Hopefully

Beza feels hopeful. She slips on her favorite pair of silver metallic boots for the first time in months. The lipstick is blotted; she decided to go for an earthy berry and not her staple satin red color. While walking to grab her coat, she slicks on her go-to Fenty gloss bomb for a little shimmer.

There’s a drizzle outside, but she can only afford one uber ride that night. She decides it’s going to have to be a train ride now and a car for later. They are meeting for dumplings off Delancey/Essex, so she runs to the J train a few blocks west from her place.

After about thirty minutes, Beza gets to her stop and walks up to the street level. Since an umbrella felt too cumbersome for the night, she uses her green scarf to cover her hair. A quick check of the google map shows that Beza is just two blocks south of the restaurant. As she's walking, she sees a missed text from Max: he is already there and grabbed a table in the middle left-hand side.

As she enters the restaurant, Max waves at her and stands up. She walks over and they awkwardly hug. After a brief exchange of niceties and hiding behind the menus, the waiter comes over to take their orders. Beza orders a glass of Canyon Road pinot grigio and Max goes for some Sapporo. They order four different kinds of dumplings and a spicy noodle dish to share. To help break the ice a bit, she suggests a toast. Max chuckles but plays along, reminding her that they must maintain eye-contact for good luck. She smiles, wondering to herself, how did this tradition become so universal.

After taking their sips, he jumps into asking her how her week’s been going. Beza is so caught off-guard by the sourness of the wine that she can’t answer. She starts chugging her glass of tap water. Between this bad wine and her growing hunger pains, she’s suddenly wishing they had ordered some type of appetizer to hold her over.

Max senses what’s happening and tries to get the waiter’s attention. Beza usually likes a Lambrusco but he recommended that white wine works better for dumplings. Max tries to make up for it by suggesting they go to a bar afterwards for another drink.

The cynic in her wonders if this was part of his plan: suggesting a bad drink, so he can extend the date to another bar. She is intrigued and agrees to go. Later, while Max makes a bathroom run, just in case, Beza texts her friend Julissa about the bar he suggested. Julissa encourages her to go with the flow and if anything, she can call her if she needs an ‘out’.

Soon enough, Beza realizes why Julissa is her best friend. She’s really enjoying the date. So much so, they order another round of dumplings and get excited over their shared love of everything Star Wars and Cannonball Adderley. Max is funny. It’s been awhile since she had met anyone this endearingly nerdy and sweet. Before they knew it, the entire restaurant had emptied out and prepared to close. Their waiter was tidying up his section to give them more time. Beza looks around realizing they are the last table and then locks eyes with the waiter. He comes over to drop the check.

While Max is paying, Beza goes to the bathroom. On her walk back, he checks to see if she would still like to go to the bar for another drink or to call it a night. She can’t lie to herself, it was a really fun date. He is not her usual type physically, but she is attracted to him and just not ready to go home yet.

On their walk over to the next bar, Max has his umbrella open and brings her in closer to him so she doesn’t get rained on.

The bar is open and lively. They find a seated area near the window and claim a cerulean blue antique two-seater, perfect for people-watching. Throughout the bar, there are dramatically melted candles and low lighting. Just the right level of chatter, where it feels like there’s privacy but still able to hear each other.

He switches to cabernet and she goes for a merlot. They agree to play a fun game of “guess the scenario” with the strangers standing at the bar, across from them.

Then they stumble into a deep conversation about siblings and families. It’s decided this calls for another round of wine. The waiter asks if they’d like anything to snack on since the kitchen is closing soon. They decide to get dessert: chocolate souffle and a lemon almond tart.

He makes a run for the bathroom while the drinks are on the way and she checks her phone. Julissa has been texting her and she finally responds. She has been having so much fun. They have so many shared views on the world and even accidentally talked about kids. She sees he’s on his way back so she pops up and makes a run for the bathroom too. Playfully tapping his shoulder as she passes by and mouthing to him that she’ll be right back.

Few minutes later she’s back and the desserts are there but not the drinks. She sees the bartender is pretty backed up.

He was waiting for her before digging in. As she is reapplying her lip gloss, Max is taking a picture of the desert and then takes a picture of Beza. They exchange a laugh and then she leans into his shoulder so they can take a picture together. While they are taking a few pictures, the waiter brings over their drinks and the check.

He pulls out his wallet to hand over his card. Meanwhile, Beza’s looking at the pictures they just took on his phone and he gets a call from “Marie”. She hands it to him with a smirk. He looks at it and hits decline. He starts texting and Beza is not pleased, but hides it with the same smirk.

As he opens up the pictures again, he shares that Marie is his sister. She was calling because she’s coming into town the day after next and wanted to know if he wanted anything from home. She lives close to his parents in New Orleans and no matter how many times he’s tried to make it, there is nothing like his mom’s gumbo.

Beza mentions she loves the food there, but it only comes second to her love of Italian food. Out of all the places she’s traveled to, and it’s been many countries, Italy still holds the top spot as her favorite vacation. It was the first time she got to explore a country with her own car; driving around for three weeks stopping at different cities and towns. One of her college best friends, Ruth, moved to Milan to work in fashion merchandising and invited her to visit a few years ago.

She is already planning her trips for the year: Tennessee, Maine, and Madagascar. Max is surprised and excited. He doesn’t travel as much and often struggles with getting a group to agree to go with him. Beza shares that she use to have that issue, but now she’s so comfortable traveling alone, she forgets to even ask anyone to join.

Maybe it was the mixture of beer and wine or Max was just feeling really courageous in the moment, but he blurts out that maybe they can go on a trip together in the summer. Beza is surprised and feels suddenly shy. She can’t remember the last time she went on a trip with a guy she was dating. She shrugs her shoulders and takes a sip of her wine. But, something feels different, in a really great way. After a few seconds, she looks over at Max and agrees to his idea, but makes him pinky-promise that he won’t be one of those annoying people with vacation schedules that start at 7:00AM every day.

Max bursts into laughter and gently grabs her extended hand and kisses it. He happily concedes to her requirement and seals it with his pinky. Cradling their nearly empty wine glasses, Beza and Max finish the night exchanging funny stories about memorable childhood family trips.