminated! Am I right or what?”

Just then Josephine burst into laughter. Her first real show of letting the stress and tension of the last few moments of her life go. Her sister was always reliable for a true, relevant appraisal of a life event. “Chloe, always my romantic minded sister.” Josephine smiled her first real smile since Marc turned into a tv movie villain right before her eyes.

“Hey that’s what all my friends call me when asking for love advice. Sure I may be one of the last single ladies in my group but I am also one of the only happy ones as well.”

“Good point. Thanks for your help.” After saying goodbye to her sister, she prepared for bed confident of the decision she made that evening to protect herself and resolving to not have anything more to do with Marc or any man like him in the future.

Unfortunately, Marc didn’t seem to get the hint as she denied his phone calls all week by blocking his phone number and sent back a note he sent to her on a greeting card mailed to her home. He even sent flowers to her job which thoroughly embarrassed her in front of her colleagues as they asked about the new man in her life who obviously adored her. She managed to grin and avoid any details about this mystery man. It drove her to the local wine shop on her way home where she spoke to an employee about the best Merlot from California and was directed towards some Napa Valley brands.

Currently drinking her modestly expensive choice as a reward for surviving this stressful week, she looks around her kitchen contemplating her choice for tonight’s dinner. Needing a treat she decides to fall back from her recent vegan ways and bake a tempting stuffed snapper. Maybe a semi vegan will do. And yes she understands that red wine goes with meat only and not fish so she decides she can just finish the bottle first before eating dinner but this drink will accompany her cooking for this evening. “EEEE NNNN!!!” Her buzzer went off scaring her as she jumped from in front of the refrigerator grabbing the vegetables for the stuffing and placing it on her kitchen counter with the fish and her knife to open it up. She walks over to the intercom asking, “Who is it?”

“FedEx delivery for 2B. I need a signature.”

“Ok. I’ll be right down.” These delivery guys are getting later and later each week. She knows they say deliveries can be made until 8pm but of course one would think they’d deliver earlier in the day. Don’t they want to go home too? She makes her way down the staircase and quickly opens the large front door and there Marc stands. “What are you doing here?!”

“You think you could get rid of me that quickly?” He smiles with no light in his brown eyes. Quickly he grabs Josephine by her wrist and turns her around pressing something metallic into her back. “Don’t scream or I’ll shoot. You think you’re so clever don’t you?! Using me for a meal out on the town with no reciprocity from you. I’m no simp. I’ll make you pay.” He whispers all of that clearly in her ear breathing heavily. He walks her up the stairs making their way towards her door. “Open it! Quickly!”

Josephine fumbles for the keys she had in her pocket; placed there mere moments before but now her heart is racing and she is having trouble placing the key in the door and turning the knob. She finally opens the door. “What are you going to do to me?”

“Nothing. I just want to have a nice dinner at home with my new lady. What’s wrong with that?” His demeanor is calm and eerily normal. Marc closes her front door and locks it, getting comfortable in her apartment by pulling them both down onto the living room sofa. “There. Isn’t that better? You on my lap. Behaving nicely.” He leans into her neck kissing her slowly up to her cheek.

“Do you want something to drink? I just had this great glass of Merlot myself just before you arrived? Please join me.” Surprisingly enough she keeps her voice calm and friendly.

“This isn’t a trick is it? You wouldn’t want to anger me...would you?”

“Of course not. I just want us both to be relaxed. Come with me.” She gets up leading him into the kitchen with her Merlot on the island. “I’ll get you a glass.” She moves from his body opening her cabinet of wine glasses. “I’ll pour it for you.” She pours him his full glass and spins to hand him his glass with her left hand. As he comes closer to grab it, she stabs him in his chest with her right hand with the knife from her countertop. He falls quickly to the tiled kitchen floor as blood pools in his chest staining his shirt steadily.

“Oh no my Merlot!!” She tearfully screams as she sees the glass she handed Marc shattered on the side of his body with the wasted wine mixing with his blood on her linoleum floor.