Shattered Glass, Happy Feelings

Danielle sitting on a chair inside her bedroom in front of a large mirror, she finished her makeup and looked at herself making weird movements with her face and lips stretching them around before yelling to her roommate “Kim!” not stopping her facial “exercises” until Kim walked in. “What?” she said not annoyed just bothered “How do I look? Do you think it’s too much?” Danielle asked her roommate looking into Kim’s eyes, as Kim looked over her outfit, waiting for the correct response. “No not at all you look really good,” Kim tells her “Just good?” Danielle asks a little worried “You look like a strong sexy woman but not overpowering enough to scare him away” Kim replied sarcastically but also truthfully. Danielle nods, smiles, and stands up, her makeup is done and she is wearing a tight dark, ‘dark’ mauve dress (so dark you would think it’s black without the correct lighting) she follows Kim out of her room and walks through the cleaning swamp of the apartment. A vacuum, two brooms (one big the other small), multiple cleaning spray products, a mop and bucket and two rolls of paper towels. “You get to go on a cute first date and I get to get drunk and clean the apartment. Because life is great” Kim says mockingly while tightening her bandana and sipping a glass of rye on ice. Danielle is already done putting her shoes and light jacket on by the door and laughs at Kim while looking at herself in the foyer mirror (which hasn’t been cleaned yet) “Ok. You promise I look good?” “Yes, and it’s a tinder date it doesn’t matter how you look as long as you show up” Kim laughed while grabbing the big broom and also her glass again. Danielle smirks and says “Maybe he’s the one” she grabs her keys and opens the door and says goodbye and starts leaving for the bar.

She arrived at the bar early, a bar that she and the guy she was supposed to meet agreed on. Had a polite but uncomfortable exchange with one of the waitresses that showed her to a table in the back. The bar was not the classiest bar in the city by any means but it certainly wasn’t a dive bar. It was older and had a very cozy setting with old ships, beer-carved logos in wood, and old sporting memorabilia as decoration. She thought it was a cute ‘first date’ spot and her date seemed to agree over their text conversations. They haven’t met in person yet and that made her nervous (did it make him nervous too?) but it was not a concept unfamiliar to her. He was good looking, seemed to have a steady job in marketing (which she also worked in) and they had things in common. Movies, books, activities and both had an interest in booze. Maybe this won’t be just another one-night stand she thought, she hoped and she waited. What else are you supposed to do in a bar while you wait other than drink? She didn’t want to get drunk, but he was close to thirty minutes late. “One hour,” she said to herself while scrolling through her phone and sipping a bottle of Merlot in a glass. Scrolling and looking around the bar constantly. It wasn’t too busy but a few tables down sat an older couple, late thirties mid-forties drinking with a younger woman, and a few tables down from them, sat two men drinking pints. One dressed nicely with his top button undone and his tie hanging lower and the other in a thick t-shirt with his jacket set on his chair behind him, the sleeve dripping down to his worn work boots. The waitress who sat her didn’t come to check on Danielle much after bringing her the wine she ordered when she first sat down and she spent most of the time flirting with the bartender.

Officially he was now thirty minutes late, no response to the text she sent him at the fifteen-minute mark and also no response from Kim (who was steady in her deep clean?) she didn’t feel nervous anymore, just embarrassed. Did the other patrons know that she got stood up? They occasionally would look at her and see her in her dress and see her with her makeup done and with her wine in her glass across another glass that stood there empty, isolated. She slouched back in her chair and turned her phone face down on the table and took a big gulp finishing the glass and filling it up again (a little more than half the bottle now remained) “Well I’m not, not. Going to finish the bottle” she said aloud

“Seems like you could use some help with that,” said the guy who was late… “Travis!” Danielle said surprised standing up giving him that first physical exchange hug “Danielle I am so sorry I’m late…” He exclaimed. Travis gave his reasoning on why he was late, he had a work emergency, his phone died, his grandmother needed help crossing the street. It didn’t matter to her; he was here and he looked exactly like his pictures and his demeanor seemed genuine. He apologized again and she forgave him again saying and laughing “It’s totally understandable” he took off his blazer, rolled up the sleeves on his button-up, and got comfortable in the chair. His phone was going off with notifications and he did his best to ignore them but he didn’t give her his full attention. Danielle ignored the fact that he smelt like a barrel of booze made in a nicotine factory. The waitress came and asked him if he would like anything to drink and he said “No” and grabbed the bottle of Merlot and poured it into the other glass.

