NUTS

Rhiannon Bird

          “Not much to tell now is there,” I let out an awkward laugh. That’s the line that I went with, what is wrong with me. I had to save myself, “So where do you work exactly?”  

          “I don’t believe in defining yourself as just a job, a person is more than that.”  

          “Oh right…. okay…… but I wasn’t defining you…… just curious……. you know.” He raised his eyebrows then looked down at the menu.  

          “Shall we order then.” I nodded not trusting myself to speak. He ordered something that sounded French and fancy. Biting my lip I looked down at everything there. I couldn’t even see the thing he’d ordered.  

          “And you Ma’am?” The waiter asked.  

          “Can I just check that there are no nuts in the steak dish?”  

          “I believe not.”  

          “Ok check that with the chef and if its still a no then I will have the steak. If there is nuts then come back and I’ll order something else.” He nodded in that fake way that people do when they are annoyed at a request. I looked back over at Henry and freaked out. Then it just kind of fell out of my mouth; “I’m just going to go to the bathroom for a second.” I stood quickly and turned away. As I tried to calm my rapid breathing I failed to see a fallen spoon. I stepped right on it and went crashing to the ground. My first thought was now I’ll have a bruise on my ass to match my knee. I snuck a look behind me, Henry was not only looking at me but he was laughing. My face turned completely scarlet and I scampered away to the bathroom.  

          I splashed some water on my face to try and reduce the redness. “Come on,” I said to myself in the mirror. “It is just a blind date. You can do that, you can handle that. Be normal for tonight. Be cool.” I could do that. I straightened out my dress, I could keep my cool. When I walked back out I walked very carefully. No falling over this time. I spent so long recovering and psyching myself up that the food had arrived. “What are your hobbies?” I asked, that seemed like a solid question, safe. He started to babble on about skiing or surfing, something like that. I just focused on this steak; it was very tough. I couldn’t help but think the waiter sabotaged me.  

          “Do you want to try it?” Henry asked. I blinked apparently his speech had somehow led to him offering me some of his food. I blinked.  

          “Oh, sure.” I put the fork full in my mouth fully ready to nod and tell him how great it was. But instead I spat in across the table. Swearing I grabbed for my bag but it fell off the table. I followed it to the floor. I wrapped my handed around my EpiPen. Thank god. I injected myself and breathed a sigh of relief. How could I have been so stupid, always check for nuts in food. Especially with someone who doesn’t know about my allergy. I stood up and Henry was gone. Wow, of everything that happened he chose when I was dying to leave. He didn’t pay either, what a class act. I rolled my eyes, all that worrying was for nothing. I guess this is why people never go on blind dates. They get embarrassed, bruised and in my case poisoned. Well aren’t I lucky. But I could help thinking that if this was when he chose to disappear maybe I’d dodged a bullet.  

          “That was quite a performance,” I looked up to see a very handsome man speaking to me. He had spark in his eyes that snagged me. “That guy looked too pretentious anyway. So maybe I could take you out some time. I promise I’ll pick somewhere a lot less intimidating.” He smiled down at me. I smiled at him, he seemed nice. A lot nicer than Henry anyway. They do say everything happens for a reason. So I gave him my number and I left with the feeling that blind date was not a complete waste of time.      

End