#BlindDate

I was shaking, my knees trembling with every step I took. The cold was indescribable. I was willing to bet that I was the only person in London who wore a short dress in the middle of winter. It turned out that I actually did have a thing called dress in my closet. Unfortunately, the one who discovered that was Celine. She rambled on how she loved the dress and how it would fit perfectly. When I tried it on, my mom said, 'She looks like a witty little angel in that dress doesn't she?' I gave mom the look. She always thought of me as a child instead of an independent girl. Eventually, we got Mom busy with calling Stephen to inform him and his friend we would be late.

So to sum up the whole process that Celine called 'Beautification', Celine had transformed into "a beautiful lady", according to my mom. I didn't buy that by any means. I couldn't walk properly in those 3-inch high heels. There was no doubt that within three steps, I would fall on my butt. Luckily, I got Celine's help so I remained upright. But that didn't mean no harm came to me. As I had said, I was wearing a dress, a black short lace dress with two not-so-thick layers. And on a bitterly cold day like today, I couldn't stop trembling. Everytime I stumbled, I felt like my pantie was revealed even though Celine told me the dress wasn't that short (it falls nearly to my knees. Ugh, I wished I had agreed with mom on getting one of those sale-off tights in the market.). Also, the cold weather was so bitter that I couldn't stop myself from shivering. To solve both of the problems, mom gave me her wool coat. The coat had worked amazingly and I would never ever ever take it off, not while I was still wearing this ridiculously short dress.

Never.

"Miss Watson, can you hand me your coat please?" asked the gentlemanly host after Celine had checked us in.

"Huh?" His words were so shocking that they startled me. "Excuse me?"

"Before you go into the dark room, you need to hand over your coat and any objects which may generate light," he meticulously informed me.

"But it's really cold." I didn't want to remove my coat, so I tried to reason with the host.

"I believe our heaters are in their best performance, Miss Watson," said the bald man.

"It's OK, Mia. I guarantee you the dress is absolutely not short at all!" Siding with baldy was Celine, who had already given her coat to the man.

I wanted to debate with the host about my privileges. However, my growling stomach could tolerate no more delay, so I gave up and handed the man my coat. He nodded in content as the coat was on his arms.

A few minutes later, another man appeared, seemingly a waiter. He smiled politely and introduced himself as Sebastian, our waiter tonight then asked us whether we were ready to enter the dark room. Celine and I excitedly answered him with a firm 'yes'. A few seconds later, we were walking in pitch dark. My eyes couldn't see anything but blackness but my ears, my nose, my sensation, noticed everything.

There were many different voices with different tones and attitudes: excited, amazed, surprised, even shocked. Many compliments for the restaurant were said aloud, mostly about the unique experience. The table we just walked past was sharing comments and guesses about their dishes. They must have tried out the Surprise Menu! I couldn’t wait for my turn.
My hand was gripping Celine’s tightly as we moved across. In such a dark condition, the probability of my tripping on the floor was exceeding. Every few steps, I had to fix my dress. I felt terribly uncomfortable in it. It was like only wearing a very long shirt. When would we reach our table? I couldn’t bear these high heels any longer. I swore I would take them off before we went out of the room no matter how it looked to the guys. I didn’t care. My feet and nervous system had had enough.

“We have reached our table,” Sebastian announced. I let out a sigh in great relief. Finally, no more miserably walking in high heels. My hand swung in the air, looking for the chair then I heard two Irish voices say, “Hello” concurrently. Usually, I would nod my head. However, since we were in the dark now, I said “Hi” to them back. I was surprised at how shy did it sound. But the boys didn’t seem to care when they heard Celine’s friendly greetings. She knew how to carry the conversation, asking them basic daily questions. Everyone enjoyed her company very much.

The boys told us they had ordered the Surprise Menu. I couldn’t hold back an exciting squeak. “Yay.”

Unexpectedly, in reply of my sound of excitement, one of the boys laughed - not too loud, but enough that I heard it. I guessed it was the boy who was sitting opposite to me as Celine was across my left.

“So let me introduce myself,” said the voice emitting from my right, across me. “I’m Stephen. Nice to meet you,” He clasped our hands.

“Well, nice to meet you, too.” I recognized Celine’s voice. “Where are you?” I was startled when a hand suddenly touched my face. My heartbeat accelerated but soon calmed as Celine quickly noticed it was me and apologized for her careless action. Stephen chuckled and stretched his hand toward her. I could feel the slight wind glide pass my face.

“I’m here. I’m here,” he said. “I’m sitting opposite to you, I think.”

“Yeah, you are,” she confirmed.

