Blind Date

When had a blind date ever gone right? Thea had been set up on countless blind dates by her friends before and every single one had gone wrong in some way. So then why did she keep agreeing to them? Why was she sitting here in this five-star restaurant, dressed like it was going to matter? Maybe because she was getting desperate, or lonely, or maybe she was just bored. She didn’t have an answer, and so here she sat.

The reservations to the restaurant had been made under her friend’s name. Thea had been told to dress nice, and so she had gone all the way. Full-length, deep navy-blue dress with a slit up to the thigh, simple black strappy heels, minimal silver jewelry, and her dark brown hair in an elegant French twist updo. Her long nails sported a simple French manicure, and she resisted the urge to begin tapping them on the table. She had arrived early because she was nervous, and she wanted to at least get comfortable with the lavish restaurant. Now it was half an hour past her meeting time with this blind date. Again, she looked around the room, every man who had entered within the last half-hour had remained and had someone they were meeting with. She was in view of the door, surely, she would have seen if a man had come and then gone right? How long was she supposed to wait before assuming she had been stood up? A deep sigh left Thea at the same time the kind waiter who had been waiting on her since she arrived appeared at her side.

“Still waiting, miss?” He inquired politely. Thea flashed him a smile, trying to rein in her annoyance.

“Unfortunately, so.” She responded. He offered a sympathetic smile in return.

“Can I bring you a drink?” He asked. Thea bit her lip in thought, but then let out another sigh. She had been resisting anything more than water, but she figured if she had gotten all dressed up, the least she could do would be to treat herself to some wine.

“Yes, thank you.” She reached for the wine menu again and pointed to one listed that she had not tried before. “The Falesco 2015 Tellus Merlot, please.” She ordered. Her waiter smiled and nodded as he hurried away to retrieve her drink. He returned shortly after with the deep red wine and then once more disappeared. Thea checked the watch at her wrist, then reached for her phone.

‘If this guy doesn’t show up in the next fifteen, I’m out of here.’ She shot off the text to her friend, Meghan, and then sipped from her glass of wine. She detected hints of vanilla, but her ability to taste more than that was sadly lacking. It was a good wine though and she decided she may indulge herself with another glass before giving up on her blind date. Her phone buzzed and she picked it up.

‘He should be there soon! I’m so sorry! He said he got caught up at work.’ Her friend texted back. Thea rolled her eyes a little. A valid excuse she supposed but she was still annoyed.

The fifteen minutes passed and still, no stranger had approached her wondering if she was his date for the night. Thea finished off the glass of wine she had ordered and debated a few moments before ordering another. Her kind waiter had approached one other time to offer her a breadbasket, which she had accepted against her better judgement. As she finished her glass of wine, he approached her again. She ordered another glass, which was brought back to her just as a lone man entered the restaurant. He seemed a little out of breath and uncertain. She watched him with mild curiosity before turning her attention to the waiter.

“I’m off shift miss; I hope the rest of your evening turns out well.” He offered with another kind smile.

“Here, for not kicking me out after thirty minutes.” She said with a grin, offering a tip to the man. He smiled and nodded his appreciation.

“Thank you. Should you remain, Stan will be your next waiter.” He offered. Thea nodded and returned her attention to the entrance of the restaurant as her waiter left. She raised an eyebrow as the man was led by the hostess to her table. She took the moment to study him. He was dressed in a simple black suit, likely whatever he’d been wearing for work. He looked good in it, filling it out nicely, and she could give Meghan some points she supposed for choosing a guy who was actually quite handsome. His dark blonde hair was a little long and neatly combed back, though a stray strand managed to escape from the others and hung over his forehead. He had bright green eyes and lightly tanned skin. Thea lifted her merlot to her lips as the hostess placed a menu down in the place across from Thea and the man took a seat.

“I assume you’re Meghan’s friend?” He asked. He had a delightfully deep voice, and Thea was struggling between still being annoyed that he was nearly an hour late, and intrigued by all of the superficial features that drew her to him. She knew there was more than just good looks that she should be looking for. She set her glass down and offered a nod.

“My name is Thea.” She said simply. He offered her a smile.

“Andrew. I am so sorry to have kept you waiting Thea. I got held back at the office. Truthfully, I am surprised you waited so long. I am glad you did, don’t get me wrong, but I am sorry you had to wait so long.” He said. He seemed to quickly compose himself and Thea held back her retort about how he’d better make this dinner well worth her wait. She waited to say anything as a glass of water was brought to Andrew and her own was refilled.

