Lethe Vita

Chapter 24

She had never been overly fond of the concept of blind dates, at least when they applied to her life.

She was especially wary of blind dates that also served as double dates.

"You must stop this - how do you say - moon of Steve," said Kai.

"I am not mooning over Steve," said Clare; who, had she indeed been mooning over Steve Sanders, certainly didn't need to sign up for a double date with Luca and Brenda to prove otherwise.

"We will not have that belief in you unless you agree to see Ilmari," said Kai.

Clare asked why it had to be a double date.

"Because you are friend of Brenda and I and Ilmari is friend of me," said Luca.

Clare reached over and deftly swiped a slim Jenga board.

"Do you think it's the best idea to continue seeing Brenda?" she asked, peeking at Luca from the tower where Clare's coaching had helped the two brand-new Jenga players form a decent structure.

"Pardon?" asked Luca.

"Look, I care about Brenda," said Clare. "I know you miss Trish; we all do. And if it was just you and Bren in this scenario, I'd encourage you to stick it out, see what can come of it. Except it's not just you two."

"Clare," Luca began.

"Let her finish," said Kai.

"By all means," said Luca.

"I realize that this thing with Brenda is a mutual agreement to see if you both can date others," said Clare with a grateful nod to Kai, who sent her one in return, "but I've seen how Bren and Dylan are with each other. She might not see it, but the rest of us sure do. And it's not just them. There's a child involved here. I'm concerned if you keep on with this, if you let yourself get closer to Bren; Luc, you're gonna wind up hurt."

"I have tried to tell him the same," said Kai, gingerly sliding a board into the tower. "Luca, my friend; Brenda, she is elegant, she is lovely, she is everything you deserve, but this - arrangement, did you call it? It must end."

"I will not dispute if Brenda chooses to end," said Luca. "But I will not be one to end."

"I'm not saying you wouldn't be a great guy for Bren, or for anyone," said Clare, "but Luc, you're just asking to get rejected if you keep on with this."

She didn't change Luca's mind, but she did get him to rescind the double date invitation.

She could not, however, convince Kai to cancel on Ilmari.

"He is great man," said Kai.

"Then how about I skip the date and you go instead?" asked Clare.

"If Ilmari considered exploring, we would have done in university," said Kai.

The date, whilst not the worst evening Clare had had, did not succeed in getting Steve off of her mind.

Calling her close friend Carl for their annual chat on life updates didn't help, either.

Nor did Carl's announcement of his engagement; not that Clare wanted Carl, or an engagement.

"I brought wine." Valerie opened the bag to show Clare. "And a dartboard with Steve's face on it, if that helps." She set down both items.

"I made her remove David's picture from it," said Brenda, holding out a box of jelly-filled chocolates.

"I just don't understand why the universe keeps giving me this string of bad dates," said Clare, uncorking the bottle. "I'm happy for Carl, really, but it just hits different when your childhood friends have these big life events happen and it's like you're left behind, you know?"