After a relatively uneventful weekend spent getting over his disaster of a blind date, Eric was now back at work.
He had just finished explaining a relatively simple long division problem to his students,(ignoring the ones asleep, but pretending to be awake-some battles were just not worth it-especially on Mondays).When the bell signalling the end of his lesson rang, he watched as the not so secret sleepers came back to life.
All of the kids started gathering up their things and getting ready for the next class.
" Ladies and gentlemen, do not forget that next lesson we are starting on trigonometry. So be sure to study well in advance. I do not want any of you lagging behind when things start getting more complex. All right?"
"Yes, Mr. Fisher," There were multiple choruses of affirmation as the students made their way out. Eric watched all of them leave before he went to sit down at his desk. It would have been better for him to go to the teacher's lounge to be with the other teachers while he waited for the next maths lesson to start. But he did not feel like company just yet. Plus the physical education teacher seemed to have something against him.The man was always asking him to partake in the most ridiculous of challenges.
The last time, Gary had wanted them to take turns flicking coins to see which one spun the longest. Eric had won of course. It was nothing but simple physics. But Gary had taken the loss to heart. And if there was one thing Eric had learned about him, it was that Gary, whenever he lost, made sure to come up with an even crazier challenge than the last one in an effort to try and heal his bruised ego. Not that even that helped. When he won, the man also celebrated by coming up with other challenges.
He seemed to take great satisfaction in competing with Eric. And Eric had no idea why. Not wanting to think about Gary and his weird competitiveness, Eric went over to his desk and sat down.
Pulling out his phone as he crossed his legs on top of the table. If it were a student doing this, he would have had a fit. As would have many of his past teachers if they were to see him. But there were perks to being a teacher, no one could scold him for that in his own class, so Eric did not feel even a little bit guilty as he got comfortable. Staring at the screen he looked over at his sister's number, his finger hovering over it for a bit.
When he had left Barbara at the restaurant, Eric had not thought that he was overly upset by the whole thing. But as it turned out, it had really bothered him. And as a result, he had not talked to his sister since that night.
A part of him was angry that she had thought that it would be okay to set him up with someone like that. But at the end of the day, his sister was family, and he knew that she genuinely cared about him. He could not afford to squander family like that over somebody as insignificant in his life as Barb was. So heaving a sigh, Eric dialled his sister.
The phone rang for so long that he was worried that she would not answer. But right at the last second she picked up.
"Hey, baby bro," She greeted, sounding way too cheerful, and Eric could not help but frown in annoyance.
"Don't frown at me," She said and he pulled the phone away from his ear and looked around the classroom. Did she have cameras set up in the place? How would she know that he was frowning? Putting the phone back to his ear, he was greeted by the sound of her laughter.
"Relax, you little nerd. I do not have the place bugged. I am your older sister. I know every single expression you make, when talking to me. Alright?" The nerd comment would have held weight if Beth was not someone who read Latin for fun.
" You do not." Eric grumbled and she laughed some more.
"So, I take it you're calling about the blind date to come,"
"How about the blind date that was? What was that, Beth?" He asked. And this time there was no laughter in her voice as she answered.
"Barb loves structure. And since you're all about logic and stuff, I figured that the two of you would be a good match. I did not think that it would end so badly. I'm sorry," Beth's voice was wavering, and that more than anything told Eric that she really had thought that the match was a good idea. Heaving a sigh, he scratched lightly at his head.
"Alright, I forgive you, but still, please make sure that the other blind dates are not like that at all. I would not be able to stand somebody nit-picking at me again," He pleaded, feeling a wave of relief when she agreed with him.
"Anything you want baby bro. I'll try my best to vet them more thoroughly now okay? Just make sure that you show up and I'm certain that something good will come from this," His sister might have been optimistic but Eric was not feeling hopeful at all. And a few days later, it was Friday night and he was back at Chardays, another woman sitting from across from him.
Liza was an entomologist. She was kind. She had a wicked sense of humour. And best of all, she had not spend the evening criticising every single thing about Eric. In fact, things were going so well that, Eric was almost certain that the two of them would be having another date. And then Liza had to go and make things super awkward.
"I was not going to tell you this, but I actually brought along a friend," She said.
"A friend?" Eric looked around, trying to see if there had been anyone nearby that he had dismissed who could have come with Liza. But he could not see anyone who stood out. All of the people in the restaurant seemed to be focused on their own dates.
"My friend is not at the other tables, she is right here with us," Liza said softly, and Eric suddenly could not shake the feeling that things were about to go really bad.
Seconds later, Liza reached into her purse and pulled out a hissing cockroach. The giant bug crawling up and down her hand before settling in her palm like a kitten.
" This is Mira. She's a sweetheart. Do you want to pat her?" Liza asked, smiling softly at the roach in her hands. And that was all that Eric needed to see. For all that he knew, if he stayed and somehow got over the roach problem. She would take him back to her place and he would find that her entire house was infested not just with roaches. But with a whole variety of other bugs...scorpions, spiders, lice, mites, bed bugs. Judging by the way that she had taken the time to name her roach, she would probably have names for all of them too. He had to nip things in the bud before he found himself as a roach dad.
"Liza, it has been a great evening and you are a lovely person. But I'm pretty sure that this for me is a hard no. I hope you find somebody who loves insects as much as you do," He left her with that. It was a much kinder exit than the one that he had done on his first blind date. But it still had not taken away the hurt look on Liza's face. And unlike with the first one, when he had felt no guilt whatsoever for leaving. Eric found himself feeling really badas he made his way out of the restaurant. He happened to catch a flash of colour in the corner of his eye, and when he turned the lady in red was there. Only this time she was not dressed in red, she was in blue. Her deep blue dress having ruffles on the side that reminded Eric of waves in the ocean. This time her earrings were not star shaped. Instead they were tiny marbles hanging off delicate chains.
Unlike the last time when she had not seen him, the colourful lady looked up and saw him too. Eric could not help the thrill that ran through him when her eyes lit up in recognition.
She remembered him!
Feeling unbelievably happy over such a small thing. He stared for longer than was polite, feeling dejected when she focused back on her date. Though he consoled himself with the fact that she did not look very happy about that. For the first time Eric realized that the lady might have been in the same situation as him. Stuck in a cycle of going on blind dates because across from her there was a different guy from the last time. The two of them looking at one another like they were complete strangers trying to get to know each other. As he made his way out of the restaurant, Eric, despite his own date having failed yet again, found himself wishing that the lady at least got a chance to have a better time than he'd had.