120 Blind Dates by @Kunfabulate
The latest tick mark on the paper magnetized to the fridge almost made her burst into tears. The hot tears of frustration and the salty tears of exhaustion threatened to leave sticky trails down her cheeks. After one-hundred-and-nineteen unsuccessful blind dates, it was inevitable.
Why hadn't she just given up? Kaia asked herself that daily. Determination encouraged her to push through the pain and disappointment – she would find her soul mate. And while that was a motivator, the stronger motivation was, honestly, desperation.
Kaia Phuong had just hit her twenty-sixth birthday, and like every year since she'd hit her twenties, her mother had harped on her about finding a romantic partner. It wasn't until last year that she bowed to obedience. Agreeing to blind dates might've been her worst decision yet – but she still went on them. One-hundred-and-nineteen of them.
She had wanted to pour herself a large glass of wine, but her body had other plans. She collapsed onto her bed, face smooshed against the duvet. Her purse swung from her loose grip onto the floor. One of her heels fell off. A groan rumbled the room. She should just give up. Blind dates were exhausting – dating was exhausting.
From her purse on the floor, her phone buzzed. Afraid it might be her mother nagging on her about her string of failed dates, she almost didn't answer. But she feared letting her mother go to voicemail more than the lecture. So she crawled off her bed and dislodged her phone from her purse.
It wasn't her mother. It was Blind Date #120. A Rashad Singh, a thirty-year-old banker with enough money to provide Kaia a comfortable life. The perfect match for her, according to her mother. This one had to go well, lest she unleash her mother's wrath upon her.
Rashad had texted to confirm their blind date for next week. Kaia responded with a lie: that she was looking forward to it.
Honestly, she just wanted to sleep.
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Rashad was late.
Tardiness wasn't exactly a novelty. After one-hundred-and-nineteen blind dates, Kaia came to expect every kind of mishap and faux pas. She'd had drinks spilled on her. She'd spilled drinks. Her dates had been late. Even she'd arrived late a few times. Once, she'd called her date the wrong name. Being late was minor.
Somehow, she had managed to find the motivation to show up at the café. It was more likely, however, that sometime between one and three in the morning, desperation had slipped into the sulci and gyri of her brain. It whispered temptations that maybe, just maybe, this guy was the one. That maybe her mom was right – that he was a perfect match.
Desperation and its wicked hopes kept her seated at the table, despite his tardiness.
Her wristwatch read ten-fourteen a.m. They'd agreed to meet at nine-thirty. A drip of anxiety entered her veins with a sip of coffee. She'd had dates show up an hour and a half late. Forty-five minutes was nothing,
Although, if her dates were late, at least they'd text. Her phone informed her that she had no notifications. The fact that Rashad was tardy didn't bother her – it was the fact that he hadn't bothered to let her know he was going to be late that irked her. This was the guy that had impressed Kaia's mother? So far, he had not impressed her.
The barista approached her table for the third time. He poured her a second coffee with a strained smile. His eyes shone with pity.
"Thanks," she said, blowing on the refill.
"He a no-show?" asked Stephen, the corners of his eyes crinkling with amplified sympathy.
"This isn't the first date that's shown up late."
He shrugged, conceding – he'd seen her late dates and her embarrassing dates. While he hadn't seen all one-hundred-and-nineteen dates, he'd seen a lot of them. Did he keep track of them like she did? A tick mark on the notepad in the pocket of his barista uniform?
"Have you ever been stood up?" he asked.
Against all statistical odds, she hadn't. Somehow, she'd never been stood up despite going on over one hundred blind dates. Sure, some showed up late. But none had failed to show up at all. Maybe statistics were catching up to her now.
Kaia gripped the warm mug between her clammy hands. "Once. Back in high school."
Before the humiliation could set in, Stephen mustered a smile and said, "Well, hopefully he shows up soon."
He left Kaia to her thoughts and her coffee.
