Free Paint Me True by E.M. Tippetts Page B

opened a chat window and began to type.
     
    Edunmar : Sooo, I had a date tonight.
    HattieZ : With????
    Edunmar : Just some guy. Real nice. Very good looking.
    HattieZ : I would hope so. Did you follow Rule One?
    Edunmar : Did you? With Mike?
    HattieZ : Yes!
    Edunmar : What?
    HattieZ : I told him that if he wanted to go out with me, he had to try harder. I wasn’t going to just get up and go whenever he wanted, and the next time he asked me to go to the movies with him, I said no.
    Edunmar : Then what happened?
    HattieZ : He called again an hour later and asked if we could go to dinner, and I said no, so then he upped it to dinner at a fancy restaurant. I finally said yes, but only if he promises to turn off his cellphone. No texting allowed.
    Edunmar : Wow. Congratulations.
    HattieZ : You were so right! So tell me about this guy.
    Edunmar : Not much to tell, yet. Like I said, way good looking. Not sure how I feel about him.
    HattieZ : Still, that’s awesome! You want me to torment Len? I should totally tell him next time I see him.
    Edunmar : Leave him alone. He’s not worth it.
    HattieZ : True. Well, wish me luck on my second first date with Mike!!!
    Edunmar : Good luck
     
    She logged off and I went back to my email. No new messages, so I shut down the computer and went upstairs to resume sketching. My aunt had already gone to bed, so the house was quiet as I settled into my usual spot under the lamp.
    I hadn’t told my friends about my first date with Len. I’d dressed casually for it in jeans and a plain cotton shirt and then spent the better part of an hour on my face. I didn’t want to look like I had makeup on, but I wanted the benefits of makeup. I wanted to make my eyes look grayer and my lips fuller and my skin nice and smooth. Cosmetics is a difficult medium.
    I tried to suppress the dread that welled up inside when his car pulled into my driveway. He was nonchalant when he came to the door, and his cargo pants and shirt looked relatively new. There were no dangling threads, no thin spots about to turn into holes, just a lot of wrinkles. One thing about working an office job and being a Saint, he wore his formal clothes a lot more than his informal clothes.
    “Hi,” was all he said.
    “Hi.”
    And those were the only words we uttered to each other for the first two and a half hours of the date. We drove to the theater - which is an almost thirty minute drive from my house - in silence and once we were there and at the cash register to buy our tickets, I opened my purse to get my wallet and he dismissed the gesture with a wave. Even when the cashier asked if we wanted popcorn, Len told her he’d like some, then looked at me to see if I wanted some too. I nodded, reached for my wallet again, and he held out a hand to stop me. I was relieved when he got two tubs, rather than having us share one.
    I barely remember the movie. I just remember munching popcorn while Len kept stealing glances at me. For whole long sequences, when the screen was bright enough to illuminate our faces, he’d stare at my profile, as if wondering why I was there. I wondered if the screen was bright enough for anyone else to see I was there with him.
    On the ride home, I was the one to fold. “So, if you meant for this to be a one word date, sorry to break the streak here.”
    He flicked his gaze over at me and chuckled. His car was an old Ford Focus, well kept but showing its age. There were some water spots on the upholstery on my side and the top of the dashboard was faded. “Sorry,” he said. “Just keep waiting for you to figure out that you really did go on a date with me.”
    “And do what about it?”
    “Let me guess. You didn’t tell Jenna and Hattie about this.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Sorry. Be honest, though. That... was your house I just passed.” He turned left in order to go around the block.
    “I’m not that awful,” I said.
    “I didn’t use the word awful.”
    “Yeah, but everything you say about