Sometimes you get things right the very first time out.
I fell in love with my wife on our first date. I knew that night that she was the girl for me and after 20 years, she still is.
What's funny about that date is that while we were on it together, she wasn't my date and I wasn't hers!
I will start at the beginning so that you get a clear picture of my life at the time all of this happened. My name is Ben Mathers and I'm an attorney. I wasn't always a success, in my junior years of high school, it seemed as though I was heading towards a career working in a factory or as a mechanic. I'm not putting people who do those jobs down, I just wasn't applying myself the way I should have been.
I was lazy and getting by on charm (one reason I am a good lawyer, my wife says I charmed the pants off of her -- literally) and my looks. I'm tall, dark and handsome (her words and, of course, she's biased) and I have a family who have money. Dad wasn't born wealthy, he worked hard for his and he made it clear to me that if I didn't start applying myself, I wasn't seeing a dime of his money when I graduated.
That didn't faze me at the time because I always had pals willing to pay my tab and I was even low enough to find a few girls willing to
pay
for the date just so they could go out with me. Yeah, I know ... in those days, I was a Grade-A asshole.
Things turned around the year before graduation. I decided to run for Class President, figuring it would be a kick, just a laugh. I won and now I had responsibilities. Here's where things started to change. I had a few great teachers and members of the faculty take an interest in me. They assured me I had the brains to achieve whatever goals I set. They pointed out to me that by getting this job, my fellow students had placed their trust in me. God knows how it did, but it all sunk in. By the middle of that year, the former C-average student was making straight-A's. I never missed a student council meeting, I spearheaded food drives and attended every rally, everything that needed doing, I did. I still remember my father actually tearing up and shaking my hand, telling me that he was proud of me. That day was one of the three best of my life, my graduation from law school and my wedding day being the other two. Add the birth of my kids and you've got the top 5.
Being the person I was meant to become hadn't quite happened yet. I was now a focused and hard-working young man. My family was proud of me and my fellow students were rallying behind me. I finally got up the nerve to ask out the hottest girl in school. Her name was Tracey Turner and I thought that she was so hot that she could have melted the polar ice caps. Tall and blonde and sexy and from a good-looking family too -- 3 sisters and not a bad-looking one in the bunch, although in my opinion, Tracey topped the list. I'd had a thing for her since the 8th Grade but I was too much on an idiot to garner her interest. Not now. I thought I had a shot and I asked her out. She said yes, with one proviso. I had to find a date for her best friend.
I didn't think that would present much challenge, although I did know there would be some challenge. Jasmine was her best friend, an exotic, half-black beauty that a lot of guys would love to have dated. She, like Tracey, was beauty-queen material and a bit of a fashion plate.
She also had a reputation of being hell on wheels. A lot of the guys I knew that had dated her said she was rough going. Tracey couldn't see her friend's flaws; all she saw was the positive. I knew I had some selling to do. So who did I want to drag into this double date mess?
I decided that the victim -- I mean, the
lucky
guy -- would be my friend, Cory. He owed me a favor; I had gotten him a date for the prom with my cousin Rachel the previous year. Rachel is a tall, leggy brunette who still models for fashion magazines and she was 2 years older. What's more, she really liked Cory and likely would have gone out with him again if he hadn't snuck a flask along with them and gotten drunk. I assumed that Rachel's kicking him in the unmentionables later that night and nearly getting expelled had likely smartened him up. A year should mature us somewhat, right?
I asked Cory and he was thrilled with the chance to date Jasmine. I read him the riot act beforehand. "This date with Tracey is very important to me," I told him. "You screw it up for me and it won't be Rachel kicking you in the cojones," I made sure he got the point. From the look of pain that I saw on his face when I said those words, I think he got my point.
I know that Tracey was looking forward to our date, I could tell from the look on her face when I saw her the next day. I had a fairly good reputation as a nice guy by that point and I wasn't hard on the eyes. I had enough money saved to do it up right and I made sure Cory knew to bring a little extra cash and that he knew this wasn't the kind of date where he could wear jeans. Tracey Turner and Jasmine were going to get a nice evening on the town courtesy of their dates.
From the second that I saw Tracey, I knew I had picked the right girl. She was stunning in a very slinky black cocktail dress that had a high slit on one side. Tracey had great legs and in the heels she wore with the dress, they were very nicely showcased. The dress was almost as tight as a layer of Saran Wrap and my dream girl was now a walking sex fantasy. I am sure my reaction must have shown on my face because I remember the way she was smiling at me when I escorted her to the car. I had worked very hard for the past few years to be able to buy my own car. Unlike a lot of my pals who drove heaps, my car was only a few years old and in immaculate condition. There wasn't a speck of rust or dirt on it; I had made sure it sparkled the day before our date.
Jasmine looked really nice that night as well. She was wearing a tailored black pantsuit, very nice jewelry that looked expensive, a pretty blouse and heels. Instead of her usual ponytail, she had her hair long and flowing. I wasn't aware it was that long. She and Cory seemed to be getting along well enough and I thought the evening was starting to look quite promising.
I chose a restaurant that wasn't too over the top so as to make the girls uncomfortable or to break our budgets. I had more money than Cory, although he insisted that he had listened to me and brought enough to cover his share of the tab. The staff fawned over us just enough to impress Tracey and Jasmine and everyone in the place noticed the two young guys with the two attractive women. We all seemed to be getting along well enough and there was lots of friendly banter between the four of us. Tracey and Cory were getting along like a house on fire, which took me a bit by surprise. I thought perhaps that he'd be a bit too crude for her; it seemed that I was mistaken. He was making cute little innuendoes and my date seemed a bit more impressed than his. Jasmine and I talked a bit as well and this time, there wasn't the usual tension there often was between us. Now that she had let her hair down -- literally and figuratively -- she was really very nice. I thought perhaps some of my buds that had been out with her simply weren't up to the challenge. I figured it out soon enough; Jasmine simply couldn't tolerate stupid men.
Our meal had come to an end and the four of us were still chatting. I asked the girls if they wanted dessert. Cory looked at me and I gave him the signal that I could cover the extra if they did. I thought that things were going well enough that it was too early to end our evening out just after dinner. I'm not sure just what I was expecting.
Tracey smiled at me and said that she'd have to think about it and said she'd have to go to the little girl's room. She didn't ask Jasmine to come with her. Cory said that he needed to go outside and grab a smoke. I thought that he'd quit months earlier, but I didn't think anything of it at the time.
It took me about twenty minutes to figure it out and even then, it was Jasmine who pointed it out to me. "They've ditched us," she said to me. "They were really hitting it off and I think Cory was hitting on your date. Those shits have taken off together and left you stuck with the bill."
