Marta makes a lot of sense…I’ll try it her way and see where this evening leads. I won’t do the “Are You a Christian? Interrogation Quiz” thing, Vicki thought to herself as she opted to get ready and attend her engagement.
His lips moved, but Vicki couldn’t make out what her date was saying because she was captivated by his beautiful eyes. He lightly tapped her arm and smiled while repeating to her the question. It was the light tap that snapped Vicki out of her deep gaze; she finally heard his question: “So, Vicki, tell me a little something about yourself…what is it that you enjoy doing for fun?”
Instantaneously, Vicki’s hands became sweaty; her face turned extremely hot as she thought: watching Christmas movies curled up underneath my blanket while eating strawberry Haagen-Dazs ice cream is fun for me. The truth made her sound boring with no friends and no life. This made Vicki uneasy as she tried to conjure up in her head a response that made her sound intriguing, yet likable. The gentle touch on her arm, accompanied with the most concerned look on his face calmed Vicki’s nerves a bit as he asked her if she were feeling okay.
Vicki opened her mouth, but the unrecognizable noises that escaped from her lips confused and embarrassed her at the same time. He tried to make her feel comfortable with his response, “It’s okay Vicki…we can discuss whatever you want…what would you like to talk about?” And just like that, she was done for the evening; Vicki was crawling out of her skin. At that very moment, she checked out—literally! Vicki excused herself and walked away.
She got back to her car in half the time it had taken her to walk from it towards the restaurant. Vicki’s drive home was a total blur; she parked in the garage, entered her home and walked to her bedroom. She changed into her pajamas, then walked into the kitchen and opened the freezer.
While retrieving her pint of strawberry Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Vicki sighed and said: There’s no place like home…She grabbed a spoon from the kitchen drawer, removed the lid and plastic covering from her ice cream and stuffed into her mouth a heap of calming goodness. This is my happy place… Victoria whispered as she shoveled more ice cream into her mouth and made her way to her sofa to on the TV. Simultaneously, the house alarm announced: “Front door open.”
The high-pitched shrieking voice that followed the announcement rang throughout the sitting room as the culprit moved closer to where Vicki was seated.
“So what do you have to say for yourself dear? Why, Victoria Marie Ainsley!? Why did you act like that!? I raised you better than this…That fine young man was not going to hurt you! The man was trying to stir up a conversation with you but no…you just couldn’t cooperate, could you!? I carefully hand-picked him for you…Do you know how long I vetted him!? Well, let me tell you how long it took me: five months. I dug all up in that man’s life for five whole months. Oh, he was the perfect match for you and in a matter of five short minutes, you ended it!”
Vicki did not turn her head to the left of her nor to the right of her; she didn’t even offer up a response in her own defense. Instead, she stared at the television and continued eating her ice cream as though she didn’t see the pair of piercing eyes glaring at her, awaiting a response.
She will talk herself into tiredness and then go home. I’m not in the mood…I’m not responding..Vicki said to herself as she turned up her television and placed the throw blanket over her legs. With that gesture, Vicki tuned the voice out as the rhetoric started back up again.
“Let me tell you what type of man you walked away from Victoria: a financially stable, five years older than you, with all of his perfectly straight teeth man! The man is an orthodontist with his own successful practice, owns his own home and has a vacation home in Maldives. And He is very much single! I’m talking never been married single…no children single…great credit score and no criminal record single! He didn’t ask you anything inappropriate, he didn’t do anything inappropriate. So why didn’t you try…Why did you sabotage this good thing!?”
