Plant Lover

When Eve had left behind the ever complaining toad of a man that she had been on her first blind date with. She had not thought that it had affected her all that much. After all, in the end she had decided to leave the date early instead of staying longer and enduring more abuse from the man. But as the days passed after her first blind date, her rage had slowly built up. Something that she soon realized was not so much about the man, but about the person that Eve had been in the past.

A younger, less secure her, had let Gunther get away with treating her even worse than the blind date had.

How could she have let that happen?! Being unable to answer the question made her so angry that when she finally called Stella, she did so in a fit of rage.

She ended up telling her friend that the whole thing was off. That she would not be wasting any more time by going out on a date where she risked spending the entire time being ridiculed by someone who was way beneath her. 

Anyone else would have just accepted defeat and let Eve fume. But Stella was of a different breed. It was why the two of them had remained friends for so long. Rather than just letting Eve throw in the towel, her friend had let Eve vent, and given her time to cool off.

It was now a day since her angry call, and Eve was at Stella's house, being talked into going back on another blind date.

Saying no should have been easy, but Stella was talking to her while gently massaging conditioner into Eve's scalp, which left Eve highly compromised, and unable to hold on to her righteous fury.

"This does not mean that I am going on any other dates that you arrange," Eve told her and Stella merely hummed, scratching at a spot that had Eve's eyes closing in pleasure.

"Well, you don't actually have to go on the dates that I arrange even though that was our agreement in the beginning. But it would be nice for me to know that you are out there doing something. Instead of working all weekend," Eve would have taken offense to that, but the statement pretty much summed up what she did every weekend. Digging deep, Eve found some of her inner fire, and tried to hold firm.

"Stella, you will not sweet talk me into going on another date. No more, I am putting my foot down," She told her friend, humming as the other woman gently ran her fingers over Eve's scalp. She could already feel her resolve crumbling yet again, but she tried to hold on for a little while longer. But it was too late. Stella, sensing weakness, was going in for the kill. 

"Don't think of it as a date then, think of it as just a social experiment. You dipping your toe in the waters to see if you are missing anything that's going on in the world. Okay?" Her hands were still on Eve's head, her voice as soft as silk as she whispered her suggestion into Eve's ear. A hair stylist's ultimate power move. It should have all been illegal, but unfortunately it was not, and Eve had absolutely no defense sgainst such blatant manipulation.

Eve had not meant to say yes, but somehow come Saturday she found herself back at Chardays. This time she was in a light yellow dress, and rocking a new hairstyle thanks to Stella's talented hands. Her friend had truly chosen the right profession in becoming a hairstylist.

This time her date turned out to be an environmentalist by the name of Seth. Apparently he and Stella had met during a protest, and she had liked him enough to set him up with Eve. Environmentalism was a noble cause, one that needed more dedicated people behind it. Not many people cared enough about the environment. Most of them( especially those with the power to bring about large scale change) choosing to let greed blind them to the fact that everybody lived on planet earth. They needed the land to be happy and stable in order for them to be happy and stable. And more importantly for them to remain living. But, luckily for her, Seth was not one of those people and Eve could get behind that. But what she could not get behind was the fact that Seth was on the extreme end of environmentalism. Fortunately, he was not on the crazy scale that believed in torching all things technology related. 

He was just the kind of environmentalist who believed that deodorant was merely a suggestion, and that things like actually doing your hair instead of rocking up on a blind date while you still had twigs stuck to your locs was a good idea. He also had no problem admitting upfront that he did not use soap when he showered, not even the organic kind. And also that he only showered when he was in the mood to.

"I believe in letting a man's natural mask shine through," He said in explanation, And Eve found herself wishing that he really had not said that, because to emphasize his point, he had lifted his arm, and she was instantly assaulted by the stench coming from his armpit. Nothing that was not decomposing should ever reek that bad. The smell burned her nostrils and stayed there. Burrowing deep into her nose and refusing to leave. When the first course arrived, it mixed with the food and not in a pleasant way. Eve was also certain that Fred, who once again had her table, had held his breath throughout. Unfortunately, she did not have that luxury, and she had to breathe.

A part of living that proved to be a problem, especially since the exact moment she inhaled, Seth lifted both arms. Hitting her full on with his mighty stench. The next thing that Eve knew, she was throwing up all over her own meal,( not a pleasant sight at all).It was both disgusting and embarrassing enough on its own, but then Seth perhaps in an attempt to have her not feeling bad over the whole thing reached over, and patted her shoulder gently. That simple touch transferred all of the foul aroma that seemed to emanate from Seth's very core, right to Eve and that was all that she could take.

She bolted from the table, collapsed next to a potted plant and just started throwing up every single thing that she'd had the entire day. Her heaving feeling as though it were pulling from deep within her. She threw up so long and so violently, that she was actually worried about harming the plant.

A concern that Seth seemed to have as well because while she was busy praying that her body would not decide that it was a good idea to expel her insides through her mouth. Seth was busy hovering behind her wailing over the state of the plant, and what she was doing to it. 

"Your stomach acid will damage the pH balance. Go to the restroom! Go to the restroom!" He kept yelling repeatedly. By the time that Eve managed to drag herself there. She was sick and tired of him.

He was now harassing the staff, telling them that they were committing murder by not moving to swiftly save the plant. After rinsing her mouth, she spent a few minutes in the restroom, just spraying herself with as much perfume as she could. In the end, it helped to cloak his horrible stench. Upon leaving the restroom, she swore to herself that if it clung to her dress, even after a few washes, she would burn it.

Making her way out, Eve spotted Seth still by the plant. He was crouched down and staring at the puke covered soil with a heartbroken look on his face. Clearly the man would not be missing her. 

When Fred, the waiter saw her, he stood between her and Seth. It could have been accidental, but his exact position stopped Seth from seeing her. With a grateful nod, Eve made her way out of the restaurant.

She took deep breaths as she walked, trying to pretend like she could not feel all of the eyes on her. Strangely enough the only reason that she was even able to walk out with her head held high, was because she was thinking of the man in black.

She had seen him briefly earlier in the night,( seated across from a different woman, but not seeming too happy about it). But he seemed to have gone now.

He would have worried about me, instead of the plant. Eve found herself thinking. She had never said a word to the man, but she had somehow gotten it into her head that he would be the perfect gentleman.

Perfect gentleman or not, he seemed to have been having a similar problem as her. Stuck going on blind dates...bad ones at that.

Given that he had been with a different woman that night, and that he was already gone. Eve got the feeling that she would be seeing him at the restaurant again.

It should not have made her feel better. But knowing that there was someone else going through the same hell that she was, made her night eons better.