Three Dates in One Night

John had not been on a date a while but that not what would discourage him. While in his room he thought about what he was going to doing on this date and adjusted his tie in the mirror.

“I wish I had some better ties” he muttered to himself. “I wonder if Sam has any good ones”

John called for his roommate Sam to come into his room. “Do you have any good ties?” Sam looked at the solid blue tie in Johns hands.

“What’s wrong with that one?”

“Well against a white shirt with black I look like I’m going to church”. John replied.

“You’re not wrong. Where are you taking this girl?”

“The new mini golf course on main street”

“Great Tinder date. And you are wearing a button down and a tie?”

“Am I overdressed?” John asked.

“No, I never knew that the lord was such a big fan of golf” Sam replied.

John threw his tie at Sam as he turned back to his closet to look for something else to wear. While looking, he heard something fall on his bed. Sam had tossed three shirts on his bed.

“With those pants any of these will do fine. clean it before you give it back and forget the tie.”

The options were a white button down with blue pinstripes, a solid black polo, and another white button down that looked like it had black ink blots all over it. Such great choices, he did not know which one to choose.

“You are joking with the Rorschach test shirt right?”

“Say what you want, that shirt has been lucky for me in the past” Sam said.

John shook his head and put on that same shirt. At the same time thinking at least he will have a conversation starter if start to go bad. After getting dressed, John grabbed his keys and headed for the door.

“Wait” yelled Sam. He handed John a cooler and an opened pack of red solo cups.

“You will thank me later.”

John looked confused and then looked in the cooler.

“Is this the wine and cheese you stole from your work last night?”

Sam looked at John stone faced “I can neither confirm nor deny action I may or may not have taken with my lawyer present.”

John chuckled then said “you would have been better off pleading the fifth” and walked to his car.

John put the cooler in the back behind the passenger seat. He did not want Rachel to see it and thought it would roll around in the trunk. Why he walked out the door with it he still did not know. One of the he had going for him was that he got a new Honda Civic. He thought that this would make him look like he had some money even though second year teachers don’t make that much. Pulling up to Rachel's apartment, John began to get a little nervous but was able to calm himself down and texted her that he was here and what kind of car he was driving. He closed his eyes and began reciting to himself “you can do this. Complement her dress, her hair her eyes, anything .” Then there was a knock on the passenger side window. John jumped then saw Rachel looking in. He unlocked the door and she got in.

“Hi John, nice car”

“Hi, I…” every thought escape him at that moment. He knew he had to say something but what. What was he saying to himself? He was telling himself what to say and now the words were not there. Rachel spoke first.

“Are you OK?”

‘Yea. I forgot what I was going to say for some reason

Rachel smiled “That’s OK. What do you have planned for us Tonight?”

“I though we would try out the new mini golf place.”

“On Main Street? That’s outside. Isn’t it going to rain?”

“My phone said cloudy for tonight, so I think we will be OK” John said.

He started driving toward main street, the whole time trying to remember what he was going to say to her. There was no music playing for a minutes until Rachel recommend playing something. She took out her phone and connected it to the car using the blue tooth feature.

“What do you like to listen to?”

“I like a of everything” John said.

That didn’t help at all he started thinking and then said “whatever you like is fine”

Rachel smiled and said “OK” then started playing Be Kind by Halsey and . John still could not remember what he was going to say and now he knew that she had put on music because the silence was making her uncomfortable. He considered turning around and telling her that he wasn’t feeling well but decided to keep going. When they arrived, John went to help Rachel out of the car, but she was already waiting for him by the front of the car. then that John realized how beautiful she looked. Her dress was not low cut but revealing enough, cam down to above her knees and was the same color blue as the tie he wanted to wear. All John could think about was punching Sam for talking him out of wearing that tie.

“Wow, you look great” John said as his mouth stayed open.

Rachel walked up and closed it for him. “Thank you. I can help you pick out a shirt for next time.”

Strike two Sam, John thought. The two walked into the waiting area for Min golf Land. While waiting in line, John noticed that the clouds were getting darker and started thinking of a plan B in case it did start to rain. They got the front of the line and got their clubs. John picked a blue ball and Rachel picked a black one. Afterward, they instantly looked at each other, smiled, and traded.

“Now they match our outfits” Rachel said.

“Lets talk more about yours then mine” John mentioned as he picked up two golf pencils.

You said you were in fashion right? What do you do?

“I am a fashion designer. Main, I create sketches of new style clothing for my company.”

“So you could have drawn a better shirt than the one I’m wearing then?” He asked

“Anyone could have drawn a better shirt then that” She replied.

