Tim's date wasn't going to show.
The reservation was for 7 o'clock and it had gone half past. Tim had arrived something like twenty minutes early, so he was almost an hour into a glass of water and had nearly memorised the menu. The waitress who seated him had checked on him a few times, so he'd felt compelled to explain he was on a blind date which was looking less and less promising. She assured Tim there was no rush. It was early yet on a cold Friday evening and the restaurant was quiet enough that they didn't need his table.
Tim checked his phone again. He wasn't expecting to see anything new, and he didn't.
He called the waitress over again. She was pretty, petite with tied back dark hair and hooped earrings. She wore the same uniform as the rest of the waitstaff: white shirt, black trousers and apron. She had been flirty earlier on, but Tim figured either that was a requirement of her job, or she just felt sorry for him. He considered asking her to join him, but he had inconvenienced the poor girl enough already. Just because he had shaved, worn a new shirt, and used actual product to tame his unruly dark hair, he didn't imagine he was so irresistible that he could just initiate a date with a stranger in the middle of her work shift.
"I think it's just me," Tim said trying to sound humorous as the waitress arrived at the table. "I've been staring at this menu and I'm more than ready to order if that's ok?"
"Fine by me," she said with a pretty if professional smile. "What can I get you?"
"Something alcoholic, definitely. Strawberry Kopparberg if you've got it please." The waitress nodded and scribbled on her pad. "Then I'll have a rump steak, medium. Can I have sweet potato fries with that?"
"Certainly," she said cheerfully to her pad as she continued writing. "Anything else?"
"That'll do for now, thanks."
"Great, I'll be back with your drink in just a sec." She took the unused menu from the other side of the table and Tim handed his over, happy to be rid of it. He watched her head back to the bar and then looked casually around.
A couple had been seated at a nearby table. Tim had seen them as the waitress brought them past earlier. He had started focussing intently on his menu so he wouldn't look like he was creeping on them as he sat alone.
The woman had been slim, blonde, in a blue dress. She wasn't sat there at that moment, just her coat draped over the chair and a glass of wine on the table. The guy sat facing away with a beer in one hand and his phone in the other. Tim couldn't make out what was on the guy's phone, but he was tapping away intently. Suddenly, with a glance over his shoulder, the guy put his beer on the table, jumped up from his chair, grabbed his jacket, and headed for the door. Tim watched bewildered as the guy left the restaurant and disappeared up the street.
The waitress returned to the table, placing a bottle of cider and an empty glass in front of Tim. He thanked her, his attention returning to the room.
"Did the man at this table just leave?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah. I think so."
"Rough night for dates, huh?" she said.
"Excuse me?" said Tim, more out of confusion than anything. She wasn't even looking at him. He followed her gaze in the direction of the restrooms as the blonde woman returned to her table. She looked at the guy's abandoned chair and beer, then looked at the waitress and Tim.
"We think he's gone," said the waitress.
Tim wasn't sure how he'd been drawn into this, or even why the waitress was involved for that matter. The blonde was looking at him. She was probably thinking the same thing.
He noticed her then though, all at once. She had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Her blue dress hugged her slim figure, starting on her shoulders with a V-neck that hinted at her smallish breasts, and ending above the knees, revealing most of her slender legs as she stood in strappy blue heels. Tim couldn't imagine bailing on a date with her.
"Did he say anything?" she asked the waitress.
"I don't know, I didn't see him go." she said, and they both looked at Tim again.
Tim still wasn't sure how he had ended up as part of the conversation but whether it was because he was lonely, or whether he just couldn't resist trying to help a pretty woman, he just went with it.
"I think he was on his phone," he said, "then suddenly he went. He didn't say anything. I wasn't talking to him. I only saw because I was looking towards the bar." Tim didn't want to speculate. The guy might have returned at any moment. "Maybe it was an emergency?"
"Probably he had a better offer," the blonde said in response. Tim couldn't imagine that was possible. "Oh, well," she continued, turning back to the waitress, "saves you a phone call, now I don't need rescuing."
Things started to click into place in Tim's head at last. The two women knew each other.
"Sorry, hi, I'm Becky by the way," said the blonde, smiling at Tim.
"Tim," he responded, standing to shake her hand.
She gestured at him and the waitress. "How do you two know each other?"
