Jenny Logan, sister of the late Mark Logan watched her nephew tremble as he made pancakes. The two reasons were results of his dating failure, nerve damage and terror.
She smiled at him as he looked up and he returned it, ever since that girl messed him up getting the usually happy man to smile was a Herculean task.
"Are you ready to try dating again?" she asked as she toyed with the gold ring on her finger.
"Nobody seems to even want to talk to me anymore…" he whispered.
Standing and wrapping the young man up in a hug she whispered "Please try? For me?"
Looking up from his griddle the man thought about it for a moment before sighing heavily and nodding.
Raven Rachel Roth stared at the little shop in front of her "Kory, so help me god if this doesn't work…" was her muttered warning to her absent friend as she stepped into the shop.
'Wonder Match' was a very odd shop indeed, the shop's walls were lined with cards with adjectives, nice, calm, collective, rich, etc. there was a limit of three cards per person and when the three were chosen they were to be taken to the front where the proprietor would hand out a questionnaire that was to be filled out and returned. The chairs near the checkout had seen hundreds of people through this.
When the papers were returned a fee was charged and the three cards added to the profile. Several days later one would be called back to the shop and a date set up.
Yes, Wonder Match was a dating store. Though it could be much more as through them one could purchase any couple item one wished and if not directly through them one of the many connections they had. Or if catching your own significant other appealed to you they offered things that could help, guides, location charts, that sort of thing.
Raven walked into the brightly lit store and perused it's oak shelves before the lady at the front asked "Can I help you?"
Raven shook her head "No thank you, my friends explained how this works."
"Okay then, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!" she said cheerily. Raven turned to see the lady, a thin woman on the taller side with long pink hair that framed her face and highlighted her bright blue eyes and uplifting smile, the faded gray sleeveless tee and jeans were topped off by a loose set of white sandals and a silver chain around her neck.
Quickly settling her decision Raven sat in one of the lovely brown recliner and filled out the stack of papers.
Jenny looked at the trio of cards "Are you sure Ms. Roth? Usually people choose different cards…"
The lady in question shook her head "This is the most important thing to me."
Jenny smiled "Very well! We'll call you in a few days!"
Raven stepped out with a small smile "Not bad, not bad at all."
Her three cards read 'acceptance'.
Jenny sat on one of the park benches and quickly typed on her laptop, the matrix her husband designed to put people together was something only a genius could do, it matched almost every trait to the statistics associated with them. But, there was only one person who could possibly fit the algorithm for Raven Rachel Roth.
Biting her lip she did the only thing she could do. She called Roth.
Raven entered the shop wearing what she would consider to be appropriate clothing, a tight but not suggestive dark purple sweater, well cared for jeans and black dress shoes, her makeup was lightly done across her pale skin and her only jewelry was a set of earrings shaped like her namesake.
Jenny, this time in a summer dress quickly motioned her through a door and into the back of the shop where two chairs with a small coffee table sat. The hostess took the other chair and Raven lifted a brow "Are you the candidate? I feel so lucky" she said blankly.
The other laughed "No, Ms. Roth, I'm not, I'm married." her smile fell "But I felt I need to warn you that the only candidate that our system delivered is…"
Raven was now intrigued "Is what?"
Jenny closed her eyes and took a deep breath "Just…please try not to hurt him" was the last thing she said as she stood up and walked out.
Soon after a man came in. Different then what she imagined. He was about her height and thin, dressed in black dress shoes, black slacks and a blue long-sleeved button down, his hands were covered by white pianist gloves, his hair was a bright blond that hung down to his eyebrows and covered his ears, his eyes were perfect flecks of jade. He trembled as he sat down and gave a wary smile "H-Hello…"
Raven stuck her hand out "Hi, my name is Raven Roth"
His smile widened and his eyes brightened before quickly dulling again "Wow, your books are my favorite!" he quietly mused.
Raven smiled, her historical horror books weren't extremely well known but "The Death of Roanoke" had caused quite a stir as had her others "I'm glad you enjoyed them"
One white glove slowly extended and trembled the entire way "M-my name is Garfield Logan."
She took it and felt him try to not flinch at the contact. The violet haired woman took a long moment to analyze his posture, he sat on the edge of the seat and trembled like a leaf in the breeze, his eyes switched between looking around like a frightened rabbit and watching her. "Mr. Logan…why the gloves?" there was no guide for this sort of thing and Raven was horrible at small talk "Is it some sort of fashion?"
His trembling increased "N-no" very slowly he shook his highly tanned head "Scars…"
She nodded, that was something she understood "Um…tell me about yourself?"
He looked down, almost ashamed of himself "I used to be a bit of a boxer…but I'm head statistician and mathematician at Wayne Enterprises"
She blinked in surprise "Wow, that's quite the job…I guess I shouldn't say this but you don't really look like one for math…"
He returned with a quiet chuckle before he started to toy with his thumbs "W-what about you?"
His soft voice was beginning to enchant her "I'm an author as you know…and to be quite honest I quit my day job, a banker when my first book published. I've always wanted to be an author, something my mother always encouraged me to be." she feared the inevitable question about her father. She hated it but he just nodded.
Jenny knocked on the door "Sorry to interrupt but the time is up…if you're comfortable enough you might want to go to the café or the park across the street" she winked at them.
