One Date

Their Story.

My room’s a mess; messy clothes strewn across my floor, open bins and empty cans dotted around. My phone rested on my slipper, slid against my bedroom door to provide at least a little challenge for my unconscious mind. On my stool, across from my resting head, my carefully selected clothes for the date. Five fifty two ticked past and my day began. The alarm blared its usual siren, rousing me from my sleep; my eyelids heavy with sleep, reluctant to open despite knowing the day ahead. In a state somewhere between sleeping and waking, I started my day.
“Exercise…” I sighed.
I groaned as I got into position.
I nodded. “One, two, three, four…” I started.
My mind wandered.
Losing track, I paused before resuming at the last number I remembered counting. “Thirty, Thirty-one, Thirty-two…” It didn’t take long for me to finish my sets. “Two for good measure and three to get up.” I bounced to an upright position and turned to dismount my bed.
“Right then. Getting dressed.” I clapped my hands. “Forgot underwear…” I span on the vinyl floor and opened my drawer; it took the top drawer with it for a moment, stuffed further than the brim.
I shook my head.
“Tight trousers…” I pondered through my choices. “These should do.”
I finished dressing as quickly as I could, checking my watch periodically.
“Deodorant…” I checked things off of my list as I did them. “Wallet.” I patted myself down. “Can’t go on a date without that.”
I chuckled.
“Suppose I can’t ask her to pay.” I slid it into my jacket pocket.
I scoffed again.
“Right, think I’ve got everything now.” I checked my watch one last time. “Bus should be getting here in a few minutes, better get a wriggle on.”
I sighed.
My door accidentally slammed behind me as I bounded down the stairs, rounding the corner and flying through the living room, concerning my family members as I zipped past. Out the door, I started to the bus stop; from my side bag, I removed my MP3 player and earbuds. Music on, I quickened my pace, managing to reach my destination just in time to board the bus to the city centre.

Ticket in pocket, I found a seat and got comfortable for the journey; where possible, I try and sit in the same seat each journey and today, I got my preference; towards the back of the bus. I removed one of my earbuds and raised my phone to my ear.
“Hey, how’s it going?” I whispered into the phone.
I looked around as if people were bothered by my behaviour.
I sighed. “Yes I am…”
No-one cared.
“I could have… It’s a little less questionable this way.” I paused. “It’s been a while since we did this.”
The bus came to a stop.
“I’ll talk to you when we get into town.” I nodded before setting my phone back into my bag’s front pocket.

It didn’t take much longer for the bus to reach the city centre. I started walking to the front of the vehicle before the bus came to a stop. I made sure to thank the bus driver before speed-walking out of the bus station. Despite my mask stopping me from feeling the full ‘freshness’ of the air in the impromptu and rather inconsiderately placed smoking area, being free from the bus and the station felt good.
“Right then, cafe’s this way.” I smirked.
A relatively narrow corridor of small, independent shops linked the bus station to the main city centre, funnelling people to and from the more open areas.
We sped through the crowds as if we were on a mission or at least as if there was only a limited amount of time available to us; bats coming from hel have moved slower. Again, I breathed a sigh of relief as I made it to the other side of the tunnel of people and into the open. Without stopping, I looked around at how much it had changed since my last visit; scaffolding and fences had been cordoning off the majority of the area the last time I visited but now, people were free to mill about at their leisure. We continued and from the new, town became familiar once again. The high street had looked roughly the same our whole life making it rather easy to navigate.
“I wonder if the gay benches are alright?” I asked as we crossed over the bridge.
We looked over and, sure enough, they were. “Looks like they’ve not been graffiti-ed in a while.” The focus returned to the purpose of our meeting. “So… Where exactly is this place?”
“According to the googles, it should be just through that arch and somewhere on the right.” I tapped my bag. “Can always double check when we get close.”
“What do you think it’s going to be like?” We negotiated our way around a group that had decided to stand still in the middle of the walkway.
“I couldn’t find too much online. Their instagram page looked cozy…” I paused. “Do we cross the road after the arch or just turn left?”
“Turn left?” Our eyes widened then we laughed. “Think so.”

Through the arch, we turned left then continued down the road. In all our life living in this city and coming into town, we’d never been this way. I recognised it from my research on google maps but I had never seen it in person; it didn’t help that the maps were out of date too.
“If I’m remembering correctly, it used to be a hair dressers but they’ll likely have changed the signs.” I looked around, remembering the cafe’s name.
“You sure its not further down?” The question had me scrambling for my phone.
I shook my head. “Should be here.” I gestured to the vacant looking shop across the street. “Hang on…”
We crossed the road and gave the shop a closer inspection. Although it had appeared empty from a distance, it was in fact, not. A small paper sign informing me that the door often sticks was taped below the open sign. The smell of coffee hit hard as I forced my way in.
“Hi!” The Cafe owner smiled at us.
“Hi!” I parroted. “Do you do tea?”
They turned and pointed at the menu. “We’ve got a few different kinds: Breakfast, Earl Gray, Rhubarb and strawberry.”
“I’ll have a breakfast tea please.” I dug into my pocket and retrieved a few coins.
“Stay in or take away?” They asked.
I looked around the mostly empty cafe. “Stay in please.”
“Two pounds then. Do you want any milk in that and what kind?” Hot water poured into the mug.
“Just a splash of oat please.” I replied, handing over the money.
“Forgot it was a vegan place…” We thought.
“I’ll bring it over in a moment.” The Cafe owner smiled.

Her story

Our room appears to be a mess but we know where everything is and everything is in its right place… Apart from the clothes that have given us a carpet I guess… And those cans we’ve been meaning to recycle… Least we got our outfit ready for tomorrow and we’ve not fallen asleep on our phone. The bloody alarm went off and fortunately we woke up. Now for the reluctant start of the morning routine: Up, exercise and dressed.

