Matt watched Lisa unlock the door and wave before she went in. He felt like fist-pumping the air in joy at her agreement to dinner. It was completely unexpected and caught him completely by surprise.
" OK, Matt, slow down and think! Think, what would she like?" Matt muttered to himself as he drove off. He had a day to figure it out and he was determined that it would be a date to remember.
The next day, Lisa smiled at her reflection in the mirror, satisfied with her work. Her dress was quite frankly awful and would make any man run. She had visited the charity shop in the morning and looked through the bargain section. She had lost hope until she set eyes on a particular dress. Lisa had almost skipped back home.
Lisa had spent the following two hours making sure her dress, makeup and hair all superbly clashed. As she walked down the stairs, she knew she had hit the mark as Emily's jaw fell to the floor.
"What do you think?" Lisa signed.
"What... …what are you wearing?" Signed, Emily
"Don't you like it?"
"I thought you were going out to dinner, not a horror show! William is here and you are embarrassing me!" Emily signed.
"Will is here! Excellent! Oh, William, William Collins!" Lisa called, unable to resist the temptation to embarrass Emily. William and Emily had been going out for the last six months and Lisa was secretly pleased. She was happy to see Emily do normal teenage things and William was a sweetheart. He had quickly picked up sign language and was besotted with Emily. As predicted, William came running and looked shocked.
"What do you think?" Lisa asked. William, unsure of what to say, looked at Emily for guidance, not sure what to say. Emily rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Erm, you look beautiful….it is a lucky man who is going to take you out tonight!" William said carefully, deciding to play it safe
Lisa laughed out loud and signed, "Oh Will, you are so adorable!"
"Please stop! God, you are so embarrassing!" Emily signed
"I am indeed! Now, pass me my bag please, it is in the kitchen, as I think that my date is here!"
"Don't worry, I got it!" Will said as he went into the kitchen and came back a few seconds later with a large bag. "Wow, this is heavy!"
"Be careful!" Lisa said as she took the bag. She then went on to sign, "Now, I will be home before 10, all being well. You have my number, contact me if there are any problems."
"There won't be! Now, go! " signed Emily, as she pushed William back towards the living room.
"Love you too," Lisa muttered as she opened the front door and walked out. "Let the show begin!"
Matt had changed clothes several times, unsure of what to wear.
"For the love of God, Matt, please pick one. You are making us all nervous!" Alannah moaned as she sipped some orange juice.
"Yes, you look good in all of them. Doesn't he Lilly- Anne? " Kurt cooed as he rocked the baby girl in his arms. Lilly- Anne made happy noises and yawned.
"I don't know, I think the blue shirt looks much better with the suit, but what If she does not like blue?" Matt asked himself as he looked into the mirror.
"Why are you so nervous, anyway? I have never seen you like this….ever!" Alannah said, her eyes narrowing. Matt was normally laid back and quite the ladies' man. He normally just wore whatever was clean on a date. This did not affect the result of having the woman in his bed by the end of the night.
"Maybe, because I have only one shot at this! I have one date to impress her or I have to leave her alone." Matt explained.
"So?" Kurt said, not looking up.
"What?" Matt asked, confused.
"So what if you don't see her again? Why would that matter to you? It is not like you don't have women throwing themselves at you!" Kurt said shrewdly.
Matt stopped and thought for a minute before Kurt continued"Is it because you may be, like this woman?"
"Of course I like her, I would not have asked her out if I hadn't," Matt said.
"Kurt means, like her, like her," Alannah said with a smile.
"I don't know, there is just something…" Matt said. Alannah and Kurt gave each other a knowing look and smiled.
Matt had decided on the blue shirt and the tailored black suit. He had arrived early and was waiting for his date. Ontime, the front door opened and Lisa walked out proudly. Matt tried not to look shocked as he looked at what she was wearing. Lisa opened the car and door, saying, "Hello! You are on time, I like a man who is on time!" She sat in the front seat and pulled the rest of the dress in, swamping the front of the car. "Do you like my dress?"
"You are wearing a wedding dress!" Matt was shocked as he tried to push some of the cheap nylon fabric away from the gearbox. The dress looked like it was straight out of the 80s. It even had puffed bell sleeves, mountains of white satin ruffles on the skirt, and lace everywhere. She even had a cheap fake jewelled hair grip in her hair, which was standing on end because of the static electricity caused by the dress.
Lisa had finished off the look with some appalling make-up. Her foundation was several times too light, with bright pink blusher and bright red lipstick. Her eyeshadow was neon green and purple. The outfit was finished off with a pair of black Doc Martin boots and clip-on earrings that had dangling parrots.
"What is this old thing? I am sorry it is the only dress I had! Don't you like it? We can call it an early night if you want ?" Lisa said innocently.
"I am sorry. I was stunned by the effort you had made. You look beautiful as always!" Matt said with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.
"Thank you, you don't look too bad yourself. So, where are you taking me? Somewhere good, I hope. " Lisa said.
"Ah, yes. As you said that you didn't have a preference, I thought I would take you to the Brazilian BBQ restaurant in Camden. It has just opened and is supposed to be rather good!" Matt said. He and his infant owned the restaurant, but she did not need to know that.
"Sounds lovely! Now, what should we discuss? Oh, how about sexual health? When was the last time you had an STD test? You can't be too careful these days! " Lisa said.
Thankfully, Matt managed to steer the conversation to more normal topics and took mental notes. Lisa liked all types of music, being outdoors, and animals, but didn't like being cold. Matt couldn't help but laugh at Lisa. She was extremely witty and had a great sense of humour, no matter how hard she tried to hide it!
There were a few raised eyebrows and shocked faces when they walked into the restaurant. But Matt loved the fact that Lisa didn't even blink, in fact, she walked proudly to her seat and even asked a waiter for an extra chair so her train would not get dirty. The stunned waiter nodded and obliged.
"Thank you so much for the chair. Oh hang on a minute, is there a spare plug socket around here? " Lisa asked the waiter.
"For your phone? Certainly Madam." The waiter replied politely.
"Oh, no, not because of that! It is for this! " Lisa said as she went into her bag and got out a slow cooker, complete with beef brisket. If you could plug this in and put it on high, it should be cooked by the time I leave. Thank you so much! " Lisa said as she handed it to the shocked waiter.
The waiter, unsure of the slower cooker policy at the restaurant, looked at Matt, who nodded. The waiter bowed before going off to find an empty plug socket. Lisa hoped that Matt would make excuses and run a mile. Instead, he said, "I can see you are a thrifty woman. As a businessman, I admire that. Wine? "
"Why not?" Lisa said, trying not to show her disappointment. She knew then she would have to up her game. "Bring it!" she thought, suddenly enjoying the challenge.