Blind Date

Based on actual events but ultimately...fiction. Quite like me. Quite like how I lived my life up until the moment I met you.

You caught me staring before I , myself, knew I had been.

I’d been sitting at the bar alone for maybe 10 minutes before you walked in with an energy I could taste. Vibrant orange and smooth and ringing in my ears-

How much time had passed since you drew me in with the most erratic laugh I’d ever heard in my life?

One moment I was staring at my phone, the next, You.

Clutching your chest, eyes to the sky, filling the room with a sound I’d never heard before. I was captivated. I needed to know how to make you laugh like that. Again and again and again.

"What"

Suddenly serious, and self-conscious, your freckled eyes locked in on mine-

"Fuck- I- I’m so sorry-"

I stumbled over my words as I tried to come up with an explanation-

Then you stood up and laughed- and you opened your arms wide to give me the hug you didn’t know how desperately I needed.

"YOU- you’re Christine’s friend I just ‘haaaaave to meet’"

It was NOT me.

Come to think of it, before you, I don’t actually think I knew anyone by the name of Christine. But you know when life just starts happening around you so quickly and so specifically that you don’t dare intervene? Well-

"Yes!!!"

My answer spilled out of me as I leaned into the hug you’d so generously offered- God, I’m a fucking creep.

"Did she show you what I look like? Cause I had NO idea what I was getting myself into tonight and I have to say I am- so- pleasantly-surprised"

I’d clearly stumbled into someone else’s blind date but,

"No, She didn’t!"

I was hooked and absolutely convinced I had walked into this specific bar in an attempt at some human connection on my loneliest day and found you,

No- You found me-

for a reason.

"Okay so- Christine told me you’re a Virgo- true?"

Thank you, Universe. I actually didn’t have to lie in my response-

"Yes but- I swear I’m a nice one!"

And you laughed again. Hard. A laugh I’d go to war for.

So, I guess I did something bad. But I don’t regret anything.

And you’re reading this now because I couldn’t lie any longer. Because when you tell Christine you were pleasantly surprised and...ultimately discover that your expected blind date actually saw us at the bar together and turned around… you’re going to know whether I like it or not.

So I am brave enough to write this now- but I’m leaving while you’re still asleep.

There’s fresh coffee in the pot. And one last thing, did you know you sleep like an actual angel? Even the way you snore is delicate. It’s infuriatingly cute.

Anyway, If we’re going to do this, I need you to know that I chose you before I knew you. That sounds crazy and maybe it is but maybe- it’s exactly what we both want. I think I knew you before I met you. Did you feel that, too? I know I lied and that’s unforgivable, but,I did it so I could lie with you, so if you could forgive it just this once, that is the only lie I’ll ever tell you.

PS. I’m sorry.

PPS. My name is actually Sam.

PPPS. I made a dinner reservation at my favorite place. Starview, 7:30 PM, under Sam Lupetsky. Me.

Talk soon.

x