Tess took another quick peek at the mirror of her compact powder.

No, there’s no dodgy piece of green stuff stuck on any dentition.

Yes, her lip gloss still shimmered.

Her hair still looked healthy and soft; every strand was in the right place.

A bit of powdering to stop any shiny nose, a second look at the slender wrist watch and it was time to go into the restaurant.

It hadn’t been easy sitting out the past fifteen minutes in her car waiting for the appropriate time to step in. She had tortured herself with all manners of imagined dating debacles.

Any respectable young lady shouldn’t turn up for a first date ahead of the time agreed with the guy, she remembered Kate’s advise. It would make her appear too desperate.

Striking a balance is just the right thing. Ten or Fifteen minutes after the scheduled time, then you stroll in leisurely, in controlled steps with just the right amount of swagger to the hips.

Thistle Bar, just the right kind of place for a first time online hook-up. It was her first time in there and it was quite decent.

It was a high street casual bar which was not too high end pricey and not too drive thru junk-food kind of place. Just a balance of both.

He had said he would be wearing a coffee coloured shirt and she told him that she would be wearing fushia. He hadn’t known what fushia looked like precisely, so she had sent a picture of the dress.

It was one of her best colours and lovely dress hugged her curves in the right places.

That must be him, as a pair of eager eyes lit up in her direction. The face looked recognizable and the shirt was dark coffee coloured.

She picked her way past a few rows of seated customers, a tentative smile plastered on her face.

As she approached him, he stood up like a gentleman and Tess’s heart sank to the bottom of her peep toe heeled sandals.

He was not tall by any standard whatsoever! As a matter of fact, in her opinion, he was hugely short.

She quickly ran through her mind, checking to determine if she had seen an indication of height on his bio.

Was height not important? Was it mentioned or not mentioned? She couldn’t remember but her hopes had just received it’s first dashing.

She liked her men tall and had never dated a guy shorter than herself before.

Patrick was fairly an okay character. He even made her smile a couple of times, but there was absolutely no spark – at least on her own side.

The meet-up was not a bad one at all, though she could not afford to eat out often, but hey, if you want to eat omelet, you have to crack some eggs.

She doubted very much if there would be a repeat date. He didn’t ask and she didn’t suggest.

To be continued. Part 1 Part 2

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

As you know, I like to excavate other neighbours treasures and I offer some to you today 🙂

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Grammar time from Meg Sorick gave a chuckle or two.

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These 71 tips to awesome blogging that I found in Danny’s patch is awesome.

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Have a beautiful day today my peeps.

Now, lets take a moment and dance.