No Do Over

Oh my god. She's never going to get this hour back. Maybe she can deke out when they get back to her car, beg off, feign a headache or a brain tumour. An anuerysm, maybe? Probably a bit much. Aw man, why does this always happen to her? She says yes to a blind date of sorts with some guy she meets randomly cause she thinks, hey, how bad can it be? This bad. Terrifically bad. And the worst part is that she shuts down. She's too polite, too Canadian. She wasn't raised to be rude. Evidently, he was. And oblivious. He takes calls from clients in jail awaiting bail on speaker in front of her. Tries to pawn the phone off on her as some sort of clever joke. It's inhumane and deeply discomfitting to her. An awkward walker, he takes his aged dog out with her off leash, letting him wander, sniff, pee, lick everything in sight. He displays a certain arrogance that shuts her down completely, so she comes off as awkward, shy, scattered. She's trying to bite her tongue and keep the conversation moving along, away from massive roadblocks of ethics and sex and relationships. Lots of talking at, talking over. Never talking to, with. She comes up to the car. He plugs her meter, before she can reach into her pocket for change. Only 30 minutes. Ok. She figures maybe if they keep moving it will open up the tension and disconnect. Not so lucky. He catches her checking her watch and talks over her, saying he's watching the time for her. Lawyering, badgering, completely out of touch with the here and now. Keep breathing, just walk and breathe and keep eyes on the dog. They turn and double back. She's almost out of the woods. Literally and figuratively. An inappropriate hug after unwavering eye contact on his part. Does she have something on her face? Oh, no- he just stares thinking it's attentive. Almost out of there. Her car keys are digging into her palm. She slides into the scorching hot interior and leaves the windows down while blasting the AC. She's sure she left rubber behind as she peeled away down the road.

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