"Oh, we don't," said Tim. "Honestly, I'm not sure why I'm part of this conversation."
"Ronny," Becky chided the waitress, nudging her shoulder, "are there any other customers you want to randomly involve in this?"
"Sorry, Becks" she responded sheepishly.
"Aw, I can't stay mad at you," Becky said laughing. "Anyway, I guess I'll take off as well. I was already planning to make my excuses and leave after all." She started towards the chair where she had left her coat. "Thanks for your help, Tim. I'll leave you to your evening."
"Sorry, Ti-, uh, sir", Ronny the waitress added to him, "I'll be back when your food's ready."
"That's no problem," Tim replied. Then emboldened by the conversation's familiarity, he called to Becky, "you're welcome to join me, if you'd like. You know, since we're all friends now."
She had glanced at the empty seat opposite him a couple of times while they were talking. Whatever the reason, it was unusual to see someone sitting alone in a restaurant on a Friday evening. She looked at him but didn't respond.
"I was supposed to be on a date too," Tim explained. "Don't think it's happening, but I've just ordered food anyway. No pressure, but if you're hungry?" Date or not, if he could spend an hour enjoying a steak in the company of this attractive woman, it would be time well spent.
"What if he comes back?" she said, gesturing to the door where her date had disappeared.
"Well, you can get him to pay for his beer for a start."
Becky picked up the abandoned bottle and looked at it thoughtfully for a moment. Then she looked at Ronny the waitress, who shrugged.
Tim moved round to the other side of his table to pull out the chair for her and, armed with the beer, her wine and her coat and bag, Becky came to join him.
She was a few inches shorter than Tim in her heels. He smelled the sweet scent of her perfume as she moved past and he caught himself thinking about brushing her hair aside and kissing her neck as he stood behind her, his eyes tracing the line of the zip that ran down the back of her dress. He shook his head and she thanked him as he pushed the chair in behind her. She smiled at him as he took his seat again opposite her.
"What are we on, starters or mains?" she asked.
"Mains," he said, "I wanted to eat, but I didn't want to be here by myself all night. Do you need a menu?"
"The usual," she said to Ronny, still hovering nearby. The waitress smiled, nodded, and wandered off towards the bar.
"Come here often?" Tim asked, trying to inject non-threatening humour into everything he said.
"We live just up the road."
"You and, Ronny, is it?"
"Yeah, it's short for Veronica. We've been flatmates for years, right around the corner so we eat in here a bunch. I only bring dates here when she's working so she can rescue me if I need it." Of course, her trip to the restroom had been to ask Ronny to call her so she could get out.
"Why did you need rescuing from your date tonight?" Tim asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"I think he was onto a promise that didn't require wining and dining first," she answered calmly. "Probably with some girl called Kirsty since that's what he thought my name was when we met up outside. I hope she gets what she needs from him tonight. I expect that's where he's gone."
"Rough night for dates, indeed."
"What about your date?"
"Oh, no idea," Tim said picking up his still silent phone and pushing it into his pocket. "It was a blind date with a friend of someone from my gym. She didn't turn up. I haven't heard anything. Can't say I'm too upset about it." He saw Becky's eyes move over him when he mentioned the gym: approvingly, he hoped. He liked to look after himself, but he didn't have obvious bulging biceps. He went to the gym a few times a week for an hour or so, and he had to mix up his workout to stay interested. The guy who had abandoned Becky had just been skinny, so Tim hoped that wasn't exclusively her type.
"What are you drinking?" Becky asked.
"Cider. Strawberry and lime flavoured."
"Oh, were they out of cranberry juice?"
"Oh, she's funny, isn't she? Funny, and a bit cruel."
"No," said Becky pretending to be insulted before adding in a low sultry voice, "I'm very friendly."
They laughed together. The conversation between them seemed easy enough, though Tim knew he would be trying hard to impress her. It felt like they were flirting, but maybe she, like her friend, was just content to engage in small talk with anybody in the vicinity.
"Are you using that glass though?" she asked. He passed the empty glass to her, and she poured the remains of the beer into it. "Not letting this go to waste if I have to pay for it."
"I'll get this," said Tim automatically, chivalry getting the better of him, before hastily adding, "I mean, either way I asked you to join me, and I was expecting to pay for two meals tonight so I'm happy for it to be my treat."
