The Dating Chronicles – The Rendezvous

The Dating Chronicles

The Rendezvous

Barb was there, but she didn’t want to be.  She felt conspicuous and obvious sitting in a hotel bar shooting furtive glances at the steady flow of people coming through the door.  She was looking for a guy in a grey suit and her stomach danced wildly in contrast to the music playing softly in the background.  He was late, and she felt ugly and discarded as she thought of why she was there. 

No real woman advertises to meet a man, Barb thought to herself, as she nervously thumped her fingers on the bar.  But the Internet had been a last resort.  She had tried the health clubs, church, the party set, and the volunteer circuit, but her search had been in vain.  Jerks and non-sincere types seem to prevail everywhere, and she was looking for a good start, someone with potential, not another “date” with only fun and sex on the agenda.

At first, after going online, she narrowed it down to two real prospects. However, all that changed when she finally met the other guy and he turned out to be physically unacceptable.

This night, she was meeting the other guy on the list and she was afraid of being disappointed again.  She didn’t even like his name.  Hank.  It had no vitality.  She glanced again at the door.  Still no one in a grey suit.

She thought of his emails and how nice he sounded on the phone.  Too nice, she thought as she remembered his offer to loan her a car while hers was being repaired.  She was suspicious of his kind manner and sexy voice, but lonely enough to go through with this rendezvous.  She hadn’t had a real date since last year when her ex-husband got lonely one night and invited her out for drinks and sex.  She had gone out of loneliness and curiosity to see if he had changed, but he had not.

She looked across the room in the mirror at herself and smiled.  She was pretty, but what did that matter?  Here she was alone, sitting at a bar waiting on a blind date, who claimed to be too busy to meet women in a conventional way. This guy couldn’t be normal….something has got to be wrong with him.  He sounds like a prize, but how could he be…looking online for a woman?…

Then it hit her, I’m a prize, and look at me, sitting in a strange bar alone, waiting on a strange guy that I found online.    And no one has even come near me since I’ve been sitting here.

Suddenly, as if beckoned by her thoughts, a man came out of nowhere and sat next to her.  He was dressed expensively in a dark suit and a dark tie.  His teeth gleamed in the soft lighting.  His face was handsome and confident as he looked at her briefly, smiled, and nodded his head in a polite greeting as he beckoned for the bartender.

She glanced at the door again, now hoping Hank would be even later.  The man next to her was the kind of guy she would order out of a catalog.  He was DEFINITELY her type.  As she sat there fidgeting to cast a more feminine pose, she inhaled the fragrant scent of his cologne.  She imagined that this man would probably laugh at the thought of advertising for a mate.

She turned to look at him squarely and pretended to be straining to see the clock on the wall.  She wanted to get a better look at him.  “Excuse me, Sir, can you see the time?”  Their eyes met and he spoke softly in a familiar voice.   “All I can see is you, Barb, and you’re even prettier than I had imagined.  I’m Hank.”