“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate” - Cool Hand Luke

There was a strong smell of garlic seasoning and bread straight from the oven. Maya sat on a red waiting bench for her mysterious partner, who held the reservations. She’s tried blind dating before and swore that - despite liking to meet all the very nice people - it was not for her. Her friend talked her into one last date, a final hurrah. Being the paranoid person she is - she had arrived 15 minutes early. Maya still had ten more minutes to wait when a tall man walked in. He made eye contact and smiled. He wore a blue button-up shirt, one of the nicer things guys had worn on these dates, which made her feel bad for not even doing her hair or makeup. 

Connor walked across the room to greet his blind date. His roommate promised she was a fun girl and they would hit it off, and reassured him that the first blind date wasn't that bad. Connor walked over to the supposed blind date. He smiled when he saw his date. She looked like she had forgotten to get ready for the evening but still looked beautiful. She had Carmel blonde corkscrew curls and round glasses.

“Hi, are you meeting here for a blind date?”

“Oh. Yes, I am.” Maya’s round glasses fogged up for a moment.

The corners of his mouth turned up. “Perfect.” 

Soon they were following a lady in a uniform to a table for two. Connor looked down at his date’s feet. His face broke out in a grin.

“What are you smiling at? I didn’t trip without remembering or do anything stupid, did I? I’m genuinely asking you. I tripped down a stair on another date and the guy got up and left.” 

“You didn’t trip, it’s just, ‘Momma always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes… where they been, where they going’.” His cheeks turned pink. “It’s a movie quote from - “

“Forrest Gump!” 

Connor’s nose scrunched up and his mouth widened. “Yeah, it is Forrest Gump.”

“So, what did you get from my shoes?” Maya lifted her shoes to exhibit cornflower blue shoes that had tall ribbons wrapping around her ankles and stopping mid-shin. 

“Well, it’s quite a shoe.” Connor gave a short laugh. “I think you like the bright colors because it makes you different from anyone else, yet it’s still classy. We’ll just have to see by the end of this blind date.”

The two sat down and gazed over the glossy menu. 

Maya looked over the menu with wide eyes. “So many options, there’s like four pages on this menu! And I thought Italian just served spaghetti and pizza.” 

“The shrimp scampi used to be my favorite meal while I was younger until one ER trip later I found out I was allergic to shrimp.”

“Me too! I mean, not the whole ER trip, that’s just terrible, but I’m allergic to shrimp too.”

“Luckily it’s not as common as other allergies. I had a roommate in college who was allergic to gluten and dairy. I couldn’t even eat the stuff in the apartment. Might as well burn my clothes after having a piece of toast or ice cream.”

A few minutes later filled with conversation, their server arrived, balancing two plates piled with food and a refill of breadsticks. 

“That’s a whole lot of food.” Said Connor adding a low whistle to the end. 

“‘You’re gonna need a bigger boat’.” Connor turned to Maya with a chuckle.

“Jaws?”

“Jaws.” She said beaming. 

Pasta was wrapped around forks, glasses were emptied, but the pasta seemed to be never-ending. The server checked on the two once or twice to fill up their waters. Maya genuinely had fun on this date. That hasn’t happened for a while. 

She adjusted her glasses. “So do you have any skills?”

Connor looked up, “Any what?” His mouth in a slight smile and his brows pressed together, the look of amused confusion.

“‘You know, like nunchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills. Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills!’” Maya said, doing her finest impersonation of Napoleon Dynamite. 

“Well, you’ve already tested out many-a movie trivia on me.”

“I could say the same about you. It’s nice though, having someone to get those quotes. Not a single person in any of my classes gets my movie quotes. Sure I’ll drop low-hanging fruit, like ‘Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore’ and a few people will get it, but most people don’t watch anything before 2000!”

Connor leaned forward from his reclining position, putting his hands on the table. “Tell me about it! I come from a family with three sisters and movie adoring parents. We could quote for hours, repeat entire movies sometimes. I think the classics are the best; very few people get them though.”

“And the classics are the best to quote too. It’s like an exclusive club and the entry is just repeating another movie quote back and laughing at it.” Her sentence drifted off, and they smiled at each other for a short minute. 

“Sorry Daniel, I didn’t let you answer your question about all of your skills,” Maya said and chuckled.

“Daniel? I’m not… Wait, are you Natalie?” 

Maya looked to the ceiling, laughing. “No, my name is Maya.” The two broke out laughing. 

“Just my luck meeting the wrong person on my first blind date.” Connor rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. 

“Hey, I met the wrong person too so it’s just as much my fault as it is yours. Ah, hope poor Daniel found something to do tonight.” 

The night waxed on and the conversation waned. Connor checked his watch and was sad to see how quickly the time had slipped by. Before he had to leave he turned to Maya.

“About your shoes. They fit you perfectly. Where you’ve been isn’t where you could have been or where you should have but you found here anyways. You’re fun and still functional if you could take that as a compliment. As for where you’re going, I’m no fortune teller but maybe you could do something with me in a week or two. Food for thought, although I’m sure we both ate enough tonight for the next three days.” He passed a slim slip of paper that had scrawled on it a ten-digit number. 

Connor left the table and was soon approached by a short girl.

“Hi, this may seem weird, but are you Connor?”

“Um…” He had a choice right here, he was Connor, but Natalie didn’t have to know that. “No, my name is Daniel, sorry. Hope you find Connor though.”