“So, Meghan tells me you work at a shipping company?” Thea asked a little uncertainly, not only could she not fully remember what her friend had told her, but the atmosphere between them still felt unsettled and uncomfortable.

“Yeah, I’m a facilities manager for a shipping company in Woodbridge. I oversee a lot of the management tasks and workflow and everything. We, unfortunately, had a bit of miscommunication between our company and another, hence my lateness.” He explained. Thea nodded and the uncomfortable silence fell over them again. “Uhm, what do you do Thea?” He asked.

“Oh, I work in the medical billing, I code documents and medical charts for billing.” She explained.

“Oh, very nice, how long have you been in that field of work for?” He asked.

“Let’s see, I’ll be going on five years here in a month.” Silence fell again. Thea knew there was potential, but neither seemed sure how to get to that. With nothing else to do, Thea picked up her menu and began scanning over it. She saw a waiter out of the corner of her eye approaching their table. Or likely the table next to theirs since he carried a decadent-looking piece of chocolate cake. He must be Stan since she had observed that had been her previous waiter’s table before. To her surprise and confusion though, the man brought the cake to their table, setting it in front of her. Andrew looked to her with mild surprise, likely wondering if she had ordered the cake to go along with her wine as she had waited for him. Actually, that wouldn’t have been such a bad idea had she thought about it before.

“Congratulations miss! You are a very lucky woman.” The young waiter said enthusiastically. Thea looked to him in confusion, and then down to the cake, hidden slightly where it hadn’t been immediately obvious, was an engagement ring. Her eyes widened a little at about the same time Andrew and the man at the next table over realized what had happened.

“Oh!” Before she could even correct the waiter the man the next table over spoke up.

“I...excuse me, sir? I do believe that cake is meant for this table.” He chimed in. Thea offered an understanding smile at the mix-up.

“I didn’t order cake.” She offered. The poor waiter turned a bright shade of red and she wondered if he was relatively new. He apologized to her and then carried the cake over to the other table, where he again apologized to the man. Thea watched in mild amusement; her attention being drawn back to Andrew as he laughed quietly.

“Poor guy was probably afraid he wasn’t going to at least get his ring back, or that his surprise was going to be ruined.” Andrew explained, amusement lighting up his eyes. Thea couldn’t help as a smile of her own tugged at her lips and she let out a little laugh herself. Any tension she had been feeling seemed to be gradually slipping away.

“Lucky for him I’m a fairly honest girl, I would have returned the ring.” She said playfully. Andrew grinned and glanced back to the menu. He seemed to be mulling something over and Thea watched in mild curiosity as she could see the moment he seemed to make up his mind.

“You know, this kind of place isn’t really my style, it’s more Meghan’s.” He admitted. Despite herself, Thea smiled even more.

“I can’t say it’s much of mine either. Don’t get me wrong, I love the opportunity to get dressed up, but I feel a little out of place in restaurants like this.” She offered in return. What would it hurt for her to try to be more open? His excuse for being late had been valid and the awkwardness between them seemed to have eased with the cake mix-up. At her words, Andrew smiled, his resolve seeming to have been made.

“What do you say we order ourselves some of that delicious looking cake, maybe another glass of wine for you and one for me, and then we go find somewhere a little more suited to our preference?” He suggested. Thea smiled even more.

“I think that sounds absolutely perfect.”

“Fantastic.” He waved down the waiter once the young man was in view and ordered two pieces of the cake and a glass of wine for himself. Thea declined a fill-up of her own since she had only taken a few sips of her second glass.

“How long have you been at the shipping company?” She asked after the waiter had left.

“Just a couple of years, I only just moved to the area, but I was transferred from another company in the south.” He replied.

“How have you been liking the area?”

“I’ve loved it so far, though I’ll admit work has kept me busy from making very many friends or going on very many dates.” He chuckled a little. “It’s been far busier than I had anticipated.” He paused as the cake and wine were brought out. Thea raised her glass to him.

“Then let’s make a decision that this is going to be the start of a change from that pattern. To new friends and perhaps even something more.” She offered as a toast.

“Now that I will drink to.” Andrew clinked his glass to her and offered her another smile as they each took a sip. Maybe this time, allowing her friend to set her up on a blind date hadn’t been such a bad idea.