Stephen then continued with his introduction. “Sitting at my right here is my best mate, N-“

“James,” Stephen’s friend cut in.

“Pleasure to meet you.”

‘Very Irish,’ was the first thought that occurred to me when I heard his voice. Stephen sounded Irish as well, but his accent wasn’t as clear as James’. Also, James’ voice was familiar to me. I had heard it somewhere before, definitely, but I couldn’t figure out where. The noise in the restaurant was very distracting.

“Me, too,” Celine said warmly. “Mia.”

My head automatically turned to the source of the call. “Huh?”

“It’s our turn,” Celine’s voice was merely audible but I had good ears. I stayed still a moment, analyzing what she just whispered. Then it hit me. “Oh… Um, my name is Amelia, you can call me Mia. Nice to meet you all.”

“Nice to meet you, too,” James said affably, distracting me with his familiar voice once again. “You are opposite me, right?”

“Y-yeah, I am,” I choked on my word. Revising all of those elegant and amicable demeanors from my friend, I was slowly filled with embarrassment. Mom was right. Whose date was this? “And to my left,” I continued with a halt. “Sitting opposite to Stephen is Celine.”

My beautiful friend then agilely carried on the talk. “Lovely to meet you. Handshake?”

Again, the slight wind faintly crossed my face as the three giving each other hands to shake. I remained still in my seat, engulfed in the shame of being obviously inferior to my company, Celine. Suddenly, a voice, which - I guessed – belonged to James, called out my name, breaking the ice between the rest of the party and me.

“Mia, handshake!” He said energetically.

Reluctantly, I moved my hand, which was resting on my lap underneath the table surface. I reached out searching for the other hand. Suddenly, it felt kind of funny and silly, shaking hands in the dark. My hand just wiggled in the empty space. “Where are you?” I asked the other.

“Here, here.” He said; his hand must be hovering somewhere near mine as my palm sensed a cool air touching it. However, I couldn’t find his hand at all. James then burst out a laugh. “OK, where are you?”

His question made me burst out laughing with him. I could feel the laugh within my voice. “Oh, God,” – Thinking maybe my arm wasn’t long enough to reach for him, I hunched forward a bit; my fingertips slightly touched a soft, warm object – “Hey, I think I found your hand.”
My fingers were tapping gently on the soft surface, suddenly felt a movement. At the same time, I heard a laugh that definitely belonged to James. I knew because his voice and laugh were so familiar to me that I remembered them the first time I heard.

"No," He said. "My hand is here."

James startled me as he took a good grip on my wrist, still faintly chuckling. My fingers instinctively detached from the surface they once tapped. James continued his talk. "And what you just touched a few seconds ago was my cheek."

Blood rushed on my face. I was quietly grateful that we were sitting in a dark room and he, as well as the others, couldn't see how red I was.

Pressing down the awkwardness that was determined to appear in my voice, I uttered some incoherent words. "Um, I was, um. Never m-mind. I'm sorry."

His grip on my wrist loosened as he quickly said to me. "It's OK. I don't mind at all. And we are sitting in the dark. So it can't really be helped."

Having finished his sentence, James released me from his grasp. The place he had just touched felt cold and tingly, as if electricity had just run through it. I rubbed my wrist, looking straight ahead into the dark.

I tried to veer my attention away from James by turning my focus to the other two. It seemed that Celine and Stephen had caught up with each other very well. I thought they must have been chatting since their handshake, even while James and I were trying to find our hands.

"So, Mia," James tried to start a conversation with me. "Stephen said you are seventeen."

"Uh-hum." I nodded. Somehow, I could foresee what he was going to say next but still remained silent. This was an awkward situation.

"I'm twenty-one." There was consideration in his voice. "So..." An awkward situation with an even more awkward topic. We were both in hiatus, didn't know what to say to each other. And I was no person to start a conversation.

Communication was not my forte.

Rescuing us from the awkwardness, there came Sebastian. Following him was the lovely smell of food, gourmet food. My stomach grumbled. Finally, the Surprise Menu.

"Your dishes are ready," He informed us. Celine yay-ed happily while the boys and I just let out a sigh of relief. Soon, the clacking sound of the glasses impacting on each other took over the background music.

First, we had soup.

"It tastes like chicken," I .commented.

Joining me, James added. "Everything tastes like chicken."

"But I don't think it's chicken we are eating," I would have believed Celine if there wasn't a question tone at the end of her sentence.

"Yeah, I'm chewing something right now. It tastes like chickens but feels like something squishy." Stephen said with a faint yuck.

