Chapter 5 The Second Date
I arrived home from my coffee with Mary both elated and disappointed. The excitement of seeing her in real life, not just as a photograph and a person behind a text chat, was tempered by the fact that I thought I must have blown it with the way Mary left do suddenly. The I'm meeting a friend routine was something I had experienced before and usually meant the lady you were with was not interested. So I decided I had nothing to lose and I would leave her a message online to ask her out for a second date. After all, the worst that could happen would be for Mary to say no. I switched on my computer, logged in to the chat room we always used and started to compose a message to her.
Then I heard my Skype message ping. I opened the App and there was a message from Mary. In it she apologised for leaving so suddenly, but she had as I surmised contacted a friend to arrange a meeting just in case I turned out to be not what she was looking for. However she was pleasantly surprised by me but couldn't cancel meeting her friend without arousing suspicion. But Mary ended with she would love to meet me again soon.
I quickly deleted the message I had been composing on the chat site, and instead wrote a much better date proposal in reply to her Skype message. In fact I asked Mary what she was doing the following evening and would she like to join me for dinner? Within seconds of sending the message Mary replied with "Yes, where?"
"There's a lovely new Chinese restaurant in Southampton" I replied. "Would you like to pick me up at yours or should I meet you in town?"
"Neil wouldn't appreciate you calling over" Mary replied "So it's best I get a taxi."
"No problem, meet you at the Bargate at 7pm" I responded
"I can't wait" messaged Mary in return, before she mentioned she would have to leave as Neil was home.
The next evening couldn't come around quickly enough for me, but finally it was time to get dressed. After showering and shaving I opened the wardrobe to figure out just what to wear. Smart but casual is always a dilemma as what a guy thinks is smart, many women in my experience think is either to much or not enough effort. I chose a white and blue patterned Tommy Hilfiger shirt, olive green Sweaty Betty trousers, my favourite Abercrombie trunks, and a pair of navy Tommy Hilfiger shoes. Lets just hope Mary thinks I have put enough effort in.
I got an Uber into town as I decided I would have a drink or two and didn't want to stop a fun night by having to stop drinking. I arrived at the Margate at about 650pm and just wandered around while watching for any taxis that pulled up. Finally the taxi Mary was in pulled up, and as she stepped out all I could think was "Wow." The day before in John Lewis had been Mary in a summery floral dress but tonight she looked like a total hottie.
She was wearing a tight leather dress, which stopped just above her knee. She was wearing sheer hosiery, which I hoped would be hold ups or stockings, and not pantyhose, and a pair of patent black open toe shoes. Her hair came down to just below her shoulders and when she saw me she waved and gave me the most gorgeous smile. Her red lips finished the look off perfectly.
I went over to Mary, and not too sure of the etiquette for our relationship gave her a hug. As I pulled away she leant forward, kissed me on the lips before saying "I'm sure we have progressed to kissing when we meet Mark" before giggling as I started to blush. I took her hand in mine and said "we better go to the restaurant because if I stay here looking at you for any length of time I will want to get a taxi home rather than eat."
Mary laughed and squeezed my hand into hers.
We walked into the restaurant and I gave my name to the front of desk staff. They found us a table near the rear of the restaurant and we sat. I asked Mary if she wanted red or white wine and she simply allowed me to choose. I chose a nice bottle of Sancerre, one of my favourite dry white's and ordered a bottle of still water also. Mary asked me if I would choose off the menu for her, as she was quite inexperienced with Chinese food, so I simply ordered the taster menu for 2, as this way Mary could try different items.
The food arrived and the conversation flowed and we worked our way through our started of vegetarian spring rolls, sesame prawn on toasts and crispy duck. The food was absolutely fantastic and Mary seemed to really enjoy trying the different starters.
As we finished the starters I realised we had also drunk most of the bottle of wine so I ordered a second. Mary looked at me before asking if I was trying to get her drunk so I could take advantage of her? "Maybe" I replied with a smile, before refilling her glass of wine.
The main arrived and once again conversation slowed as we both made sure we ate the food while it was still piping hot. We had a sweet and sour chicken, beef in black bean, stir fried vegetable and egg fried rice. As we finished the mains our chat moved on from talking about the food to flirting.