How had her life gotten to this point? She'd been successful in all other arenas: a good job that she enjoyed more often than she despised, a social life that satisfied her lonely weekends. She and her mom were close, despite the decisions she'd made that dared to drive a wedge between them. But she couldn't get a handle on romantic relationships.
High school had seen her fair share of dates and boyfriends. In fact, her steadiest relationship had lasted two years – dying only because they'd gone to different colleges and the distance chipped away at their trust, little by little. Sometimes she considered hitting him up out of the blue, see if they could try again. But the last time she'd flocked to social media to find him, he'd been happily taken. And even though she wanted him to find happiness, it still stung. How had he managed it, while she sat here, probably stood-up by her one-hundred-twentieth blind date?
The hot coffee nearly scalded her tongue. She held it out like a panting dog. It'd be her luck that Rashad walked in at that moment: to see her bouncing and waving her hands at her tongue. A part of her thought she wouldn't mind if he came in then. At least that meant he'd showed up.
But Rashad was nowhere to be found. Not even as a text on her phone.
Slowly accepting the fact that she had been stood up, after one-hundred-and-nineteen blind dates, her gaze slid over to the order counter. From behind her mug of coffee, she studied the kind barista that had served almost every one of her café dates.
Kaia and Stephen Liu had met before her endeavor into blind dating. He'd served her coffee for years at this point. It came in handy: she could walk in during his shift, and she didn't even need to order. He knew it by heart now.
Strangely enough, seeing him there, working as always, comforted her. After realizing that she had, indeed, been stood up, having a familiar face around made her feel less like a complete idiot.
She'd have to tell her mom that Rashad Singh had stood her up. Her mother would probably side with Rashad, claiming that he'd merely gotten caught up at work – too busy to even shoot her a text. And while her mom would babble on about setting up another date with her perfect match, banker Rashad, Kaia would sit in the silent knowledge that no, Mom, he had stood her up because he wasn't interested – a busy work schedule had nothing to do with it.
But it was statistically inevitable that one of her blind dates would stand her up. Her luck had finally run out. And while it hurt, it didn't hurt as bad as she thought it would.
Stephen offered her another refill, which she accepted against her wiser judgement. He cast her a tense smile. "Do you think it's time to face facts?"
Her smile came much easier than his. "I have been stood up."
The rigidity of his mouth relaxed. A genuine grin replaced the pity that had painted his expression. "Maybe getting stood up isn't such a bad thing."
She agreed, but she quirked her brow and prompted, "Yeah?"
"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "Maybe you can have a date with yourself now."
Her heart somersaulted, delighted at the notion. "That's a wonderful idea, Stephen. I think I'll do just that."
"You wanna order anything for you and your date?" The twinkle in his eyes matched him much better than the saddened sympathy from earlier.
"Bánh flan, please."
"Coming right up!"
She breathed in the coffee steaming beneath her nose and warming her hands. It would disappoint her mom, having her one-hundred-and-twentieth blind date be herself. But for Kaia, it was perfect. Maybe she should have more dates with herself.
When Stephen brought her dessert to her table, he had ditched the café uniform. Which made her ask, "You done with your shift?"
"Nah, just on break."
"Care to join me and my date?"
He grinned. "You sure I'm not interrupting anything?"
"It's just while you're on break."
For the next fifteen minutes, they spoke of failed dates. Kaia admitted that she'd been on one-hundred-and-twenty blind dates. He didn't judge her – outwardly anyway – and admitted that it surprised him that none of them had worked out – given how great of a person she was. He shared tales of his own unsuccessful relationships. And Kaia was glad that this wasn't a date. She needed the innocence of friendship after her string of failed attempts at romantic connection.
He left so she could enjoy her date with herself. And it became the best date she'd been on, out of one-hundred-and-nineteen of them. It sucked that she'd been stood up. But in having a flaky date, she discovered that she actually liked spending time with herself. As much as she would have liked a relationship, establishing one with herself was probably for the best.
And maybe someday, she'd ask Stephen Liu out on a real date.
***
120 Blind Dates by Kunfabulate
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