Second Time Around

"Alright, folks, we're going to get started and we have a great event planned. Loud shouting filled the room and Miranda joined in, sociably. "At check-in, you each received a number..."

She tried listening to the emcee, she really did, but her brain wandered to Ben. It was the longest conversation she'd had with a man about something other than surgery in so long. Across the room, she saw him talking with his friend. He caught her staring and winked before turning back to this conversation. Shoot! She needed to get this man out of her head.

Then there was Dani. Did she really want to pick a fight with her sister of all people? While Miranda could be what some called "determined," Dani usually got exactly what she wanted. And she certainly wouldn't like it if the one she wanted actually preferred her younger sister. Closing her eyes briefly, Miranda could still feel his light touch on her elbow, on her palm, see his smile…

Everyone clapped and the noise snapped her back to the present. "Okay, ladies, find your table."

Silently, Dani headed in the opposite direction from her sisters. Val just shrugged and gave Miranda a reassuring thumbs up. "Have fun," she squealed before going to find her own assigned seat.

"You, too," Miranda said fretfully.

From her chair, she couldn't see Val at all which sucked. What sucked even more was that across the room, past one other speed dating table, beneath the purposely dim lights, she could see Dani's face clearly and the back of whoever her date would be. She hated going toe-to-toe with her older sister. And though it didn't happen often, this wasn't the first time that they'd both expressed interest in the same person. In high school, Chris Simmons had been the one guy that Miranda ever had eyes for. Sure, he was two years older and a little more popular, but he'd liked the sophomore. Out of the blue, Dani confessed to being into him as well, getting to him before he could ask Miranda out.

Eighth grade Valerie had tried to convince her to fight for him. But she couldn't bear the idea of arguing with Danielle over a boy who couldn't have been bothered to turn down one Bailey sister for the other. So she'd forfeited, letting Dani have him—only for her to dump him two nights after prom. Eventually, Chris had asked Miranda out, but she declined. She wasn't going to date her sister's ex. Rules were rules.

But that was then. She wasn't 15. If she could help it, she wasn't going to let her sister win. At her table, Miranda pulled out her phone, flipping it to the front-facing camera, checking her makeup quickly and pushing back her curls. "Okay, fellas, find your first date." The sound of twenty-plus men walking to their seats, made her body jump with anticipation. She wasn't expecting to find anyone—Ben included—but she was excited to meet some new people. At least that's what she told herself. Because if she didn't get into the spirit as Val suggested, it was going to be a long, long night. Miranda looked around to see Ben going toward Val's side of the lounge and her heart dropped. With the way the men would rotate, both of her sisters would probably see him before she would. And if he got to be with Danielle one-on-one, Miranda might be in trouble.

Someone sat across from her pulling her out of her thoughts. And so it begins. Miranda took a small breath. "Hi," she said with a smile, the kind that her grandmother made her practice in the mirror when she was a kid; forced and polite. Not too many teeth, Mandy.

"H-hi," he answered. "I'm Simeon."

"Miranda." She sized him up; long, lanky and young with an overly enthusiastic look in his eyes.

"Um, w-what do you do, Miranda?"

"I'm a doctor," she replied simply.

He nodded. "That's great. I'm in construction."

With a few more questions, Miranda realized that they weren't compatible; so, she relaxed and asked questions about what "being in construction" actually meant. The bell sounded and she waved to Simeon, watching him head to the next table.

As the men moved, she watched Dani inconspicuously. A blonde-haired man sat in front of the older Bailey and she raised an eyebrow colored with indifference. Miranda chewed the inside of her bottom lip as the chair across from her filled with another man. He rested his arms on the table, closing the distance between them. "Hellooo… Miranda," he said reading her nametag, "I'm Matthew."

"Oh, hi, Matthew," she responded, leaning back in her chair away from the good-looking man.

"So, tell me, Miranda, why are you single?"

She scoffed loudly, offended. "Excuse me?"

"Don't take it the wrong way, but… you're cute, you look smart, you probably wear glasses, right?" She tried not to grimaced, but failed. "No, don't take offense. I'm just trying to figure out why you'd be single. What's wrong with you?"

That inquiry was so rude and unnecessary that she cringed. If Miranda were Val, she'd probably slap him. If she were Dani, she'd probably make him cry. But she was her and so she said: "Probably not for the same reason you are."

Matthew held up his hands. "Ha. Good one."

Wanting to occupy the rest of the minutes, she pretended to be curious about the watch he was wearing. He'd shamelessly flashed it three times already and she knew he was itching to bring it up. "Your watch is… wow."

