Lorna Mulligan sat in a quiet part of the dining area of the South Trenton Pub, a dive bar Lorna had selected because it was close to her house. In Lorna's mind she had adopted a new policy that if she was going to get stood up by a guy, there was no sense in driving a long way to endure that. The chubby brunette had done that in her previous effort of meeting a guy through this Farmers Only website, driving 20 miles just to eat bread sticks alone in a restaurant waiting for a guy who never showed.
Lorna figured that the guy probably peeked in the place, saw her and didn't like what he saw and left. Lorna was used to rejection, but she had been brutally honest in her ad and had put a picture in that showed exactly what she looked like, hoping to avoid precisely what ended up happening.
Having already put up the money to join the website, Lorna made arrangements to meet the only other man to contact her, a 31 year old guy from Utica, about 25 miles south of her, and although Clyde said he worked on a farm when he was younger he was a warehouse worker. Although the site was called Farmers Only it seemed to cater to rural singles regardless of occupation and few listed farming as their profession. This Clyde fellow wrote that he was 5'10" and a little over 200 pounds, which Lorna thought was a little heavy, but that was fine with her because she wasn't as picky as many of the people there seemed to be and being chunky herself she was in no position to judge.
Clyde didn't provide a picture but since Lorna's ad said that looks were not important and that only being a nice guy mattered, she didn't think it right to ask for a photo. She had been a little nervous about putting her own photo there even if it was taken four years old when she was 18. As Lorna nursed a glass of house wine she kept an eye on the door, waiting for her blind date to appear. She could see the bar from her seat too, and there were a half dozen guys drinking cheap beer. Lorna knew a couple by sight but since she didn't hang out here much there was nobody she really knew.
Time past and as it did Lorna got more and more concerned, although to be fair she had gotten there early so this Clyde wasn't really late yet. Lorna wondered what she would do if none of these dates worked out. There was very few locals her age in the area, and none had shown any interest in her. The trucking company Lorna did secretarial work for only had a dozen employees, all but one of them guys, but they had also shown no interest in her although in fairness most were married and thus unavailable.
One minute after 7 the door at the bar end opened and when it did the bar got quieter like it often did when somebody who wasn't a regular came in. The large man wearing jeans and a windbreaker walked through the bar and towards the dining area, his eyes fixed on Lorna, and as the man approached Lorna realized that this man was Clyde and the reason his entrance turned heads was that he was black. As black as black can be, with a shaved head and a mustache.
"Lorna?" the man said in a voice as deep as Barry White's, and when he put out a big ebony hand Lorna offered hers.
"Clyde?" she said after she regained her voice.
"The only and only. Can I sit down?"
"Oh. Uh - sure," Lorna replied. "Sorry."
"I gather that I'm not exactly what you expected," the burly man offered with a bright smile. "And if you would rather I left, that's fine too. I understand."
"Uh. No. No and no," Lorna mumbled. "No, you weren't exactly what I was expecting and no I don't want you to leave."
"I seem to have gotten the attention of the other patrons."
"Anybody they don't recognize gets that treatment. I don't come in here much so I don't know many of them."
The waitress came over and took Clyde's drink order, and when she left Clyde took his windbreaker off. Lorna did a double take when she saw that while Clyde was a big man like his ad suggested, unlike herself little if any of the weight Clyde carried was fat. The light blue shirt he had on barely contained his broad chest and his biceps seemed like they would burst the short sleeves open when he bent his arm and took a drink.
"Wow. Sorry to stare, but are you an athlete Clyde?"
"Not since high school. I work out a lot and working 10 hours a day 5 days a week does keep me in shape."
"Looking at you makes me feel even fatter," Lorna admitted but Clyde shook his head.
"You look nice to me Lorna. I'm not much for the scrawny type women to be honest. That's why I was drawn to your picture," Clyde revealed. "You seem very mature for 22."
"You're only the second person that I've met through that site," Lorna confessed and then amended that. "Actually you're the first I met. The first guy either stiffed me or peeked in at me and ran. Not sure which of those rejections is worse."
"Worse is when you walk up to the person and they get up and scurry out the door," Clyde revealed.
"That happened to you?"
"Two times."
"Oh geez."
"Not having much luck," Clyde sighed. "There was one lady who did go out with me once after that but that was it. When I came in I figured you to be one of the runners."
"I would never do that. You were nice enough to come here to meet me," Lorna said as the waitress approached, and after Clyde ordered a burger Lorna opted for a salad and then told her date, "I'm on a diet. It started the minute you took off your jacket."
***
"I can't believe we've been here for almost two hours," Lorna declared to Clyde after he asked for the check, and she wasn't kidding because the time had flown.
After the nerves went away the conversation began to flow, and while Lorna didn't believe it possible a couple hours ago she was hoping that Clyde would want to see her again. After she tried and failed to pay for half of the check they left, walking past the bar where she sensed a little hostility towards her. Lorna suspected Clyde not putting his windbreaker on stopped anybody from making any comments towards him, and when the burly black man moved in front of her to open the door she saw that his back was as broad as his chest was.
Out in the parking lot the conversation turned to whether Lorna would like to get together again and the chubby teen wasted no time in saying she would like that. She refused his offer of a ride home and pointed at her beat up Toyota, but when she saw the nice black Town Car that Clyde drove she was embarrassed.
"Friday night then? We'll meet at the theater around 6:30," Clyde said, since Lorna didn't want him to have to drive up here to get her, and with that Clyde leaned down to kiss Lorna. Lorna was expecting a light peck but once his full lips met hers it became a whole lot more, with the chubby brunette holding Clyde's forearms for balance, and she was out of breath when Clyde backed away and bid her good night.
Lorna walked over to her car and after getting in, turned the key and let it run for a minute as her heart slowed back down. She hadn't expected that kiss, and had even wondered whether a light peck was getting too familiar too fast, but then Clyde doubled down on her affection. She wasn't sure where this relationship would go but a couple things were certain. Clyde had soft lush lips and the man could kiss.
***
Friday morning at work Lorna was having coffee on break when the only other female in the building joined her, grinning a grin that suggested she was full of gossip and eager to share, and as Donna said down she patted Lorna's hand.
"Aren't you the talk of the town?" she cackled and then added, "I had no idea you were a mud shark."
"What?" Lorna asked in confusion.
"It's all over town that you were going at it hot and heavy with some black guy in the parking lot of Stingers a couple nights ago," Donna explained.
