Strings Attached (On-going)

16. STOOD UP

Time went by slowly like a snail and yet, by the end of the day, I still had a lot to cover. The day was eventful but not so tiring, which I was so grateful for. People complimented my hair, a lot of people, especially after our departmental heads meeting and I couldn't stop blushing. Oscar did too, I was actually kind of expecting him to because I knew he would indeed love it.

Dave and I had decided to go on a date. He had offered to come pick me up from home, but I had said that was too 'high school', and that I would rather meet him at the restaurant . "We'll see who gets there first then", he had said. He was a fast driver so I had no doubt he would.
I, on the other hand, didn't like to drive fast, unless it became so necessary. I preferred to take my time on the road, if the road wasn't busy, whole I listened to some songs and maybe, just maybe admire other beautiful cars on the roads.

I rushed home to get ready, I could have gotten there first if only I got ready earlier because normally, I closed from work earlier than he did.

I hit the road ready to meet my date, swaying to some old RnB from the 90s my dad loved to listen to. My whole family was the RnB type except my mom who always said listening to rhythm and blues frequently made you an emo. It was partly true for my dad, and me, of course.

I was still swaying and singing along when my car screeched and came to a halt. I looked behind me only to see fumes all over the back of my car. I shuddered for a moment and then took a deep breath to calm down...Cars always broke down anyway.... Why shudder?-- I tried to search for the nearest mechanic shop and they had all closed up. I hit the steer incessantly in fury cursing myself for not not knowing much about faulty cars. I was definitely not going to watch unending YouTube at this critical point. I rested my back in my seat for a while and finally decided to just call an Uber.

I arrived at the restaurant late and had no doubt Dave was there waiting and would definitely ask why I hadn't called for him when my car broke down. I could have, but it feels good to be independent, do some I looked around slowly for him but he was nowhere in sight. I walked to a waitress, perhaps, there was a reservation for us. Indeed there was, Dave had made one.

She politely directed me to our table after going through a list of names. Thanking her, I took a seat and hung my cover coat on my chair, behind me.
I looked at my watch, 7:26. I smiled, proud of myself for arriving first. I couldn't wait to see the surprise on Dave's face when he burst through the glass doors with pride only to see me there and then his ego would just deflate.

Instead of sitting idle and watching love birds display their spotless affection and drowning in nostalgia, I retrieved my phone from my purse and opened my gallery. I scrolled through slowly till I stopped at a video from three years ago.

It was a Saturday and we had just finished a mega home clean up, as I had titled it. We all sat in front of the house relaxing from all the work we had done.
There was my dad, bare chested and in summer shorts lying on his back in his armchair, my mom in her favourite flowered mufti seated with me on the banister, we were busily chewing on some prawn crackers Lizzy had made for us before sleeping. There was Lizzy, sprawled on a mattress on the floor and Hailey making a selfie video with some gibberish commentary. Nobody cared to look into the camera, but she talked anyway. I giggled as I watched.

It had been almost half an hour and I was still alone, no sign Dave. I began to worry, so I decided to give him a call. His phone was off. I gave it another try, and another...and another. He was probably on his way. Maybe he wanted to give me a chance to get there before him no matter how late I was, I thought. So I decided to wait a while longer.

Moments later the sky began to roar and I panicked, I looked at my watch, 8:15. I had been there for an hour and still no Dave. Now my anxiety heightened. What if something had happened to him, he hadn't shown up and his phone was off. I called his friends one by one and there was no positive feedback.

The sky roared louder and people made to leave. I put on my coat to combat the chilly air. I gave up and finally decided to call an Uber home. The network was so bad, I couldn't even get an internet connection. Many people had left and I was alone in the big restaurant with the workers and a few other customers. I shuddered when the rain began to pour and the air got chillier.

I thought of my car, did it really have to break down on a day like this?
I waited patiently till I got a signal and right at that moment only one thought came into mind. So instead of wasting my miraculous one bar on trying to get an Uber, I called Oscar.
Luckily he picked on the first ring, "Lisa?"

"Hi..um..can you please come get me?I'm at--"
There was a beep in the phone and then another. He kept mentioning my name and saying hello?
I withdrew the phone from my ear and looked at the screen. I had lost the connection.

Awesome!

I sighed and cursed under my shaky breath. Who ever thought I would be spending the night at a restaurant with my car in the middle of nowhere.
When I looked outside, the rain was pouring so heavily, I couldn't even see beyond the pavement right in front of the restaurant.

I tried manipulating my phone and hoped to get good luck, but as fate would have it, all my efforts were in vain.

I had given up and was ready to wait for the rain to stop, even if it took hours, I had no other choice. So I just relaxed in my chair clutching my coat tightly.
Once I had walked through the heavy rains with my sister, looking for our kitten in our backyard. We ended up playing in the rain, even after my mom had assured us the kitten was sleeping soundly beside the Washing machine. By night, we were dying with cold and headache.