"Oh, this?" He asked holding it up for a fourth time before he rambled on about it and his other possessions until it was time to rotate. On her card, she put him towards the bottom of the list. Narcissism was not a quality she wanted to battle in a relationship.

"Time!" Discreetly, she peered over at Dani. Miranda couldn't keep her eyes off of her, lowkey praying her sister found a guy she liked more than she claimed to like Ben. Dani stared in her direction with smiling eyes as a guy sat in front of her and Miranda pretended to fix her hair. For the next couple of dates, she concentrated, not even paying her older sister any mind. Dates three through six were all nice guys. She said "nice" because she could barely tell the four of them apart. Most of them were attractive, but none of them made her feel anything. Nothing close to how she felt during her conversations with Ben.

The bell rang again. With a head nod, Miranda sent the last one on his way. By the time the seventh guy slid into the empty chair, her energy levels were nearly depleted. And they weren't even halfway through the event. She blew air from her lips, letting them flap while pushing her hair back. "Hi," she said taking a sip of her drink. "I'm Miranda." She'd said her name so many times today, she took a second to make sure she'd said it correctly.

"Hello, Miranda. I'm Eli." His face was delicate even with his five o'clock shadow; and he was sexy, like almost too sexy. "So, Miranda, what line of work are you in?" He asked, folding his hands on the table.

"Medical. I'm a surgeon," she answered. "And you?"

He raised his brows. "Let's back up here, a doctor?"

She nodded. "Don't tell me you've never heard of a woman doctor, Eli?"

"I'm not… I didn't mean it that way," he said with a smile that made her blush. "I just meant that… a Black woman surgeon is… I'm impressed."

It was a really big deal. "Well, you should be."

"Incredibly so," he told her.

"What about you?"

"I'm a nurse." She tilted her head to the side. "Don't tell me you're surprised about a man nurse, woman doctor?" He winked.

"No, of course not," Miranda giggled. "I think nurses are incredible. Never really thought of one as attractive."

"Ah, you think I'm attractive?" Eli asked, closing the gap between them.

She mimicked the action, taking in the pretty man. "If that's what you heard," she said.

He released a soft noise. "So, what brought you here today?"

"Spoken like a true nurse," she told him and the two of them laughed. "And, uh, my sisters. You?"

"It's a room full of beautiful women, where else would I be?"

"Typical man," she laughed. "And what do you think so far?"

Eli bit his bottom lip and squinted. "I mean," he began drinking from his glass, "I see a few possibilities." He stared right at her, a smile in his dark brown eyes.

Miranda rolled her eyes sassily. "Trying to be cute?"

"Lil bit. Is it working?"

"Lil bit." Switching gears, she pointed to his drink, asking: "What are you drinking, Eli? What's your poison for tonight?" There was nothing intrinsically important about knowing this fact, but time was ticking and she was curious.

He lifted his glass. "It's a Highball." She made a face. "I know. I know, but when I went to Japan, I fell in love with it."

"Ahh, a traveler."

"Have you ever been to Japan?" Eli asked.

Miranda sighed. "No, I can't say that I've done much traveling."

"You will someday." He licked his pink lips and she wanted to do the same. "So, what are you drinking?"

"Uh, Long Island."

He jerked his head, surprised. "Damn, girl."

"What?"

"I don't know what I was expecting, but a Long Island…" She waited with elevated eyebrows. "I used to be a bartender and people who ordered Long Islands were… hmm, not like you."

"Like me?"

"Yeah, they were messy. And looking to get wasted."

Miranda snorted and stared at her glass that was more ice water than anything. "Oh, God! Is that what bartenders think when I order this?" He nodded, laughing hard. "Thanks for the tip." She'd never been a big drinker, but when Dani used to visit her at Wellesley, it was her drink of choice and, somehow, it had just stuck. It wasn't until Eli's statement that Miranda pieced together the string of brokenhearted women that her sister had left in her wake with each trip to the grassy campus. For the first time in a while, she looked up to see the oldest Bailey running her fingers along her current date's arms. She shook her head. "Well, uh, my sister drank most of this one." Past Eli's head, the clock was showing that they had 30 seconds left and realized that she wanted to get to know him. Maybe as friends. Maybe more.

"So, Miranda, you and I?"

"Yes?"

"Is it safe to say that we have chemistry? That it's not all in my head."

Miranda tried to hide a smile. "I don't think it is."

"So, I can put your name down and maybe we can go out?"

"Maybe." He nodded and held out his hand as the timer went off. "Nice to meet you, Nurse Eli."

"You, too, Dr. Miranda." He winked and was gone.