Dance of Ciprahn

Chapter Six

The sun is a yellow flare, bright and boisterous – proudly illuminating the white sands around Humilde. The high altitude has brought with it some green of grass and trees. The mountains afrost with fresh snow have a tint of ivory – a heavy hue as they lap up the sunlight and cast a luminous glare. The air is crisp and fresh, stabbing at the skin like little knives. It is a brisk Saturday morning. Jogging couples make their rounds along the sidewalk concealed in cool mysterious sunglasses and designer beanies. An old man walks his equally elderly dog in slow contented strides. Cars roll lazily by and the breeze gently hisses like a snake as it slithers through the leaves. The area of Humilde is mostly residential, with a bustling Tech End towards the east that houses most of the buildings and commerce. 

It is also where traffic is the worst, and where Cassandrah conveniently worked. A few puffy white clouds flutter about like wisps from Gandalf's long crooked wizard pipe. Some unidentifiable birds (by Cass' recollection) and pigeons flew by casting streaking shadows that are dashing along the street. Not all the leaves are dead and the survivors burn a beautiful crimson red and regal earthy brown. The air smells of rotted leaf, sunshine, ozone and fine New Mexican dust. A tumbleweed dances by and locks itself into the grill of an old green Mercedes prompting a dog to start barking wildly. Life is good. Simple. Humilde. Jo, Gloria and Cass sat together on a restaurant patio. At Mr. Sol they are enjoying their weekly mimosas and recovering from their traumatizing experiences at work. 

They bemoan their lot in life and the lack of good men that came their way. "I think Anthony likes you," Jo said with a wicked glint in her eye. "Nah, you're dumb!" said Gloria trying not to smile. "He does too! Look you're blushing!" "Shut up," said Gloria, wadding up the paper wrapper on her straw and flicking it at Jo. Jo deflects it expertly. "Aw, look she's all red!" "Sto-op." whined Gloria. Now Cass starts laughing as well. "He should ask you out. Although he seems kind of shy. Maybe you should ask him." Jo looks over at Gloria studying her face. "Yeah maybe." Gloria seems embarrassed, but not displeased with the topic. "God you're so pathetic!" Jo grabs Gloria's phone in a flash and grins at her in victory. Gloria makes a feeble attempt at reaching for it but gives up. "Here it's easy. It's 2018 baby, we can ask guys out too."

 She pauses and looks at the phone. "What's your unlock code thing?" Gloria looks a little apprehensive about losing her phone, but a little relieved at Jo's help. "1123" Jo is grinning her snaggle-toothed Cheshire Cat smirk. "Alrighty then." "How about this, I'll text something out and if it sounds good I'll send it out. K'?" Gloria bobs her head in agreement. They gather around Gloria's phone like generals in a war council. "What does Anthony like to do?" "Um, I think he likes bookstores and hipster coffee places and stuff." They stalked his social media for more tidbits. "That wasn't super helpful." "Food! All men love food!" said Jo. That seems like a pretty good bet. "It's nice if there's an activity or something to do. That way if the conversation dies it's not super awkward," said Cass. That gives her a bad memory. 

"'Member Mopin' Matt? I went on a date with him to dinner and he would just creepily stare at me like a piece of meat." She shudders. He probably likes to microwave butterflies in his spare time. She had her fair share of awful dates. One dude Ignacio had shown up on their date visibly drunk, and eventually ended up throwing up on her new dress. Another guy named Todd hit on other girls in front of her on their date. He also "forgot his wallet" and she had to pay. She didn't want to think about all the other ones. She almost swore off of dating completely. "You guys could grab something light then walk around the outside plaza. It's like an outdoor mall at Glenwood Square," said Cass. "Yeah, that would be nice. Pizza is pretty casual. 

Does that sound good Gloria?" "Hell yeah." "Haha somebody's ready for some Anthony action," said Jo. "Shut up!" replies Gloria, playfully hitting her on the arm. Cass smirks. "Oh my god, we should go shopping the weekend before. Maybe we can get you a new outfit G-money?" said Jo. G-money is what Jo sometimes calls Gloria. Perhaps because Gloria is so far from being a hip cool rapper that it is kind of funny. G-money agrees. "As long as it doesn't cost too much. I'm on a budget. God, living is so effing expensive. I just re-registered my new car and it kind of screwed me over." They all murmur in agreement. Life is freaking expensive. Yay, the joys of adulting. They agree on a message to send Anthony. G-money doesn't have his number so they elect to send a message on Facebook. Anthony accepts the date invitation. At first G-money stares blankly. 

Then her eyes widen and she mutters a "whaaat?" Jo squeals and smacks G-money on the back so hard she starts coughing. They all charter excitedly and congratulate G-money. She is beaming, even though she tries not to show it. It is really cute. Even though Cass is really happy for G-money she couldn't help feeling a little jealous. G-money is a great girl and one of her best friends, but isn't she a great girl too? Where is her prince in shining armor? She stomps out the thought. No, this isn't about me. Gloria deserves this, and I'm going to be happy for her dammit. That's what friends do. Then they start debating about what a date is. "Y'know guys have gotten really lazy. They want to hang out, or chill, or go do something sometime. 

Like, what the hell does that even mean? I don't know if it's a date or if we're just hanging out as friends, or if they like me but just don't want to be rejected, or they only do just see me as a friend... " Jo said. "Like – if you like me, just ask me out on a date y'know?" said Jo. She turns to her friends for support. They nod enthusiastically together in unison. "Even if I wasn't like super into him, just the fact that he is man enough to just straight up ask me out on a date is super attractive. I would probably go out with him even if I wasn't really into him because at least he was upfront and honest with me – no beatin' around the bush!" Her eyes are wild and animated. The girls agreed. That reminds Cass of something. 

"Hey I was reading about this online and like seventy percent of millennials are confused as to what a date actually is, so a lot of people are pretty confused as well. Some think it has to be formal like a dinner and you dress up and something like just getting coffee is a date. But then some people think it's the intentionality that really matters – like if the guy just thinks of you as a friend then it's just getting coffee, but if he likes you then in his mind it's a date. Other people think that whenever you just ask someone to do so something with you alone and it involves planning and a specific time and place then that's a date. Then there are guys who try to be sneaky about it and purposefully obfuscate the nature of the outing in order to have some plausible deniability in the event that the 'date' doesn't go well – " Cass trails off realizing how silly the whole thing is. Although the girls are silent, they agreed. Dating is hell.