Date night

"Are you coming tonight?"

"Yeah babe, of course I'm coming! I'm so excited to see you!"

"I'll meet you at the airport, are you okay if we drive straight from there?" 

"Yes, of course, I'll be fine. I'll see you soon okay, we're landing in a few minutes."

I blew her a kiss and ended the video call. This was going to be stressful. My girlfriend – who had been studying in England when the pandemic hit – was going to come to our favourite restaurant for our first date in three years. I knew she was excited to see me, and I wanted to see her too, but there was no way I was going to survive a whole night in a loud restaurant. I was going to need weeks of recovery after this. I checked the mirror, making sure I was appropriately dressed for the date. Pretty red dress, echoed by the shade of my shoes and lipstick. I silently wished the government had lifted restrictions more gradually. A quiet night in, pizza, and movies were more my style. Oh well. 

When I arrived at the airport, my girlfriend was already standing outside. She looked like she'd gotten dressed in the plane's bathroom, but despite the stray hairs coming from her intricately wound bun and her uneven eyeliner, she still looked beautiful, serene. I got out and helped her put her things in the boot.

"Sorry, I didn't keep you waiting too long, did I?" 

"No, it's fine, barely a minute. You can make up for it later." she said, trying to kiss me and get her large suitcase into my boot at the same time. 

"We had better get going, I've made reservations for seven."

"Okay. Are you alright? You seem quiet."

"I'm fine, just haven't used my social skills in a while" 

She nodded, and got in the car.

We arrived at the restaurant after thirty minutes of her flirting with me in the car. I didn't know how to seem more alive, it wasn't really ever my strength, and it had been a while. As I pulled open the glass door, a wave of heat and noise washed over us. God, I really was not prepared for this. I followed my girlfriend into the restaurant, looking like a lost puppy. A massive lost puppy. I tried to imagine the sight from an outside perspective, my 6'2 self, trying to hide behind my confident and outgoing girlfriend, a petite woman of a mere 4'10. It was almost funny. 

"Babe." I said, getting her attention. "Can we please get a table at the back."

She relayed this to the host, who looked momentarily confused, but then led us to a table for two with a window behind it. Great. My worst fear. Not only can half a dozen people watch me eat, anyone walking past would be able to see what I look like from behind as well. I took the seat with my back to the window, because even though the recently lifted restrictions meant there would be more people walking past, I could at least pretend they didn't exist. 

"Sweetheart, you're shaking." 

Her face was riddled with concern. I hated seeing her worried, and about me of all things. 

"I'm fine, just cold?" I hoped she hadn't noticed that that was a question. We had only just arrived, so there might still be enough time for it to be believable. She relented, but clearly I hadn't relieved her concerns.

She spent the next few hours trying to entertain me, telling jokes, talking about all the shenanigans she and her British friends had gotten up to. I attempted to maintain a content facade, and soon we both relaxed a little.

"And then he skateboarded over the burning books and fell into the Thames, tuba and all!" she said, becoming animated, and accidentally hitting a nearby waiter in the stomach. He spilled the drinks he was carrying onto her and the nearest guests. The woman started yelling at both of them, demanding payment for her 'designer' dress. 

"It's two shades darker than their signature pink. If that was really designer, it would never have been sold." I said quietly. Not helpful. She turned almost the same colour as her dress, and released the longest string of insults I had ever heard. Tonight had already been stressful enough, I was not in the mood to deal with this. I walked out of the restaurant, trying to seem calm and hide my tears from my girlfriend. 

"Wait, honey, please!" 

She hitched up her dress, and tried to step over the broken glass on the ground, apologising profusely to the waiter. Once she was clear of the glass, she tried running after me, but she was stopped by the host.

I watched from outside, crying on the kerbside, as she tried to hurry up the payment process, and then immediately came over to me. 

"Hey sweetie, I'm sorry for what happened in there. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine – I'm fine, I'm sorry, I don't mean to worry you." crying my eyes out was making it hard to talk.

"You know you'd worry me less if you told me what was wrong. You know I cannot believe that woman, or that host. My girlfriend is upset, who cares about payment. I swear, she should pay for our next date." she said, making a dramatic face. Honestly, it was so ridiculous I just couldn't help laughing. 

"Is your dress okay? I think you got some stuff on it."

"Never mind my dress, I'm still more worried about my girlfriend. Do you wanna go home and just watch a movie?" 

I nodded. I really do have the best girlfriend. 

She drove us back to my place, stopping to pick up pizza and ice cream on the way. 

"You really don't have to stay unless you want to you know."

"Good thing I want to then, isn't it darling." 

She finished setting up a movie, some rom-com or other, and sat down next to me, letting me lay my head on her lap. I looked up at her, both of us now dressed in comfortable clothes, and in the soft light of the television, I could see her faint smile as she looked at me.

"You really are the prettiest person I have ever seen"

"Well I'm glad you're feeling better, I was afraid I might have to hunt that woman for sport."

"I really do mean it you know."

"Of course." 

She kissed my forehead, and her soft hair brushed my face. She smelled as she always had, of vanilla and strawberries. 

Eventually we both must have dozed off, into a warm, comfortable sleep. 

Maybe, just maybe, that wasn't the worst date we've ever had.