Short Story / Ordinary

I washed my face freshly for you. I even put on this green stick to cover the redness of my blemishes. I wanted to be perfect. I wanted to be charming. I wanted you to desire me. Though this is the first time we meet. I felt somehow obligated to be impressive, to be something great. I wanted to be something wonderful. Like a present. I wanted to see the glad in your eyes, the joy that hangs off your lips. I wanted you to be this soulful man who understood me, who was witty, funny and talented.

There we were on the streets, divided by the traffic between us. You stood by the valet while I waited to make a turn into the parking lot.

You were ordinary. Nothing too exciting, with grey receding hair you wore an unremarkable Hawaiian shirt. I did not feel love in the pit of my stomach like I imagined. I see in your gaze, I was ordinary. Nothing spectacular, with my long length of hair and low cut top I was no one special. You did not feel the heat of the passion spark.

We greeted each other with polite banter. After all you drove all this way, after all we had flirted all day and all night with clever words and witty come backs in text messages on our cell phones. After we struggled with what to order, we chatted some more. Somehow the cleverness and the wittiness we exchanged all seem to have faded. We were just two ordinary people having over priced raw fish on the over priced boulevard.

In between bits, we savored the purity of the sea in each morsel with a kick of wasabi while we craved something that is far more earthy and pungent. Stories of our lives, families, online dating were exchanged to pass the time. The invisible clock ticked in heavy slow motion as if the needles were made of stone, grey and emotionless. As if witnessing the death of an animal, I clearly saw the curiosity that drove us to meet died a quick and rather bored death.

As the remainder of the sake was drunk and the last pieces of sushi were eaten, we dined on the last strength of the excitement of fresh beginnings. As the dinner wind to an end, we slipped back into our own unimpressive selves completely. Just two ordinary people letting fermented rice liquor sting our longing for some human connections.

We bid our good bye while the valet went to fetch our cars. I saw in your eyes that this was something you probably will soon forget. I was glad that I didn’t switch my cell phone plans to included unlimited text messaging that would have been a waste.

We return to our lives searching for something, someone, wonderful, beautiful and memorable. We are one in the same, neurotic, insecure and insomniac. In the night we are alone.

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