Speed Dating--Ch. 3

Oh my goodness. I sucked. I really sucked at connecting with strangers. I bit my nails and thought to myself miserably.

Larry stood up with an apologetic smile. He extended his hand and said, "it’s nice talking to you, Audrey. Have fun."

I shook Larry’s hand and instantly felt ashamed of myself. I hadn’t really paid any attention to what Larry was saying the whole time, had I? I was so busy thinking about making Ned jealous, while Larry sincerely wanted to know me. And I hadn’t even given him a chance.

Exactly! The whole point of this speed dating thingy was to meet new people. If I didn’t meet a new guy, I would still make some new friends. Ned wasn’t the point. He was so not the point.

I felt encouraged again. I must focus on the next guy. Open up and be sincere! Let him know who exactly Audrey was, minus the desperately-wanting-to-get-back-with-my-ex part.

"Hi. Sorry to disturb you." A mellow male voice said.

I looked up and saw Guy No. 2. I couldn’t help smiling. He was good-looking! Reasonably tall and tanned. He was wearing a very flattering green Polo shirt. The clipper cut looked good on him. Neat. He was smiling at me like a neighborhood boy who just got home from the soccer game. I looked at him and resisted the urge to say, "Hello sunshine."

"You look like you’re deep in thoughts." Sunshine boy said.
"Am I? Please, take the seat."
"Thank you," sunshine boy sat down. Oh he has smiling eyes too. I think I’m in luck.
"I'm Audrey, nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, I'm Jack." Sunshine boy sat and grinned and…oh no.

I thought I saw something green in Sunshine boy's teeth. Okay maybe it was just an illusion. Maybe it’s just a reflection of his green Polo shirt.

"Right, Jack!" I said and tried to look up at his eyes.
"So how''s your night so far?" Sunshine boy grinned again.

It's definitely a piece of vegetable got stuck in his teeth.

"Umm Jack, would you like some mints?"
"No thanks," Sunshine boy said and laughed, "I’d like to talk. Get to know you."
"Right! Sure!" I couldn't help looking back at his teeth. I had to come up with another subtle way to hint at the bit of dinner leftover in his teeth. Think, Audrey, think!

"You know Audrey, I'm an engineer. And it's incredibly hard for me to meet the opposite sex coz you know, it's kind of a male-dominated field."
"Right!" I couldn’t bring myself to say you’ve-got-something-stuck-between-your-front-teeth. For a second, I think the sentence would slip out of my mouth but I swallowed it back. Urgh.

And soon my mind wandered off, wondering what that piece of greenery was. Was it asparagus? No, asparagus isn’t that tricky to eat…Maybe it’s broccoli? It looked like it. Or should it be spinach?

"I mean, I love my job and I majored in engineering in university. It was fun you know and I'm so lucky to get into the field that I've always wanted to get in. But it's just not a very balanced place when it comes to gender…."

I was focusing so hard on his teeth that I missed everything he said. Oh Sunshine, chatty sunshine with vegetable in his teeth.

"Audrey?"
"Yes?" I came back to my senses, feeling like a balloon was burst right next to my head. So, 3 minutes had gone, again.
"It was nice talking to you. I think I'm gonna give your name a tick."
"Oh, yea, thanks!" have I talked actually?
Sunshine boy stood up and grinned at me again.
"Nice teeth by the way." I said.

I did focus on the guy and not Ned. Huge progress.



To be continued

(Written in July 2008)