The worst date of my life...

An unforgotten moment of my past, enjoy!

May it be creepy or fun, few dates are so remarkable as to be remembered. I as a fan of weirdness, when it comes to think of it, the worse date of my life seems to be still cemented and carved in my memory. So today is the day I will let it out from my head to this piece of paper. For reasons of privacy and respect, identities will be kept in total discretion.

It was 2040 at night, I looked up the sky as I stepped out on the road, a habit that I have formed that helps me appreciate the wonders it hold, the stars, the planets and the galaxies. It was a clear night, with tiny dots dominating the clear sky, a night like most nights in the capital city, Maale. I felt like dawdling at the largest shopping centre, Majeedheemagu. So I was out shopping, not really sure on what to buy or if to buy. To start with I was not sure what I was looking for, just hoping from shop to shop, glancing on what they have to offer that might interest me.

After a long hour or so my phone began to ring, that familiar tone which I haven't considered changing, as it was the only tone that challenged my sleep.

I flip opened the phone to address the excited and intimate voice along with loud background music with bits and pieces of unrelated half conversations. She asked, "Aren't you coming?" I paused to think, where I was suppose to be. I have forgotten about the wedding reception of one of my close friend. I wanted to ask her what time it was but not to hurt her inner feelings and not to give any ideas on how neglectful I was, in a busy attitude I replied "I am on my way!" It was 2150, still enough time to make it to the wedding.

I hurried to my bike which was a minutes of walking distance, I have to get her a gift. I stopped at "Gift Corner". In the nick of time I decided on a burner, some candles and her favorite fragrance oil, Lavender. Just for experimentation I added few more oil bottles of rosemary, lemon and moonflower. Knowing she had a weakness for aroma I wanted her to really enjoy the night. I rushed to the counter and asked her if they have some red wrappings. I had two choices, one with pooh bears and another plain. I told her "I prefer the plain one!" As she stuffed the burner, the little candles and oil bottles so skillfully as she must have done perhaps hundreds of times, twisting and turning the box, I couldn't help noticing a name written on her palm. I suggested in a playful tone, "You must be crazy in love with the guy on your palm?" She was as I thought, shy. She looked up at me and couldn't help the smile with that look of not knowing what to say. So I gave her some space and wandered from rack to rack waiting for her to finish the wrapping. After paying, I took a note of what I was wearing, I have to make myself better presentable.

I rushed back to my apartment, hurried through the stairs, threw the gift on my bed and took a quick 5 minute shower. All thanks to my shaved head I was ready with a white irregular blue striped shirt and a black trouser within 15 minutes.

I parked my bike in a nearby road and walked my way in. There she stood with the man she decided to live for the rest of her life. I have to agree she looked gorgeous, a white wedding dress, with erratic curved laces, exposing those fair and smooth skinned hands and shoulder blades with a spaghetti strap, on her neck a white necklace of some kind of mini pearls and a tiara decorated with miniature natural flowers. She have pickled her eye brows to a neat S shape with sharp ends and her lips always look rosier in red. I knew she was delighted to see me the moment we caught our eyes, the usual prominent welcoming and wide smile. I handed over the gift to two little kids nearby dressed just like the bride.

I looked into the eyes and stretched my right hand towards the groom for a handshake and opened my usual canned line, "Congrats, and wish you success and happiness!" He smiled and replied "Thanks!" A tall guy, may be five or six inches taller than me, with curly hair. We sure have met on few occasions, he too looked smarter than usual in a white shirt, black tie, a black trouser and black shiny shoes. Some how I did not like the belt, it was black lather with a crocodile design on it. What is with the crocodile, dude?

I turned to the bride, for a handshake, smiled and said "I am hungry!", with one hand gently touching my stomach. "First lets take a photo?" This is the worse part, I hate taking my photo in public places. However, it was a day to be remembered so I slowly glided next to her and smiled at the camera men before he flashed.

While I was walking in to join the crowd, I looked around to see if there was someone I knew. The atmosphere was loud with everyone in their own conversations or dealing with their chosen meal. I couldn’t help myself but turn my glare at a glamorous looking girl with a halter-necked black dress. She was dressed in plain black and was so attractive. Maybe her black high heels were delusional but definitely she was rather tall. In a wedding when I see a girl dressed in total black it always translate as "I am not having enough sex!", so I had to take a closer look. She too was going for the main course, I guess it was my lucky day.

