Haida's Date

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Haida screamed in both anger and horror. He and his vulpine friend Fenneko were sitting in the office break room, and Haida's outburst had caused the heads of the few other people currently in there to turn to stare at them.

"I set up an online dating profile for you," Fenneko answered in her usual calm manner as she stared at her phone screen, completely unfazed by Haida's outburst.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?" Haida shouted again, becoming even angrier at Fenneko's complete lack of a reaction. "I thought you said that online dating is stupid, just like singles parties!"

Fenneko still remained completely calm. "This is for your own good, Haida. Retsuko turned you down. You need to move on. You've placed her on this pedestal in your mind, and its not healthy. There are a lot more women in the world besides her, you know. Still obsessing over her isn't doing you any good. You're just making yourself miserable. So I think the best thing for you to do is to go on a date, get your mind off of Retsuko, and have a good time. Plus, I'm sick of babysitting you, and I want you to start dating someone so you can be someone else's problem for a change."

Haida was used to these little insults from Fenneko, so he wasn't that offended. Besides, he knew she only meant it in jest, and at the moment a different question was on his mind.

"How did you even set up a dating profile for me?" Haida asked out of both curiosity and concern. "What did you put on it about me?"

"Just some photos of you," Fenneko responded, "along with some basic information like your age, height, species, likes, dislikes, hobbies, interests, personality, occupation, sexual preference, political views, financial status, beliefs, hopes for the future…"

"HOW CAN YOU KNOW ALL THAT STUFF ABOUT ME!?" Haida shouted, uncomfortable with all that information about him being put out there for anyone to see.

Fenneko grinned evilly. "I know many things about many people, Haida. Don't you know that by now?"

Haida shuddered. It was true. It was scary, the things Fenneko knew at times. He was glad she was on HIS side.

"Also I used your credit card to pay for your account." Fenneko reached into her pocket and pulled out one of Haida's credit cards, holding it up for him to see.

Haida was shocked. "FENNEKO, HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD THAT!" he shouted, quickly grabbing the card out of her hand.

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to," the vixen responded plainly.

Haida groaned. He had no idea how she had gotten his credit card without him realizing it. He guessed he should start being more careful with his belongings.

Fenneko spoke again, and this time she actually looked up at him. "Look, Haida, you already have a match." Fenneko held up her phone for Haida to see the screen. On it was a dating site profile page. The photo was of a cute raccoon girl.

Fenneko continued. "Her name is Ryako. She's 25, lives right here in the city, she works at a restaurant, her dream is to be a professional baker, and she wants to get married someday to a kind, loving man. She's agreed to your request to meet tonight for dinner."

Haida was confused by the last thing Fenneko said. "I didn't request that!"

Fenneko looked back down at her phone. "I know. I asked her pretending to be you."

That was the last straw. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT, FENNEKO!" Haida screamed. How could she impersonate him for something like this? That was crossing a line!

"Well, I did," Fenneko said, "and now you have a date tonight. You're welcome."

Haida groaned.

"And Haida, remember, try to enjoy yourself," Fenneko added.

Haida arrived outside the restaurant he was meeting his 'date' at. It was called The Orange Lilly Brewpub.

"Darn it, Fenneko!" Haida said to himself. "Now I have to explain to this poor girl that it wasn't me she was actually talking to online, and this whole thing was just a big mistake. And she'll be sad, and I'll be embarrassed."

He couldn't believe what was happening. He didn't want to date any other woman. He was in love with Retsuko. She was the woman of his dreams. Even if she had rejected him once, that didn't mean she would forever. All he had to do was wait a while, and then ask her again sometime.

Then again, she might never say yes, he thought to himself. She might not ever feel the same way about me that I feel about her. She might get into a relationship with a guy, and it actually works out, and they get married and live happily ever after, and, while I would of course be happy for her, I'LL BE ALONE FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE…

Haida shook those thoughts from his head.

No! I can't give up hope! I have to keep on believing! Now lets just find this girl in here and give her the bad news and get this over with.

Haida walked inside the restaurant. It wasn't too crowded inside, but it was still busy. After glancing around for a few moments, he spotted the raccoon girl from the dating site. She was wearing a pink sweater, and a tan striped skirt. She was sitting at a booth by herself, playing on her phone to pass the time while she waited for him. He sighed and began walking over to her. She soon spotted him approaching her and smiled, giving him a small wave. Despite his feelings for Retsuko, Haida had to admit this girl was kinda cute.

"Hi!" she said as he walked up to where she was sitting.

"Hi," he responded, stopping in front of the booth. "I'm Haida."

"I'm Ryako," she said. "Nice to meet you."

"You also," he said. "Um… before this goes any further, you deserve to know the truth."

She frowned, looking up at him in confusion.

Here it goes, Haida thought to himself, and then continued. "The person you talked to on the dating site… that wasn't me. My friend set up a profile for me and arranged all this without me knowing until today. So, knowing that, if you don't want to do this anymore, I completely understand. I'm sorry you were deceived."

