First Date
1.
~ Arthur looked down at his smart phone. It rarely rang and that was how he liked it. He was a text minded person and hated phone conversations. To him the ringing of a phone was too invasive. Like someone storming into your life unannounced and unwelcome; sucking up precious time and forcing you to say things you didn't mean.
Texts were much more efficient. A gentle ding on his phone let him know a message had been received. Messages was always quite and short. It required little participation on his part, and never made him stop what he was doing to respond.
Cobb and the others always texted him, but this time… he felt he should call her.
How rude was it to call her? He hated the idea that she might find it as uncomfortable as he did. They were in the 21st century after all. But the idea of a text asking her out romantically seemed too juvenile and too much in the dreaded "friend zone".
He glanced over the last few text messages to Ariadne. Most of them were about her health. She had been out with a very bad cold this past week and had been held up in the shoebox sized apartment she rented. The Point Man himself had gone to pick her up and take her home. She had been running a fever and the last thing in the world she needed was to ride the bus.
So, he had gallantly driven (in rush hour traffic) to her rescue. He hadn't minded this. It had been a pleasant afternoon. All the communication since then he had received from Ariadne had been about her recovery. She was going back to class today. Her last text thanking him again for picking her up was three days ago.
He cringed slightly, wished he had enough imagination to conjure a way to meet accidentally that could lead to a dinner and more… personal things.
He shook his head, told himself he wasn't in middle school anymore and scrolled down to her number. It was rude to call her out of the blue like this, but it was ringing.
Her voice answered clear as a bell and Arthur irrationally thought about hanging up the phone.
"It's Arthur." he fumbled and inwardly scolded himself.
"I know, I have caller ID. What's up? Is everything okay?" she demanded.
"Fine!" he said quickly. "No, everything's fine. How are you doing? Feeling better?"
Her end was quite for a moment before her voice lowered in a whisper.
"Arthur, I'm in study group right now. Can I call you back if it's not important?" she asked softly.
Arthur felt his face grow hot.
"I'm sorry. I thought you were out of class. I just wanted to call you… I had these tickets to see this… new show…" he flashed a mental image of a train derailing and running full steam off a cliff. "Well, I can call back. I mean I don't know if you would want to do that."
"Are you asking me out?" she whispered.
His first impulse was to snort with laughter and say no.
"Umm." was the best he could do.
"When is it?" she asked.
"Tonight? Eight o'clock?"
"You don't give a girl much notice, do you?" she whispered and the Point Man thought he heard annoyance in her voice. "Alright, pick me up at six? It will give me enough time to get home and change. What's the dress code?"
"Oh, outdoor concert. Casual." he said quickly.
"Paris casual or American casual?" she demanded.
He had to smile at that. In Paris, there was no such thing as dressing casual. The city population didn't believe in such things.
"Paris casual if you please." he said. He started to feel more relaxed at the idea she was teasing him. Her sense of humor at being asked out was a good thing. He hoped.
"Alright, see you at six." she whispered and abruptly hung up.
Arthur was about to say something else when the conversation ended. He was going to ask where she wanted to go for dinner, would a movie be better, but his Architect seemed to be done with him for the moment. Nothing was left but to get ready.
Arthur was always bold in most things. It was the only way to get ahead in this world. He was fearless yet still careful in how he conducted himself, but love was different.
He shook his head as he did his tie in the hall mirror. It wasn't love. Not yet, not for a long time yet. No, romance wasn't a thing he was good at. He had been a small gawky teen and overcompensated at other things. He had his share of female companions, he hated the word girlfriend, but they never ended well. The Point Man would always choose work over women and all their emotions and drama.
Ariadne was different. She didn't talk or think like other women he knew. She wasn't insecure about her intelligence or her looks. Most beautiful women he knew were always fishing for compliments. They were also pretending to be less intelligent than what they were in hopes to make themselves more charming. Not Ariadne. She wasn't afraid to be smart. She wasn't one to just listen to the team talk, but she joined in and asked questions.
He liked her from the very start.
'You'd think I'd never been on a date before.' Arthur scolded himself as he had to redo his tie.
~ Still unhappy with how he was dressed, how his hair looked at his whole general appearance, the Point Man left his own apartment, a place he rented fully furnished, and went to his car.
He might be late if he didn't hurry. Paris traffic was unpredictable and he had forgotten about the tourist season coming up. He emerged from the parking garage to find himself in gridlock. The smarter people walking around the bumper to bumper of cars and enjoying the city.
Arthur shifted uncomfortably. The show started at eight and it was half an hour till six now. He wanted to stop by a shop and get her flowers.
'Flowers?' he scolded himself. 'It's just a first date.'
He was right. Of course he was right. Flowers on a first date was too much. It might scare her off. It practically screamed desperation on his part.
He told himself to relax and tried to look for a way out of this horrible traffic that didn't involve going on a round a bout. An invention of the devil, surely. Why couldn't they just use stop signs?
His irritation grew at the idea the city planners didn't want the streets to look tacky with stop signs and lights, so a round about, with some obscure memorial statue in the center, was a better option.
The Point Man had to maneuver through four of them to get to Ariadne's trendy, student friendly neighborhood.
He liked where she lived. It was an older part of the city and teaming with life and young people. It was still light outside, and the population of her street were walking to their own date nights. They looked happy and carefree as the Point Man looked for a place to park.
Parking in Paris was worse than driving. These neighborhoods were not built for convenient parking. They were designed from a time before driving anywhere seemed ludicrous. So, Arthur parked a block away and felt foolish in his nice suit among the hip students on the street.
They were in bright colors, bold fashion and made the Point Man feel old in his more traditional attire.
He found Ariadne's building and was carelessly let in by a young man instead of using the buzzer. He would have to talk to her building manager about that. For all anyone knew, he was a serial killer and was just let into the building.
The notion made him feel even older and he loosened his tie while climbing the stairs.
'Maybe no tie?' he thought worriedly. 'I'm her date not the principle of a high school.'
He pulse raced slightly as he could imagine how he looked.
'No tie. No tie is casual. Paris casual. It's hip and… cool.' he reminded himself.
He stripped off his neck tie, stuffed it into his jacket pocket and undid the top button of his shirt. He felt like a bum, but he was sure he looked better.
~ He knocked on her door a little too hard. It was rude and he wished he could take it back. He was about to let out a long breath when her door opened to reveal his Architect. She was breathtaking in a sleeveless red dress that rested just above her knees.
Arthur was stunned for a second. He wasn't used to seeing her like this. Her normal clothing was trendy, but boring. This dress, while simple and chic, was breathtaking. It didn't hurt that she accompanied the look with red lipstick. Or that her hair was done up in some kind of mysterious and marvelous way that caused her face to look even more beautiful.
"Sorry, I'm late." he said worriedly.
"You're not." she teased and invited him in. "I'll just get my sweater and then we can go."
He saw she was still barefoot and watched in silence as she slipped on a short black cardigan and black ballet flats.
He was glad she hadn't over dressed or underdressed. She looked perfect.
'I should tell her that.' he reminded himself. 'Women like to know their efforts are appreciated.'
"You look beautiful." he said honestly.
"I was just hoping for just nice." Ariadne said with a smile.
She squatted at him and before he could stop her, felt her hand in his jacket pocket. She had retrieved his cast off tie, and effortlessly wrapped it around his neck.
He felt his blood course wildly in his body while she stood on tiptoe, practically in his arms. He could smell her perfume. Dior, he imagined. Simple and elegant. She was focused on retiring his tie.
"In case I forget." she told him gently as she secured it into place. "I had a really nice time tonight."