Chapter 2 #2
“No.” Bob shook his head. “If he did that, he’d have to offer an actual salary other than the privilege of going out with him.” Bob put air quotes around the word privilege.
Franky thought the nightclub option was starting to look good.
He looked at the clock. Well, Wilson had lasted longer than Jason, but he’d been early, so it still was just shy of two fifty-five. Thirty-five minutes until the next meetup was scheduled.
Franky went to the bathroom and did his business, made sure he hadn’t spilled milkshake on himself and pondered just going home.
That wasn’t fair, though, because he wouldn’t want to be stood up, and he wasn’t going to do that to the last two guys he was supposed to meet today.
Besides, Bob and Drac were right. It couldn’t get any worse.
He tried really hard for the next half hour to not check the clock every two minutes, and to not get depressed about how things had gone. He couldn’t remember meeting someone being quite this hard, but he had been on his own for quite a few years now and he supposed he hadn’t moved with the times.
Time crawled slowly, making him wish he’d just stayed home. He could be binge-watching Dead Boy Detectives for the umpteenth time. It would be better than this.
Three thirty finally rolled around, and the door opened almost on the nose. Oh, right on time, this guy had real potential.
Franky smiled at the man who came through the door, watching as he looked around, then headed in Franky’s direction. He stood, ready to shake the man’s hand and invite him to sit.
The guy got about five feet from his booth, his eyes widened and he raised his hands in a warding motion.
“Oh no. Nope. Just no.” He turned on his heel and headed out the way he’d come.
Franky stared in that direction for a while, stunned. The guy hadn’t even bothered to stay long enough to say hello.
“He’s not coming back,” Drac said softly.
“No, I’m afraid not,” Bob added.
Franky slowly sank back into the booth. “I don’t understand.”
“I guess he thought the picture was a joke and that wasn’t really how you looked?” Bob shrugged. “I’m sorry, Franky. People suck.”
Franky already knew that, but he also knew there were a few gems in with the garbage. He guessed that he needed a much larger swath to make this work. It was only four after all. Of course that was four culled down from nearly three hundred, so he had cast a much wider net.
“We could go home if you’d like,” Bob suggested.
Franky shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to be stood up, so I’m not going to stand someone else up.”
“Standing someone up would have been better than what that last guy did.” Drac was talking in his gentle voice so Franky knew he was trying to be nice. “And no one would blame you if you gave up at this point.”
“I know, but I don’t want to be that person.” He didn’t care how many bad dates he came across, he wasn’t going to let that change him. It might keep him from trying the dating sites again, ’cause whoa, saying this was not going well would be an understatement.
“You’re too nice,” Drac told him.
“There’s no such thing,” Franky countered.
They both looked to Bob to break the tie.
Bob shook his head. “Nope, don’t make me the monkey in the middle. You’re each allowed to have your own opinions. Okay. three down, one to go. Let’s hope this guy turns things around.”
An hour later, Franky couldn’t help but think those were the infamous famous last words.
It was clear that the guy he was supposed to be meeting at four fifteen just wasn’t going to show.
He’d been stood up. Now that he’d been through it, he couldn’t decide if it had been worse or better than any of the other three experiences.
Maybe about the same. Except for the first guy.
He’d been totally willing to accept how Franky looked.
It had been a shame they both wanted different things.
He stared at his empty milkshake glass and his stomach growled. That and his Coke was all he’d had since breakfast; he’d been too keyed up to eat lunch. He supposed the diner wasn’t a bad place to be if you were hungry, although it was the scene of the crime, so to speak.
Vince the waiter came over to his table and put a fresh Coke and a plate of steaming fries in front of him, then sat in the booth across from him.
“I take it the last guy never showed?”
Franky shook his head. “No, he did not.”
“That sucks,” Vince said. “I figured you could use a plate of fries. They’re kind of like bacon—they make everything better.”
Franky chuckled and took one. He had a bite and hummed.
They were good. And Vince had gone to the trouble of bringing them over.
That was very nice of him, and it would be rude not to eat them.
He looked at the condiments in the caddy on the table and was pleased to see not just a bottle of vinegar, but of malt vinegar.
He doused the fries and then salted them.
“Thank you. This was very nice of you.”
Vince shrugged and gave him a rueful grin. “I know what it’s like to get stood up. And you’ve had a bad run of it this afternoon.”
“Yes. My first go at meeting people through an ap.”
“Oh, it’s a jungle out there, and the aps are the more dangerous parts of it. There doesn’t seem to be any tried-and-true ways to find other singles to date.” Vince leaned in. “Have you tried speed dating?”
Franky shook his head. Drac had done it, several times in fact, but he was just looking for tasty snacks, not a relationship.
“It’s like the aps only instead of looking at profiles, you spend two to three minutes in person with the people.
I suppose at least in person they can’t lie about their looks, but it is so awkward!
And there’s usually only one or two you want to spend more time with, and chances are, they don’t want to spend time with you.
” Vince shrugged. “What can I say—I don’t recommend it. ”
“Noted.” Franky appreciated the advice. “Bob and Drac have been helping me.” He pointed to the booth next to his. “This is Bob and Drac. Guys, this is Vince.”
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“Hellooo.” Drac all but purred the word out, making Franky roll his eyes.
But Vince didn’t seem impressed, tuning back to him after the pleasantries were exchanged. “Well, if you find a tried-and-true method, you’ll have to come back and share.”
“I will. Hey, given how good the milkshake and fries are, I’ll probably be back to eat lunch a time or two.
” He was eager to see how the burgers were.
He loved a good burger. Who was he kidding, he loved a bad burger almost as much.
And really, there wasn’t such a thing as a bad burger unless you meant it in the meat’s gone off kind of bad.
“I work every weekday from eleven until seven,” Vince told him. “And there’s a dish or three I would recommend.”
“Then I’ll definitely have to come back and give them all a try.”
“Then, I guess I’ll see you again,” Vince said as he stood.
Franky nodded. “Yeah, I guess you will.”
“Excellent.”
Franky watched him go, admiring Vince’s ass. He was very well put together.
“Did you just make a date with our server?” Drac asked.
“No, I did not.” He hadn’t. Had he? No, a date was a set time when two people met to have dinner or watch a movie, or even just go for a walk. He was just coming back to try the food.
“But you are coming back,” Drac insisted.
“Well, the food is good and I need to eat.”
“Well, then…” Drac waggled his eyebrows.
“Leave him alone, Drac.” Bob took a few bills out of his wallet and set them on the table. “It’s been a rough day.”
Drac pouted, but he also nodded. “I’m sorry, Franky. I was just teasing.”
“That’s okay.” And really, Franky meant that. It was okay. He was okay. The attempt to find a date had been a flop, but he wasn’t feeling particularly upset about it right now. He’d take it.