What Are The Odds?

God she's still so pretty. I thought to myself. I hadn't seen Mackenzie for years at that point, I guess not since our statistics class sophomore year of college. Now she was working at the same restaurant as me? That's just fate right there. And she must've had the some kind of pull during the hiring process because I totally lied on my application `and still got the job. I must say, I truly was shocked when I got the acceptance phone call. But hey, never look a gift horse in the mouth.

But, during this particular thought, I was glancing at her from the register in between customers watching her brew a vat of coffee. How can someone make an apron look so good? Her brown hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and her smile brought so many more people to her register than my goofy teeth ever brought to mine.

She really was so pretty. At that point it had been about six years since I'd seen her I guess. Glad to see we were both doing something stupendous with our expensive degrees. But I honestly had thought I'd never see her again after we graduated. And in the years since then I'll be honest, I kind of forgot about her. But hey, Mr. No Cashier Experience here still got a job so I guess she remembered me.

I had to psych myself up for a few days before I asked her out. I didn't have the guts to do it in school. She was intimidatingly smart and we didn't talk much unless she was giving me some pointers in probabilities. But who knew how long either of us would be working at the restaurant? I had to at try, right?

Now, because of the fast pace of this place, there wasn't a lot of free time to talk to coworkers for much other than legitimate work. And the first few days involved me being trained by some dude named Chris who spoke to me like he was the smartest guy ever. Whatever man, I know smart, and she's not him.

Finally though after making a plan with albeit a cheesy statistics pickup line, I caught Mackenzie at a free point in our shift thanks to the after lunch lull.

"Hey Mackenzie!" I greeted.

"Oh, hi Anthony, how are you getting along here so far?" She responded.

"Pretty well! Thanks! So listen, I was wondering, what are the odds of you coming to dinner with me tomorrow night?"

"Like as a date?"

"I mean, preferably, yes, but I think it'd be cool if we just hung out outside of work even in a strictly friendly way."

"Oh, ok, yeah sure! I can do dinner tomorrow night as long as it's after 6:00, sound good?"

My heart did a back flip.

"7:30 sound ok? I can pick you up if you'd like."

"7:30 is great but I prefer driving myself, only because I have to pick up my car from my sister's anyway."

"Yeah that's totally fine. Can I have your number?" I had to hope I didn't seem too eager but I'd been waiting for this since I was 19 years old.

She wrote it out on some receipt paper and I tucked it gently into my back pocket. The small slip feeling more valuable than a check for $1,000,000 as I walked back to my register to help a customer.

We didn't text much that night but I still hoped she was as excited as I was for the next day.

Our shift seemed forever long. So many people came in just for breakfast alone, lunch seemed to be almost doubled. Not to mention since we both got off at 4:00, I'd have to wait almost four hours to see her again. But I knew I could wait.

Finally the clock struck 4:00 and I clocked out in record time and was in my car on the way home within about 30 seconds.

I got home and showered, spending extra time lathering up my hair with shampoo and conditioner. I trimmed up my beard, spritzed on some cologne an ex had once complimented, and even gelled my hair into a style rather than the normal blonde curly mess it normally was. I put on a nice button up and some khaki pants, and I'll be honest, I looked good. I was feeling confident and bouncing around the house ready to get into the car and go when I noticed... it was only 6:15. Damn it.

So fine, I did the dishes, vacuumed, and dusted. I don't think I've ever dusted anything in my life. 7:00 on the dot. I smiled ear to ear and got into the car ready to go to a little Italian restaurant we'd agreed upon.

When I got there and found a table for us, I didn't have to wait long before Mackenzie came in looking absolutely radiant. I mean, she wore a white top and a pretty green skirt with black heels, her hair was curled and framed her face so perfectly. She smiled as soon as she saw me and gave a small wave as she walked over.

"Hey!" She said happily.

"Hello! Here, let me get your chair for you." I jumped up and pulled her seat out and pushed her in.

"Wow, what a gentleman you are. Thank you."

Nice. Now to impress her like that all throughout dinner.

The waiter came over and we got an order of bread sticks to start out with, and laughed as I just got he exact order because I had never been to the place we were at.

As we ate our bread and waited on our twice baked lasagna, we got on the topic of school, and I felt butterflies in my stomach as soon as she started asking me about it.

"So what did you major in?"

"Ah just business, how about you?" I genuinely didn't know, we were never close enough to talk much about anything than our statistics.

"Well, I was also a business major but I hated it honestly." We laughed in agreement. I wasn't a fan either but heard it payed the bills.

Then came the gut punch of the evening.

"So where did you actually go to school?" She asked very innocently.

"Wait, what?" I asked incredulously.

"Oh sorry, I shouldn't talk with bread in my mouth I guess. I said where did you go to school?"

"Wha- Mackenzie, we went to the same college. We were in the same stats class with Dr. Burgess."

"Hold on, you went to State? Are you sure? What class are you?"

"Well yes I'm sure. Sorry, I thought we were on the same page, this is embarrassing."

"Oh God no, it's embarrassing for me, I'm so sorry. It's been a few years, I don't remember many specific people other than like my roommates and a couple friends. I'm sorry, Anthony."

"Hey, it's no biggie, really, I get it. I'll be honest, I think I remember you more because I had a little bit of a crush on you back then."

"Oh did you? I was, am, a little clueless to that stuff." She laughed nervously.

"I get it, it really isn't a problem. But here, let's start over. Hello, my name is Anthony Green."

She laughed for real this time and it sounded like bells.

"Hello Anthony Green, I'm Mackenzie Tillman. It's nice to meet you...again."

Awkward as it was, I think that's a pretty good way for a first date with my wife, Mackenzie Green, to have gone. Who needs college statistics when you can laugh over bread sticks.