Love at First and Last Sight

She sat alone at the small table that was positioned so far in the corner, it almost looked like it had been placed there as an afterthought. She smoothed the wrinkled tablecloth, as she scanned the various faces in the restaurant. Her hair was a radiant Auburn, with bronze undertones, which caught the light from the lone candle in the center of the table. Despite his nervousness, he longingly traced her reflection in the window. He knew he was late, he felt awful, watching her wait on him. He tried to get a hold of himself, tried to keep his feet on the ground, but it was hard considering how light weight he felt. He checked his watch, cursing under his breath as the hand creeped further away from their appointed meeting time. He watched as the waiter once again came to her table and watched as she shrugged her shoulders and smiled. He wasn't sure what she had said, but he guessed she was telling him that her date was simply running late. She looked so forlorn as she sat there, trying not to be obvious about being stood up. He wondered what she was thinking about, wondered if she was angry at him. He wouldn't have gotten upset if she was.

As she sat in the mostly empty restaurant, she kept watching faces, hoping her date would be among them. So far all the other patrons were strangers to her. She chided herself, after all, her date was also a stranger to her, as that was the whole point of a blind date. She groaned inwardly in annoyance at the words 'blind date'. She couldn't believe she had gotten so desperate, that she'd allow her roommate to talk her into meeting his first cousin. She choked back a laugh as she thought about how she was always joking with her roommate that he'd be the perfect man for her, if he was interested in dating women. Now she was going to be meeting Ethan's cousin, who he claimed was more like a brother, if he ever decided to show up. She checked her watch for what had to be the tenth time and saw that he was almost fifteen minutes late. She mentally decided that she'd give him no more than twenty-five minutes. If he hadn't arrived by then, she'd leave with what little of her dignity she had left.

Outside he paced up and down the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. He was trying not to look inside at her, trying not to see the sadness and disappointment in her eyes. He was sure she probably hated him right now and he couldn't blame her, he hated himself right now as well. He hated that he'd been in such a hurry, hated that he'd been so excited and anxious about meeting her. Even though he'd never officially met her, he felt like he knew her from Ethan's stories. He looked up at the sky and cursed his bad luck. He should be inside, sitting at the table with her, instead of pacing the sidewalk outside in the cold November night. He looked at his watch, saw that he was now sixteen minutes late and wondered how long she'd give him before she gave up and left the restaurant. He took a deep breath, trying to work up the courage to do what needed to be done, but he was scared.

She watched, embarrassed, as the waiter once again made his way to her table.

"Miss, would you like to order something while you wait?"

She wanted to tell him off, she wanted to get offended and storm off, who was he to practically demand she order something. Instead she found herself nodding.

"Yes, actually I do think I'll order something. Could I just have a glass of water? I'm going to wait another few minutes and if he doesn't come I'm going to leave."

The waiter nodded as he left to get her water. Outside Aiden groaned, knowing that she'd soon decide to leave, thinking he simply blew her off. Aiden was so angry he wanted to punch something, preferably himself. Why couldn't he just go in, why was he forced to remain glued to the sidewalk and watch in torment as she slowly gave up hope. Why did he have to let her sit in there and think she'd been stood up? Aiden watched as the waiter returned with her water, knowing she'd leave once it was finished. At most that gave Aiden another three minutes or so, would it be enough time? He hoped it would be enough time, he couldn't bear the thought of her thinking she wasn't good enough or pretty enough.

She slowly drank her water, however she had finished it in about five drinks. She checked her watch one more time, finding that it had now been exactly twenty-five minutes. She sighed in disappointment as she reached under the table for her purse. As she was straightening up, she heard the bells on the front door jingle merrily and looked up hopefully. She expected to see her date, but was surprised to see Ethan instead. She half waved, and watched as Ethan slowly and gracefully made his way to her table. As he approached she tried to read his face, but she couldn't quite make out the emotion, although she was fairly certain it wasn't happiness. Once at her table, Ethan slid effortlessly into the empty chair and took her hands in his smooth hands. Ethan sighed heavily and looked down at the table for a long moment, before looking back at her. It may had been her imagination, but she thought he was having trouble meeting her eyes. Finally though they locked with hers and she shivered slightly as a chill went down her spine. Ethan sighed again before clearing his throat.

"Claire, I'm uh I'm afraid I have some bad news. Aiden isn't coming."

Claire sighed, knowing that once again she'd been stood up, why should she be surprised, it was pretty much the story of her life. Claire looked down at the table, too ashamed to meet Ethan's eyes.

"So I gathered when he left me sitting here for almost thirty minutes. Guess he decided I wasn't worth meeting after all."

Ethan gently squeezed her hands.

"No, Claire dear you don't understand. Aiden isn't coming because he was involved in a terrible car accident on his way here. I'm afraid he didn't survive. Right before the wreck he was on the phone with me. He was talking about how excited he was to meet you."

Ethan paused for a moment, giving Claire time to process what he said before he continued.

"In fact he was still on the phone with me when the tractor trailer ran the red light. He tried to get out of the way, but knew he wasn't going to be able. Right before it hit his car, he made me promise to let you know that he didn't just stand you up. It was very important to him that you know. He wanted me to tell you that only death could keep him from having this blind date with you."

Claire was stunned into silence, she had no words, so she just sat there staring out the window. Outside, the essence that had once been Aiden, gently placed his hand on the window. He carefully rubbed the reflection of her face and watched as they slowly began making their way out of the restaurant. Ethan had parked his car close to were Aiden invisibly waited, and since Claire had taken the bus, it was decided that she'd ride home with Ethan. As Ethan helped Claire into the passenger seat, Aiden felt the pull, which he'd been fighting since the crash, intensify and knew he couldn't resist any longer. With one last longing look, Aiden glanced in the passenger window at Claire.

"Claire, I know you'll never know, but I wanted to tell you that for me it was love at first and last sight."

As Ethan got behind the wheel and pulled out, Aiden finally gave into the pull and was pulled into the heavens. His exit was only registered by an ever so faint glittering light in the shape of a man, which looked like nothing more than rising steam to most who saw it. However, for whatever reason, Claire saw it for what it was and smiled as she whispered to herself.

"Perhaps not even death kept him from coming to the blind date."