"Are you gonna be a good boy while I'm gone?" I ask.
Simba wags his tail and I give him a treat. I pat his head and walk into the kitchen. I go to wash my hands and pause.
The amount of times water has randomly sprayed out of my faucets may have permanently traumatized me.
I grab the broom and stand on the side of the fridge. I use the end of the broom to turn the water on and I wait a few seconds. I put the broom down and wash my hands.
I hear a knock on the door and I dry my hands. I open the door and see Hailee.
"Hey." Hailee says.
"Hey." I say as we hug.
"Who's this?" Hailee asks as Simba walks over.
"Simba." I say as she kneels down to pet him.
"Named after The Lion King?" Hailee asks.
"Yeah." I say.
"You're a sick person." Hailee says.
"If you ignore the murder, it's a really cute movie." I say.
Hailee laughs and I smile.
"You ready?" Hailee asks.
"Yeah." I say.
"Be good." I say.
Simba wags his tail and I smile.
20 minutes later...
"This is definitely out of my tax bracket." I say as we walk into the restaurant.
Hailee laughs and I smile.
"How can I help you?" A man asks walking over.
"Did you put it in my name or yours?" Hailee asks, looking at me.
"Yours." I say.
"Reservation for Hailee Steinfeld." Hailee says.
The man nods and types on the computer.
Hailee asked me to make the reservation for her because she wanted me to pick the time.
The man furrows his eyebrows and looks up.
"I don't have any for Hailee Seinfeld." He says.
"Oh, no, it's Steinfeld with a T." Hailee says.
"Oh, my apologies." He says.
He types again and shakes his head.
"S-T-E-I-N-F-E-L-D?" He asks.
"Yes." Hailee says.
He shakes his head and I feel my heart beat faster.
"You put in my email? The one I gave you?" She asks, taking her phone out of her pocket.
"Yeah." I say.
Hailee unlocks her phone and goes to her mail. She scrolls and presses an email.
"It says 7 o'clock reservation in LA." She says.
"We abbreviate the states, not the cities. The cities are spelled out." He says.
Fuck... me.
"What?" She asks.
"So California is CA, and Florida is FL. So LA is..." He says.
"Louisiana." They both say at the same time.
"Fuck, I'm sorry. I thought-" I say.
"It's okay, you're okay." She says.
Is this bad luck or am I just a moron?
"Do you have any tables for tonight?" She asks.
"Shockingly, no. A lot of buzz this Tuesday. I'm sorry." He says.
"It's fine, don't worry about it." She says.
"Have a good night." He says as we leave.
"I'm sorry." I say.
"You don't have to apologize, we're all human. We all make mistakes. I've done the same thing before." She says.
"What? Think LA meant California?" I ask.
"Yep. I was in Miami once and I saw MI but it was actually Michigan. I thought it just got cut off. They should fix that system, I dunno, man." She says.
I laugh and she smiles.
"It's fine, we'll go somewhere else. Where do you wanna go?" She asks.
"Let's just keep it simple and get pizza or something. Can't fuck up pizza." I say.
"Alright." She says.
30 minutes later...
"I can't believe we got dressed this nicely to eat greasy pizza on a sidewalk." Hailee says.
I laugh and Hailee smiles.
"I'm sorry." I say.
"Why do you apologize so much?" Hailee asks.
"Because I fucked up." I say.
"I already told you it was fine, and you're still apologizing 30 minutes later." Hailee says.
"Sorry." I say.
We look at each other and laugh.
"Look, I just have really bad luck and a lot of things don't go as planned because of me. It's kind of a habit to apologize for the smallest things that I feel like could've been avoided." I say.
"Bad luck or do things just go wrong and people blame it on you?" Hailee asks.
"A lot of times it is my fault, it's like if there's even the slightest room for error, it'll happen." I say.
"Give me an example." Hailee says.
"I had to turn my faucet on with a broom because the last time 5 times that I've turned it on, water sprayed everywhere." I say.
"Sounds like you need some better faucets." Hailee says.
I laugh and she smiles.
"It's cool. We didn't need to go somewhere extremely fancy for a first date. Maybe for the second." She says.
"There's gonna be a second?" I ask.
"I dunno, you tell me." She says.
"Sounds good." I say.
She smiles and nods.
"Did I tell you about how my toaster exploded yesterday?" I ask.
"No." She says, laughing.
I laugh and we both smile.
845 Words
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