The Left turn

Paul was a man of routine. Very seldom did he deviate from his schedule. He even had a lunch menu that he followed to the point every week. Mondays a sandwich from Joe's down the street, Tuesday's a slice of pepperoni pizza from the Italian place a block over, and so on.

He got up at the same time every day, took a shower, had breakfast, brushed his teeth, and choose his clothes in the same way he did his lunch, sorted by weekdays.

From an outside point of view, one could even say that Paul might have been suffering from a tad of OCD. But, for Paul, this was just the way he had always been, and frankly, he couldn't see anything wrong with his behavior. From his point of view, it was just common sense to always be ready and to avoid any unforeseen annoying circumstances, like not finding a matching sweater in the morning and thus being late for work, or choosing a lunch that he didn't like or didn't make him full. He couldn't understand why people thought he was the odd one. For the same reason, or at least, this was what he continued to tell himself, he didn't have a girlfriend and had no intention to trying and get one. That would just mess with his daily order of things.

He didn't have a lot of friends, but a few close ones and they had been on him lately about his ways. They had even gone so far as to bet him that he couldn't do anything spontaneous at all, and if he did, they promised they would pay for his bar tab the next Friday night out.

Paul had at first laughed at them, and tried to convince them that of course, he could do spontaneous things, he just didn't want to!

They had all replied with what could only be described as sarcastic ”OK´s”, while agreeing with one another that they'd never had to pay up on that bet.

Paul had been thinking about this all week, since last Friday at the bar.

Now, a week later, it was Friday afternoon. Paul had just gotten of work and was in his car on his way home. He drove the same route to and from work every day, just like he had done forever.

He was in the lane where you could go straight, or turn left at the red light. He was to drive straight, as he had always done because it was the shortest way home. He could also get home by turning left, but that would just be dumb, he had always thought, as this was the long way around.

Today, however, his mind was occupied by the thoughts of proving his friends wrong about him. Almost unconsciously, like his mind made the decision for him, he watched his hand turn the dial for the turn signal, blinking left. The red light turned to yellow, then green, and he started to drive and took the turn.

Like the feeling of suspense when slowly climbing the rails of a roller coaster, he felt a sensation in his stomach that he hadn't felt for many years. The feeling of letting go of control, the feeling of not being sure where he was headed like he no longer was in charge of himself. He found it exhilarating and exciting, but also scary. He laughed at himself, and kind of understood what his friends had meant all this time. A simple left turn shouldn't make you feel like this, he thought.

Pre-occupied with these thoughts, he had let his mind wander, and wasn't paying attention to the road ahead of him. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a small dog that had broken free from its owner's grip came running out between two parked cars. Paul immediately came to his senses and quickly stood with both feet on the brake pedal, lifting him from his seat. The tires screamed and the car came to a quick halt, just inches from the startled animal who like a statue frozen in time, stood with a blank stare breathing on the license plate in front of him.

Paul fell back down into his seat, gripping the steering wheel like it was the one thing keeping him from falling off a cliff, hyperventilating and cursing his decision to not just take the normal way home like he always would. This was just the kind of unnecessary scare that he had learned to avoid by keeping to his schedule and routines. Of course, there's nothing to say that another dog couldn't just as easily have run out between two other cars on his normal route, but that kind of thinking wasn't making its way to Paul's mind at this moment.

I'm so sorry! A distant voice said. Are you all right?

Paul was looking far into the distance, in a daze, still breathing heavily, not really picking up on the words soaring around him.

Hello? The voice said, are you all right?

He slowly turned his head to the driver-side window, Wh..What?, he said.

I'm so sorry! My dog just took off from me! I couldn't hold on to him, the voice said.

Like he was waking up from a dream, his vision slowly coming into focus, he started to see the most beautiful being he had ever laid eyes on, leaning down by his window. Golden locks of hair swayed in the mild breeze, almost as if it was in slow motion, sending a wave of the scent of a summer field in full bloom his way. He locked eyes with the woman outside his car and shook his head back to full consciousness.

Yes, yes, I'm fine, he said with a forced smile. Is your dog alright?

Oh yeah, he's good, she responded, holding up the small animal, shaking, and seemingly still in shock over the enormous steel beast that almost had him for dinner.

The woman smiled, and Paul could feel himself staring at her, not even blinking, like an idiot.

He had to force himself to let go of her gaze and cleared his throat.

Good, great, that's good, yes, he said with an obvious nervousness in his tone.

He was interrupted by the long, loud sound of the car behind him having had enough of standing still and now testing the full amount with which one could press down on the horn.

Get out of the way already! An angry voice screamed back there.

Paul once again looked over to the woman by his car, who looked to have been just as startled by the honk of the car as her dog had been just moments ago.

Well, I´ll be on my way then, she said with another one of those smiles that sent Paul's blood rushing from his brain, leaving him more or less speechless.

P..Paul, he said.

I'm sorry what?

I'm Paul, that's, that's my name.

(Honk!)

I'm Jennifer, she laughed.

