Chapter 5
“Hi, I’m Nikki,” she was the first to say anything to the man who approached her table at Fate’s Kitchen on Wednesday. The man was right on time – to the minute. He reached his hand out to shake Nikki’s hand, as if it was a job interview. He pushed his eyeglasses back onto his nose before nervously smiling.
A moment of awkward silence filled the air between them as Nikki could tell that the man was obviously trying to think about what to say. He sat down and just nervously replied: “Oh, I thought it was Nicole.”
“You can actually just call me Nikki since I really go by that. Only my parents call me Nicole.”
Another moment hung in the air. Usually that opening line got some type of chuckle or some reaction to show that things were more casual between them. But not with this guy. He didn’t know how to react socially, and Nikki could tell. But instead of immediately pulling the plug on this date, she decided to throw him some softballs to help him warm up a bit. She was giving him the benefit of the doubt – after all, there were a multitude of reasons for why he could be a bit awkward. Maybe he was just coming out of a long-term relationship and was new to dating again. Maybe he thought she was way out of his league or something. Well … actually, those were the only two reasons that Nikki could think of to explain this socially awkward beginning. She figured that if it wasn’t one of those two, then that meant he was really just awkward. Still, she had to test the waters a bit more.
“What about you?” She asked rhetorically, hoping he’d take the lead on showing some personality.
But instead a ghastly look of nervousness overcame his expression, as if he’d practiced answering interview questions and now the heat was on. “What about me?” He managed to stammer.
“Do you go by Eric?” Nikki’s flirtatiously joking mood was being perfectly demonstrated with that simple joke. Of course he went by Eric. There was no nickname for it, and it wasn’t a nickname for anything.
A look of relief now adorned the man sitting across the table from Nikki. It was as if someone turned down the heat on his seat. A softball question which the pile of nerves knew how to answer correctly. “Yes, it’s Eric.”
There was an answer, alright. But no personality.
Nikki decided to skip her next usual quip about eating in Fate’s Kitchen and how it may show fate was involved in their date. Fate isn’t what this guy needed. Rather, Eric needed to relax. So, she skipped the opening flirtatious quip and tried to calm him down a bit.
“You know, Eric – this isn’t a job interview.”
“Oh, I know, I know.” But still, no personality came from his short response.
So, Nikki continued: “And there are no wrong answers.”
“Oh, good …” He trailed off, again inviting a cloud of silence between them.
“So, then … Eric, why did you invite me out?”
Eric’s forehead began shimmering – which was actually difficult to do in the dimly lit restaurant. But it still found a way to shine due to the amount of sweat that Nikki could tell quickly appeared once she asked the question.
Eric’s eyes moved upwards, signifying that he was thinking about what to say. Once Nikki heard the answer, she knew that he was actually having an internal battle about whether to tell the truth to her.
“Um … because I think you’re hot.”
Nikki instantly chuckled. The nervous man across from the table both had the ability to ask her out and call her hot within the first three minutes, but not have a clue about how to communicate otherwise.
With some men, Nikki would know that being called ‘hot’ at their age was an easy manifestation of being a womanizer. But that was last date. She knew that wasn’t what was going on here. No, Eric was greatly inexperienced – probably in many aspects of his life, including those pertaining to women. He probably just felt like he hit the jackpot to have a woman say yes to a date and that he was now actually on that date and talking to such a rare creature. He’d probably worked the date up in his mind from the moment she’d said yes.
Whereas she would have called off the date immediately if a misogynist had called her ‘hot’ out of the gate, this situation was different. It wasn’t really a first for Nikki, though it was definitely the most drastic example of this type of caricature. So, she did something she wouldn’t do for the misogynist – give Eric confidence.
Already, Nikki had ruled him out. But the rest of this date would no longer be for her own good. She was going to be the springboard for the guy, so that he could build up his social confidence for when his Mrs. Right comes along.
She chuckled out-loud and continued with what she intended to be both a passive way of teaching him manners as well as giving him confidence.
“You know, that’s not something you should admit right at the beginning.” She said. She then quickly continued talking before he could feel bad: “But I’ll let it slide this time. What do you do for a living, Eric?”
Nikki already had a guess in her mind. Her sarcastic-joking internal voice told her he would say ‘I live in my parent’s basement.’ But she was experienced enough to know that he wouldn’t have bought the expensive-rimmed glasses he wore if he was that specific type. So, she had a real guess in mind.
“Oh, I’m a mechanical engineer.”
Bingo. She nailed it. She didn’t know the specifics of the different types of engineers, even though she should have by now with how many times she’d asked different engineers what it is they do. But she still guessed with almost one-hundred-percent confidence that he was some type of engineer. She didn’t like categorizing personality traits too much, but his was a dead giveaway.
Again, she persisted with wanting to give him confidence. “Oh, wow – that’s impressive. What does a mechanical engineer do?”
“We design products and things like that.”
“Like tunnels or roads?”
“No, no – those are civil engineers.”
Nikki was trying, but this conversation was as dry as the Sahara Desert. Luckily, Eric chimed in.
“Hey, wanna hear a joke?”
Nikki nodded yes with an enthusiastic smile. But what she was really thinking was that the best jokes don’t need to be introduced.
“What’s the difference between a mechanical engineer and a civil engineer?” Eric was almost panting in anticipation to be able to reveal the answer – as if it was the funniest joke in the world to him.
“Civil engineers build tunnels and mechanical engineers build … other things?” She guessed, playing along.
“Nope – mechanical engineers build weapons and civil engineers build targets.” Eric’s answer was immediately followed by his own audible laughter at his own joke.
Nikki pretended to laugh. She didn’t really get it, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to get it. So she moved past it. And miraculously, that’s what Eric needed to calm down a little and open up. He needed confidence, and Nikki’s willingness to play along had given him a bit of what he needed.
The evening pressed on and what should have felt like pulling teeth to Nikki actually didn’t. Once she changed her mind-set to helping Eric out instead of interviewing to find love, she didn’t mind the repeated awkward bouts of silence. And actually, those awkward moments lessened, giving Nikki confidence that her lesson in dating was being fruitful.