Upon the Loft

It is funny to imagine that I would be using dating websites to find someone to either spend one night with or the rest of my life but, here we are. I enter my name, age, ethnicity, and all the other little tidbits of information, and I get a selection of people, but there was one person who caught my eye. She had dirty black hair, beautiful brown eyes, and a smile that would warm the coldest heart, and her name as well was just symphonic. I press "LIKE" on the page, and the notification is away, but she is popular among the site, and I am not like these other men my friends show me,

"Look at this one; he's got a nice six-pack. His muscles!" Rebecca says.

"Please, this one has a Bentley! His job too, CEO of his own company!." Shawna rebukes.

"And then there's you, Kurt." Says Rebecca.

I am not what you would call muscular; I am a skinny guy with an old 1967 corvette stingray coupe, bag groceries at the market, and I run an Instagram page with the poetry I write while going to school. My life is not fancy like owning a big yacht or a Ferrari, but I get by.

"What about me?" I reiterate.

"Look, don't get me wrong, you're a great guy, but we want these types of guys, they have success, and you…you don't. I'm not trying to sound rude." Shawna says, looking at Rebecca to back her up.

"No, I understand; well, it's getting late. I'll see you two later."

Walking back to my Loft was just awful; I have never felt so down with someone telling me I am not an attractive person because of my physique, where I am currently in life, and what I do for a living. It crushes the soul. As I get into the apartment, my phone vibrates with that "DING" sound, and I check, and it tells me I have new notifications. I open my phone and lock my eyes on the screen. To my right, my roommate, Michael in the office, doing work, so I go outside where the little firepit is and sit down and begin browsing, "USER DENIED YOUR LIKE" "USER DENIED YOUR LIKE" it was all the same. Every person I liked did not like me back; it must have been hours since I sat near the fire cause when I looked back into the Loft, all the lights were off, and my phone's clock said it was 12:30 AM, so I decided to drift away into slumber.

The following day my phone says a new notification awaits, so I check it, and I'm flabbergasted. The girl I sent a like to has liked me back and wrote back in the messages that my profile picture is lovely. I responded, telling her I liked her messy black hair and that her eyes were stunning. For hours we talked, and I told her my name was Kurt, and hers was Mei, and then it clicked. This girl would come into my store and stand in my line all the time and try to talk to me, but the introvert I am, I was never good at it. and with a pandemic happening this was the only way to communicate; as the day went on, I asked if she wanted to walk around the park, and she said that would be lovely.

We met at the park, but we went from the park to the beach, it was lovely. I asked her why she chose my profile from the other thousand far more successful people on the website.

"Because all I see is guys who think that their muscles are what'll win me over or what car they drive because it is a sex symbol. But you, you are different, and I like that. You do not flash your success and tout it with selfies of money. You work a normal job, but you are getting by fine, and I can't explain it, but I like that."

I do not know what I did, but I then asked her if she wanted to have dinner at my apartment, to which she said yes. I told her tomorrow night, and she agreed, and a hug goodbye, I walked back to the Loft, both excited and nervous. I told Michael, and he became ecstatic because this is his chance to cook and play chef, or as he puts it,

"I am the butler tomorrow night; I will handle the food and the drinks. I know the perfect type of wine; I'll call him later and ask him for the best bottle he can get me."

The next day came like a tornado; Mei sent me a text in the morning saying that she is excited for the night. I reply with the usual "So am I" text but never have I been more nervous than this. I spent the entire day shopping for clothing because all my clothes are just cheap knockoff from your local Target and thrift stores, so I decided for H&M. I walked in and found a lovely all black button shirt, pair it with dark blue jeans and a nice black leather jacket and finally the coup de grâce, a wide-brimmed black hat. The finest Chelsea Boots that I own and my pallasite necklace. When I got back to the Loft, my watch said it was 5:30; our date was in an hour. Michael was wearing a ridiculous attire; he dressed like an actual waiter you would see at a restaurant and cleared the patio with a small round table with the white covering, fine plates, silverware, and wine glasses. He went all out to make the night perfect for me, but did he need to wear the waiter attire?

