Any excuse to look at my phone was welcomed. I thought for sure it would be Cora or my sister, so I was surprised to see an unknown number. I normally didn’t answer calls like that, but this was an exception. Dave walked up to give me a high five right as I answered the call.
“Sorry, this is for work,” I told Dave before putting the phone up to my ear. “Hello?”
“Is this Harper?” A man’s voice asked.
“Yes, this is she,” I replied.
Dave stood in front of me with his arms cross. He whispered, “We’re on a date. You should get off the phone.”
I held up my hand and smiled. I did just say it was for work. We couldn't all be professional bowlers.
“Hi. It’s Gabe, from last night.” The voice filled with an obvious smile on the other side of the line.
“Gabe?” My heart flop flopped to the sound of his voice. I was a little surprised to hear from him. I didn’t expect him to defy the three-day rule for calling me. It had hardly been twenty-four hours since I had seen him last. “Hi.”
“It’s kind of loud where you are,” he said. “I can’t hear you very well.”
“I’m sorry, I’m at a bowling alley,” I explained. I took a step away from the lanes and up onto a carpeted area where it was marginally quieter. “How are you? I’m actually glad you called.”
“I’m doing well, I just wanted to touch base and see if you were free this weekend. I got an extra ticket for a certain game of a certain team, and I thought that you might like to come with me.”
“You have tickets t\o the Blue Jays?” I squealed, as my eyes lit up with excitement.
Dave was still standing in front of me, looking totally annoyed, but I didn’t care. I had just received some pretty amazing news. If a bowling strike was worthy of a celebratory dance, this was worthy of a whole dance party.
“Yep, I’ve got two tickets and I’d love it if you could join me,” Gabe said. “If not, I understand. It’s pretty short notice.”
“Are you kidding me? Count me in! I’m not going to miss the chance to see my team play at home,” I exclaimed. “That doesn’t come around very often for me.”
“Good,” he said. “The game is at six. I am unfortunately in meetings until about five, but I can come to pick you up right after.”
“I don’t want you to have to rush to my place after your meeting just to pick me up,” I replied. “Why don’t we just meet at the stadium?”
“That works for me,” he said. “I’ll see you then. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me too, Gabe.” I was all smiles and my stomach was doing happy flip-flops. “I’ll see you on Sunday. It's a date.”
I hung up the phone and slipped it back into my pocket. I was beaming and I had a giant grin from ear to ear. I had almost forgotten where I was, standing in the bowling alley with Dave.
“Did you just plan a date with whoever you were on the phone with?” he asked. “That didn't exactly sound like work.”
Even though dating was kind of technically my job, I wasn’t going to flat out lie, so I just shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I did.”
“Are you kidding me?” He threw his hands up in the air dramatically. “Who does that?”
“Sorry, Dave,” I said, feeling a little sheepish. The rudeness of what I had just done was slowly dawning on me. “I just had a chance to go to a football game on Sunday and I took the offer. We can still finish our game of bowling, though.”
“No way. This is ridiculous,” he said, as he walked over and grabbed his ball, stuffing it into his bag. He kicked off his bowling shoes and threw them in with the ball with a flourish.
“I’m sorry, Dave,” I said, watching him have a mini temper tantrum with his things. “This clearly wasn’t meant to be, though. I think we can both agree on that.”
“You’re telling me,” he responded. “You don't even bowl.”
I stared after him as he marched past me and out the front doors of the building. The effect was somewhat ruined when he stopped at the announcement board on his way out and signed up for a tournament. Apparently, I hadn't devastated him too badly.
I looked down at my shoes and started to chuckle. I was the bad date this time. I was the one who deserved to be written up and skewered for bad behavior on a date. My laughter started to come louder as the irony of being the bad date took hold.
Some of the other bowlers must have thought I’d lost my mind. I returned the bowling shoes and went to my car, noticing that the olive green Dave-mobile wasn’t there any more. He had gotten out of there in a hurry. My old car was still parked crooked, just like last night.
That's when it hit me.
This is how I can write about a good date and a bad date in one blog post, I realized. My good date with Gabe has turned me into the worst first date.
I hurried home, anxious to tell the world how I was the worst date ever.
11
Okay, Harper. Keep it together. It’s just a football game with a guy, I told myself. Your eyebrows don’t need to look perfect. Just take a breath.
I was still in my car, checking myself out in the rear view mirror. I hadn’t felt this nervous for a date in a long time. Every time I looked in the mirror, I saw a little blemish on my skin or a hair out of place. I felt like I had lost my mind.
“This is insane,” I whispered. “He’s not going to even notice my eyebrows.”
It was time to meet him. I'd gotten here early and just sat in my car stressing for the past fifteen minutes and now I was technically late. It was my first second date in a very, very long time. I wasn't sure what the etiquette was.
This must be how most people feel on first dates, I thought to myself.
With a deep breath, I pulled my Blue Jays’ cap onto my head and stepped out of the car. I could already hear the crowd inside, roaring with excitement. This wasn’t just a regular game. This was one of the biggest games of the year. Our rival team, The Crows, had flown down from Maine to try to obtain victory on our turf.
Gabe was standing at the front entrance as I walked up. He was wearing a bright-colored Blue Jays’ jersey and jeans. He filled out the jersey nicely in the shoulders. On his head was a well-loved blue baseball cap similar to mine. My eyes lit up when I saw him, and the beating in my chest increased.
Calm down, Harper. You have to play this cool, I reminded myself.
His smile and green eyes pulled me toward him. It felt like I wasn’t even walking across the parking lot. It was more like floating.
“Hey!” he said as I neared. “I’m glad you made it.”
I strolled up and wrapped my arms around Gabe’s neck to give him a hug. The smell of his cologne hit my nose, causing to smile. It was hard not to take a deep breath in of him. “There's no way I'd miss this,” I told him with a grin. “Sorry I'm late, though.”
“It’s no problem,” he said with a grin. “We still have a few minutes before kickoff.”
“Let’s hurry!” I exclaimed. “We can’t miss kickoff. I’m superstitious like that. I’m always afraid that we’ll lose if I don’t see the kickoff.”