Chapter 3 Chap

When I get out of the shower I walk towards the kitchen, I see my mother setting the table for dinner and when I offer to help her, she refuses and just tells me to sit down because she was already finishing. When we sit down and start eating, she starts a very monotonous dialogue.

"How was the day today, honey?"

"Nothing much happened today, just another normal day in the routine. What about yours? How's work going?"

"I'm picking up another night shift as overtime tomorrow. I'd pick up the shift today anyway, but I wanted to go home and have dinner with you."

"I told you not to push yourself so hard at work. We're fine and in the end, you won't be able to take care of me and the house if you end up dying of exhaustion."

"I'm not going to die of exhaustion, and you know I need to pay off the debt your father made on this house before the divorce."

"Can we not talk about Dad? The mood of the evening will go into free fall."

"All right honey. So, how's Sarah doing? Still choosing her partners poorly?"

"Recently she has been dating a guy she met on a dating site, but I don't know much about that."

"As for you, my son? Do you have anyone you are interested in?"

"No mom, I already said I'm not good for dating."

For the rest of dinner my mother said something very cliché like "every pot has its lid" while I rolled my eyes in embarrassment after each sentence.

I finished dinner and went straight to my room where I went to the computer seeing that they had some messages from Danny. I opened the message reading what was written.

@Danny: Finally free from school. How was your day?

@Tonny: It was normal, no one ran me over today.

@Danny: You won't forget this, will you? hahaha

@Tonny: But of course, not hahaha

@Danny: Anyway, tomorrow is Saturday. Do you have plans yet?

@Danny: I heard that a new eatery opened up 3 blocks down from the school.

@Tonny: Are you asking me out?

@Danny: Are you turning me down?

@Tonny: I'm not saying no, that's fine by me.

@Tonny: What time?

@Danny: How about 12:00?

@Tonny: That's fine with me, just don't rush there hahah

@Danny: Very funny. See you tomorrow then.

@Danny: Try not to get run over too.

I turn off the computer and go to bed prepared to sleep, but I can't. I keep thinking about how I agreed to go out with him so impulsively and about how I should act with him tomorrow, how I should dress, how I should behave and whether or not I should refer to him in a more casual way or not. I stay in this same situation rolling the bed from side to side like a crazy person until I finally manage to fall asleep still with these thoughts.

The next morning, I wake up feeling extremely tired. I went to bed very late, so it was as if I hadn't slept at all, I really just made the worst decisions. I look at my cell phone and see that it's already past 9am, I decide to look for the clothes I'm going out with, taking into account the fact that I'm still undecided.

All morning I kept repeating to myself that I should just calm down and that it was just a date, but I couldn't help but feel an irrational nervousness, as if I was getting ready for something that would change my life. It was extremely ridiculous, all this anxiety.

By 11:00 a.m. I was ready to go out. I chose to wear black jeans and a shirt of the same color, with a dark blue long sleeve plaid shirt over it and simple sports shoes. Since the coffee shop was about 5 blocks from my house, I decided that I would walk calmly so as not to be too early, but also not to be late, another decision that I made unnecessarily due to my nervousness.

I walked down the street and as I approached the cafeteria, my hands were sweating more and more. I couldn't control how nervous I was, and I became more and more irritated and embarrassed by it. "Get a hold of yourself you little shit, you look like a bride on her wedding day," I kept repeating this all the way, and when it didn't work (obviously it wouldn't), I cursed, since it was the only thing, I could do.

After arriving in front of the diner I see that he still wasn't there, I look at my cell phone and see that it was still 11:45. "Shit, too early" I think as I walk in the door of the diner, find a place to sit at a table by the window and just wait, the waitress asks me if I would order now and I answer that I was waiting for someone and that I would just like a strong coffee. I needed to make less apparent the fact that I had slept very little last night like an imbecile thinking about stupid things.

As the clock strikes 12:00 I start to feel nervous, thinking that he might have just turned around and given up on showing up. My anxiety increases with every minute that passes, my hands start to sweat again and the coffee I had earlier only makes it worse "another stupid decision", I think.

As I look at the door of the cafeteria I see him, he was wearing a mustard-colored sweatshirt, black jeans and an all-star in the same color as the sweatshirt. Danny looked exactly as I remembered him, his hair was wavy, his silver earring was shining in his left ear, and his eyes were honey colored, all my anxiety was overcome with great shame when I realized that he saw me staring at him all the way from the door to the table. But what was I supposed to do? He was really handsome. Like an angel.

When he sat down in front of me, I froze, just stood there looking at him, as if my voice had been stolen as an awkward silence settled over the place. Then he decides to break the silence, easing the tension between us both.