The Eve of the Moment – Part 1

I raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time, ready to begin my day. I wanted to start working on my new project right away, because the sooner I started, the sooner I could finish and the sooner I finished, the sooner I could start getting ready.

I was so excited for my date. It had been over a year since my last boyfriend and this guy seemed so perfect. He had completely swept my off my feet.

I was just standing there, in the aisle of the craft store, when I saw a strong, masculine hand reaching next to me, grabbing a bottle of silver glitter glue that I, myself, had been eyeing.

“Hey, what do you know about glitter glue?” he asked. I turned around to see a gorgeous man standing, holding the glitter glue in one hand, and a basket full of odds and ends in the other. His eyes were dark brown, almost black, and he had a black beard that was full and lush, while still being neatly trimmed, as if to say: “Oh darling, let me split your firewood, while I recite love sonnets I wrote just for you.” His features were all very stunning from his strong jaw to his bulging biceps.

“What, um.. What do you need glitter glue for?” I asked, sounding somewhat like a witch who had lost her voice from cackling too hard. He laughed and looked down, holding the glitter glue up by his head.

“You got me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it. My niece and nephew are staying at my house this weekend and I want to give them stuff to do besides watch Netflix. Well, I say, ‘I want,’ what I really mean is, ‘my sister will kill me if I don’t.’ Is glitter glue a bad choice?” I giggled.

“Well, you know what they say about glitter.” He looked puzzled. I put on my serious face and leaned in to whisper. “It never goes away. It’s the herpes of the craft world.” He burst out in uproarious laughter and I was taken aback. That joke was definitely not that funny, so why did his laughter seem so sincere? Could it be, that I had found a fellow dad-joke level joke enthusiast? His laugh was deep and loud, but somehow smooth at the same time.

“So that’s a no on the glitter,” he said, putting it back on the shelf. “I love my niece and nephew but I don’t want glitter-herpes infecting my home.” I grabbed the glue and threw it into my basket. He raised his eyebrows.

“You’re not afraid of herpes?” I shrugged.

“Nah, I’ve got it already. I’m an artist.” He stood there looking at me for a second, a smile in his eyes and his mouth slightly ajar. My eyes opened wide as I realized what I had said. I started waving my arms around saying,

“No no no no that’s not what I meant, I-.” He started laughing again. I put my face in my hands and muttered a low “Come on…” annoyed at myself for another exciting episode of me putting my monumental foot in my slightly-bigger than monumental mouth.

“So you don’t have herpes then?” he said, perfectly, with his perfect mouth. My face still in my hands, I shook my head and said no. “Well, that’s a relief, because now it won’t be awkward when I ask you out.” I stopped shaking my head. What did he say? Was that my imagination? I tentatively peered out from behind my hands to see that he had ducked down in front of me, so that he would be in my exact line of vision when I opened my eyes. He was doing this tiny little half-smile, that looked almost cocky, but in a good way.

“You’re asking me out?”

“Yeah. What do you say?” I glanced around slightly, for some reason, as if my brain were looking to see if there was anyone else he could be talking to.

“Um.. well… yes.” He pulled out his wallet and pulled out a business card. He turned it around and, with a pen he pulled from his shirt pocket, wrote down an address.

“Meet me here at, say, 6 o’clock tomorrow night?” I took the card awkwardly, in total disbelief that I had just said yes to a date with a stranger. He started to walk away, and I felt butterflies in my stomach as I made another attempt at words coming out of my mouth. I was trying to say “Wait, I don’t even know your name. My name is Evelyn, but you can call me Eve.” But the only thing that came out was a squawk-like sound that somewhat resembled,

“EVE!” He turned around and smiled again. This time a full smile, revealing two rows of perfect teeth.

“Nice to meet you, Eve. I’m Leo. I can’t wait for tomorrow night.”