Ryako stared back up at him for several seconds blankly. Haida looked away from her gaze. He wished he were literally anywhere else right now. This was so embarrassing.

Then suddenly he heard the girl laughing. Haida looked at her in shock as she let out high-pitched giggles. This was not the reaction he had been expecting.

"Wow! That friend of yours must either really care about you, or just loves to mess with you," the raccoon girl said after she finished laughing.

Haida considered this, and then he chuckled himself. "I think it's a combination of the two, actually," he responded. It was honestly a good sum up of Fenneko.

Ryako chuckled again. "I appreciate you being honest with me. To tell the truth, my own sister kinda forced me into trying this whole online dating thing."

"Really?" Haida was surprised that she had also been forced into this.

She nodded. "Yeah. My sister… She worries way too much about me, and she's worried that I'll never get a boyfriend. But I don't think these dating sites really work anyway."

Haida smiled. "Yeah. Me either," he agreed. "It's all just a scam to make money off of desperate suckers."

"Definitely!" she said with a nod. The two of them chuckled again.

Then Haida remembered the situation. "So… do you want to call this whole thing off?" he asked her.

Ryako thought for a moment. "Actually… Seeing as we're already here, and I got all dressed up and everything for this, I think it would be a shame if I did all that for nothing. So I'm okay to still have dinner with you if you are. What do you say?"

Haida thought for a second. She had a point, and this girl seemed really nice. It might be fun to make conversation with her while having dinner. There were definitely worse ways to spend an evening.

"Sure," he said with a smile and a shrug. He sat down in the other seat at the booth.

They ordered some food, and they chatted, getting to know each other. They asked questions about each other, shared stories, told jokes, expressed opinions and observations. Haida had no difficulty talking to his date, knowing that neither of them had originally wanted to be in this situation, and now they were both just trying to make the best of it and have a good time, and not worry about trying to impress the other.

"I'm not anything special," Haida responded to Ryako's question about him playing the guitar, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "It's mostly just a hobby I have. I don't play professionally or anything."

"Still, I think it's really cool that you can play the guitar," said Ryako. "I'd like to hear you play sometime."

"Thanks," Haida said, appreciating the compliment even though he knew he wasn't very good with the guitar. Now it was his turn to ask a question. "So you work at a restaurant?"

Ryako nodded. "Yes. I work at the Saffron Table Bistro. I'm a baker there."

"Do you like it?" Haida asked.

Ryako thought for a second. "Its okay. Well… not really. My manager is a jerk, the hours are long, the pay isn't as much as I'd like. My dream is to one day own my own bakery."

Haida smiled at her last sentence. "That sounds awesome!"

"Yeah. I'm saving up to do it. I'll finally be able to bake whatever I want, set my own hours, and I wont have to take orders from anyone."

"Heck yeah!" said Haida in encouragement. "What kind of things will you bake?"

"Everything!" said Ryako, making herself excited. "Breads, rolls, biscuits, pies, cakes, cookies, muffins, heck, maybe even pizza."

"Oh, man, you're making my mouth water!" said Haida, thinking about all the tasty food she was saying. "When you open, you have to let me know! I'll be your first customer!"

"Thanks!" Ryako said.

They continued talking for a while, until Ryako took notice of a clock on the wall of the restaurant out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh my gosh! It's going on eleven!" she shouted.

Haida looked around. Out the window it was totally night! It was still daylight when he had arrived at the restaurant. He couldn't believe it. They had been talking for hours! He had been having such a good time he hadn't noticed!

"Oh, crap! I have work tomorrow!" Haida said. He didn't want to show up to work totally tired in the morning.

"Me too!" said Ryako.

They waved over the waiter, and they both agreed to split the bill. After paying, they both walked outside. The cool night air hit them like a wall.

"Well, I had a fun time tonight," Ryako said to Haida with a smile.

"Yeah. Me too," he said. Then he asked, "Would you like to do this again sometime?" He definitely wanted to see Ryako again.

"Yeah. I would," she answered. "Want to exchange numbers?" She pulled out her phone from her purse.

Haida nodded and pulled out his phone from his pocket, and they gave each other their numbers.

"I'll text you later," Haida told her.

"Sure thing," she responded happily. "Well, see you soon."

"Yeah. Bye," Haida said with a wave.

"Bye," Ryako waved back.

They both walked off in their own separate directions.

As Haida walked home, he thought about the evening he'd had with Ryako. He had truly enjoyed spending time with the raccoon girl. She was a really nice, fun, and hopeful person. He was glad that this evening had ended with him making a new friend.

However, it felt like more than just friendship. He wasn't sure. It was almost like a little fluttering in his heart. It was true that Ryako was an attractive woman, and he did like her a lot, but did he… 'like her' like her?

Haida shook his head of the notion. After all, he was in love with Retsuko.

Haida stopped in his tracks as he suddenly realized something. He hadn't thought about Retsuko even once during the entire time he had spent with Ryako.

To be continued

A/N: Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment on what you think. I want to know your honest opinions and input before I continue this story.