I walked calmly and stood next to her. I took a dish and glared at the varieties of food on the table to take a note on how I felt, imagining those inside my mouth. A ritual I always carry out that help me decide on what to eat. Within seconds, as she was next to me, I smelled a fragrance that was alien to me. Next to her she had a female friend, so I thought of a way of getting her attention. Bluntly I said "Is that hair real?" She had long dark silky smooth black hair covering her unusually fair shoulder and neck. She turned with a surprised look and didn’t know what to say. I continued with a playful smile "How long does it take to iron your hair?" She couldn’t help but smile and I thought to myself "At least she have a sense of humor!" Her friend started talking, so she turned to her.

It was time to get busy and enjoy the meal, I decided on spaghetti, with two varieties of source with a lot of vegetable salads and a portion of a fish in some kind of a source. I prefer less crowded when it comes to eating at weddings, so I took a place with the most empty seats. As I was just about to dive into my meal, I caught my attention to the black dressed girl, she was seated right in front of me. As we caught our eyes I couldn’t help but raise my eye brows, a bad habit. Her friend was constantly nagging her so I thought it wouldn't be polite to invade. After a couple of minutes I just could not help but ask "So you two have a name?" Her friend answered while introducing each others name. I turned to my dish and continues eating while linking her face with her name in my memory!

As I was just about to speak, I was interrupted by the bridge. She was standing right next to us and said in a teasing and demanding way, "What you doing with my sister?" She never told me that she had a pretty sister so it was a pleasant surprised. I said "I didn’t know you had a sister, I think she is cute!" Cute wasn't the exact word that I wanted to say, but given the situation it was the best that I could do. She added "Yes! It's been a couple of weeks since she is back, actually she came for the wedding!" She turned to the black dress girl and in a playful tone said "Be careful with this guy!" and headed back to her stand to greet some new guests.

She was a slow eater so as her friend went to get some dessert, leaving her at my mercy, I shifted right next to her and whispered "So do you have a mobile?" Maybe I was too direct, she looked at me shocked with no reply but smiling. I added "Don’t worry about what your sister said, she don’t mean it, I am 100 percent safe!" She smiled, told her number and it was the first time she spoke. I said "I will call you!" and concluded with a handshake. I enjoyed by desert and hurried back home.

If not for her sister's (bride) call, after two days, I would have completely forgotten the incident. "Thanks for the Lavender!" she opened the conversation. I replied "I hope you liked it!" She said "You bet I did! As usual!". I replied "Hmm.. As usual ha? I thought it would be better. Anyways, where does your sister work?" She was surprised I remembered her and said "Are you hitting on her? Don't dare to spoil her!" I said "No! I just think she is interesting and we could be friends!" Now she is usually not like that, but maybe she loved her a lot to become the protective sister. Anyways she finished saying "It is ok, I was messing with you. Actually I called, because she asked me about you! And I thought you wanted to know that! Call you later, bye!" The phone went dead.

I had to call her, so I dialed her mobile and it kept ringing with no answer. I thought to myself either she was busy or she don’t pick strangers calls. So I send a SMS saying "Im the 1 ur sis warn u abt in da party, call me!" After a short while she called from her room. She said "Hi!", I said the usual opening question "So how are you?" She said "Fine!" Since I was busy getting ready for a meeting in half an hour I had to conclude it fast, "So tell me, are you brave enough to go out with me?" I did sensed her smiling when she replied "Sure". So I said, "I am in a hurry but will pick you at 2030 this Thursday night! Your place and dress nice!" She might have sensed my hastiness as she said "OK! See you!" And the phone went dead.

It was Thursday night, as usual I did not had any expectations. I am always casual in my dates and so I was wearing a gray t-shirt that hung loosely over a faded light blue jeans. I knew it was not the most romantic color and outfit, as it is said that gray is the dullest and the most unattractive color in this world. A bad start, maybe, but I had my personality to carry along with me. I called her 20 minutes to 2030 to confirm and she said "I am waiting..." Good enough for me. I replied "Be there in 20 minutes! Bye!"

