She Thinks Of Her Mother, He Thinks Of Her Bride-to-be

For young couples, dates are activities that they do to get to know a bit about each other. For steady relationships, it can simply be for spending time together. Same for families; mothers and sons or fathers and daughters can go on a date for some quality time.

Of course, a person’s reason for going may vary, especially for young people who are still working their way through love and relationships. The reasons can also differ between the couple. Some may think it’s just a friendly outing with no expectations of romance. Some may even think nothing of it at all.

For Stacy and Steven, however, while their reasons and their expectations are not the same, the combination was not something you would usually hear about. She was aiming for romance. He was looking for some quality time as family.

If you did not know the two people involved, you would be forgiven to think it was a tryst with incestuous intentions. But, the pair were not family nor even related by blood by any means. In fact, the person whose purpose is romance was actually the normal one.

Or, at least, not anymore according to Steven, who is already treating this like a family outing despite the fact that he was not even an acquaintance of Stacy’s mom as of the moment.

“But that’s alright”, he said. “I heard that it’s normal for daughters to have a phase where they would want to marry their fathers.”

“Will you shut up about it for one minute?!” Stacy protested. She also wanted to retort that it only happens for young girls and not teenagers, but she swallowed it back because it would have prolonged Steven’s unwarranted lecturing instead of stopping it.

She has been suffering listening to Steven about the topic since they met for their date, too. They were barely even half an hour into it as they were still at their first stop at an optical shop.

“Now tell me if this frame looks good on me.”

“It’s okay, I guess”, Steven replied unenthusiastically. “But I’m not sure how it looks any different from the last few pairs you picked.”

“What do you mean? Look, they’re slightly different shapes and sizes.” Stacy was disheartened that Steven did not seem interested in shopping for eyeglasses with her, but she did not show it. She knew he was not interested in her, so all she could do was soldier on.

Still, she wished he at least pretended to be interested especially when he had claimed he wanted to get along with her.

“Why are we here again?” Steven asked in a slightly complaining tone but without removing his usual smile.

“I told you, I’m getting my glasses replaced.”

“But the one you’re wearing now doesn’t look like it needs replacing.”

“This is my spare”, she explained. To make Steven stop complaining, she had the idea of guilting him into being there, so she continued “Remember when you pulled my arm, which caused me to fall and have my lenses shattered?”

“Wasn’t it only a couple of cracks? I definitely don’t remember it shattering.”

“Same difference; it means I can’t use them anymore so I need to replace them.”

“But you have a spare though?”

“This is my old prescription. I can’t really see clearly with this anymore.”

“Really? How many fingers am I holding up then?” Steven asked cheekily as he raised his arm with three fingers raised.

“Ah!” Stacy reacted with her voice raised. “That’s something you shouldn’t ask people who are wearing glasses!”

“Why not?” Steven asked, sounding like he genuinely did not know why Stacy was upset with the question. “I have a friend who gets asked that all the time and he seemed fine with it.”

“Then your friend is a doormat!”

“What do you mean?”

“Your friend should be complaining to you. Us glasses wearers get asked that question so frequently it’s annoying!”

Stacy was not making a scene, but she was genuinely fuming.

Steven got the message though and apologized.

“It’s a stupid question, too”, Stacy continued with her rant. “It’s not like we’re blind. We can still see; our vision is just a little blurry!”

There were plenty more that was said, but Steven began shutting the words out since she was going in circles with her argument while saying it in different words. Steven realized he had hit a sensitive topic and made a mental note to not touch it again afterwards.

***

“I still don’t get it”, Steven declared.

“What is there to get?” Stacy asked. “The price of popcorn has always been more expensive in the concession stand.”

The two were at their second stop on their date, the movies, and they were in line to buy their snacks to bring into the theater.

“No, not that”, Steven replied.

“If you mean the movie we’re going to see, you already agreed to it”, Stacy responded ready for an argument. "We already bought the tickets!"

“It’s not that either. I mean, I’m grateful you’ve picked a movie I can talk about with your mom.”

Stacy’s left eye twitched when she heard that comment.