“Oh, Merlot huh?” Travis said holding the bottle. He wasn’t admiring the bottle or studying it, but he was just holding it, looking at it, not even reading the label “Yeah, I know we talked about wine so I figured I would grab a bottle” Danielle laughed little when she said this but Travis didn’t laugh. He put the bottle down “I thought you would at least get a good wine” he scoffed and looked around the bar. Danielle sat there confused and sipped her wine before asking what he meant by ‘good wine’ “Merlot is just…basic. I was under the impression you would have some better taste” “Merlot is basic? How? Because it’s popular? Because it’s good? She didn’t laugh this time. “Exactly, Merlot is for everyone because you can make it for everyone. Do you want a dry wine with a little alcohol, Merlot…Are you having meat for dinner and don’t want to spend money on a good wine pairing because you’re cheap, Merlot” Travis took a small swig of the wine with a look on his face “Oh well” “So, is it not plummy enough for you?” She asked with a tone matching his ignorance “No, it’s not. The only good Merlot is if it is plummy, that’s how you know. This is not plummy” She took a moment to respond. She was surprised at his switch in manner.

Why all of a sudden was he acting like this? Even over text, he was always polite. “Well maybe if you showed up on time, and sat down and didn’t act so rude and ignorant we could have split a more expensive bottle to satisfy your snobby tastebuds” She looked right into his eyes while she said this. He sat there for a few seconds not saying anything. He turned his gaze again looking around the bar and laughed “I doubt a place like this would serve anything so nice” he matched her gaze again and smiled, “So what do you do for work again?” Danielle sat back in her chair and crossed her arms “Are you serious?”

Travis nodded and sipped the wine and smiled

“You expect me to continue this conversation after you just insulted me? Not JUST by showing up late” her voice was raising and she realized it so she leaned in closer and let her tone become less audible “But also by trying to give me a half-assed lecture on Merlot, which honestly, I don’t even think you know enough about and trying to make me feel bad about it?” “Maybe you should relax” “And maybe you shouldn’t be such a rude person” Danielle jabbed. The table was quiet, the other tables didn’t really seem to notice what was going on with them. The waitress came by and asked if they needed anything else

“Just the bill and just one copy please,” Danielle told her smiling. “We’re leaving already?” Travis asked

“We? We are leaving? No. I’m leaving” She stood up and put her jacket over her shoulders but before leaving she leaned over the table “And you know why Merlot is so ‘basic’ or too ‘popular’? Because it’s adaptable, the climate doesn’t affect the grapes as much as others so you can make it anywhere. Yes, the less expensive bottles may be drier and not as ‘plummy’ as the more expensive ones but that doesn’t matter because it’s still good. And plum isn’t the only flavor you can get a hint of, you’re missing blackberries, black cherries, herb, cocoa just to name a few. So next time you go on a first date with a girl, I wouldn’t act like such a wine snob to try to impress her. Or show up late and be rude. Just a tip”

She started to walk away but turned back “And I work in digital marketing as a freelance designer, and funny enough over the last few weeks I started a job with one of the wineries outside the city that just happens to make plenty of Merlot. Good day sir” As she finished, she walked away just as the waitress came and put the bill in front of Travis.

One the way home Danielle stopped at a liquor store that was still open, bought a bottle of wine, ignored the glances from a few guys (not old enough to purchase their own alcohol), and thought about opening the bottle before she made it inside her apartment. She walked into the quickly cleaned apartment and slipped past Kim, who was laying on the couch making out with a guy, and went into her room. Sitting down at her desk looking at herself in the mirror making faces with her mouth as she would continually sip out of a glass from the now opened bottle. Shortly after she opened her computer, opened a design program, and finished a project she was working on about Merlot and drank Merlot.