An encounter with “Linda”


The night was young but already I wanted to go home, for the boredom that has compelled me cannot be worse than being at home by myself on this fine Saturday night, or even studying for the rigorous chemistry test that awaits for me on Monday. No, instead here I am in a quiet small fancy restaurant, the kind that serves food that would make any normal person gag at the thought of eating fried snails or the inside liver of a goat but still they charge a crazy amount of money for the sorry excuse for food they serve. Why am I here? Well my buddy Steve had this brilliant idea of setting me up on a blind date (key word: blind) with a “close” friend of his. Though how close they really are is something I’m not quite sure of, because I cant fathom the idea that this girl sitting in front of me, who by the way has not stopped talking in the past 20 minutes, and I long ago tuned out, is the kind of girl that Steve would enjoy being in company with. Linda is her name and I got to say Linda fits her perfectly. At first glance she’s the kind of beauty that you expect to see in a Miss America pageant because it’s the only place that her kind would blend in, or at the very least a bikini contest at a local Santa Monica Beach bar. But having spent the last 45 minutes with this girl I can already tell what kind of person she is. She’s the kind of girl who knows she’s beautiful, and unfortunately it’s the only thing she relies on, on account of not having too many brain cells to form a decent coherent sentence. Not too mention the shallowness that radiates from her. Now it may sound like I’m judging her too hard but it’s a two way street here. It’s painfully obvious she has no intention in seeing me again, judging from the way she averts her pale blue eyes away from me, but figures since she already wasted her Saturday night here with me, she might as well have some fun, if you get what I mean. Yes being at home studying for a test would be so much better than being part of this torturous dead conversation that seems slightly irritating to her, because of the fact that I’m not particularly putting an effort to contribute to it. Sighing I turn to my head, not really caring about the fact that I’m ignoring her while she tells me this “hilarious” story about the time when she won a pair of tickets to see Britney spears in concert by entering a wet T-shirt Contest, and my eyes wander around the restaurant. Nothing incredible is what comes to mind, when I see a room full of snooty rich people who gladly spend a fortune on a maybe 3 ounce plate of caviar, which by the way is absolutely revolting. I’m 99% positive that these people are exact clones of the girl sitting right in front of me, and I’m not quite sure who I feel more sorry for more, them, the world or me. “Are you even listening?” Linda asked finally unable to stand my aloofness. I look at her and finally decide to give it to her straight. “Look we both know this is going nowhere, and I’m sure you’re a really nice girl, (I lied) but how bout we call it a day” I ask unable to tolerate her anymore. She gives me this look obviously offended, probably shocked of the fact that I was the one to reject her instead of the other way around. She stands up, her chair making a screeching noise as it scrapes across the marble floor and with a murderous stare directed at me, snatches her purse and stomps away in her 12 inch stiletto heel furiously to the door. But not before turning around, her blonde her swinging like an L’Oreal commercial saying something inappropriate for everyone to hear. Wow Steve really knows how to pick ‘em, I think laughing silently at my situation. I reach for my phone texting Steve to come pick me up from the restaurant and wait for him to arrive. I grab my silver fork and begin playing with the leftover food that I still had on my plate, and my eyes wander to the couple in front of me. A broad, muscular, typical L.A guy is sitting with his back facing me and is talking to his date. A brunette girl, unusually pale for the sunny L.A weather, nods her head as he talks more, probably about the fortunes he won on wall street or the summer Hamptons house he owns that they will vacation to once he gets his fake burnt orange tan at the local tanning salon. Though if they are a couple I’m not quite sure of because of the irritated face the brunette girl (shall we call her “Linda”) has plastered over her chocolate brown eyes. The way she turns her head and sighs at everything he says makes me think that she was practically forced to be there. Maybe another unfortunate blind date? “Linda” seems like the total opposite of this guy (let’s