Gabriela Martinez was late, and she was never late. For class, for student government meetings, for work, even for dinner plans. But this horrible graduation meeting, which was absolute chaos, ran over, and therefore was making her late. And not just for anything, for a date. There was this guy from work who had asked her for coffee, and then for another coffee, and then for drinks which led to a very intimate late night activity that were typical of a third date. And now, a fourth date for dinner at a new upscale bistro near school, for which she was running very late.

He was cute, non-descript, looked an awful lot like the other guys at Columbia. Preppy and clean cut and wore Sperrys all year round, but he seemed different. He was in her urban politics class and was very passionate about labor rights, as he had strong political ambitions. He spoke up and wasn't afraid to disagree and Gabriela liked that in a man. She liked a man who was brave.

As she raced around the corner and into the street, she remembered that she was on her way to a date and probably shouldn't be sweating so much. Oh well, nothing I can do now. She slowed down for a block and then quickened her pace again when she got near the restaurant. It was only March, so it wasn't nearly warm enough to justify the amount of sweating she was doing, but Gabriela tended to maintain a very quick pace. Intimidating, as her best friend described it, as if she was always five minutes late and thus didn't have time for your bullshit. But, Gabriela was never late. Almost.

She apparently wasn't the only one running late that day, as her date had not yet arrived when she walked into the restaurant. The hostess took her peacoat and walked her over to a table by the bar. Gabriela fanned out her blouse, long-sleeved and light pink, and straightened out her skirt and waited. She waited through two refills of water and two lemon drop martinis and through about 100 texts from her best friend asking how it was going. So when the waitress asked Gabriela to give up the table, as it seemed her date was not going to make an appearance, she simply moved to the bar and sat next to a man eating dinner by himself, buried in paperwork.

"Bartender," she called out. "I'll take another."

The bartender nodded and got to work on a third martini. The man sitting next to her looked over, just for brief moment, and then turned back to his paperwork, but not before sighing. Gabriela, in all of her infinite wisdom, had to engage the man.

"Is there something you'd like to say to me?" The man, turned, confused, and realized Gabriela was talking to him. He put his knife and fork down, removed the napkin from his lap, and turned to face her.

"Do you really think the third martini is going to make your date arrive any sooner?" Just as he finished speaking, her fresh cocktail was placed in front of her, and the bartender walked away to avoid getting dragged into whatever was about to happen.

"No, but it's going to make me feel better about being stood up." She took a drink and looked this man straight in the eye. He was cute, to be quite honest; fit with dark hair and sparkling eyes and features that were just striking to Gabriela now that she got a good look at him. Not to mention, the suspenders and pink tie were a bit of a turn on for her. "What's your excuse?"

He was taken aback at the complete stranger, no matter how pretty, criticized him. "Excuse me?"

"You're eating dinner alone, with scotch, on a Friday night in Harlem. You don't go to Columbia and I'm guess you don't work for them. So, what's your excuse?" She raised one eyebrow and leaned her elbow on the bar, resting her head in her hand.

The man swallowed, hard. "I have a big case load, plus all of my co-workers have significant others to go home to and Friday night is date night, so here I am."

Gabriela now felt intensely bad for making fun of this man. She suppressed it for now. "Well, a cute lawyer at the bar on a Friday night. I have to say, I'm surprised I'm the first one to talk to you."

The man blushed and looked away. "I'm not necessarily the most noticeable person in the room, because tonight I believe you hold that title." He finished his scotch and loosened his tie. "Plus, it's not often I'm approached by attractive women such as yourself."

Now it was Gabriela's turn to blush. "Oh, um, well thank you. My name is Gabriela, by the way." She stuck out her hand to shake, an action she immediately regretted, but wasn't going to back off of now.

The man shook her hand in return and grinned. "I'm Rafael. Nice to meet you, Gabriela."