A Blind Date (Completed)

Part 9

[ Listen to this song while reading ]

"Judging by that wine glass and your professional demeanor, you weren't much of a partier in college," She said. I felt a little self-conscious and finished the last of my wine. I might not have had quite as much as Riley, but I was a lightweight. I wasn't feeling it too much yet, but I knew I would before long.

"I guess I wasn't," I said, "Every once in a while Kim would convince me to..."

"Kim as in Hot Kim? You've known her for like ten years?" she asked. It was still such a strange nickname, though I had to admit that Kim was a beautiful woman.

"Yeah, longer really," I said.

"Does this seem like...in character for her?' Riley said, switching back to our earlier guess as to our friends' motive. "Like I can't imagine Eric doing this, is Kim a schemer? I've only talked to her twice."

"No," I said, thinking about my friend, who was sweet and kind and sensitive, "No, not like her at all. She is a lovely person." I said, being more honest than maybe I should have.

"So weird," Riley said, placing some sort of fried puff ball into her mouth and chewing, "Oh God!" she said, spitting it back out into her napkin, "Not nearly as weird as that!" I laughed so loudly that people in other booths looked over and I quickly quieted, though I leaned in towards Riley and kept laughing.

"I think it was some sort of sea food," I said while laughing.

"I think it was locker room feet and burnt hair!" Riley said, causing me to laugh again, "god damn hipsters and their weird ass food." She finished ruefully.

"At least it's free," I said and Riley raised her glass. I found my glass of wine and the new bottle, and decided to join her.

I suppose it would be tedious to go over the conversation we held at dinner at length. Not to say that the conversation was tedious, far from it. Just, that the blow by blow is not necessarily essential to the story here. A few more appetizers came and eventually our gigantic meal arrived. There was far too much food to eat and soon we were both stuffed.

The whole while, we carried on a lively conversation. Mostly I spoke about work, because it was really the only thing that I had to talk about. I felt bad, like I was boring her and also driving home to myself that I had no real life. But Riley seemed genuinely interested both in my job and in me as a professional (as well as a person). She asked me for professional advice and I got the feeling that despite her slacker appearance, that she had large ambitions for herself. And the acuity of her questions indicated that she had the perceptiveness necessary to achieve those ambitions.

Regardless, I didn't need to worry too much if I was making boring conversation, as Riley spoke enough for two. I learned that Riley was one of six children, the youngest. I learned that she grew up in an outer suburb of the city and that her parents had nearly disowned her when they learned she took a job at a secular record label. She jokingly said that she couldn't tell if her father was angrier that she'd chosen to work in a "sinful" medium or that she had chosen a profession in a field ripe for extinction. Her mother, whom it was clear she hated, revered, and loved deeply all at the same time, had just feared for her soul. She explained that she convinced them that it would be both a chance to spread the word of God and also to learn transferrable business skills and they had relented. All of Riley's stories were uproariously funny, even the ones that should not have been. Despite the monopoly she placed on conversation (which grew more overwhelming she drank) I wished I could hear more about her. I found her absolutely fascinating and undeniably cool.

The whole while we were talking and eating we were also drinking. About an hour into our "date" we had ordered a third bottle of wine. This was a cheaper bottle (we decided to take it easy on Kim and Eric because we were having fun) but it was arguably stronger than the first two. By the time we both abandoned attempts to finish eating, we were both pretty well drunk. Riley suggested that, instead of buying a dessert, which we couldn't eat, that we head to the bar and "drink" our dessert. Normally, I would decline such an offer. I never much liked liquor. But I was already drunk and eager to extend my positive mood and Riley's attitude was absolutely contagious. So I agreed and we moved back. I can't remember if I had two or three shots of tequila before, I came to my fateful realization for the night, but I remember how it happened.

Riley and I were sitting on the far left side of the bar, we both had a shot of tequila in our hands, as I remember it, and I was laughing at something that she had said (though I can't recall exactly what it was, she made me laugh a lot that night). I was feeling more loose and uninhibited than I had in years. Maybe ever.

"Okay look," Riley said, "It is a simple sequence. First, the salt. Then the tequila. Then the lime. Last time you did it backwards, and you have to do it right."

"Will I not get drunker if I do it in the wrong order?" I asked playfully.

"No. And you'll prove once and for all that my dream of opening a drinking school is dead as I lack the capacity to teach drunks," she said and I smiled. She was standing up at the time, just barely resting her ass against the bar stool. She sort of towered over me as she instructed.

"Well I'd hate to do that!" I slurred, "Okay, tequila, lime, salt." I said. I can't remember if this was a joke or I really didn't remember.

"No! Salt, tequila, lime. Watch!" Riley said. She quickly licked salt off of her wrist, pounded a shot of tequila, and finished it off with squeeze of lime. Her face contorted in agony. Why do people do this? "See, easy."

"Right," I said, "Lime, Salt, and then Lime,"

"You didn't even remember tequila that time!" Riley laughed and then she pushed away from the bar, "Okay, do not drink that in the wrong order. Just wait for me. I am going to run to the little girl's room, I am going to come back and get another drink, and show you how this is done. Got it?"

"Got it. Get another drink, go to the bathroom, show me how it's done," I said, purposefully mixing the order this time (I promise). Riley laughed and slapped my arm playfully.

"You've got some weird ideas Ash. You figure out the bathroom on your own when the time comes," she said and then turned to walk towards the bathroom. As she walked away I found my eyes follow her. I noted the way her hair cascaded messily down her back, the feminine narrowness of her shoulders, the way her figure sloped down from her armpits to her thin waist, and then ballooned back out in an hourglass shape. The swell of her ass in her tight jeans and the way her legs looked long and delicate in the denim. In short, I was checking her out and found myself...liking what I saw.