A Glass of Merlin

"No! Please, stop! I'm DESPERATE---"

The taxi sped away, probably on purpose, and I slowed my barefoot sprinting through the rain to a defeated walk as my slippery, cheap flip flops were woven between my fingers with the long strap of my cross-body hemp bag.

"---to stop walking." I felt compelled to complete the thought to the pounding, heavy raindrops that had started in what seemed like a freak storm as I watched traffic vanish entirely. I was downtown, not too far from my studio apartment, but I was far enough away that I didn't want to walk barefoot anymore. I'd already slipped on the wet pavement once and cursed my whopping $1 shoes for being structural failures (or maybe I'm just extra clumsy because I lost one of my only two contacts I had left until I got paid again.)

Regardless, this day sucked.

I glanced around and noted a small, fancy restaurant as the only place that seemed to be open for business. It was early evening on a Tuesday, so not much excitement was going on in this part of town. I decided to chance it and hope that the fancy waiters wouldn't kick me out for looking like a drenched hippie rat.

Pulling hard on what looked like huge, heavy wooden doors, I was almost thrown off my feet as the light weight deceived my balance. I lunged forward into the restaurant in my attempt to avoid falling backwards, catching several disgruntled glances from employees and a few stray customers. A quivering, high-pitched chuckle escaped my throat as I stood up straight, the door falling shut behind me in an almost comical slow-motion movement.

"May I help you?"

The hostess sounded a little more concerned than her colleagues, at least.

"I can't get a taxi to stop, I just need somewhere to sit until the rain clears so I can walk home." I held up my flip flops and wiggled them in the air.

"Major rain hazard. Can I just hang out in the lobby for a little bit?" Noting a few seats nearby, I gestured at them. "I don't mind just sitting right there."

"Eh." The hostess sounded uncomfortable now. "Why don't I just seat you for a while, and you don't have to order anything, okay? We need the lobby clear for incoming guests. Follow me."

Follow, I did, right past the bar until I was seated in the furthest corner of the restaurant with the least amount of lighting. I smirked, realizing my soggy clothes were probably an embarrassment and needed to be hidden. I got it. I didn't vibe with it, but at least I wasn't swimming outside anymore.

"Oh, and, you might want to go ahead and put your shoes back on." The hostess gestured at the flip flops laying on my purse on top of the table, and I gasped.

"Oh, shoot, sooooo sorryyyyy. Yeah. That looks bad, right? This is a fine place. I'll act accordingly." I gave her a giant, exaggerated wink and she wrinkled her nose before she walked back to the lobby. My odd giggle came out again as I nervously rummaged through my bag, having slipped my slightly dried flip flops back on my filthy feet in the middle of some fancy place that I would likely never see again.

A waiter approached in his fancy waiter attire, white gloves and all, and laid a menu down in front of me. I abandoned my search for my phone in my purse and shoved it to the side, the noise of all the ridiculous items I crammed in there rattling like Santa’s magical gift bag. “Most pleasant of evenings, Miss, may I start you off with a glass of wine from our current list of specials?” His gloved hand gestured over the menu, and I squinted my eyes at the curly font, my missing contact making it impossible to decipher what I was reading.

“Uh, yeah, the wine. That sounds awesome. I’m pretty particular though, so I think I’ll have to stick with the...uh…”

I blinked hard in the dark atmosphere of the corner, trying to spit out the name of the wine I was reading. “Merlin.” My tone was confident before I realized what I’d done.

“NO, wait, not Merlin, that’s a wizard.”

“The Merlot, Miss?”

“Yes. The Merlot, Miss. It sure was a miss. But yes, the Merlot, that sounds great.” I nodded and threw an enormous grin across my face, trying to distract him from my incredibly weird slip of the tongue, and picked up the menu. “I think that’s probably all I need, if I even really need it at all. Thanks, buddy.”

Taken aback by being called such a casual term, the waiter blinked hard as he took the menu from me and parted wordlessly, clearly realizing his manners weren’t really going to factor into his tip with someone like me. I went for my bag again and managed to extract my phone from the chaos inside, unlocking it to check in on social media accounts while I waited for my glass of Merlin.

Merlin. I chuckled at myself, the noise making the customers shoot me another look as I lost myself in my phone.

The waiter sat down the glass of wine in front of me unexpectedly, and I jumped as I realized his presence. I didn't even know how long he'd been gone. "Sorry, thanks a bunch, you can drop the bill off anytime." I put the phone down and nodded my appreciation, directing my attention to him long enough to notice that he had a piece of paper folded up in his hand. He placed the paper on the table and left.