Raven nodded "Sure, I don't see why not"
Almost as if in response Gar's cell went off and a short conversation had him panicking "I-I-I-I-I'm sorry! But Aunt Ivy was taken to the emergency room!" his stutter had gotten immensely worse in his rush "S-sorry but I have t-t-to go!" he rushed off as quickly as he could leaving only a flurry in his wake.
Raven looked at Jenny and sighed "I don't think he liked the idea…"
The older lady rolled her eyes "Don't be ridiculous! Ivy raised him after his parents died"
The author blinked "You know her?"
"Ivy is his maternal aunt, I'm his father's sister."
Raven blinked "What about his parents?"
The aunt looked at the floor morosely "They died when he was very young"
"Oh" was all she could say. There was a silent moment before she shook her head "Sorry but I can't date somebody who's that troubled, I've got too many of my own…"
The host nodded but sighed "I understand. Please take care. Would you like us to call if another applicant shows up?"
"Why not?"
Gar's mad rush through the hospital seemed common enough from the perspective of the workers. The door was flung open before he ran headlong down the halls and into his aunt's room, ignoring her fiancé in the corner to sling himself onto his knees beside the bed and grab her hand.
Very quickly Ivy assured him that it was just pre-wedding stress and the fact that she had forgotten to eat when the catering service suddenly told her that they wouldn't do it. Her blood sugar had dropped and she collapsed. Nothing bad.
It took maybe five minutes. But by that time the shuddering had returned full force and he was near the point of blacking out. He left after giving her a tight hug, she was, after all, the one who raised him and one of three people that didn't terrify him.
Her soon to be husband sat in the chair beside the bed and took her hand "I'm surprised he even came in here with all these people."
Ivy watched him get into his car from her window. Her tanned skin contrasted brightly with her brilliant mane of dark red hair and eyes that ran in the family but were at their most pure in her nephew. She quietly nodded "I made him worry again" she said quietly "I'm always making him worry…"
He cupped her chin "Ivy, it's not your fault. He lost so much that he's utterly terrified of the thought of anything bad happening to you. That's how it is with him" she let out a small smile before grabbing his hand.
A minute later Ivy smiled a bit brighter "Why don't we ask your son's girlfriend to bring some people?"
He blinked "Are you sure you aren't Jenny's sister? You two are exactly the same!" he said as he planted his face in his palms. She just laughed before wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
Richard looked at his foster father "You want me to ask Kory to bring her friend to dinner?" as Bruce nodded the younger man sighed "With Gar coming? Are you trying to give him a heart attack?"
"Look Rich, I'm trying something different. I want Kory to bring her quiet friend, that girl who didn't say anything to you until you started it. Maybe by having someone like that it won't scare him beyond what's already going to happen when he meets up with Kory, you and myself."
"Well, I can't really dispute that logic…"
Bruce smiled "Well, hopefully things won't go badly"
Kory was ecstatic that her boyfriend was asking her to bring her friend to dinner, usually when they did dinner it would be Bruce, Richard, Kory and Ivy. Gar very rarely showed up but they couldn't hold it against him.
Raven glanced at her calendar "So you want me to come over tonight for dinner? Uh-huh. 7-ish? Got it. Yeah, I don't see why not. See you then." as she hung up Raven looked around distractedly, it was five so she had two hours to get ready. For some reason the man she met at the shop-Gar was still in her mind four days later and seemed like a constant distraction.
The problem, as she saw it, was he was interesting from any angle she cared to look at him from, and, to her annoyance, she tried many. As a potential suitor he was handsome and attentive, as a stranger he had been courteous and fully respectful. But the most interesting was as a subject, in her mind she couldn't help but try to dissect him-his tremors were something that would have come from massive nerve damage, his stutter as well, his gloves from something he deemed not for a first meeting.
Trying to take her mind off him she pulled out a weather beaten spiral that she used for drafting and soon her pen had danced over well over a dozen pages when she lifted herself from the table to get ready for dinner. Knowing that breakfast and dinner were really the only times on a normal day that Bruce could be informal she opted for jeans and a collard short sleeve, not totally informal but what she would wouldn't feel bad being in a picture with.
The drive was short-shorter than she expected and the house was big-bigger than she expected. Opening the door was Alfred, as he introduced himself, an immediately likeable man that led her to an amazing dining room where Kory was already sitting with Richard to her right, Ivy and Bruce occupied another side of the square table. To her surprise Jenny and a very large black man, her husband if the rings and the way they looked at each other was anything. Currently they were seated at a very dark eight person square table, to the side was a massive table more fit for the dining hall of some great castle. The greetings were happily and quickly given before she sat down. Jenny looked at her with a mischievous smile while everyone else seemed to be studying her.
Jenny's husband held out an enormous paw "Victor Stone, just call me Vic though." he was like the big brother figure she usually dismissed on tv or in a book but being confronted with it she couldn't help but smile.
Then the sound of the door opening seemed to quiet everyone though they tried not to let it show. The only available seat was to her left and the chair slid out slowly, dragged out by a heavily scarred hand. When the owner of the hand sat down she looked at him.
He looked back.
They both froze as Raven realized she was staring at Gar who looked utterly speechless at the very thought of her being there.