The movie they were about to see is based on a novel that was written by an author her mom was a fan of. She chose it because she thought it would make Steven easily agree to seeing it with her, which it did, but she did not really give the strategy much thought. She was only realizing now that it could bite her back.

Still, she kept her complaints to herself. Or rather, it was taking most of her energy from trying to fight the urge to run away again at the mere mention of her mom. So to divert the topic, she tried to continue with the conversation. She asked “So, what is it you don’t get?”

“You went to get your glasses replaced, right?”

“Right.”

“Why did you leave them at the shop?”

“What do you mean? They still need time to put the lenses in.”

“Then won’t you have a hard time watching the movie? You said you can’t see clearly with the ones you’re wearing now.”

“I told you, didn’t I? It’s not like I’m blind. Besides, I only have difficulty seeing things at a distance. I’m still fine when things are close or looking at big screens.”

“I see”, Steven said then paused for a moment appearing to be thinking.

Suddenly, without a word, he started walking away from Stacy. But, somehow, she knew what his intention was.

“DON’T YOU DARE ASK ME HOW MANY FINGERS YOU ARE HOLDING UP FROM OVER THERE!!” she shouted at him so loud that the other moviegoers stared at her.

Steven recoiled in surprise. That was exactly what he intended to do, evidently forgetting about Stacy's rant earlier.

***

Generally, on a movie date, when a couple decides to chill a bit after seeing the feature film, they would usually stop by at a cafe and discuss what they had just watched. At least, that was Stacy’s expectations when she plotted how she was going to spend the afternoon with Steven.

Well, when they sat down for some coffee, they were technically talking about the movie. But, rather than talking about what their impressions of it is, the conversation was going towards a different direction. Instead of having a back and forth discussion like what Stacy had imagined, Steven had completely taken control of the flow of the conversation and kept asking her about the things her mom liked about the story.

Stacy has not really spoken with her mom about the novel in depth, so she had no substantial answers for Steven’s questions. In fact, she had not even read the book yet so the movie was her first experience diving into the story. Even if her mom had talked to her about it in bits and pieces, she likely had paid no attention to it because at the time she would have not gotten the references so she would not be able to recall anything from them to give as an answer.

Still, with how the date was going, Stacy was starting to regret suggesting it even though it was her idea. She also felt the movie choice was a mistake.

She knew ever since Steven revealed his feelings that he was only talking to her because he was attracted to her mom, but spending a few hours together with him made it painfully obvious he was not interested in her beyond that. Her confidence in her plan in making Steven see her as a potential love interest was only getting lower and lower. It was not helped by the fact that he was enthusiastically keeping the conversation going despite her lukewarm answers.

In short, she was getting bored and started to wonder why she was attracted to the guy in front of her.

But, a quick look at his face made her remember quickly. There really was no deeper meaning. She was simply attracted to his face.

She was not sure how to feel about the boyish smile he was wearing while talking about her mother, however.

Yet, the desire was there. She started pondering if the advice her mom gave her the other day would work. Not as a serious plan of action, of course, as it would go against her morals, but just for something to distract herself and keep her sanity in check especially since she’s been wanting to run away from Steven for a while now.

However, once Steven had exhausted the topic, something he said made her snap. “I’m so glad we had this father-daughter date”, he stated.

That prompted Stacy to stand up and, with a menacing smile, tell him “Then let’s head to our last stop and go our own separate ways.”

Steven complied without complaints thinking they were going to return to the optical shop to pick up Stacy’s glasses. After crossing a few streets though, he started to notice they were going in a different direction. Confused, he asked Stacy “I thought we were going to the glasses store?”

But, she did not answer.

After the next block, he asked again. “Is this a shortcut?”

No answer either.

Then another block, he tried questioning Stacy again. “Where are we going?”

Stacy stopped and finally gave Steven a reply. “Right here”, she said while pointing to the building she was standing in front of.

“Eh?...” Steven was speechless. It was a love hotel.

Stacy, who was throwing a silent fit, cast all reason aside and decided to follow her mom’s advice.