The Blind Dates ✔️

Chapter Five

"So then I told him that no matter how many excuses he made I wasn't going to accept his late homework. At one point there were actual aliens in his story. I mean I almost wanted to just give him credit for such an amazing imagination on why his homework was late," he said.

Penny was laughing so hard her drink almost came out of her nose. She was on a date with Mandi's friend, Ezra. He was a sixth grade teacher at her school. He was adorable and just plain charming. He scored 100 percent in her book. But something just kept itching at her. He was wearing a brown belt and black shoes. His suit jacket was tweed with elbow patches and his tie actually had the alphabet on it. But he was sweet, loved kids, and seemed to really like her.

Penny looked up at one point to see Grant holding his thumb up and then turning it down with a question on his face. Penny nodded slightly smiling, hoping that he understood it was going well. The night ended with him walking her back to her apartment with hopes of a date the next night. She fell on her couch with a smile on her face actually thinking things were looking up.

She hit her voice mail a few hours later after seeing she had a missed call from Mandi, "So I just got a call from Ezra. He loved you! I mean he wouldn't shut up about how accomplished you are and how you actually listened to him. I'm so happy right now! I really thought you were going to throw him out cold since he has no fashion sense. Okay give me a call later. Love you, bye!"

Penny fell asleep happy that night. Their second date the next night was just as great, he even put in a little effort with his outfit. She texted her friends in their group message to tell them that she thinks she could get serious with this one. Mandi was really happy, except that she did mention that she had this other guy in mind that would have been great, but if this guy was it then that was awesome.

Penny loved all the romantic gestures that Ezra did for her. Monday morning there were flowers on her desk at work, and by that afternoon she had a chocolate basket and a card asking for a date for that night. She tried to tell him that she works late, but he insisted.

The date was a great if not a little formal for a third date. He was getting really serious really fast and Penny wouldn't have been surprised if he got down on one knee and proposed right there in the restaurant. When she asked if they could slow it down he seemed offended, so she let it go.

Tuesday night she had four texts and a missed call when she got out of the shower.

Ezra(8:30pm) Hey beautiful. Missed you today how was work?

Ezra(8:35pm) You there?

Ezra(8:37pm) I'm getting worried. Are you busy? Is someone else over?

Ezra(8:43pm) I'm coming over if you don't answer.

This wasn't at all the easy relationship that she wanted. She felt like a terrible person for not wanting to be with such an amazing guy, but she was a very independent person, she didn't want to be in a dependent relationship. And these were some pretty rough red flags very early on.

The break up was inevitable, if you could even call it that since they weren't boyfriend/girlfriend yet. He did not take it well at all. Things were thrown, people were looking, and he stormed out with tears running down his face. A bystander probably thought she had just told him something horrible. It took a whole tub of the nasty low-fat ice cream to make herself feel a little better, her friends pushing her harder than ever not to give up hope.