Dream Date

Dream Date

“Must wear white” or that’s what stood out about the article. It said that a celebrity wore white for months to subliminally have her man think of her in a wedding dress. My apartment was scattered with the latest magazine issues; “Single and Ready to Mingle”, “Always a Bridesmaid? How to walk down your own aisle”, and my personal favorite; “Ripe and Ready to be picked!” Based on everyone else’s standards, I was pass my prime, thirty-five, single, never married, and no kids. I had nowhere to go but up.

This was going to be my first date in over a year, I was done working on myself and ready to have some fun. Who better to set you up than your girlfriends? They knew me inside and out, my type, my pet peeves, hell they knew me down to my bra size and favorite ice cream. This was going to work, this had to work, right? It was all planned out, his name was Phillip and he was a cousin of one of the girl’s husbands. Good looking, Successful Real Estate Agent, a divorcee, and no kids. With five outfits laid out on the bed, I decided to go with the white romper. It was hot in Arizona as usual, you could definitely get away with a romper even at 8 o’clock at night. Uber arrived right on time and I met Phillip at the restaurant. He greeted me at the door like a gentlemen and took my breathe away. At least 6’2, a gorgeous smile with one dimple, and a nice collared shirt and slacks. He kissed my cheek and introduced himself as we walked to our table. The waiter arrived as soon as we sat down asking for our drink orders. As he went over the wine list, I already decided I was going to order something white just in case my nerves got to me and I did something clumsy.

“We have a great new Merlot that just arrived, would you like to try it?”

I did love red, why not, I’m an adult not a child about to spill her juice. “Two glasses coming right up I’ll give you more time to look at the menu.”

The conversation was awkward and slow. Apparently he was out of practice too. It was kind of cute how stumbled over topics and wrung his hands like he could squeeze out his nerves. I tried to lighten the mood and brought up his cousin. He seemed to loosen up as our drinks came.

“I’m not a huge wine drinker,” he said

“What are they doing when they swirl the glass around, anyway? As he practiced

“Well, from what I’ve seen on TV, I think it’s to smell it better and to see the wine run down the glass.” Trying to sound like I knew what I was talking about.

“So, I just swirl it around to look like I know what I’m doing, smell the wine, and then take a sip” he said, asking for clarification

He pushed his shoulder back to indicate a heighten sense of confidence. Making me laugh, he was actually lightening up as we both laughed with the waiter approaching. And almost as if in slow motion the waiter placed our appetizers down, slightly bumping into Phillip causing the glass of Merlot to rise out of the glass, flowing through the air and landing right in my lap.

Just when I thought the night was turning around, my whole outfit turned into Carrie at the prom. I jumped up instinctively but the damage was already done. I ran to the restroom completely mortified, hearing the waiter apologizing profusely. I was so embarrassed I didn’t even want to come out. I texted him and asked if we could cut the evening short and I would just call another Uber. Then I heard a knock at the restroom door,

“Please come out, let me give you a ride home”

I managed to get the red out of my romper down to a nice pink color. Phillip ran to his car and offered me his blazer and walked me to my Uber. I refused to let him drive me home not out of some precaution just sheer embarrassment. He apologized a million times, I told him it was no one’s fault and that I would take a rain check.

After showering and ignoring all my calls from the girls. I heard a knock at my door, I was pretty sure it was the girls as I opened the door in t-shirt and shorts. It was Phillip,

“Hey if you don’t mind, could we just go get some ice cream and take a walk?” he asked with a shy smile

“It’s a date, let me grab my shoes” as I turned and tried to hide how hard I was smiling