The doorbell rings, and I run to it, nearly tripping and look through the peephole, and I see her. I open it and stunning, a black sequin dress with knee-high boots, a wide black brimmed hat, and a leather jacket. She was beautiful, as if Medusa possessed her to turn my heart to stone.

"How do I look?" She asks.

Stumbling my words, all I said was "fjelgithgr?" but she laughed, knowing I was complimenting her. She enters, and Michael removes her jacket, directs Mei and me outside to our table, and brings out his special wine.

"Tonight, Kurt has picked the finest bottle of Merlot, Le Macchiole Messorio from Tuscany, Italy; this fine glass has the taste of dark fruit, walnuts, black olives, and the tangy taste of burnt oranges. This beautiful creation will knock your socks off." Said Michael as he poured the dark sweet nectar into our glasses.

"Enjoy; I will be back with your dinner shortly."

The night went smooth in Michael's eyes, but mine were burning with so much nervousness; what do I say? What do I do? So, I did what every damn fool does and blundered like an idiot asking questions, fumbling, and then I saw myself, so I said to myself,

"Kurt! Calm down; you can do this!"

"Did you say something?" Mei said to me, looking confused.

"No, sorry, I'm just nervous if you have not seen it already. So, Mei, what do you do for a career?"

"I'm an assistant controller for a pharmaceutical company."

"Uhh, if I tried to guess that, I would find no answer," I said.

She told me that she is the operator of all the budgets within the company and reports to the CEO; this job was far better than me bagging groceries at the store. So then she asked me a question that I always struggle to answer.

"Kurt, If I may ask, have you dated before?"

"No, anytime I tried to talk to someone I liked, I was ghosted or told to come back in 5 years when I had a six-pack, lost the acne on my pizza face or graduate college and find a successful job. There was one girl named Annie in High School. I liked her, so I told her, but she turned me down, saying that she was looking for a man that did not look like a stick that would break easily. My confidence sank so low, so I turned to guitar playing and poetry to cope, and I'll say, where I am right now. I am happy, but I'm happier right now to be here in my Loft with you."

I put my hand on top of hers, and she did not remove it; she took her other hand and placed it on top of mine and just said,

"I'm happy too."

With half-full glasses of Le Macchiole Messorio, we toasted the night and hopefully to many more to come. The warm winds coming from the north blew onto the balcony, so we decided to head inside; Michael left the apartment after cooking our meals, so Mei and I sat on my couch and just talked. The bottle of Merlot sits on the coffee table, and we talked all night. In the dark, we had fallen asleep, she lay her head on my shoulder, and my head lay within her curly black hair, the sweet smell of lavender upon her hair was beautiful and I dreamed of me and Mei walking within a field of these little purple flowers having the time of our young lives, and that smell was what awoke me. My watch read 3:45 AM, and the lights were all turned off by the automatic system, but I chose not to move because Mei had fallen asleep in my lap, her face now off my shoulder and now staring up at me with her hand clutching mine. I tried to move it, but she refused to let go, so I did not budge.

The bottle of Merlot sits upon the coffee table still, and I stared at it wondering, how this night turned out. It was beautiful, and the more I thought about it, the more I drifted into a dream world. The next day, we awoke bright and early, and Mei looked embarrassed that she fell asleep and apologized, and I told her there was no need.

"I called you a cab so that you can head home; I had Michael drop your car off back at your place if that is ok."

"Thank you, Kurt; uhh well, I should be going then." She said as she grabbed her purse and jacket. Before she left, I asked her one last question.

"So, I'll see you again soon?"

"Absolutely."

We kissed, and as I closed the door, I felt my heart race faster than lightning, and then something happened that I had not done in a long time.

I was smiling.