~~He was late arriving, that much was clear as I glanced up at the clock. It said 7 o’clock and our date was supposed to start at 6. Still I wasn’t really worried; I mean most guys are late on the first date. His name was Andy, and we had met at the mall the other day. He was on his lunch break and just asked to borrow a chair, that’s how it all had started. We had talked then and I had asked him to a movie. Yes I know girl asking the guy sounds a little different. Still I really couldn’t see him making a move. The way he had stood there shaking all over like some little puppy. Maybe he was embarrassed, I hate to admit it but the way he was dress was completely gross.
His shirt was torn and dirty in a way that no soap could get out, and his shorts had been no better. His hair was neat so he did take pride in that, but those shoes looked like they hadn’t been replaced in well over 10 years. The clothes were beyond me but he seemed nice and I really needed a date to this movie. It was the newest picture in town and I wasn’t going to miss it. I also wasn’t going to go to it without a date.
So here was a guy who looked like he could use a break, and I was the girl to give him one. Looking out the window I heard the sound of what I thought was a sleigh. What the heck? Turns out it was my date pulling up on a bike, and was ringing the bell. Okay let’s review some important fact here. I HAVE NEVER HAD A DATE PICK ME UP ON A BIKE. What was he thinking; it was like he was trying to embarrass himself and now me as well. I hurried out side.
“Hey there you look great.” He said in greeting. I was surprised when he handed me a flower, a daisy, my favorite. That was a very sweet thing to bring a flower on the first date, but that bike. “He seemed now to realize my discomfort and tried to cover up for this strange action. ‘ Sorry my um, corvettes in the shop so I had to bring this instead.” I was pleased by this honest reply but I still couldn’t help but feel like a complete idiot riding up there on those crappy handle bars.
We “parked” the bike by the others in the rack and headed into the theater. As he headed over to buy the tickets, I could now hear the sound of change ringing. Turns out that Andy had decided to buy the tickets with about 10 dollars worth of the stuff, almost all pennies. Okay what was up with this guy and change? Clearly he didn’t know how to use a bank to trade in for some real cash. Still I wasn’t going to complain, as we stood there for ten minutes while the poor guy counted out all the money.
The popcorn smelled good, but I was kind of afraid to ask Andy for any money. I really didn’t feel like getting handed a handful of pennies to go trade in for a bag of popcorn. He had already said I should just ask if I wanted anything since he wasn’t hungry. The theater was packed but we found a place up near the top, all the way up those stairs I kept staring at the back of his shoes. My God the backs were coming off, it was so gross. Quickly I shoved him into a seat so no one else would realize what I had just had. The film was great funny in the right parts and just what I needed to cheer me up. As far as I was concerned this date was over before it had began.
How could anyone dress and act the way he did and expect someone to take them on as a date. It had been a mistake and I was sorry I had ever met him. As we headed back to the parking lot, I had already thought out the whole goodbye speech. ITWASGREATTALKTOYOULATERBYE. There that should be good; I mean clearly he wasn’t looking for a real relationship. But as he pulled on the bike chain to release the bike I realized that he was looking kind of funny. It took me a second to realize that he was crying. WHAT THE HELL! I couldn’t believe it! I mean what had I done to bring this on. He looked at me and tried hard to cover up what was going on. “I’m sorry” he whispered. ‘ It’s I...I really owe you an apology.” Okay it’s about time, I thought and for which act shall we be saying we’re sorry for.
‘I lied to you” he started again. ‘I don’t have a corvette and at the mall when I told you I was working over at the clothing store I really am the burger flipper.” His eyes were lowered, and I could only stand there and listen. ‘You see my family, well my dad got sent to jail a few years ago. My mom she doesn’t stop home much any more so my sister and me we don’t have as much as we want to.”
His eyes looked to me. “Then I met you and you saw past all of that. You asked me out, I’ve never been asked out before, mainly because no one would be caught dead with me. I wanted to impress you because you deserve to have a great guy, and I wanted to be that guy.” I will end this story on a note of God really does work in strange ways. In a funny way those handle bars felt just fine riding home on. Good thing too I’ll be seeing a lot of those handle bars. I did mention we’re going out again tomorrow