You know, I think these people behind us want to be on their way, she said nodding over to the now quite long line behind them all testing the full force of their horns in unison.

I like dogs! Paul heard himself saying.

What an absolute moronic thing to say, he thought.

That's great! She said with another one of her patented smiles.

I probably know the answer to this already, Paul said, but you see I'm doing this thing today, well, not all day, more like just the last five minutes, where I'm breaking out of my comfort zone..

I see... Jennifer said, seemingly just as unconcerned with the growing line of cars behind them as Paul was at this moment.

So I guess what I'm asking is, would you possibly be free for dinner later tonight? Paul said.

As quickly as the blood had left his head before, it now came crashing back with a vengeance, turning his face as red as the traffic light behind him. This was beyond out of character for him, this was like he had taken a left turn into an alternate universe where he all of a sudden was comfortable making conversation with beautiful women and not being bothered by a continuously growing angry mob behind him.

Jennifer brushed a lock of hair out of her face, placing it gently behind her ear while slowly contemplating the offer she had just received, in the midst of a symphony of car horns and the angry yelling of people who had been counting down the minutes since lunch to when they would be home, sipping on the first of many Friday drinks.

Sure! she said with a smile and a shy look while placing the same lock of hair behind her ear again, to Paul's utter confusion.

Oh, all right! Yes, that's great! he said, not even trying to hide the fact that he had expected a completely different answer.

Jennifer wrote down her number on a piece of paper and handed it to Paul.

I think you should really be on your way now, she said with a laugh, once again motioning to the mayhem behind them, before they completely lose it.

Yes, yes, of course, Paul responded with a sudden flash of reality.

Call me later, and we'll meet up, Jennifer said while giving a quick wave, before she crossed the street to get on her way.

It took another couple of seconds before Paul fully came back to life and slowly started to drive on, to the relief of the thirsty gathering behind him.

Paul got home, took a quick shower, and for the first time in forever had to choose an outfit not already laid out since before. He couldn't just use his normal Friday outfit, he wasn't going to meet up with the guys at the bar tonight. This was harder than he thought, to think on his feet like this. Eventually, though, he had, according to himself, managed to choose an outfit that didn't make him look as stiff of a person as he felt, but not as laidback as a person who didn't even put any thought behind how he looked, a perfect mix, he thought.

He had phoned Jennifer and decided that he would pick her up a couple of hours later. He was starting to feel nervous again and had even started contemplating if he should just call the whole thing off, but then remembered the way his friends had laughed at him last week. He took a couple of deep breaths and went out the door.

If Jennifer was a sight before, she was absolutely mesmerizing now. Paul saw her standing outside her apartment when he came up the street and almost lost his concentration again. This woman was a walking traffic hazard.

After somewhat of a nervous start, with more than one moment of absolute soul-crushing silence, the ice started to break, and Paul realized that he actually was quite comfortable in this situation.

They started the night with drinks at The Ballroom, the fanciest, and most expensive, drink bar in town. After a couple of Manhattans, Margaritas, and something that looked more like a rain forest with umbrellas than a drink, they moved on to the new, highly recommended, and equally expensive French restaurant where they enjoyed a three-course gastro extravaganza. The night was a complete and utter success. Paul hadn't felt this alive in years, and it seemed like Jennifer felt the same.

While walking out of the restaurant, heading downtown to find another watering hole, Paul suddenly felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was Garry, one of the usual Friday night crew, calling.

Paul! where are you, are you all right? Garry half-screamed on the other end.

He sounded almost concerned, and Paul realized he had never let the guys know he wouldn´t come down to the pub, as usual, this Friday.

I'm fine Garry, how are you?

Well...fine, but, where are you? Why aren't you here yet?

I'm not coming down tonight, Paul responded.

What do you mean you're not coming down, you're always here on Friday nights?

Garry was in apparent confusion, this was unheard of.

I'm on a date, Paul said while looking over to Jennifer, who took a step closer to him, sliding her hand into his and showing a slightly embarrassed smile.

A date?! Garry sounded like it was his turn to be thrown into an alternate Universe.

But you don't go on dates?

Paul could hear the rest of the guys wondering what the hell was going on in the background.

I do now, said Paul with pride in his voice. And really, I have all of you to thank for it.

If it wasn't for you guys last Friday, I probably would be there with you now. But I took a left turn today, and here I am.

...a left turn... Garry mumbled.

But don't worry, I haven't forgotten about your promise, Paul said with an audible smile.

I've saved all the receipts from tonight, and the night is still young!

I´ll hand them over the next time I see you guys. Though, I can't say for sure when that'll be. We'll play it by ear... I think my routines are about to change.

And with that, Paul ended the call, leaving Garry and the guys starring into their beers the rest of the night, contemplating reality, while Paul and Jennifer continued on a beautiful night, full of future promise, and a Paul, as if reborn, silently promising himself to live his life to the fullest, without restraints, from now on, and maybe take the long way home again sometimes. You never know, sometimes your life can change if you just choose to take that left turn instead.