They both laughed and started playing. About three holes in it started to rain. While running back to the clubhouse, they got caught in the down pour. They returned their clubs and the balls and then had to run back to the car. By the time they were in the car they were both soaked.

“So I guess this dates is over. Sorry, I thought that the rain would at least hold off until later tonight.” John sounded embarrassed.

Rachel looked out the door window “I have an idea if you want to keep the date going?”

She pointed to a thrift store down the road. John looked at it with a curious face as if he could not figure out what she was planning.

“You want us to go shopping?” he asked .

“You could say that. Our cloth are soaked, so we will need something else to wear if we want to continue this night. , I propose that we go in there and whatever the other person picks we have to wear out of the store.”

John could laugh because compared to the shirt he was wearing; anything would be an upgrade.

“OK, you have a deal but I will pay for it since my idea got washed out.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice” Rachel agreed.

The two went in to the thrift store and started looking at clothes for the other to wear. The question now was, do you look for something that the other would look good in or something ridiculous and the both of them were thinking the same thing. John found a white sundress with sunflowers on it and a giant floppy straw hat. Rachel was wearing heels, so he thought that his would look nice on her. Rachel had gone the other direction and picked out a cheetah print shirt with black leather pants to go with it.

“Wow, this is cute! I can’t believe the same person picked out that shirt.”

“In my defense, my roommate told me to wear that, and it's his shirt. He also told me not to wear a tie that would have match your dress.”

“So you do have some sense of style. That’s good to know.”

Rachel went and tried on the dress and then modeled it for John. She looked in the mirror and John knew she loved it from the smile on her face.

“So, is my new outfit” John asked

Rachel went back in the dressing room and came out with the cloth she had picked out for him. Once he saw them, John smiled, put his head down, and then dragged his hand down his face as he brought his head up.

“I have to wear that out of here?”

“You agreed to these rules. I did not force you.” Rachel said.

John took the clothes and went into the dressing room. When he came out, he looked at himself in the mirror and the one smile was Rachel. John turned and noticed that the rain had stopped.

“OK, I will wear this out but please don’t make me go anywhere that’s public.”

“I guess that’s not breaking the rules but I would like to go somewhere after this since the rain has stopped.”

As they went to pay for the clothes, John saw a blanket and came up with an idea. The employee was nice enough to go in the back and get two bags for their wet clothes when they were checking out, one white and one brown. They put their cloths in the brown bag and brought the white one with them in case they needed it. As they walked back to the car, John had a creepy smile on his face.

“I’m not sure if that smile is that creepy or if the outfit is making it creepy” Rachel said.

“I have an idea of somewhere we can go, and I think I will keep it a surprise.” John replied.

Rachel smiled as she put the bag of wet clothes in the back seat. When she opened the door, she noticed the cooler behind her seat.

“Are we going to need this cooler where we are going?”

“It's a secret” John said.

“Now I think cooler is for my organs.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I would need a much larger cooler than that for harvesting organs”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“It wasn’t supposed to.”

Rachel playfully smacked John as he started driving away from the thrift store. He took the quickest way he knew to his favorite spot in town. The boardwalk by the beach. The sun was now starting to set and with the rain clearing up there were plenty of reds and oranges in the sky. John parked the car, went into the back seat and pulled out the blanket and the cooler. Rachel looked out at the view and grabbed the white bag they took from the thrift store. John rolled out the blanket and put the cooler down on the corner of it. When he opened it he pulled out a bottle or Merlot and a small platter of different cheese with crackers. The ice from the cooler was melting off of the bottle of wine. He handed one of the red solo cups to Rachel and started filling it.

“So is this what I can expect from a teacher's salary?” Rachel asked.

“God no. I can’t afford Merlot” John replied. “Why did you bring the bag with you?”

Rachel propped the bag against her knee, grabbed the golf pencils from her pocket and started drawing.

“I wanted to remember how you looked against the crimson sky in that cheetah shirt.”

The two laughed and took a sip of wine. They stayed for a hours after sunset. Rachel was able to complete her drawing of John where she had him lying on his side with one leg bent, holding the solo cup and the red sky in the background. Of course, she made sure to capture the essence of the cheetah shirt so as not to forget that day.

That first date would end up being their last. The two got married a year later and are now expecting their first child. They kept the clothes that they bought or their first date as a reminder of the night. Rachel still wears that dress but John Has not worn that shirt since that date. The drawing of John is now framed and hangs in Rachel's home office. Every time she gets a compliment on it she feels compelled to tell the story of how it came to be.