I was in my black dress at Seasons 52 waiting for my date to arrive. I had never met this guy before. I had applied for one of those online dating sites, and this guy did not have a picture. We had chatted online before, and seemed to have many similar interests. I truly thought he was the one.
It had been over an hour since he was supposed to arrive as I patiently waited at the table. I told him exactly what I would be wearing and what time to meet, but no one had approached me. I considered leaving, but I decided to at least give him one more minute. There was no way I was going to be single for the rest of my life.
The restaurant was quiet, hushed, with low voices moving around the room. Not many people were sitting at the bar either. I looked at my watch as it read 8:23 p.m.
“This is getting ridiculous,” I said aloud. People stared at me as I started grabbing my purse.
“Are you waiting for someone?”
“Well it’s about time,” I responded, turning around. There was no one behind me and I looked in disbelief.
“Who said that?” I asked, still looking around the restaurant.
“That was me,” the voice said, coming over from the bar. I looked over at the man who was sitting at the bar. He gave me a slight smile and then turned his back towards me.
“So, are you waiting for someone?” he asked again.
“That depends. Are you into music and writing?” I asked. This was to prove that he was the guy I was chatting with since I was unsure of what he looked like.
“Music and writing are two of my most passionate hobbies that I do every day.”
“So, then you are my date?” I asked back, with delight. He turned around and shook his head. “No.”
“I just figured I’d ask. You don’t really look like the type of person to date,” he said with a smirk. He was wearing a button down top with long black pants. He wore black casual shoes that shone bright like the chair he was sitting in. “I’m Dave, by the way.”
“Catie,” I said. “And first off, who are you to judge whether a person dates or not, and second, why would you rile up my feelings like that?” I asked, still sitting at my table.
Dave replied, “Well, you’re dressed only in black looking like you’re going to a funeral, and second, I didn’t mean to rile up your feelings. I guess we just have something in common.” I couldn’t get past the first part of what he said. Looking like I was going to funeral, that was terrible of him to say.
“How could you even say that?” I asked with disgust.
“I gave you both a compliment and a critique,” he said with a smile on his face. I rolled my eyes and said, “You shouldn’t critique a person you don’t even know in the first place.”
Dave said, “I’m not just going by the way you look. It’s the fact that I’ve been watching you sit here for over an hour, and since no one has showed up, you’re either still waiting for them, or they possibly saw you and once they saw what you were wearing, they decided not to come up to you and fled the restaurant.”
“You are such a jerk,” I said. However, everything he said could be true. My dress wasn’t even that short. It went all the way down to my feet and the sleeves of my dress went to my elbows. I got up from the table and was just about to leave, until a loud voice shouted my name from the front of my restaurant.
“CATIE!” a man shouted. The entire restaurant looked towards the front entrance and saw a large man in a black suit standing, holding the doors wide open. His entire suit looked pretty sloppy, his pink tie was swung on the side of his suit and his pants were pretty sluggish.
“Catie, I’m your date, Nate!” I turned my head around and shifted down in my seat. I could tell he was younger than me, and I wanted to flee from the restaurant. Dave started chuckling at the bar. I turned back around to see if he was still there and he was walking in my direction.
“Oh crap,” I said. I looked down at my table and a huge shadow was hovering over me.
“Yo, are you Catie?” Nate asked.
“Um, yes,” I said turning in his direction.
“Yo, I’m so happy to meet you. I can’t wait to get this date started,” he said. He was way younger than he said he was according to his dating page. Just by looking at him, he was much different than his page, but I wasn’t going to judge him like Dave. I was definitely going to get to know him, even though he was an hour late.
“So, Nate, right? Is there any particular reason why you were late?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, of course. I just came from another date,” he said laughing. What could he have possibly been laughing at? I really hoped he was joking at the moment.
“Date?” I asked confusingly, “What date? You’re on a date with me.”
“Yo, so this is how I work. I created my whole dating page just to meet women. Usually after the date, I take them back to a hotel and we go and sleep together. That’s how I roll.”
“So, nothing on your dating site is true? Do you even enjoy writing or music?”
“Ugh, no. The only thing that’s true is my name. That’s it.” He started chuckling again. Oh my gosh I was on a date with a walking sex addict. If this fool believed he was getting anything from me, he had wasted his time.
“You know what? You are—
“Excuse me sir, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Dave said cutting me off. I looked up at him and was surprised. I didn’t understand why he was doing this, but I was happy that he was.
“And why should I leave, yo?” Nate asked.
“Because I overheard your conversation and I think you’re making this lovely young lady very uncomfortable.”
“I don’t care how she feels. As long as I end up with her at the end of the night, I’m fine.” My mouth dropped open again. Nate was really starting to get on my nerves. He wasn’t terrible just to me, but he was terrible to all women.
“Catie, would you like to take it up from here?” Dave asked.
“Yo, you know this guy?” Nate asked.
“Yes,” I said, “Dave, here is the brilliant man who created the dating website that we met on. Right Dave?” I looked at Dave praying he would play along. He looked at me confused and suddenly smiled.
“That’s correct and I heard about your little fake profile page on my website, and if you don’t take it down soon, I am going to have to call the police and let them know what you’ve been up to.”
“Seriously man?” Nate asked. “Whatever. I’ll take it down. I’m out.” Nate got up from the table and left the restaurant, leaving Dave and I behind.
“Thank you,” I said, “But also, why?”
“I could tell you just didn’t want to be there and he was extremely obnoxious,” Dave said.
“You were right,” I said, “It looks like I’m not that type of person to date.”
“No, that was wrong of me to say and I shouldn’t have said that. I apologize.”
“It is alright.” I smiled at him.
“Now that I rethink everything that has happened, I bet you could be on a date right now,” he said, offering his hand out to me.
“I would love to as long as you’re not going on another date after,” I said with a smile. He smiled right back. “Now, tell me more about your music and writing.”
Chelsea Voldase is a student attending West Chester University. ✉ CV808857@wcupa.edu.