Page 5 of The Blind Date

It was now later that same day, well into the evening, and thankfully, I was down to my tenth and final date of the month. If this date went anything like the nine before it–terribly–then I was tempted to call in one of my single acquaintances or a friend of a friend and have them play my fake boyfriend. It wasn't a long-lasting solution, but it would hopefully get my parents off my back for a while.

“Working hard or hardly working?” A voice called out from my right, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Seeing as it’s Friday, it's the latter," I laughed as I leaned back in my seat, dragging my eyes away from the dark screen littered with a multi-coloured font that refused to compile. I just knew I would fix it within the first five minutes of walking into the office on Monday morning which both frustrated me and left me relieved at the same time.

“Want me to take a look?” Owen asked, glancing at my screen.

“My ego won’t be able to handle it if you fix something I’ve been looking at for an hour in two minutes,” I groaned, unable to stop my lips from turning down into a petulant pout. "If I'm still struggling with this Monday morning, I'll ask you for help.”

"Deal,” Owen grinned, and despite what probably should have been the end of the conversation, he seated himself on the edge of my desk. "Is it safe to assume you haven't had dinner yet?" He asked as I turned off the monitor and powered down the machine.

“It is.”

Owen didn’t say anything else until I packed up my stuff, and we headed toward the elevators together.

“Do you want to get dinner?” He asked in a voice so quiet that if the office wasn't empty and filled with pin-drop silence, I doubt I would have been able to hear him.

Owen and I had both interned at M. L. Keaney during the summer between our Bachelor’s and Master’s and then gone on to join the bank as Analysts after our graduation. We were both from two different universities, me from King's College London and him from Dwight, located somewhere up north. Naturally, we drifted toward each other as we were the newest and youngest on the team by nearly two decades. Over the years, Owen had turned into a good friend and an even better colleague, but I had an inkling that recently, he was interested in something more than that.

“You mean, you and me?”

Owen nodded.

“I would have said yes if I didn’t have a blind date tonight.” I forcefully pressed the down button again, willing for the elevator to arrive quicker.

“Oh, a blind date?” he asked, his voice dripping with curiosity.

"Yeah," I sighed. "It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but my parents set it up. They’re tired of me being a spinster.”

“My parents are the same,” he chuckled awkwardly. “Thankfully, they haven’t started setting me up on blind dates yet, but I fear they're not far off."

“I’m just hoping this is a phase.” I crossed my fingers with a hopeful expression on my face. “What about you? Why are you working late on a Friday?”

"Same reason as you. My GUI build is broken and for the life of me, I can't fix it."

“That’s such a pain.” I scrunched my nose, frustrated for the both of us.

“Tell me about it.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets.

“Well, at least we don’t have to think about these stupid build issues until Monday,” I grinned, playfully nudging his shoulder with mine.

“There’s always that,” Owen chuckled and nodded in agreement as we headed out of the building. “Well, Saffron, I wish you the best of luck on your blind date, and I guess I'll see you Monday."

“See you Monday!” I waved goodbye and watched as he walked toward the tube station.

Even though the tube would be faster and cheaper, I ordered an Uber and waited for it to arrive with my earbuds in. This was my first moment of peace all day.

I smiled at the Uber driver as I got into his car but didn’t say anything. Instead, I turned up my pop music and turned my head to stare out the window.

Unfortunately, my one moment of peace all day came to a swift end when my phone started ringing. I grumbled profanities under my breath as I fished for it in my purse, but when I saw my best friend's name on the screen, the complaints were quick to die.

“Hey, babe,” I spoke cheerfully into the phone, eliciting a strange look from the Uber driver, no doubt because I had been a miserable grouch up until now. “What do I owe the pleasure?”

“Where are you right now?” Alina asked with a sense of urgency.

“In an Uber, why?” My eyebrows furrowed together in a mix of surprise and concern.

“I’m glad to hear that.” She released a sigh of relief.

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