Chapter 19: See You

Arthur leaned in and was about to kiss Rachel, when all of a sudden both their dates appeared and separated them.

“Our food’s been here for a while,” said Henry. “You’ve got enough money to pay for your special, right?”

“What took so long to get me a glass of wine anyway?” Jane asked Arthur. “Did you become distracted and lose your way?” She sensed that something was going on between Arthur and Rachel and her impatience with him became anger towards her.

The charm had broken. The magic had ended. Both Rachel and Arthur exchanged glances of profound regret and slight embarrassment as they were led back to the dates they had escaped from; they had shared an almost something special only to return to settle on a definite and ordinary mediocrity. For those few moments at the bar, they escaped a lack of compatibility with their bad dates and got a taste of what the truly magnificent world of their togetherness after Arthur’s still fresh apology could be like.

Back at the table with Henry and Rachel, the earlier silence between the two was replaced by the swinish sounds of him slurping down his lukewarm spaghetti and the unappetizing vision of him mopping up the remaining sauce with both slices of bread that came with the spaghetti special. By the time she returned, he had already consumed his plain iceberg lettuce salad. Once he finished his meal, he seemed content. For him, this was an acceptable night out with a woman.

He noticed a few spaghetti sauce spots on his long and thick, removable, Kelly green tie. He used it as a napkin, having forgotten that his napkin had safely made it to his lap earlier. After he dabbed at his mouth, then clipped it back. As though that was not enough, he began to loudly suck his teeth then use a tooth pick at the table to eliminate the remainder of his meal from his teeth while still seated at the table. “What a winner!” Rachel thought.

On the other side of the restaurant where Arthur and Jane were seated, things did not seem much better. A few times, when she was able to make eye contact, she shot Arthur a couple of knowing glances. And he responded in kind.

The loud and ongoing sound of Henry’s subsequent burps and the very unpleasant odor of his farts brought her focus back on her disappointing date as what made for the worse date ever.

“I think they serve fish and chips for Friday night’s special. Are you free tomorrow?’

“No. Let me be clear. I’m not interested...not in a second date with you tomorrow or any other day.”

“Why not?”

Rachel could tell by his tone that he was about to use guilt and begging just like he did at the pub, what she now thought of as his “telemarketer technique”. She had experienced him twice and did not wish to do so any more ever again. In this case, the third time would not be the charm, but the third strike and he would be out of the game. Why wait when she was certain now that they were not a love match? She did not want to lead him on or suffer any further.

She remembered what Arthur said at the bar: she could do better. She knew this was true, and if given half the chance, she would leap at the chance to do better indeed... with Arthur.

“I’m simply not interested in you in that way. I’m going to catch a taxi home.”

“But I brought you to this nice restaurant. It could become our place.”

“Not if I’m not here with you. Then it’s just your place...alone.”

The last word ‘alone’ seemed to rub him the wrong way and set him off. He stood up and started to make a scene.

“You are a selfish b*tch. I brought you here for a date. I thought you wanted me. All you seem to want to do is break my heart. Why did you accept the drinks that I bought you at the pub?You knew what you were getting into. How dare you treat me like this? I groomed for you.”

He continued to make a scene by escalating his drama and raising his voice while standing on his chair and ranting and raving, continuing to verbally attack her before the entire audience of the restaurant.

By this point the manager came over to the table and asked if there was anything he could do. Rachel responded with a request for a taxi cab home as Henry continued from on high to lambaste Rachel and draw the negative attention of the other couples in the restaurant who were now trying to tune him out and make the best of their own versions of their abysmal Thursday date night.

“Miss, your taxi has arrived,” the manager came back to tell her.

He had a message for her obnoxious dinner companion, too. “Sir, there are complaints about your behavior. If you continue to disturb the other guests at the restaurant in this or any other negative manner, I’ll have to escort you out and ban you from ever returning to this fine establishment. Don’t make me call the constables.”

The manager excused her bill and she thanked the manager for the unique restaurant experience. By the time she left, a busboy and a waiter were trying to bring an out of control Henry down from standing on the top of the chair to stepping down the floor.

She left the restaurant happy to finally escape Henry, but disappointed that the kiss failed to happen between her and Arthur. All of the patrons were focused on Henry, but she noticed that there was one pair of eyes on her: Arthur’s.