She was waiting at the door, I stopped next to her with a smile and a raise eyebrow. The first thing that came from her mouth with a frustrated look was, "I am not getting on that bike!" I was on my LA Custom, personally modified for my taste. Sure it was a bad start. I have zero tolerance for drama, so I said "OK! I am off!" and I rode off. Within seconds I was nearly 10 feet away from her when my conscious told me, "Bro, you don’t have a backup plan, I need some fun tonight, don’t spoil it!". So I parked right away, stepped out of my bike and looked back. She was standing there staring at me like if she wanted to take back what she just said. I slowly in my usual steps walked toward her and told her "OK! Madam! Lets walk!" and I started walking. Whenever I need to sink seriously in my thinking hat I always take a walk, so I was rather used to it but I knew she was not the type who was used to walking around. She slowly followed and came next to me. We walked without any conversation for about a minute or so and she asked "So, where are we going?" I told her "Don't worry I know where I am going!" Actually I had no idea where I was going, I was rather pissed off, but I got to go somewhere! After walking from road to road without even looking at each other my conscious came to the rescue, "Hey man, get hold of yourself, don’t spoil it, give me some fun tonight". I finally looked at her, from top to bottom, she was wearing a red dress with a sash wrapped elegantly around her torso. Her lips were painted red and fully. She was rather pale, thin, statuesque. She definitely was dressed well for me.

I looked at her, she was taller than me. So I looked down on those high heels and told her "If not for those high heels, you will be shorter than me" and gave a serious look, she said "No way! You are really short!" I smiled back at her and told her "Too bad for you, if not for that I would have asked to marry me by now!" She smiled back at me indicating she got the joke and it felt good to be back.

I gave another look at her, a complete up and down look and gave a sly smile. She was rather blushed and said "What?" I smiled again and said "You have really dressed well tonight, but I think you are one lazy girl!" She smile for a few second until she heard the last part of the sentence. "Lazy?" I added "Yes, look at those toe nails, you haven't trimmed them for ages!" She got a little nervous, shyly punched on my biceps and said "Come on! I am not lazy!" From there on she kept on telling me about all those beauty lessons that she had taken and that she wanted to be a part time beautician in a saloon. After each story, I ended it with, "Lazy, you? I don’t believe it!" and smiled.

We must have walked for a mile and I can feel her feet hurting. I thought this is enough punishment for all the drama, and it was time to land. So we ended up in 'dinemore', there wasn't much on the menu so we ordered a hot chocolate and a mixed submarine for both. That was the first time I looked straight in her eyes, innocent eyes but full of passion. I asked her about all her dreams and what she wanted to be. I read her face and gave a cold reading, most of which always come true. However, looking at her face it was rather difficult to guess her age so I asked her "How old are you?" She looked at me and said "Nineteen". No way, how could she be so young, I told her straight away "I think you are way too young to handle me!" and smiled.

We were then interrupted, by our order. I always find it difficult to get into a stimulating conversation while I am enjoying a snack. So we kept silent for a minute or two. Then suddenly with a serious look on her face she asked me "Tell me something!" Since I was still enjoying the last bit of the submarine, I looked at her and raised by eyebrow indicating to throw it. She asked, "What is with you and my sister?" I swallowed the chunk in my mouth, took a long sip from my drink and looked up at her, smiled and said "What do you want to know, we are friends!" With the same serious look she continued "Did you sleep with her?" I couldn't believe she just asked that, she was really serious. As usual I wanted to play around a bit so I said "If I say yes, is that a problem with you?" She got so nervous and with a frustrating look said in a loud voice, "What?" I kept silent with a sly smile. Then she told me "I am going home!"

She got up and started walking, I shouted in a low voice, "Hey wait!", she was on her way out. I told to myself, "Damn, I can't let a 19 year old go home alone at this hour, she trusted me to walk a mile, I can still make it". I ran to the counter, dropped 150 bucks and told the counter girl to keep the change and hurried to catch her. She was waiting on the payment, I went close to her. She was in tears and told me, "I don’t want to talk to you..." Ok I will have to respect that, I waved, stopped a cab and told her "At least let me drop you home!" I opened the door and she went in. I set in front and instructed the driver. There was complete silence for the entire trip and when the car parked next to her home, before I can pay, she was out of the car. I stepped out and was thinking should I confront her or not.

My conscious told me again, "Man, turn this around or else this will be one of those bad dates. You have never closed a date without a kiss or a hug!" I got some confidence looking at my past and so I opened the front door of her home and went in. She was just about to get into her room, I called her "Hey!" She looked at me in such a furious and hatred in her eyes, I told myself "I am not touching that thing, ever!" and concluded "Yes! This is a bad date! I screwed it!"

After a couple of days we met on msn messenger and she wrote "Nobody ever made me walk that far, there is something about you that I like a lot..." I interrupted her and wrote "wow, wait a minute! Lets just be friends!" So we are friends now but some times I still wonder, what really went wrong?