Outdoor Dining

"If you don't recognize me with the mask, I have on a long red jacket"

Franny looked at the drafted text. She added an upside-down smiley face, then deleted it and sent the text without it. She did not want to put flirtatious vibes out there with him just yet.

In the years since their college romance (she was in college, he was on leave), Charlie had texted her periodically. She would respond, they would catch up, and every time, without fail, he would steer the conversation in a flirtatious direction and try to initiate a sexual reunion. Each time she would rebuff him, as she knew from her social media research he always had a girlfriend. Much to her chagrin, it was always an ethnically-ambiguous-looking girl with long dark hair, just like her. The consistency of Charlie's girls hammered home to her that she had never been special to him.

The last time Charlie had texted her in pre-pandemic life, during Christmas 2017, he had informed her that he and his current girlfriend, whom he had met when he returned to college, were "swingers." Using a term that elicited images of 1970's debauchery was very on-brand for Charlie. Open relationships were common, especially in New York, at least that was the impression Franny got from Bumble. But Charlie wouldn't use the term "open relationship" and he definitely wouldn't use the term "ethicallly non-monogamous." If he couldn't be a mid-20th century debaucherous male author prophetizing on Dick Cavett, he would talk like one.

As a college student, Franny was in awe of Charlie's having dropped out of an Ivy League school to write a book about the difficulties of campus life at an elite institution. He had gone viral with an essay exposing the intense hazing and classism he had encountered there, and when they met he was on leave turning it into a book. She thought she'd found a unicorn, a truly socially aware boy to date. In her world, a prestigious women's college world where the performative wokeness common in 2020 was first invented, she could enjoy the old Seven Sisters tradition of "going" with a boy from an Ivy, without pissing off the new Seven Sisters social order.

She would quickly learn you can take the boy out of the frat, but not the frat out of the boy.

Indeed, his leaving school to write his "cautionary tale" about elite institutions was the first of Charlie's many contradictions. He had name dropped the Ivy League college he attended several times in their initial conversation on OkCupid, yet he was trying to call them out for elitism. He lived in the part of Vermont close to the Massachusetts border while he dated Franny, and he was an admirer of Bernie Sanders long before he was a household name. At the same time, as they drove past a Wal-Mart one night, he remarked that he loved buying cheap underwear there. Not exactly on-brand for a Bernie Bro. He talked about the girl he had dated right before Franny cheating on him and leaving him in despair, yet he was a serial cheater turned "swinger." But above all else, the contradiction that made Franny chuckle in 2021 was that after looking down on her writing ability and interest in working commercially as a copywriter, his book had failed, he'd gone back to school with his tail between his legs, and now worked in wine marketing.

Perhaps that is why she had agreed to meet him at the wine bar, she knew that whatever happened, the place he had suggested would have good wine.

She had been open to having a drink or coffee with him for ages if it were platonic, which never seemed to be his angle. She knew it probably wasn't his angle now, but the pandemic created clear obstacles to immediate intimacy, and she was genuinely curious to see how this former-wannabe-Bukowski/ Hunter S. Thompson/ (insert toxic white boy author here) was handling 2021 life.

After all, she read that reconnecting with "old friends" was part of the COVID-19 social scene.

He lived in the neighborhood and was already sitting maskless at an outdoor table when she arrived. Aside from the much longer hair pulled back in a man-bun (interesting) he looked the same. She was no longer a naive 20-year-old tucked away at woman's college, but seeing him again for the first time in years brought back a rush of something that felt like first-date jitters, and she was glad he couldn't see her smiling big behind the mask. He saw her, stood up to greet her, and smiled.

"I'm using the pandemic as an excuse not to hug people, I hope you don't mind." She offered her elbow for a greeting.

He laughed, tapped elbows with her, and they sat back down as she removed her mask.

"You look exactly the same." He said, giving her a look of flirtatious approval that ratcheted up the jitters. Franny giggled. She couldn't believe she felt like she was on a first date with Charlie. The menu from the wine bar was accessed via phone, and as she began pulling it up on her phone Charlie spoke.

"I actually ordered already, I remembered you liked white wine, so I ordered a Pinot Gris, I'm sure you've heard of Pinot Grigio, this is different. This partcular Pinot Gris is from Germany and the body of it..."

He went on, but she didn't hear his words. Franny's stomach sank. She remembered all the reasons it hadn't worked before. He was talking at her about wine, "winesplaining" if you will. Charlie still saw her as the naive 20-year-old who guzzzled magnums of cheap sweet white wine to get drunk and thought he was a genius. That was who he wanted to have a drink with. He didn't even know she now only drank white wine when it was very hot, and despite it being a nice day, the crisp March air was not inspiring any tropical vibes. The waiter approached the table, snapping Franny out of her internal crisis.

"Do you need another minute with the menu, or should I bring that Pinot Gris out now?"

Before Charlie could speak, she did.

"Actually, I don't think I can drink anything chilled, may I actually have a glass of merlot?"

As the waiter walked inside to get the wine, Charlie spoke. "Merlot? Well, that's different." He offered no appology for making assumptions about what she would want nearly eight years to the day after their official breakup. Pandemic life may have clouded Franny's judgement and lead her to be sitting across from the only boy who had broken her heart, but things were crystal clear now.

"Well I'm different." She responded coolly, not particularly concerned about his response.