Blind Date (Part 2 of 3)

The 4WD parked at the side of the road. The street was lined with houses all fronting solid iron gates. The dim orange streetlights revealed a few other cars parked by the side of the road, but the street was mostly deserted.

My cousin whispered something to Anne before she disembarked. It must have been a private joke because she giggled on her way out. My cousin and I just sat there in silence listening to the murmur of the engine. He seemed pretty happy, grinning by himself.

Anne went to a gate and pressed a button. I didn’t hear a bell, but something startled the dogs behind the forbidding gate. Their barks echoing with other dogs down the street.

A few moments later a smaller door appeared on the metal gate and a girl stepped out.

She was wearing a tight black top and jeans. Her hair wavy and left untied. She gave Anne a quick hug before both made their way to the car.

"Hi!" she smiled warmly as she jumped on the 4WD. She took the seat next to mine.
"Hi!’ I smiled back'

So this is Kat.

Hmm.
I see.
There and then.
I knew.

She’s not my type.

'Uyy Kamusta ka na?! (Hey, how you've been?)" Kat cheered to my cousin in the front seat.

Kat looked excited and happy to be out. It seemed that Kat, my cousin and Anne haven't seen each other for a long time. They reminisced about college days and caught up on gossip.

I didn't say much. I didn’t know what or who they were talking about. All I could do was listen in on the conversation and smile pretentiously.

We arrived at a little restaurant-bar in the corner of a city block. There were posters outside of the band we were going to see.

The restaurant had a very browny-orange rusty theme going on. Orange walls with mocha brown leather seats. There were many small tables for two in the middle. Larger booths by the walls.

We were seated in a diner-style booth with Kat sitting next to me and my cousin and partner sitting in front. Our booth was next to the big window pane overlooking the city street. We were the furthest from the stage but still had a good view.

I remember feeling over dressed for the occasion. Everyone was wearing jeans and I was wearing brown pants. They had sneakers to my brown leather shoes and T-shirts to my ironed crisp and blindingly white shirt. I felt more awkward now because it was much brighter in the restaurant.

But with the better lighting, gave me better glances of Kat.

She seems friendly enough. She’s very comfortable with my cousin and Anne. And she’s kinda attractive... I think… It’s just that she was VERY different from the photo.

All those pimples weren’t in the picture.

Then again the picture was two years old. And it was in black and white... and its brightness adjusted to make it a very white photo. I thought it was just fading. Maybe the photo was purposely faded?

But even in the photo. There were no sparks or anything like that when I saw Kat.
I thought maybe if I saw this person, in person, then maybe something would happen.

But nothing did.

The band started. A thirty something singer sang jazzy love songs accompanied by guitar, bass, keyboard and drums. She sounded great. And looked great too. In fact I was more interested in her that the person next to me. Blame it on singer’s thick red lipstick and saucy singing.

During the first set break we ordered drinks and we all talked briefly. I finally got to do my part spoke to Kat.

"yes.. there are lots of kangaroos in Australia, I actually catch one to work.."

I asked her what kind of music she liked. She said Incubus, Incubus, Incubus. Incubus is her life.

Hmmm great, an emo.
But it dawned to me that my cousin was passionate about Incubus too.
Maybe that’s why my cousin speaks with so much animation when he talks about Kat.