Crossed Tables

As he approached the crowded restaurant Greg felt his anxiety beginning to rise, why had he agreed to do this? He did not like meeting strangers and at least if he had used an APP he would have had an idea of what this girl was like or at least what she looked like, but no, he had let his buddy talk him into setting him up. So here he was at the determined location with no clue really who he was meeting standing there looking stupid. To make matters worse, his friend seemed to be MIA tonight and had failed to provide him with the girl’s contact information as promised. “Oh well, the worst-case scenario I eat dinner out alone and this serves as a reminder not to let people set me up!” Greg thought to himself. When he got to the front of the wait queue and no sign of his date he decided to go ahead and get a table, “I need a table for two please.” The hostess looked around confused, “Oh I am meeting someone,” Greg explained. “Of course”, the hostess replied, right this way.

“Why can’t I get my life together?” Aria thought as she drove to the restaurant, unfortunately running late again. She realized that she had not thought to even get the name of her date much less pertinent information like a phone number so that she could let him know she was late. Of course Jim, their mutual friend was not answering calls or texts right now either. She hopped out of her car and hurried in upon arrival to find an empty foyer. “Great,” she thought, he probably gave up, oh well she could still eat. “ I would like to sit at the bar please,” she told the hostess, “right this way” the hostess replied seating her on the end of the bar with a view of the dining room.

Greg was beginning to think this whole situation was going bad, he texted his friend Jim again to see if he knew what was up, but still no response. The waitress kept pestering him and it was beginning to get embarrassing. This was exactly why he hated to date, these days it was a mixed bag of what you would end up with, and most often it was situations like this, or if they do show they are crazy. As the waitress came back yet again, he finally said: “ it looks like my friend is going to have to cancel on me, can I move to the bar and then go ahead and order?” “Of course” replied the sympathetic waitress, “right this way.” Greg took the offered seat and noticed that this section was empty except for a lone woman seated one seat away from him. “Dining alone?” he asked. “Yes,” she replied, “blind date gone wrong.” “What are the odds?” Greg said, “Same here.” “Well, then let’s make the best of it, I am Aria.” She replied, sliding one seat over. “I am Greg, nice to meet you.”

They laughed, talked, and thoroughly enjoyed their time. It was amazing how much they had in common for two random strangers, almost like fate itself had set them up. Like old friends reconnecting the conversation was so comfortable and easy. Soon the bad start to their evening was forgotten and honestly, neither one of them gave the failed blind-date a second thought. It was the perfect start to what they both hoped would be something good. Finally, the waitstaff was pressuring them to leave, so they agreed to exchange numbers and get together again.

Greg walked Aria to her car and said goodnight, as she drove off, his phone went off and it was his friend, Jim, finally responding. “Hey man I am not sure what happened, she was definitely coming, did she ever show up? Her name is Aria.” The message read. Greg laughed out loud realizing the absurdity of the situation. Good ole Jim, better late than never. He had to admit for all of his scatterbrained ways Jim had a good eye for personalities. He had been telling Greg for months that if the two of them just had the opportunity to meet that fate would take care of everything else!

He texted his friend back confirming that she did indeed show up and briefly explained how it all actually went down. Jim got a good laugh out of the story but did not miss the chance to point out that it seemed they were indeed meant to be together. As he got in his car and drove home Greg thought of what an interesting conversation this was going to make with Aria and how things that are meant to be, always find a way to come together.