KEVIN AND JENN

JENNIFER

Jennifer had zero interest in the eerie, echoey chambers of the PATH. 

She'd rather hunt for the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. At least it was magical. 

"I'm kinda tired. Another time?" The Lakeshore West train was beckoning to her from six different screens. She could either dash now or wait for another hour. 

His face turned into concrete. Her resolve turned to water.

She hated making people sad. 

"Ok then. PATH it is." She started walking slowly, unsure of where to go. "But I warn you, I'm tired!"

"You don't have to," he said. 

Jennifer rolled her eyes. She had had enough of dissappointing people today. He'd had the guts to ask her out so she was going to see it till the end. There was no will left in her to disagree.

"Lead on!"

The place they ended up at wasn't too far down the PATH. She had to endure the narrow, puke green stairs and apocalpytic fluorescent lighting for an excruciating five minutes.

"I don't want to walk further. Can we just eat here?" She pointed at the salad bar with a pinched-face cashier. "I'm exhausted."

Kevin felt torn. She went straight to the salad bar and began ordering food. 

"It doesn't look like much- but the food is always fresh here." Kevin's mouth was full of food. His eyes were bright with excitement though and Jennifer could tell he was back in a good mood.

"I call it my healthy secret," he confided. Jennifer sat in front of her cold salad with her arms crossed.

She hated raw salad, especially when exhausted.

For god's sake, someone throw her a beer.

"Aren't you eating?" Kevin eyed her untouched food. He stopped crunching for a second.

"Wait-I totally messed up didn't I?"

Jennifer tapped simply tapped her crossed feet. She wasn't going to lie to his face.

The date was most definitely a bust.

"Argh, I'm terrible at these things," he said, "I once took out a girl with peanut allergies to a Thai place."

Jennifer snorted. He was kind of adorable, she thought. In a messed up, constantly falling to pieces kind of way.

"Did she survive the date?"

Kevin burst out laughing, showering her with bits and pieces of chewed up lettuce.

"Sorry! And yeah, barely. She almost dug into a peanut dish when it suddenly dawned on me that she'd die and I knocked it out of her way."

"Well then." Jennifer was not impressed. "At least you saved her life."

He finally finished his sandwich as well as the rest of his horrific story. "But not her dress. She was wearing some expensive brand and I spilled orange goo all over it."

Jennifer cringed at the thought of it.

"Kevin-it was nice to talk-but I'm not feeling well." Her head was feeling light and her stomach queasy. She hadn't eaten for hours and she was craving a hot bath. "Chat another time?"

Jennifer didn't wait for an answer. She stood up, put her phone in her bag and buttoned up her coat. Kevin looked at her face with a sad expression. But she was just too tired to bother with his puppy dog eyes.

"Seriously. We'll talk again." Something about him made her want to make that frown upside down. It annoyed her, just how much she gave a shit about a complete stranger. "Bye!"

An incredible sense of relief swelled in her chest as she climbed into Union Station and caught the next Lakeshore West Train. It felt good to kick off her shoes and stretch her legs, to eat home cooked food and catch an episode or two of her favorite shows. Fridays in her opinion, were meant to be spent alone.