Chapter 1: A Blind Date

 

It’s raining outside, about 80 degrees, typical east coast humid and stuffy air like every day here in the Summer time.  Mei hesitantly put on some lipstick, and looked in the mirror. The reflection is merciful today, probably due to the low lighting; she barely could see the tiny lines that have been creeping up from the extension of her eye lids. Being Asian and at the age of 36, people still mistaken her for under 30 from time to time. “Please God, if you exist, don’t let this be another waste of time...” If Atheist can do prayers, this would be the same prayer Mei found herself repeating before every blind date from the matchmaking website. 

Labor Day was fast approaching; Mei decided to wear her white laced dress when she still had the chance before packing it away. Though the rainy weather’s not helping, it would be a shame to get it dirty. Oh well, she’s too tired to go through her closet again.  Letting her hair down and putting on a pair of pearl earrings seemed to brighten up her face instantly, and brought her confidence and good mood back at the same time. After all, this guy – Dan, seemed to have good potential from the chatting and emailing and the limited phone conversations they’ve had so far. Maybe, just maybe, this could finally be her lucky day to find prince charming!

Dan is 40, good job, divorced, and no kids. At least that’s what his profile says. Mei is hoping that he would look somewhat not too far from his pictures online. There just have been too many disappointments in the past that she is trying very hard to keep her hopes up. People all say looks are not important, but the 200 pounds difference between the real person and his “most current” pictures probably taken from 10 years ago is just too much to take in, no matter how charming the personality is. 

Mei considers herself a modest 8, for her age at least, so it would not be a fair deal to meet anyone who’s not at least a 7. She has drastically lowered her standards since she turned 35. It uses to be that she would not care to even reply to a profile inquiry if the person’s not a 10.  Well, then 35 happened, she realized that she still wanted to have kids and be a mother one day, and time is ticking, the pressure from her parents has somewhat finally caught up with her and she has unwillingly been put into the “old”, no wait, “mature” lady category by Chinese standards.

Even for a Saturday night, driving in the rain is not fun; traffic always sucks because people cannot help to slow down on the freeway just to be extra careful. Mei is about 15 minutes late to her date, which is not like her. She is always on time, she likes to respect other peoples’ time and would like to be respected in the same way as well.  Shaking the water off from her umbrella, she stepped in to this little downtown sandwich shop on Madison Ave. She picked the place because it is an easy escape for a first date, not too romantic but also quiet and nice enough for a good conversation.

“Mei?” someone called her name, following the direction of the sound, she saw Dan, standing by a window table, waving at her and smiling.  She politely nodded and walked up to him, “Dan? I am so sorry, the traffic was worse than I expected.” “Oh no worries, I just got here myself a minute ago.” Pulling out the chair for her, Dan waited to make sure Mei was comfortably seated before sitting back down. Looking at the half emptied coffee cup on the table, Mei knew Dan has been here for a while, and appreciated his kind words and gesture.

After a few exchanges of the typical meet and greet lines, they both started studying the menu and began the assessment process in their heads about the other party. Looking up secretly over the top of the menu, Mei is pretty pleased at what she’s seeing. So Dan looks just like his profile pictures, about 6 feet tall and fit for his age. He has high cheekbones and a manly chin with a dimple in the middle; it is small enough to be cute and handsome at the same time. Mei has no preference of a “butt-chin” in particular, but somehow it is an attracting feature on Dan’s face, strangely enough it makes his blue eyes pop, well, or it could also be the baby blue shirt he’s wearing.

“I have to say you look even more beautiful than your pictures!” Dan looked up and caught Mei by surprise. She quickly turns her eyes to the menu and tries to hide her embarrassment from studying his face earlier.

“Thank you, you are not bad yourself.” Wait, that came out sort of strange, Mei was a little disoriented, still trying to find her neutral state from the little episode. “I mean, you look very nice as well.” She finally found her inner balance and looked back at Dan with the confidence and self assurance she always carries w/ her to these blind dates.

With a grin on his face, Dan reached out for the water cup, while keeping his eyes on Mei, “I am pleasantly surprised, to be honest, after meeting many people who really are nowhere near their on-line profiles, to find such a beautiful and confident young lady for a change.”

“Thank you for the compliments. A lot of people say it is a special feature from Internet dating; you never know what you’re getting or who you’re meeting, kind of exciting if you are into surprises and stuff.”  Mei has to admit, she likes him. Even the cheesiest line sounds sweet and cute from his mouth. It is for a change for her as well to find a good looking, decent, polite gentleman on a blind date. Of course she’s not telling him that, she tries to keep her response as neutral as possible before getting excited too early and finds herself in disappointment again.

“So are you one of those people?” Dan seems to know what he’s ordering and closed his menu. Now Mei has his full attention, she smiled and jokingly said, “Maybe. As you can see, I have not given up on internet dating yet.”

The food was good, like always, and the conversation went quiet well. Dan was just like how Mei pictured him from the electronic conversations they have had during the past week. He’s charming, sophisticated and funny at the same time.  The topics remained casual and not too personal, everything felt right and by the end of the night, both of them didn’t realize they’ve been there for 3 hours.  When it is time to say goodbye, the rain had stopped, the outside air was clear and the humidity was gone, Mei could almost see a rainbow if it wasn’t 10:30 at night. Dan walked Mei to her car and reached out for a hug. It was a quick hug, quicker than Mei has wanted it to be, but it gave her a chance to catch the scent of pinewood mixed with a hint of lime on him. It reminded Mei of Scott, her college sweet heart, the guy she almost married, from what seemed like ages ago.

So the night went well, except, if Mei discounts the fact that there was no defined plan for a second date. Isn’t this always the age old question? It doesn’t change whether you are 16 or 61, the lingering thought of whether the boy (or man) likes you is always torturing, especially when you know you like him, a lot!

“I certainly hope to see you again.” That’s all Dan said before he left. Well depending on the person, it could mean anything from I will call you tomorrow to I won’t consider seeing you again in my life. Mei cannot believe she’s frustrated over this; she’s not a teenager anymore; Dan’s great and all, but he’s certainly not wearing shinning armors and riding on a white horse to sweep her off her feet and blind her from her logic and practicality. He has potential, and that’s all. Considering all the luck she’s had during the past couple of years, the potential just seems really big at the time.  She shakes the thought about Dan and the night off of her head, and decided to focus on the wet road on the rest of the way home, and let tomorrow worry about itself tomorrow.