An Unexpected Arrival

Leah was a very particular person.

Let me just give you an example.

She liked her eggs in a circular shape (thus her mold), exactly medium-rare, sprinkled with half a teaspoon of salt—no more, no less—lightly dipped in Pompeii’s Deluxe Olive Oil, set on a china plate lined with parsley and basil.

You get the idea.

The only one benefit that came with being picky was that she got her way… most of the time. One of the disadvantages of being so picky was that not only was Leah picky in food, but also people. You see, this was a problem. Of all the men Leah met, she liked none of them. Either their hair was too short, too long, too messy, too neat; their nose was too small, too large, their taste in clothing was too immature, too serious, too everything. There was no one she could find.

Thus, Leah did the only reasonable thing left to do—and no, it was not to sit in a corner and cry—she went to a dating website.

She had never been so happy in her life.

“This!” Leah fervently whispered. “Finally, I can find someone who’ll fit me!”

On the dating website, Leah chose all the filters that were there. Checking off Hates asymmetrical shapes, likes kittens, prefers cats over dogs, good hygiene, and many more, she was soon left with only one option.

“Howard Nickleson…” she muttered under her breath, “that should work.”

She thought about re-ordering all of her choices, but decided that she could deal with the name “Howard”. Quickly, Leah pulled up the messaging tab and wrote her first message.

“Hey, I’m Leah. Would you be interested in meeting up sometime?”

After contemplating her sentence, Leah nodded and clicked send. She spent the next five minutes pacing in front of the computer, and then shut it off, shaking her head and going off to work on organizing the kitchen.

Soon that night, Leah checked her messages again, and there! Howard Nickleson had replied!

“Sure. Nice to meet you,” Leah read. “I prefer Gerald’s Cheese Restaurant.”

“Me too!” Leah typed. “Gerald’s Cheese is my favorite.” Leah smiled, and then thinking of the times where they had dealt with her particularness, added, “And they have great customer service.”

And so, the date was set.

It just so happened to be the day before Valentine’s Day.

Leah awoke at precisely 5:45 A.M. to the sound of chimes on her phone alarm. Usually, she would have waited exactly 15 seconds for the alarm to stop ringing, but today she was too busy. Today I will meet my true love! She thought.

Pulling on a top, she considered how she looked in the cyan color. She frowned. “Too generic,” and pulled it off.

Next, Leah tried on a gold top. She frowned again. “Too sparkly. Looks like I’m trying to show off.”

Then, she tried on a white top. Adjusting the angle, she finally smiled at herself in the mirror. “Perfect.”

Next came the pants. Leah tried on striped pants, pink pants, blue pants, purple pants, and eventually decided on peach-colored pants. She thought they matched her complexion nicely.

Her hair was then pulled into a fierce ponytail, so tight that her scalp hurt, but Leah thought to herself, I’m willing to make sacrifices for true love.

Finally, after spending another twenty minutes choosing the perfect pair of socks, Leah put on her usual pair of shoes and spent another half an hour choosing the perfect accessory. She decided on a heart-shaped pin, since it was Valentine’s Day, after all.

By this time it was 7:30, and Leah still had errands. She got into the car, noticed that the gas was half-full, which then led her to go to the gas station, then seeing how dirty it was, reminded her to deep clean her closet, something she had been planning to do. After three hours of cause-and-effect tasks, Leah arrived at the grocery store and bought everything on her list, in the exact order it was written in tiny, curly handwriting, only to find that they were out of Pam’s Whole Wheat Bread, so she had to reluctantly switch to Peter’s Whole Grain Bread. It was a sacrifice, she thought, pushing the cart to her car.

After of organizing the contents of her refrigerator, Leah then checked her watch. “Oh!” She gasped, “it’s six-thirty already! The date is at seven!” Rushing back to her car, Leah put her foot down on the gas pedal and quickly drove away from her home. She usually would have spent more time making sure that the car was perfectly aligned with the sidewalk, but she decided that her date was more important.

Soon, she had arrived at Gerald’s Cheese Restaurant.

“Hey, Leah!” A waiter called. Leah smiled. Everyone recognized her.

Soon she was situated, and ten minutes later Howard Nickleson still had not arrived. At a quarter to eight, Leah was getting rather impatient. She nibbled on her creamy havarti cheese.

Just then, the bell on the door jingled, and a man walked in. Immediately Leah knew him to be Howard.

“Hello!” Leah exclaimed, standing up to welcome him. Howard smiled and shook her hand. “How are you?” He asked.

Howard was unlike any man Leah had ever met. Everything about him was just right. His breath smelled like fresh mints.

“I’m doing well…” she said breathlessly.

Soon, they had ordered their meal. Leah took mental notes on Howard, and everything she could think of, he fit perfectly into all of her categories. It was meant to be.

The waiter came and saw the two, and sounding rather surprised, said, “Your meal is ready!” He set a steaming plate of cheesy pasta on the table, at the right angle Leah liked it.

“Thank you!” Leah exclaimed, and glanced at Howard. Howard grinned.

Thus began their conversation.

“What do you like to do?” Was the first question asked by Howard.

Leah stuttered. “I- I like to…” her voice trailed off. “I like to see things the way I like them.”

Howard smiled widely. “Me too!” He said, “and I like to golf as well.”

“Golf… golf!” Leah said. “I love golf too.”

“Of course,” Howard replied, but Leah could tell that he didn’t believe her. She decided to change the subject.

“So… um, what’s your favorite meal here?” She asked tentatively.

Howard scrunched his eyebrows. “Probably… the cheese croissant. What about you?”

“I like the salad.”

And so the conversation went on and on. Leah and Howard got to know each other much better, and at around half past nine they had all eaten so much they could barely move. Just then, the waiter came. “Check for Leah and Howard?”

Leah nodded. But to her surprise, Howard frowned.

“I’m… not meeting with Leah,” he said. “This is Sarah, right?”

Leah blanched. “I’m… Leah,” she said. “And… you’re Howard, right?”

“Yes… but you’re Sarah… right?”

The waiter looked rather uncomfortable.

“No, I’m… Leah.”

All three cupped their hands around their mouths nervously.

“It seems as if I met the wrong person,” Leah said. “I am so sorry.”

Her picky mindset immediately swirled around to all the things that had gone wrong, how embarrassing and awkward it was, when Howard spoke up.

“It’s alright. I had an amazing time meeting you, Leah. What about a second date?”

Leah blushed.

Her swirling mindset stopped.

She ignored the picky part of her.

“Sure,” she said, and the two held hands, paid, and walked out of the door.

At the table across from them, a lady named Sarah asked, “Wait… I’m not Leah…”