Man In Black

Eve would be the first to admit that it had not all started so bad. When she had first been walking into Chardays she had laid eyes on the most exquisite specimen of a human being, that she had ever seen. He had ticked every box for her. Tall, dark, and handsome. Then unfairly enough, he'd been gifted with something else that had made Eve's mouth water.

Freckles. He'd had freckles. 

Tiny sun kisses all over the bridge of his nose. When Eve had come close enough to see them, she had nearly swooned on the spot. Then she had seen those dark soulful eyes, and the thick curls atop his head, and just one word had come to mind.

Beautiful, she'd thought. 

Men did not like being called that, but that was the first thing that had come to her mind when she had seen the man in the black suit. His simple fashion had been a direct contrast to her own colourful style, but it had suited him perfectly. 

The confidence in his steps had made it even more attractive, and then there was the way that he had looked her up and down. The corner of his mouth pulling up slightly, like she was a delectable morsel that he would love to feast on. Eve would not lie. Sure she had not dated for two years since her heart had been shattered into a million pieces, but she could still appreciate gorgeous when she saw it, and the man had been drop dead gorgeous. 

'Is it you? Are you my blind date?' Eve had found herself whispering internally. At the same time, she'd had to fight off the urge to cross her fingers, because if she had done that, he would have known that she was wishing for something. But in the end, her fingers being crossed had not mattered. The man had not been her date, and Eve'd had to hide her disappointment as she had walked away from him. Then of course there had come the disaster that she had been expecting the night to be. 

On the bright side she was not the reason that things fell apart. On the bad side, her date was an absolute nightmare. The first red flag had come with the man arriving a whole ten minutes late. He had not even bothered to apologize. There was no 'sorry, I'm late. It was because of this and that.' Instead he had simply pulled out his own chair, sat down, looked at her and said, 

"You must be Eve, right? Somehow, when Stella was talking about you, I didn't take you to be the punctual type. Oh well, since you are here, lets order," And that was all that he'd had to say when it came to why he was late. From then on, Eve had found herself wishing that that would have been all that he'd said for the rest of the dinner. As it turned out, the man, Michael, had a lot to say about everything, anything and anyone. All of it complaints.

He'd had something to say about their waiter, a familiar young man by the name of Fred. Apparently, Michael did not like Fred's piercings, and just had to let him know at that very moment. Once he was done chastising Fred, he had turned his attention to her. Complaining about her outfit and her makeup, saying that the whole thing was ' a dreadful ensemble'

"You look like parrot roadkill. Whoever told you that red was your color lied through their teeth. You should no longer be friends with them," It might have taken under thirty minutes for Eve to get ready, but the outfit and everything were things that she had picked out in advance. For him to ridicule her fashion choice like that, had made her so mad she'd had to fight the urge to just grab a fork, and threaten him with it. 

Instead, she had grabbed a spoon and dug into her soup, trying to drown him out. But that had not helped. Apparently, Michael had problems with her eating as well.

"That is not the way you eat soup. Why are you hovering over it like you are some sort of pig?" She had barely known the man and yet he had already told her that she looked awful in her chosen outfit, and then he had called her a pig. 

Fortunately or unfortunately for her, Michael's criticisms had not just been with her. He had even had something to say about the restaurant decor, which Eve had seen no fault in.

"Why on earth would they use gold cutlery here? Can't they see that silver would have done much better in this arrangement?" Michael was clearly the type to find fault in everything.

"And why in the world are the tables decorated with actual flowers? Don't they know that they could activate so many allergies in people? And what is this? These are even two days old. See, look at that, look at that," At that point Eve had stopped eating, and had looked over at the roses in the middle of the table. They had not looked two days old at all. Most likely they had been picked that very morning. The man had just been looking to nit-pick and it had seriously bothered Eve. Why could he just not be silent, enjoy his meal? Then afterwards the two of them would have parted ways, and never would have had to meet up again. 

He had not even noticed that Eve hadn't said a word to him. Looking around the restaurant, she had tried to search for the gorgeous man that she'd seen walking into Chardays. But he had not been there. The woman that Eve had seen walking to the table that the man had sat at was still there though. And she had been cutting into something with so much precision that even from across the room, Eve had felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. 

"Are you listening to me?" She had blinked, turning back to find Michael, glaring slightly at her. 

"Sorry, I was still looking at the flowers," Eve had lied, and the man had nodded, seemingly satisfied that he had recaptured her attention.

"I was talking about the man a few tables from here. You can just tell that his cologne is cheap. Why wear something cheap when going to a classy restaurant? Cultured people can always tell," 

Oh, realising that she had just tuned in to another lecture. Eve had finished off her soup and had excused herself. 

"I'm going to the ladies room. I'll be right back," She had told him.

Now she was currently staring at her reflection in the mirror and wondering what she was still doing there. The date was obviously not going to get any better. In fact it was more likely to get worse.

Was she seriously going to waste her evening listening to somebody who was talking down to everyone? She might have made Stella a promise. But she had not promised to have a horrible time with somebody who saw her and only saw her faults. In fact, they weren't even faults. They were things that he did not like and he had no problem voicing that. Never mind that Eve had taken one look at him and the two sizes, too small suit that he was wearing, and had wanted to laugh. But she'd held it back, never mind that she could tell that he was balding. That he was wearing a toupee. Never mind that when he talked, which he did a lot, he was spitting everywhere. 

There were things that she could endure for people that she cared about. But Michael was not one of those people, and she never wanted him to be. He was rude, and he was entitled. As far as she was concerned, he could go find somebody else to complain at. Suddenly feeling fed up with the whole thing. Eve took out her phone from her purse and typed a text to Stella. 

'The man has done nothing but complain since we sat down. I showed up for this date as promised, but now I am leaving. For her part, Stella did not even bother trying to deny it.

'I know he's a bit of a complainer. If it's too much for you, just go home for the night. But I promise that the next date will be better.' Sighing at her friend's never-ending enthusiasm, Eve put the phone away and made her way over to reception. She paid her half of the bill and made her way out. As she left, she glanced over and saw that Michael was not alone. The woman in the dark dress who had been with the gorgeous man that she had seen earlier had joined him. The two of them actually seemed to be getting along.

Not even upset that she had been replaced so quickly. Eve made her way out of the restaurant, feeling like she'd just escaped a horrible fate as she did so. Her only regret was that she had not gotten to see the man in the black suit again.

Still, the thumbs up that she got from Fred as she left made her feel a bit better.