We sighed.
We groaned as we got into position. “Three sets?”
We nodded as we started.
Our mind wandered. “So… Plan for today: Dressed, catch bus, cafe, wander? Come home. Fun?”
Losing track, we paused before resuming at the last number we remembered counting. “Ha lol!” It didn’t take long for us to finish our sets. We bounced to an upright position and turned to dismount the bed.
We clapped our hands, spinning on the vinyl floor and opened our drawer; it took the top drawer with it for a moment, stuffed further than the brim.
We shook our head. “Every time… So many choices though, what you thinking?”
We pondered through our choices, we’ve got a lot of underwear.
“Nice. Match the bra too.” We finished dressing as quickly as we could, checking our watch periodically.
We checked things off of our list as we did them. We patted ourselves down.
We chuckled. “Wouldn’t get too far without that.”
We slid our wallet into our jacket pocket.
We scoffed again. “You can bog right off.”
We checked our watch one last time. It was almost time to go.
“Get a wriggle on? Your twenty four not… Actually, you’re rather old.” We sighed.
Our adventure began with a bang as the door slammed behind us. “Bloody wind.” We were already half way through the living room. “Interesting… I wanted to watch that.” Key in the door, “Seriously, hasn’t anyone been out yet?” and we were off to the bus stop. MP3 player at the ready and the soundtrack began. “Love me a bit of the Spice Girls.” We sped up, matching the tempo. We rounded the corner, powering up the hill just as the bus pulled in. “Looks like everything’s coming up Milhouse!”

We bought a ticket and found a place to sit. Thankfully our favourite spot was free. Not at the very back but close enough and with good access to a button without having to reach over the person in front; also nice and easy dismount making getting off the bus easier. We got comfy then put our phone to our ear.
We whispered into the phone.
We looked around as if people were bothered by our behaviour. “Are you pretending to take a phone call to talk to me?”
We sighed.
No-one cared. “Why not just use the headphone mic?”
There was a pause.
The bus came to a stop. “Too right. I can’t remember the last time we went out together… Into town at least.”
We nodded before setting our phone back into our bag’s front pocket.
“I’m still here you know.” We reminded ourselves.

Wasn’t long before the city centre was in sight and, as is tradition, we didn’t wait for the bus to stop before moving from our seat to the front to disembark. It shaves seconds off of our time but it saves so much awkwardness.
“Thanks” We nodded to the driver with out thumb up. We were off of the bus and careening out of the bus station as fast as our legs would take us. “Bloody move!” The crowds were so densely packed but, eventually, we escaped. “Great, smokers.” We were glad for our mask removing most of the noxious fog. It was good to be free though.
We smirked.
Before us, the street of shops that separated the bus station from the rest of the city centre. Somehow, the foot traffic was denser than the bus station. We started at our usual walking pace but soon were forced to slow. “Wish people would walk faster… Jeez.”
When we eventually cleared the crowd we scanned our new environs. “I have no memory of this place.” Despite it not being too long since our last visit, a lot had changed. “These shops all look way too expensive for here…” We didn’t take the time to stop and just continued; there was no time limit on our date, we just didn’t see the point in stopping. Things returned to what we were expecting as we got on to the high street.
“I wonder if the gay benches are alright?” We asked as we crossed over the bridge.
We looked over and, sure enough, they were. “Looks like they’ve not been graffiti-ed in a while.” The focus returned to the purpose of our meeting. “So… Where exactly is this place?”
“According to the googles, it should be just through that arch and somewhere on the right.” We tapped our bag. “Can always double check when we get close.”
“What do you think it’s going to be like?” We negotiated our way around a group that had decided to stand still in the middle of the walkway.
“I couldn’t find too much online. Their instagram page looked cozy…” We paused. “Do we cross the road after the arch or just turn left?”
“Turn left?” Our eyes widened then we laughed. The Doctor Who flashbacks hit hard. “Think so.”

Through the arch, we turned left then continued down the road. In all our life living in this city and coming into town, we’d never been this way. We recognised it from our research on google maps but we had never seen it in person; it didn’t help that the maps were out of date too.
“If I’m remembering correctly, it used to be a hair dressers but they’ll likely have changed the signs.” We looked around, remembering the cafe’s name.
“You sure its not further down?” The question had us scrambling for our phone.
We shook our head. “Should be here.” We gestured to the vacant looking shop across the street. “Hang on…”
We crossed the road and gave the shop a closer inspection. Although it had appeared empty from a distance, it was in fact, not. A small paper sign informing us that the door often sticks was taped below the open sign. The smell of coffee hit hard as we forced our way in.
“Hi!” The Cafe owner smiled at us.
“That’s an interesting jumper.” We thought.
“Hi!” We parroted. “Do you do tea?”
They turned and pointed at the menu. “We’ve got a few different kinds: Breakfast, Earl Gray, Rhubarb and strawberry.”
“I’ll have a breakfast tea please.” We dug into our pocket and retrieved a few coins.
“Stay in or take away?” They asked.
“It’s a bit dead…” We paused, thinking some more. “Suppose it is January...”
We looked around the mostly empty cafe. “Stay in please.”
“Two pounds then. Do you want any milk in that and what kind?” Hot water poured into the mug.
“What’s the safest milk choice?” We pondered.
“Just a splash of oat please.” We replied, handing over the money.
“Forgot it was a vegan place…” We thought.
“I’ll bring it over in a moment.” The Cafe owner smiled.
“Let’s get sat down.” We chose the chair by the window.