Date 2

“That’s my secret, I’m always early” She said, yes she was making a reference but it was still smirk worthy. She had on a navy jacket with some black leggings. Inside the car I couldn't really tell much else but she still looked nice. She had some quiet pop that I hadn’t heard before. So far who she was at school and who she was here hadn’t been the same person. It was refreshing. Regardless It was difficult for me to think about how I want to engage socially whatsoever. We got to the gate to my complex and I felt her hand on my shoulder.

“Breathe, just focus on the music. I’m not going to leave you stranded and make fun of you okay?” She was looking at me with a smirk. She meant it. I sunk into the seat a bit more and put my head back, closing my eyes. I just focused on the music. We were silent all the way to the restaurant. It took me a minute to realize we had stopped. The subtle rumble of the engine had stopped. She had put her hand on my arm again and lightly shook me.

“We’re here, let’s go.” Looking over she smiled briefly and turned off the car all the way. Unbuckling we got out to a restaurant I’d never seen before.

“What band was that?” I said looking over at her. Her blouse was a light teal. She looked great.

“Valley, they’re canadian.” She said walking over and leading ahead of me.

“What is this place?”

“Pauper’s and we got here before the storm.” Walking into my first date. Was far more pleasant than expected. The restaurant had calm vibe and gave off the sense that this place was a small but carefully tended to business. All Ashley had to do was hold up two fingers and walked right by the front counter to a table. There were big rollup doors with windows in them that gave a nice view of the park across the street. Sitting down I got to actually see her up close in a way that was far more personal. She had long hazel hair that was wavy and flipped over her shoulder. A tie holding it together at her shoulder. But it reached down to her chest. She had just a few freckles but just the nicest facial structure to frame them. Her eyes had a moss green color to go with her tanned skin.

Eventually a waiter came over and put water down for us and a drink that I could only guess was coffee in front of Ashley.

“What can I get for you?” he asked.

“Uh… let me lo-”

“Get him a smoothie Rob,” Ashley interrupted and the waiter departed.

“Okay…”

“Start looking at the menu to figure out what you want.” I began to wonder if we’d ever talk about why she asked me out, or really anything. Eventually my smoothie arrived.

“Mmm. This is great.”

“It’s a mixed berry smoothie. I always make sure people get it when they come here for the first time. You know what you want?”

“Ya I think I’ll have the French toast.” I didn’t even notice our waiter Rob had stuck around till he took my menu.

“So uh, how was your Saturday?”

“Good, practice was practice but there isn't much I can change about that. But!” She took a sip of her drink and put it back down with emphasis. “What’s going on with you?”

“What do you mean?” I was flustered to put it lightly. Almost like I was on the defence.

“Well, you haven’t gone to any of the dances during our time at a school. You don’t sit with anyone at lunch. And when I complimented you you looked like you wanted to run for the hills. I get someone getting lost in their work. But there’s more than that with you.” She was right so far. I think I was getting a bit floaty.

“And I just wanted to say that I like your work and you’re pretty cute. So I figured I’d attempt to talk to you in private to say: If you want someone to talk to that won’t care about whatever it is you feel shame over. I’d like to be that person.” She put her hand on mine and smiled.

“Why? I mean, you could have a lot of different guys. Why me?” I was awestruck.

“All the guys and girls you think of, don’t want me for me. They want me because I can get them into the cool kids party with the other cheerleaders. They want me because I’m hot. Not you though. I can tell unless someone does something to set you off you treat everyone with a degree of compassion and hope that other people don’t. I know this because of your friend Tanya. We were in grade school together.”

Fuck, I never knew that. Tanya and I were desk neighbors in a ton of art classes. Her last name was just ahead of mine so we’d often end up next to each other for different stuff. She was a good artist and a nice friend.

“I asked Tanya about you the other day, she said that you were a good guy. And that she wasn’t just saying that for the sake of not talking shit. She genuinely thought you were a nice person and a solid artist.” Taking a sip of her smoothie she had a smirk.

“She also hounded me within ten seconds of me asking to ask you out.” Immediately I was shocked in a very visible way. “Tanya said you were way too shy of a guy to ever approach me! So… that’s how we got here.”

Tanya was always a good friend but I had no idea she thought of me like that. I’ll have to thank her for that. Ashley had thrown me for a massive loop. This wasn’t. Anything, I could have dreamt of.

“I, uh, thank you. I don’t know what to say. I’ll have to thank Tanya for thinking of me that way.”

“That’s a good idea. Sorry if I threw too much at you at once.”

“Ya it’s. Alot. But I still appreciate it. I haven’t had people in my life who’d do anything, well like this.”

“It’s not a common thing. Tanya is a bit of that friend with me.” She took a pause, a deep breath. “She’s gotten me through some really difficult stuff.” Ashley began staring into the distance. I didn’t know if I should help or let her go. I reached an arm up and she snapped back.

“But if she can do that with me, I can do that with someone else. And with you it seemed like a good idea.” Her smile calmed me down. It was a light that guided me to shore. Deep breath Mike.

“I have no idea what I'm doing when we are done with school. And just thinking about it stresses me out.” Our food arrived and we began to eat. It was probably the best french toast I had ever had. The bread wasn’t a white bread sized slice but a few thinner pieces that had openings in the center. Which were filled with a cinnamon spread on the inside. It wasn’t nearly as eggy as other ones I've had either. We spent the rest of the breakfast talking about my situation with post school life and what I could do. By the time I was done rambling about what was going on with my dad and I she was done eating and I was only half done.

“Less of the talking for you. Eat.” She pointed out as I was taking a breath to pause after I had finished talking about my dad’s surprise at this morning.

“I’m glad you are at least aware of as many different factors of this that you can be. A lot of people just put that sort of thinking off till it’s too late.” I pointed my fork at her to agree.

“I’m probably gonna just go to the local junior college to get started on some sort of degree then move on from there.”

“It’s the moving on from there part I’m unsure about.” I said covering up the last bites of my current mouthful.”

“Well don’t give up on it now, I for one think in a year you are gonna be in a pretty good space.”

Putting in my next bite: “What makes you think that?”

“Well, your art is really good. Your dad might get a promotion. You might be able to get a side job or do art for a living. All that to say you’re in the emotional stage of tackling a problem. And it’s good and valid to feel those emotions. But in time you’ll move to being able to look at the problem with hard logic and solve your way out of it.”

I had slowed down my chewing once she got done listing off potential things that could happen. I suppose she was right. I always thought of myself as being pretty logical. But apparently I was wrong.

“I also think you could use some self-confidence. When someone compliments your work they are trying to say they like it. You’re a good artist. Mr. Leeman wouldn’t have such a good relationship with you if you weren’t.”

Nearing the end of my breakfast I was just, stopped. I knew all this but, hearing someone else say it was refreshing. I needed more time but. It was good to hear. The waiter came by and took our plates, boxed mine up.

“C’mon, do you have it in you to go for a walk or do you just wanna go home?” Standing up she extended her hand to pull me up. Taking it she was warm, I grabbed the box of food and we started walking.