Love At Last

THE BIG DATECopyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

My guest – Lily – just sat in my living room and fed her eyes with the assets in it. She was a handful and a feisty one, I must confess. After I put on a shirt, I went back to the living room and found my guest standing in front of a painting I’d hung on the wall.

“Hellooo,” I snuck up behind her and gave her quite a scare. She jerked a bit and held on to her chest. “What’s your problem?” she cried out. “Shall we begin?”I made my way to my favorite sofa.

My guest was here to help me prepare for my supposed date she’d set up for later that evening. I was ever ready to learn from my master, so-to-speak, but then Miss Lily just stood there and stared at me. I beckoned on her to seat beside me as I gently tapped the space beside me. “C’mon, miss.”

“Tch,” she clicked her tongue and finally accepted my invitation.

“Let’s get started, shall we?”

She cleared her throat signifying she was ready to start the lesson. “First things first, the date is going to be at a museum, she loves art,” she said while I nodded repeatedly. “So what do you think your conversation-starter should be?” she asked a clueless ‘me’.

“Ummm…say hi?” I was unsure of what to say.

“That’s a given, something else.”

“Call her by her name? Compliment her dress, her looks?”

“That’s also a given.”

“You tell me,” I gave up trying to hit the nail on the head. “What should I do, miss?” I inquired of my teacher.

“You compliment her taste. She loves artworks, Mr., how could you not even guess that?” my teacher seemed a bit annoyed at my naïveté.

“My bad.”

“While you don’t want to be too carefree, you mustn’t be stingy with words and at the same time, you have to pay close attention to whatever she’s putting on or doing, not necessarily to comment on them, but to know exactly how to follow her up. Do you understand?” she asked me who seemed a little lost in thought. “Do you?” she waved her hands over my face while she snapped her fingers continuously to call back my attention.

“I shouldn’t compliment her so much?” I asked, completely unaware of what she said earlier. She immediately placed her palm over her face signifying utter disappointment.

“That’s not what I said, Mr. … I said you shouldn’t be stingy with words, but at the same time wouldn’t want to seem carefree. Do you understand?” she tried to explain.

“I’ll need a little more briefing with that.”

“Practice?” she offered to play ‘the girl’

“Excellent.”

“I’m Samantha and you’re you?” she stood up and beckoned me to do same. “Pretend I’m your date,” she said.

“Hey beautiful,” I smiled heartily. “Are you a rose? Because I’d love to pick you up every time I see you,” I said, feeling fly but the expression on my teacher’s face said otherwise.

“Gross,” she expressed her disgust explicitly. “She’d definitely not appreciate those cheesy pick up lines, absolutely not,” she gestured by waving a her index finger side-ways signifying a ‘no-no’.

I immediately lost my will and zeal to go further. I asked her to play ‘me’ instead while I play ‘Samantha’. I immediately posed like a girl, causing her to chuckle a bit which she immediately stopped on coming to a realization.

“Hey Sam,” she called out softly, letting out a beautiful smile which made my heart flutter a bit.

“Hello, Cayden?” I returned the pleasantry by smiling.

“That’d be me,” she said jovially, still beaming with smiles as she spread out her arms briefly. “So you love this piece?” she pointed to the direction of my TV which made me a bit confused.

“Ummm…” I thought about what next to say but the words weren’t forthcoming.

“You can’t even act as ‘Samantha?”

“What am I supposed to say? And for God’s sake, what ‘piece’?”

“Have you forgotten you’re at a museum and she’d be supposedly staring at an artwork since she loves art?” I could read the expression on Lily’s face. She was getting fed up with my naïve attitude.

“I thought girls pulled up at your crib whenever you wanted. So how is it that you can’t handle a simple date?” she asked sarcastically.

“Right?” I paused. “What if you’re just the one trying to make it seem difficult bringing unnecessary courtesies into play,” I grouched.

“Listen. This is a proper date, okay? Not some sort of fling, so I suggest you take it a bit more seriously,” she advised. “Fine,” I replied grudgingly.

“This won’t do. You know what?” she sat.

“What?” I sat also.

“Firstly, I’ll read out her likes and dislikes to your hearing,” she picked up her phone and looked like she was searching for something. “You’d pick it up from there, okay?”

“She loves flowers, hugs, cuddles,…,” she read through their conversation and paused, like she skipped a couple of lines and then continued, “she hates when guys use cheesy pick-up lines,” she diverted her gaze away from the screen and directed it towards me or a brief moment, wearing a sarcastic look. I knew the direction she headed and so avoided her gaze.

There wasn’t much to Samantha’s list. There were things I could handle to the best of my abilities without worries.

“I have a suggestion though,” I voiced out.

“What is it?” she asked looking fed-up.

“Why don’t you accompany me? That’d be best”

“We didn’t bargain for that. That was nowhere included in our agreement, Mr.,” she rebuffed.

“C’mon, think about it Lily. You coming with me can help me feel a bit more comfortable and from a distance, you could also detect red flags on my part and help dye them green, you get?” I tried to persuade her.

“I don’t get!” she fired immediately and I got up from my seat and sat directly beside her, her back against my chest. “What is your problem?” she fired as she immediately turned to face me. Seeing my face up-close felt a little bit awkward for her that I could see, so I stood up and returned to where I sat initially. That didn’t mean I gave in. I still persuaded her further and after much said, she finally yielded after I promised to pay for that specially.

It’s past 7:30 in the evening and we – I and my teacher, Lily – were both at my date venue. Out of her benevolence, she decided to call Samantha on my stead and asked of her whereabouts. Samantha told her she’d just gotten to the museum and was already inside. She reminded me of a few tips to use during the date. Finally, I was set to go.

We both went into the museum, but differently, like we didn’t really know each other. Lily smiled when she caught sight of a womanly figure that stood at the other end of the room wearing a ‘knee-length’ red colored gown, carrying a gold purse and putting on gold shoes. She called on to me and gestured towards that direction.

“Is she the one?” I asked.

“I can tell,” she replied.

I took deep breaths as surprisingly, I felt nervous. I took few steps towards Samantha and stopped abruptly when she turned around for a second to look at another artwork which laid beside the one she was admiring. I immediately recognized her – Samantha Rodrigues, a woman I’d called off my relationship with a few months ago. I immediately turned around to leave, ignoring the fact that I’d gone close enough to be seen by her.

Lily who was watching, was surprised at my sudden change in attitude. “What happened?” Lily asked in awe. “Why are you trying to leave all of a sudden?”

“I’ll explain everything later. For now, we have to go, and now!” I pulled Lily towards the exit and then… “Cayden?” the familiar voice called out to me, causing Lily to hesitate and pause to look at the figure standing behind us.

“Cayden?” she called out again but I ignored her and tried to show Lily the way out when one hand drew me in, closer and the other graced my check with a sound slap.