"Are you sure the squishy thing is chicken?" James asked his friend.

"Dunno," the other guy replied. "Maybe it was some kinds of vegetable."

"Probably," James agreed with Stephen. "So how many votes for the chicken soup?"

"I'll go for chicken soup." I answered him plainly then carried on my devouring the soup.

"Me, too," Celine said.

"I'll go for something-squishy soup," Stephen said and the whole table laughed. I had to admit, this guy really sounded like Barney from "How I Met Your Mother".

"OK, I'm siding with Mia. Sorry, bro."

I heard a sound of patting.

"Dude, that's my face," Stephen groaned. Following his groan was another sound of smacking.

"What the? What was that for?" And this was James. "You are gonna pay for this when we are out," he threatened jokingly. His voice was filled with laughter.

"Good luck," Stephen challenged. Another sound of smacking emitted from their side. Their actions surprised me. I had always had a different vision of people who are twenty. I thought they were more mature and meticulous. But the boys, who were sitting in the same table as I was right now, were nothing like any of those imaginings.

Celine must be thinking just like I. was. She giggled every time Stephen made a challenge or poked his friend back.

The boys' childish fight didn't continue for long because the main dishes were coming out. The real fun is just beginning, I thought.

We hadn't yet tasted the food but I could already tell how good they were as the savory aroma floated in the atmosphere. Sebastian helped us through the beginning of the course. He warned us when somebody was on the verge of jabbing the fork on the table or spilling the food. Slowly, everyone adapted to the dim-lighted environment, stopped asking where their dishes were and continued the unfinished conversation from a while ago.

"So, what is your dish, Celine?" A voice asked. It wasn't James's so it must have been Stephen's. I straightened up a bit, waiting for my friend's reply.

"I don't really know," Her voice expressed ambivalence and uncertainty. I thought there was a tinge of dissatisfaction as well. "I mean it tastes strange."

"Yeah, mine tastes odd, too." I heard a clang. Maybe he just put down his fork or knife. Well, I didn't know what was in their dishes but mine was awesome: mashed potatoes and something that tasted like fish, or seafood. They were an epicurean meal for cold weather.

"What about you, mate?" Stephen's attention shifted to James who was quiet.

A few silent seconds later, my ears found James’ voice muffled with what I guessed was food.

“It’s rwelly gwod,” My brain automatically translated the sentence into actual English: It’s really good.

To run with the flow, I teamed up with him. “My dish is very delicious as well!”

“I’m so jealous with you guys,” Celine let out a sigh. I could imagine her pouting just by the way she sounded.

“Here, you want to try mine?” I offered Celine which she then replied with a joyous ‘yes’. Taking me as an example, James also gave his friend a try of his dish. The result was, our dishes were both acclaimed by our friends. It was funny and seemed like destiny that Celine and Stephen fit each other so well. They could converse with each other forever. When the bystanders – James and me – thought the colloquial had come to an end, another subject popped up and they went on again, making me feel incredibly awkward. Fortunately, Celine was sensitive and suggested switching seat with me so that she could converse with Stephen easier. There was no reason for me to decline.So she called for our assistant. Sebastian quickly came to our table and helped us moving in the dark, swapping my dish and hers.
Now I had switched my seat with Celine. I still felt awkward. Seeing the person who was supposed to be my date cheerfully chatting with my friend gave me ambivalent feelings. Loneliness and happiness were all mixed up. There was a part of me whispering that I should start a conversation with James but my not-so-good communication skills screamed that I would probably freak him out. But then my senses told me to give it a try. The last time I talked to him was perfectly normal. Plus, even if something actually happened wrongly, I still had the option to never meet the guy again. The arguments were quite convincing so I decided to get out the reticent shell for once.

“Hey, James,” I broke the ice, sounding rather nervous as the question tone was added at the end.

“Yeah?” I bet he was in the awkward zone with me as well.

“Want to try my dish?” I was out of topics to start or another way of saying it, and I didn’t know any topics we had in common. So I tried the simple nd most relevant thing.

“Yeah,” He accepted my offer with no hesitation and then returned me the same question. “Want to try mine, too?”

“Yeah, why not,” My lips sort of curled up. How the situation going was somewhat relieved.

“This time, I will try to find you,” he suggested. “Last time, you tried. So it’s my turn.”

“Oh,” My hands patted on my thighs nervously. “So what is in your dish?”

"I don't know exactly. But I have to use my hands instead of the cutlery to eat. It tastes really nice."

"OK! I'll see about that when I have tried it. And I hope you have washed your hands before coming in here."

"Don't worry. I have," He chuckled. "Now where are you?"

