Forty-five minutes passed as Maisy sat at the wooden table, scrolling through her phone with her head rested on her fist and an annoyed sigh escaping her glossy lips. After waiting this long, she didn’t bother to look up from her device to see if her blind date had finally shown up, and frankly, she was getting ready to leave or order some food for herself. But just when Maisy was about to get a waitress’s attention, wishing to order some Chicken Alfredo to go, she heard someone plop into the cushioned seat across from her.

He looked horrible… to put it nicely. His hair looked like it’s never seen a brush or conditioner, his clothes were wrinkled and looked as if they’ve sat in the bottom of the laundry bin for months, and the man’s presence contrasts the presentable theme of the Olive Garden altogether. The two stared at each other for a few moments before he finally had the courage to speak:

“You’re… Daisy, right? The girl Ash set me up with?”

Maisy frowned and slightly clenched her jaw but tried to relax her face to be polite, “It’s Maisy, not Daisy...” She corrected him curtly, “And you’re…” She trailed off, forgetting his name.

“Clark. My bad for messing your name up, also.” Clark said with an awkward chuckle as he glanced away.

“Clark…” She muttered to herself as if she was trying to remember the name, but to be honest, she was too annoyed at him to even care. “Is there any reason why you were late-“

“Hey- you look really attractive in that dress.” He complimented and glanced away, knowing his nice words sounded too much like he was changing the subject.

Maisy glowered for a split second before correcting herself to have a somewhat straight face, huffing a bit. “Thank you. I got it from Walmart a while ago, and-“

“Y-Yeah, I’m pretty sure you got that dress from Walmart; I bought the same one for my ex a month before we broke up.” He disrupted her reply as he finally looked back in Maisy’s direction, obviously not listening to what she just said.

“Hm, that’s nice… Hard to believe you’ve ever been in a relationship, though…” Maisy grumbled as she checked the time on her phone, unimpressed by her date.

The table went silent once more as Clark was looking around the Olive Garden, his face contorting into a revolted grimace. “I dunno why Ash even picked this place for the date. The food here is nasty as hel-“

“I chose this place. I like the food here.” Maisy interrupted him, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Oh…” He whispered, his eyes widening as he just looked away, his fingers toying with his unkempt hair. “I still don’t get how you like it here… that’s so weird…”

Maisy scoffed and rolled her eyes, checking her phone once again as their quick conversation ended. Admist the silence, the waitress walked over, asking what they’d like to eat; Maisy answered first.

“Could I have some chicken alfredo, please?” She calmly requested, even thought the waitress could tell from her eye twitching that she was at her wits end.

“I want a glass of red wine; I’ll just eat some salad tonight.” Clark ordered.

The worker raised her eyebrow before nodding and walking off to get their food.

It was quiet again until they finally got their order, which was the only thing that Maisy was looking foward to this entire night. Just as she was about to dig into the delicious chicken alfredo, she overheard Clark obnoxiously gulp his crimson colored wine, smacking his chapped lips right after while droplets of the alcohol flicked all over the table. And while he ate the fresh, bottomless salad, straight from the large bowl it was delivered in, might I add, his mouth was wide opened and smothered in dressing and parmesan cheese as he chewed the crunchy vegetables.

The woman felt her eye twitch again as she watched her blind date eat like he hasn’t had a crumb of food in decades, her grip on her fork exceptionally tight. Her silent outrage was suddenly interrupted by the waitress, who returned to the table just a few minutes later.

“Can I help you with anything else?”

“Could I get my food to go, please? And also-“

“Are you paying the bill, Daisy?” Clark asked with a stuffed mouth, and that final question made Maisy snap.