A Blind Date (Completed)

Part 3

How had I let Kim and Eric talk me into this? Kim and I had gone to college together, freshman roommates in fact. She was pretty much the only person from college I kept in touch with. She was still my best friend in the city, maybe in the world. And Eric was her husband, they'd met junior year. I hadn't liked him much at first, but he'd grown on me. All of that was to say that they'd both known me for around 15 years. They knew I'd been more relieved than anything when I'd decided to give up on dating six months ago. Kim, and I suppose Eric, had heard all of my horror stories about deadbeat boyfriends and awful dates.

Yet here I was, sitting in a booth waiting for some guy named "Riley" from Eric's office to show up. I had resisted this date for three solid weeks. I remember the first time it came up, Kim and I were sitting on the couch at her place, Eric wasn't yet home from the office.

"So, what are you doing this weekend?" She'd asked and I'd snorted.

"Working, were you under the impression I get weekends?" I asked. I worked around 70 hours a week, usually ten hours a day, every day.

"It is supposed to be nice out this week, you should take a day off, relax," Kim had said. She kept her eyes on the television, but I saw her look at me out of the corner of her field of vision, gauging me.

"I don't have the time," I said. Now it was Kim's turn to snort.

"You've been at that office since you graduated from business school and you've never taken a day off. You must have a solid month of personal leave and a month of sick leave all saved up," she said. Actually, it was a lot more than that. But I liked to be busy and liked to work. Besides, what did she care if I didn't take my sick days?

"Yeah well, there is a lot to do this week. They really can't be without me this weekend," I said in a voice that indicated I didn't want to talk about this.

"So said every office drone ever!" Kim shot back. I turned and looked at her now and she turned too.

"What?" I asked.

"What what?" she asked.

"Why do you want me out of the office on Saturday? This isn't another ill-fated surprise birthday party is it?" I asked, referring to a notorious event ten years earlier in which no one except for Eric had showed up for my surprise party. Not even me. Everyone stuck in traffic. Kim laughed, probably remembering that day.

"No, it isn't even your birthday for a month."

"That's what makes it a surprise," I replied.

"No," Kim said, getting a little more serious now, "In all honesty, Eric said there is someone at his office who he thinks would be absolutely perfect for you and..."

"No, thank you, but no," I'd said.

"Come on," Kim said, inching closer to me on the couch, "Consider it a favor to Eric."

"Eric owes me six favors already remember? Three trips to the airport, babysitting your son twice, and babysitting your dog once," I noted.

"Then as a favor to me, he said this person would be perfect for you. It could be fun," she said.

"No," I'd said again.

"Come on, just hear me out," she'd pleaded. I found it sort of off putting and I decided to put an end to it.

"I don't want to talk about it," I said, loudly and rudely and then I turned back to the television and made it very clear that the conversation was over. And with that she'd dropped it. But every night for the next two weeks when I saw her, or spoke with her on the phone, she'd gently broached the subject again. She'd be quiet about it whenever I told her to drop it, but she'd always find a way to bring it back up again. She was really driving me insane.