A Blind Date (Completed)

Part 2

The restaurant was dimly lit and with what appeared to be bare bulbs hanging down on wires from the 15 foot ceilings. I looked around the room and saw that the dining area was very deep and narrow. I looked in the back of the room and saw a wave-shaped bar against the back wall, it was also dimly lit, though it had a somewhat green color. There were tables against both side walls, so that one person would sit on a chair facing the wall and another person in a booth seat across from them. There was a narrow hallway down the middle between the backs of all the chairs. The door entered on the right, front side of this dining room and the hostess' stand was directly in front. I looked to my left as I walked in and saw one booth against the large window pane in front of the restaurant. The hostess smiled at me.

"Good evening, welcome to Apple, do you have a reservation?" she asked sweetly. This was, by far, the trendiest restaurant I'd been in since I'd entered my thirties. I looked around the room and saw a large crowd of hip people talking quietly. How had Kim and Eric thought this place would fit me? If I was going on a date with someone who would like this place, how could he fit me?

"I uh...I am meeting someone here. My friends said you'd be aware..." I said. God, was there anything more mortifying than that? 'Hello, I am a grown woman going on a blind date; I was told this restaurant had a separate "desperation" section with a separate ventilation system...'

"Oh, you're one of Kim's friends," the hostess said and I blushed, "How is she doing?"

"Fine," I said awkwardly. Glad to be the center of attention here.

"She used to bartend her like two years ago, I hadn't heard from her for a while before she called to set up this reservation," she explained. I had forgotten that my close friend Kim had taken up bartending for a couple of months after she quit teaching and before she became an accountant.

"Oh yeah..." I said. Not certain what I was supposed to ad.

"So are you Ash or Riley?" She asked.

"Oh, uh..." I said, I hadn't expected that. I hadn't known my date's name. I was just told to show up at a time and what to say to the hostess. But it was surprising that we both happened to have androgynous names. I suppose either Ash or Riley could be a man's name, or a woman's name, "I am Ash."

"Well you are the first one here, let me show you to your seat," the hostess said. She grabbed two menus and a wine list. She quickly moved from behind the stand and beckoned for me to follow. She led me right to the booth in the window. She pointed to the seat where my back would be to the door and I sat down.

"Thank you," I said nervously.

"When you date arrived I will show them to the table," she said then she turned and left. I slunk down in the booth and looked at my watch. It was already 5 minutes after 9. I thought I was going to be late. Maybe "Riley" was blowing me off and I could go home and watch television in my pajamas like a normal, happy Friday night.