The First Date - Meeting Up

David nervously looked at his phone.

Nine forty…Twenty minutes early…

He was standing next to an exit of a subway station, where he would meet Emily for their planned pretend date.

Am I really doing this?

David scratched his beard and looked down at himself.

Maybe I should have worn something different…

He was wearing his usual cargo pants and a t-shirt with an anime motive on it. David tugged a bit on his shirt to straighten it and then paused.

It’s just pretend! It doesn’t matter what I wear… It’s not a real date, you idiot! Don’t get stupid ideas! She’s just kind enough to help me experience something through role-playing what normal people experience naturally…

David scratched his beard again and sighed.

I should make sure that today is at least enjoyable for her…

He felt his stomach cramp up again, like it had been for a few days now. David hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday’s lunch and barely slept last night. But even if most of what he felt was anxiety and panic, there was some excitement as well. So much so, that he put on his least holey shirt and came twenty minutes early. Furthermore, despite him telling himself constantly that it is stupid to get excited, every time the station doors opened, he would look up and scan over the people coming out. David would do this for the next twenty minutes and then ten more.

She’s late… maybe a train got delayed…

He waited another five minutes and then looked at his phone.

Maybe I got the time wrong…

David checked the messages.

No… She even confirmed it two times… huh…

He waited another fifteen minutes and then the same amount of time again, growing more and more restless.

Maybe something else came up…

David looked up into the clear blue sky.

Can’t blame her… it’s a beautiful day… probably plenty of things she would rather do on such a day…

The one-hour mark passed, and Emily was nowhere to be seen. David looked at his phone again. The latest message was still her usual good night message from last night. Since then, he heard nothing from Emily.

Of course, she isn’t coming… why would she… why would any woman go on a date with me… pretend or not… Why did I even agree to this… should have known better…

David sighed, pocketed his phone and scratched his beard.

Instead, I get excited like a stupid little boy over the possibility of going on a PRETEND date… am I really that desperate?... I’m so pathetic…

The station doors suddenly swung violently open and a woman rushed out, completely out of breath. David flinched in surprise and his heart skipped a beat, because he thought he had seen Emily for a second, but then it sank to his knees.

Not her…

The woman had pitch black hair, the back of it messy and the front completely covering one side of her face. From what was visible she had black lipstick and heavy black eyeliner with dark purple eyeshadow. She wore an oversized black band shirt, skinny black jeans and black vans. Her fingernails were painted alternating black and purple. The jeans were ripped on one side over the knee and on the other side two times across the thighs, revealing black fishnet stockings. Around the waist were two studded belts. She looked nothing like Emily at all.

An Emo? Huh… Haven’t seen one of those guys for ages… thought they had gone extinct… takes me back though…

David sighed and watched the young emo woman looking around franticly. She seemed slightly desperate.

Is she looking for something? Or someone?

A group of people walking in between them and David lost sight of the woman.

Maybe she’s looking for her boyfriend…

He sighed.

Must be nice to have someone looking for you that desperately…

The group passed and David could see the emo woman again. She was looking directly at him, took one step in his direction, stopped, tugged on her hair a bit, straightened her shirt and then continued to get closer.

Huh?!

David now looked directly into the one visible eye and he recognized it.

No way!

Surrounded by all the black and dark purple it shone even more brightly like a sapphire than usual.

“I… am… so… sorry!”, the emo woman huffed with a familiar voice.

David was too flabbergasted to say anything and just stood there with his mouth open. The emo woman that sounded like Emily looked at the big clock over the entrance to the station.

“Fuck! I’m over one hour late! Thank goodness you were still here! I’m so sorry! Really!”, she said looking back at David. “I overslept… then it took longer to get my hair done… then I ripped my old jeans right down between my cheeks, so I had to change into new ones… Guess my ass got bigger since my teenage years… then when I finally left I met one of my neighbors… a sweet old woman and since the elevator broke down she struggled to get her groceries up the stairs, so I had to help her… then I barely missed the first subway… the one after that had to stop partway because of some technical difficulties, so we had to board a new one, which took ages. I was so worried that you would be gone already!”

David still just stared at her, blinking in confusion.

“You’re not saying anything, David…”, she continued and her voice cracked a bit, “are you that mad? You probably thought I stood you up, right? I’m really sorry! I didn’t, I swear! It was just a chain of unfortunate events… I couldn’t even text you, because pea brained that I am, I forgot my phone at home when I finally rushed out…”

She nervously stepped from one foot on the other. Her face began to twitch and her one visible eye seemed close to tears.

“You’re not saying anything…”, she said quietly and looked down.

“Emily?”, David finally spoke.

“Yeah…?”

“You… look different…”

Now Emily stared at him, blinking confused.

“That’s… all you have to say?”, she asked flabbergasted, “You’re not mad?”

David slowly shook his head, still unable to look away from her. Emily’s chest slowly began to shake then her whole upper body as she burst out in laughter.

“You’re right… I do look different!”, she exclaimed now happily and turned slowly on the spot to show every angle of her, “I think I nailed it… Still have a bit of an Emo in me it seems.”

“But why…”, David wondered aloud.

Emily played with the hair in front of her face, hiding even more of it.

“I thought since we’re doing a teenage date, I should look the part”, she said slowly, “You don’t like it?”

“No, no! You look… great!”, David quickly said, “So… you were an Emo kid back then, huh? That’s a bit of a surprise.”

“I changed a bit since then, huh?”

“Not just a bit… You even dyed your hair!”

“Yeah, I used to dye it often when I was younger and I thought, if I’m gonna do the whole outfit, I should go all the way.”

Emily’s visible eye sparkled happily, which made a rather endearing contrast to her dark outfit, in David’s opinion.

“So…”, she began and looked him up and down, “You’re the type that didn’t change much since your teenage days, eh?”

“I guess… I still wear either cargo pants or jeans with some kind of t-shirt or hoodies… back then it was more band related merch than anime though…”, David remarked and scratched his beard, “Guess the only real difference is my beard… and I’m not gonna shave that.”

“Good! Don’t you dare!”

Their eyes met and she began to laugh nervously after a few moments of awkward silence. David joined the laughter.

“Soo… where are we going today? I hope it’s not a big problem, that I’m so late…”, Emily asked curiously.

“Nope, no problem. Let’s go then. You’ll see when we get there.”, David answered and turned to go down the road.

“Hey! You are forgetting something!”

David turned around.

“What?”, he asked confused.

Emily went up right next to him.

“We’re now on a date and that means…”, she said softly and grabbed his hand, interlocking their fingers together, “We go like this!”

David looked at her hand, and his heart began to beat faster.

“Okay…”, he said with a voice crack, “let’s go then.”

They went hand in hand down the road. Both smiled but did not look at each other.