I had no idea how much this glass of wine was, but I picked it up and inhaled the aromatic herbs that blended well with the scents of fruits weaving through before taking a deep drink. As I drank, I picked up the bill and opened it up, only to see handwriting instead of a printed amount of money due to be paid.

"Mr. Sanderson requests your presence in the alley immediately."

My eyes widened with curiosity and perhaps even a bit of fear as I went ahead and finished the entire glass in several quick gulps. I gasped for breath as I noisily sat the glass down. I blinked several more times, re-reading the words to ensure I understood.

I didn't. I didn't understand it at all. I've never even known anyone with the last name Sanderson.

I'm thoughtlessly impulsive to the point that I am always getting myself into trouble. I've known this for years, and yet I dropped a twenty dollar bill on the table and immediately headed for the exit, where I saw the waiter standing near the hostess, having a low conversation. I held the note up and nodded at him as he caught my eye uncomfortably.

"I could be a missing person next week so keep an eye out on the news! How exciting. I left cash on the table. Thanks buddy, have a good one. The wine was magical." I pushed carefully on the light wooden door and walked back out into the rain, turning and walking left toward the only alley by the restaurant. There, I saw a man with an umbrella standing outside of a limousine, and my infamous chuckle came out.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes." The man appeared to be dressed as the driver, and approached me with the umbrella, sheltering me as quickly as he could manage while maintaining an elegance to his movements.

"I suppose my chariot awaits."

This was too much of a coincidence for me to ignore. I walked with him to the car and he opened the door for me, where I slid across the backseat as he closed it behind me. I got myself comfortable with my bag in my lap and looked up to see who I assumed must be Mr. Sanderson. He wore a suit and had a clean-shaven face with a slicked back hairstyle that came in a jet black tone. He sat close to the front of the large back end of the car, his seat facing the side but his body turned entirely to focus on me. He was handsome, but not someone I would have openly gone for, really.

"So, what's this part of the movie? Is this where you kidnap me for ransom from someone, or are you going to blow up the car? Oh, or are you about to offer me a contract to kill someone? Because I have to be honest, I'm not sure I have the skill to pull that off. I literally slipped on wet pavement in cheap shoes and I just want to get home. Oh no, wait, the taxi driver sent you, didn't he? I knew he'd feel bad for speeding off, but a limousine? Or...you ARE the taxi driver!" I fake gasped.

"You talk a lot." He didn't say it rudely.

"I'm extremely nervous." The squealing pitches of my laugh escaped my lungs.

"I noticed. You don't need to be. You're supposed to be here." He smiled, and my expression must have worried him, because he quickly continued.

"You see, it's a long story, but I'll make it short. I met with a psychic years ago who has predicted every major event of my life. He told me that the love of my life would come to me in the form of a famous wizard. The prediction never made much sense to me, but I've spent a long time waiting for some strange moment to happen that had to do with a famous wizard. The waiter in there is my best friend, and he told me that you called the wine you ordered Merlin."

I interjected quickly, "That was a Freudian slip...or something like that."

He smirked at my interruption and continued.

"I figured this might be my shot, so Dylan sent his dad's limousine company out to pick me up and meet you. I don't live too far from here, so we can have a free ride back to my place in a nice car, if you want. We could have our first date. I know it sounds crazy..."

"It does. It's completely bonkers. Are you saying you only have this car and the suit on because you thought you were about to have an epic first date with your predicted life partner?"

"Well, yeah, usually I just drive a sedan and wear jeans." He shrugged and looked down at his outfit while I smiled approvingly.

"Good, because I gotta tell you, this is all way too much but I'll roll with it for our first date." He looked shocked, but pleased, as I continued. "I'm only saying yes because last night, I had a dream about going on a date in a limousine, and it's literally every girl's epic fantasy to have a dream date. So, I want to see what happens. Why not? We're on a dream date. What do you have to do at your place?"

"Do you shoot pool?"

"Yeah, I mean I miss a lot but it's a good time. Maybe if I had more Merlin I could loosen up these stiff arms. Also, you can put jeans back on when we get there, I don't want an unfair advantage if you're fighting the constraints of a fancy getup."

He chuckled at me, clearly amused. "I'm Roberto Sanderson."

"Alana Longfellow."

"Well, Miss Longfellow, you'll be thrilled to know that I have some Merlin at the house."

"Sounds dreamy." I relaxed into my seat as the driver took us on a much simpler dream date than the limousine suggested.