call him “Bob”) or even a typical L.A girl. Obviously she hates the sun by her skin tone, which makes it seem like the majority of the time she spends it indoors. (Either that or I’m looking at a real live vampire) I notice a ring that is just close enough for me to see and realize that she is a Yale Alumni. So “Linda” isn’t quite a Linda. More and more I’m intrigued by her, wanting to know how exactly “Linda” ended up with “Bob.” Pulling her brunette hair away from her face, she sighs once more and finally speaks cutting him off. “Laurent, was it?” She asked with an uncertainty that confirms my blind date assumption. “Laurent, look you’re really nice but I don’t think this is going to work out,” She says with genuine sympathy in her voice that is strange to hear now and days. He pauses and with what I can only imagine is a confused stare on his face, speaks. “Look babe” he says with a grin on his face, “consider yourself lucky to be with me, ok?” he says with this arrogance that for some reason angers me. “Linda” does nothing but give him a pitiful look and stands up “don’t call me babe” she says, grabs her purse and walks away to the back of the restaurant, probably to the restroom where she most likely is calling a cab. The dude stands up and whispers something that sounds very much like the word witch, pays the bill and leaves. I silently laugh at the misfortune this restaurant harbors for potential relationships, until I notice that “Linda” is back at her table. Awkwardly I look down as to not alert her of my attentiveness I have towards her. She sighs and looks at her cell phone, which she laid down on the table; waiting for what I assume is a phone call for her cab. Silence ensues as we both sit, facing each other, alone on our empty tables. “So what happened to the blond?” She asks so suddenly that I jump and stare at her wondering if the question was directed to me. She looks at me, head resting on her hand, waiting for a response. It occurred to me that I was not the only person being attentive. “Um she left” I say in a quiet voice as we make small talk. She smiles at my answer “yeah, I saw. I meant, why did she leave?” she asked. Her question surprised me and left me wondering whom she was paying more attention to, “bob” or me. “Well…let’s just say we really weren’t compatible,” I say and from the look of her eyes I can see she understands. “And what I about “Bob?” I ask unable to contain my curiosity. “Who?” she asks with a confused look on her face. I stumble “I mean your date…what about your date?” I say rapidly to cover my faux pas. She giggles and asks no further, “well he left too…um he was pretty much a jerk” she says. Looks like I was right. The silence still remains as two strangers sit awkwardly waiting for their rides. I look at her through the corner of my eye and she is staring out the window. I wonder what she’s thinking and I’m shocked at how intrigued this girl has me. She looks at me and realizes that I was staring but smiles and looks away. “So…what’s your name anyway?” She asked finally breaking the silence. “Nate” I say, slightly nervously. She nods. “My name is Alice,” she says with a smile and a confidence that left me wanting more. Alice, I think in my head, so much more fitting than the name “Linda.” Gentle, sweet, innocent. “So um...Yale alumni?” I ask pointing at the ring in her index finger. She looks at her hand a surprised look on her face. “Oh...No.” She says, “It’s actually my sister, but I should be graduating next year.” She says smiling at me and I smile back. “Wow ivy league school…bet that’s how you get all the guys” I say teasing her and she laughs. “Oh yeah” she says sarcastically “boys love a smart girl…not intimidating at all” I laugh too. Her unaware of the fact that that was the reason why I was attracted to her. Suddenly she gets a phone call and answers it. After 5 seconds she says Ok and hangs up. “That’s my cab” she says with slight disappointment in her eyes. “Oh…ok” I say with more disappointment in my voice. She stands up and starts walking away to the exit but stops. I watch as she stands there for a second and turns, looking more breathtaking than Linda did. “Um...Would you like to have dinner sometime?” I suddenly burst out saying, a considerable number of people turning to look at me. She smiles at me and says; “well I thought you were never going to ask” she says and turns back to the door. “Wait..” i say slightly confused. “I’ll email you Nate” she says and walks out the door. Confused and amazed I stand up as my buddy Steve finally text me, saying he’s arrived, and I truly believe that somehow, someway me and Alice will cross paths again.