I never liked the stories that began with something that had to do with fate, destiny, and ridiculous propaganda that every single persons lives had a track that contained a bundle of something grater then people giving off the perception of fate and destiny. That was one thing I never liked, one thing that I witnessed, that I had grown to love.
I was working as a dentist, it had been one year since I had finished my residency under Dennis Nork, a fat faced, low life of a man. It was nauseating going to work every morning to comply with orders, and to leave for my two-hour lunch break and to return to mindless work that I once had a passion for, a profession that I had carried on from my childhood. On that two-hour lunch break I made a habit of turning right on Brooker to order a ham sandwich from a deli that sat adjacent from a drug store. My habit had grown my routine for the past year, until the day after of my year anniversary of my job that I had grown to hate. The day after, I went left, and I walked until I found a bar, a bar that I passed everyday to get to work and everyday to get home.
I had not lived in Washington for very long, I moved after my schooling in Colorado to begin my residency. My profession moved from adult to pediatrician, and began moonlighting cleaning dog's teeth. In my short time living in the area I had only been to a handful of places. Those places only being the deli, the drug store, the practice, and my apartment. I had passed the bar 1080 days in a row and never once did I bother to peek inside.
I meet her that day, I meet her because the only empty seat was next to hers, she sat at the bar, chatting to the bar tender about pointless things, most likely trying to pass the time as she sat nursing a drink that became to watered down by melted ice to know what was it started out as. It came off strange to me to that so many people came to a bar at one in the afternoon on a Wednesday. But because of the over flow of the crowed I was drawled to take a seat next to her.
The barkeep cocked his head to look at me and to take my order. He took my drink request and shuffled to the side to grab a glass. Waiting for him, my eye gazed over to look at the woman I sat next to. She didn't catch attention like most girls at bars. Her hair was pushed back behind her ears, her apparel, a dull gray skirt and matching jacket that hung over the bar chair. Her looks were ordinary, nothing special, and I felt bad thinking so.
The bar tender skidded back with my drink in his hand, I slid him my card and assured him I wouldn't be having another one.
"Would you mind if I used your phone again?" the woman asked her voice clenched as if she was biting her teeth.
The man handed her the wireless landline and shuffled off to a couple at the other side of the bar. The woman dialed a number speedily, as if the number was trapped in her fingers aching to get out. I could hear the ring as it continued halting with the dial tone.
"It's me," she sighed turning to look over her shoulder "I've been waiting for hours, it would be nice to hear from you…" she hung the phone up and placed it on the bar. She tapped on the notched table with her nails and turned her sight to look at me, catching me, staring. "can I help you?" she asked, her tone turning defensive, her bare eyes glaring, awaiting my answer.
"My bad" I whispered taking a sip of my drink, watching as she turned her head so that I was now staring at her profile. I began observing her face her cheek, contorted by the light, seamlessly thinned to the bone. Her nose rounding to a point, and her lips a dull pink.
A few months later I learned that she had been waiting, and had been stood up by her partner, she was always waiting for him. He had asked her to meet at that bar and she waited close to twelve hours for him until I asked if I could buy her dinner. She admitted that the only reason she said yes was because she was starved and left her money at home, not expecting to be waiting long for her appointment with her coworker.
It had to be fate that her un-reliable partner left her hanging and it had to be fate that I had taken a left when my natural calling was to turn right. Our destiny was to be together, and my fate was to be with her.