“Come on, Phoenix! You blinded your whole team!” I yelled out, frustrated.”Aaand I’m dead. Great. Jett got me because of you.”

“Mae.” I turned around to see Mason peeking his head into the room. “Why are you playing Valorant? I thought you were getting ready for your date.”

“I was…” I trailed off. “But now I’m playing Valorant.”

“Half your hair is up, Mae. You can’t possibly be ready.”

“I’m not. I got distracted, okay. But right after this game, I’ll finish getting ready.”

“Right after this game, we’ll be leaving.”

I shushed him, turning back to my computer as the next round started.

“What do you think?” I did a twirl in front of Mason and Julian. Both had smiles on their faces, though Mason’s was sort of…sad.

“You look great, Mae.” Mason nodded.

“Thanks, Macy.”

“You do look really nice, Mae.” Julius offered.

“Thanks.” I smiled over at him. “We should really get going. I don’t want to be late.”

“Sure.” Mason got up from the couch, grabbing his keys off of the side table, holding them up for me. We walked out to his Mini Cooper before climbing in.

“Are you nervous?”

“Fuck yes.” I let out a deep breath. “Terrified. I’m going out on my first date with some rich due who probably only wants to fuck me.” I picked at my nails as we pulled out of the parking space.

“You’ll be fine, Mae. Just call me when you need me.”

“I will be sure to.”

Mason drove off, leaving me in front of the restaurant by myself. I couldn’t believe I was really going to meet with a guy on the internet, the one thing my mom told me not to do. Okay, that’s not true, she told me not to do a lot of things, but dating men online was one of them.

“Mae.” I looked over to see my date, Lance, giving me a small wave.

I returned his wave in spades before walking over to him. I expected a handshake or maybe even an always hug, but instead he leaned down and kissed me on the lips. My first kiss. I was hit by it was his overwhelming smell of cologne. Like way too much cologne. Even nice cologne smells cheap when you bathe in it.

“Nice to meet you.” I smiled at him awkwardly. Even though I’m short at 5’4”, he’s barely taller than me.

“Nice to meet you too, Mae. You don’t have to be awkward around me.” He stated as if that makes me any less nervous around him. “I already got us a table. Come on.” He guided me inside, his hands on my shoulders as he walked behind me, and to the table. Lance pulled the seat out before motioning for me to sit. Which I did.

After we were settled into our table and ordered our food, we lulled into a casual conversation about ourselves.

“So, what do you do…for fun?” I asked timidly, not really sure how these conversations were supposed to go.

“I use to go skiing with my kids every winter until my ex took custody of them. The kids use to love it. They’d always bring their friends and we’d stay up there for a week or two. We had a house up in Breckenridge if you know where that is.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “My grandparents had a cabin up in the mountain, so we drove through a lot of skiing towns to get there.”

“The house was beautiful.” He shook his head. “You would’ve loved to see it, I’m sure.” I was slightly put off by his comments. Maybe he meant nothing by it, but instead, I took it as if he thought I’d love it because I’m poor and some expensive house would impress me. I kept a smile plastered on my face while internally I rolled my eyes.

“I would’ve loved to, though I’ve never been skiing before.”

The smile grew on his face. “I could always take you. Make a weekend of it. We could stay in a nice hotel.”

“That’d be awesome.” I widened my eyes, though inside all I could imagine was him trying to get in my pants the entire trip.

“How long have you lived in Colorado?”

“My whole life.” I responded simply before he looked at me expectantly. “Uh, twenty-two years now.” I answered, hoping that’s what he wanted.

“Still so young. You said on your profile you didn’t go to college, correct? Why is that?” He titled his head to the side slightly.

“I have a disease that makes it hard for me to be out of the house for long.” I rubbed my arm nervously.

“But that’s enough about that.” He shook his head. “My ex-wife, I try not to talk about her on dates, but she is such a vindictive bitch.” My eyes widened slightly at his comment. “She’s trying to indoctrinate our children. She gave my son, my son, a dress. After she joined all those stupid support groups during our marriage she changed and became such a different woman. Now all she does is bitch and whine and talk politics.”

Immediately, at that moment, I knew I had to leave. Before food gets here, before I have to spend any more time with the guy. So many red flags in just one conversation.

“Can I use the ladies’ room real fast?” I tilted my head to the side innocently, hoping to not give away I was about to bolt.

“Sure thing.” He nodded. I quickly took the moment to head straight to the bathroom and try to plot my way out, so I could call Mason and get out of here. I pulled the door to the bathroom open, thankful to have a respite from his talk about his ‘bitchy ex-wife’. I pulled my phone out, having no actual need to use the toilet, and called Mason. He picked up after a few moments.

“Hey, Mae. What’s up?”

“Mason. This date. It’s terrible. Please come pick me up.”

“I’m not even halfway home, so I’ll turn around and be there soon.” I could hear the sounds of his car.

“Thank you.” I hung up, looking at myself in the mirror. I could just hide out here until Mason came, but how would I sneak out the front. Maybe I could ask a waiter to take me out the back.

A knock on the door, caused my heart to beat quickly. “Occupied.”

“Mae.” Lance called out. “Are you okay? I’m worried about you.”

“I--I’m fine.” I called back, part of me scared he’d come to the door. “My stomach is just tied in knots. I’m okay though.” I added more, hoping he’d leave.

“Do you want me to get you anything? I can come in if that’d help.” His offer caused the hairs on my arm to stand up as if I was in danger. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something seemed off about him. As a whole.

“No. I’m okay. Just go back to the table and give me a few minutes.” I prayed he’d leave, giving me a chance to make a break for the exit.

“Okay, Mae. Call if you need me.” I waited a few moments, hoping he left, before pulling my phone out and opening the app to block him. I just need to kill time for a little before going out and searching for a waiter. After a few minutes, I finally built up the courage to peek out the door. Not seeing him, I slipped out and headed towards the kitchen area, thankfully it was nearby where the bathroom was.

“Excuse me.” I stopped one of the waiters on their way back. “I’m having a terrible first date and the guy is giving me the creeps.”

“Do you want me to call the police?” They offered, causing even more anxiety in me.

“No--no. Please just help me get out of here. My friend is about to pick me up.”

“Sure thing.” The waiter nodded, motioning for me to follow after them. They walked me to the back door, opening for it. I stepped out, next to me was someone smoking.

“Bad date?” He smiled slightly, pulling the cigarette away from his lips. I nodded, tears welling up in my eyes. “Hey, don’t cry. You know what. Next time your dessert is on me. Just tell them Angelo said so.”

I nodded slightly. “Thank you. For trying to make me feel better.”

“Don’t worry, we’ve all had a bad date before.”