“I’m on your right.” I said. “Maybe your two o’clock.”

“Here?” he asked. He couldn’t hide his laugh. And neither did I.

“Yeah, go for it,” I gave him a push and … “Oh My God! Oh my GOD! Ohmigod!”

“Oh shit, I am so sorry. Where did the food go to? That wasn’t your mouth right?”

“What happened?” Celine, distracted by my shriek, turned her attention to us. Following her was Stephen.

“What did you do, man?”

James paid no heed to Stephen as he kept saying sorry and asking me where the food went to. Oh, well, nowhere special actually. It just went to my nose. No big deal!

“Oh my dear God.” I couldn’t stop wiping my nose with the tissues Sebastian supplied me continuously. I thought the strange food had gone up to my nostril. Ew, that was just ew but at the same time hilarious. I found myself unconsciously laughing hysterically while sneezing the food out. Maybe I had exaggerated a little bit. Because the food only stuck around my nose, it was not like they had filled my nostril.

“I’m so sorry, Mia. Are you OK?” James’ voice was replete with worry and regret. He was truly sorry for it. Plus, it was an accident, something you couldn’t avoid when having dinner in the dark. And I had a good story to share with mom later when we got home. So I had no reason to be mad at him.

“It’s OK, it’s OK. You don’t have to worry about it.” I tried to sooth the situation. Everyone was all fussed up.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I’m perfectly fine now, actually,” I told everyone. And the whole table slowly quieted.

"So what had happened?" Celine asked, still didn't get what just escalated.

Stephen stifled a chain of laughter but he had failed pathetically. His words choked on laughter. "Ni-ow-I mean, James, stuffed his food to Mia's nose!" And he went off laughing with no boundaries.

Somehow I felt so embarrassed that I couldn't help covering my face even knowing that no one could see me. Except Sebastian, of course. (Luckily, he wasn't always around) I could hear James telling Stephen to shut up. He was just as embarrassed as I was.

"I slapped your face once, you stuffed my nose once," I said, trying to compose by myself. It was hard not to laugh while mentioning stuffed my nose,' but I succeeded."So we are even now."

"If you say so." I could hear him stifle a laugh.

"And you still owe me a taste of your dish," I reminded James and he cracked up. He promised me this time there would be no more food to the nose or anywhere but the mouth. Again, I had to search for his hand. This time was more successful than the last. I easily found his arm and grasped his wrist. He cheered 'Woo hoo!' Patiently and carefully, I brought his hand closer to me, well, to my mouth. I could feel my face all fluttered. I had never been fed by anyone since I turned five. Especially, a guy with bare hand.

Be open-minded, Amelia. You just want to try out the food. Nothing more.

"It tasted quite nice, not as nice as mine but definitely not bad at all," I commented honestly. "Ok, my turn!"

The way I said it was more excited than usual. Stephen whispered to Celine something about revenge.

What?

"I won't do anything like revenge," I said to James in earnest. He just chuckled and laughed it away, saying it cool if I wanted to do the pay-back.

"Where is your face?" I inquired, waving my hand in the air. "Oit is. Well, your hair."

"Well, my fringe, more precisely." He confirmed.

"Oh, where is your mouth then?"

Some laughs cracked up from Celine's side. My cheeks suddenly got hotter.

"It's below a little bit," He said. "Just move the fork closer, I will try to get to it somehow."

"Are you sure? I don't want the history to be remade."

"Yeah, I'm good at this."

"OK, it's coming." I moved the fork closer. Of course, there was food on it. My other hand still faintly touched his fringe, feeling the warmth of his forehead. His head moved forward. I instinctively held the fork tighter as he bit off the fish. He slumped back in his seat again. I pulled my hands back, feeling a tingle everywhere in my palms, especially the one which touched his forehead. I rubbed my palms on my thighs, chewing my lips. James hadn't said anything yet. No comment about the fish.

"Is it fish with a bit of mashed potatoes?" he finally asked.

"I guess." My shoulders tilted up slightly.

"I think my dish is Indian food."

"Oh, so I got Indian food in my nose awhile ago."

"Sorry."

"It's OK," my nose likes it, I held back the last part.

"No hard feeling?"

"No hard feelings."

I kinda like you actually.

~*~*~*~*~

Notes

It has been a while since I last posted here. My phone can't open this site for some stupid reasons. You should go to Wattpad if you hate this lateness. I update on Wattpad once per week. It should be the same in here but I don't have a laptop right now (I'm using a friend's laptop to type this).

I hope you enjoy the new chapter. :) Vote and comment and subscribe are all appreciated.