My Unexpected Valentine

Nolan had no idea what to expect. Who would be his ‘perfect match’? It could be anyone. This wasn’t even like a blind date set up by friends. At least with friends, one might have a good idea from their tastes and personality. This was set up by an app. Some computer algorithm stacking all his questionnaire answers against a bunch of other answers. It was all programming. There was no way to know what kind of person would be meeting him tonight.

That only added to the intrigue, he thought. He felt excited as he sat at a restaurant table, waiting for his perfect match to arrive. It was, if he was being real, probably the most excited he had felt about anything since the failed engagement.

Maybe he should’ve felt nervous. But there wasn’t much he was afraid of. He had never really feared the judgement of others, the way most people did. And in this case, just what did he have to lose? A bad date would be nothing compared to a failed proposal. He glanced at the time on his phone and, for once, wasn’t tempted to see what Brooke was up to. He arrived a little early, so his mystery date wouldn’t have to wait on him. She should be joining him soon. He kept watching the door, even though he had no idea who he was looking for.

The dating app had, of course, provided a way for the matches to recognize each other. He had a printout sitting on the end of his table, facing toward the entrance. It was a piece of paper folded in half to stand as a tent. On the front was the image of a big pinkish red heart with a golden arrow piercing through it. Beneath the heart, in a curly flowing font, it read, Cupid’s Arrow has struck.

Behind the printout laid a single red rose, making the whole thing instantly look Instagram-worthy. The rose had been his own idea, while the printout was obviously instruction from the app. He wanted to make a good first impression. He put the same effort into his appearance.

He wore a deep green sweater that brought out the green in his eyes. His brown hair was short with a stylish wave through the top. He put on his best cologne and had a clean shaven face, giving him a neat and classy kind of look overall. He wasn’t all that vain, not really, but he did know how to make himself look good when he wanted to.

A woman came into the restaurant, bristling at the cold breeze that followed her through the door. It was a winter evening in New York, with snow in patches outside, so everyone was dressed for the cold. This woman had a piece of folded paper clutched in her hand. She said something to the hostess that was probably along the lines of ‘I’m meeting someone’, judging from the way the hostess gave her an inviting sweep of the hand before the woman started looking around.

Was that her? His perfect match?

She was tall, with a couple inches added from her ankle boots. Her long legs were accented by her skin tight pants, which probably made her ass look great too, if only he could see it. The pants were dark, as was her small but loose shirt. She wore a fashionable jacket, cut short, ending at her waist. She was bundled in a dark purple scarf and matching winter gloves.

She noticed the printout on his table and approached. Nolan gave her a smile, and when he was certain she was coming to his table, he stood to greet her.

“Hi…” she said, just a little awkwardly. Then she unfolded the paper in her hand. “I think you’re my blind date.”

The paper, of course, had the same image that was displayed on his table.

“I sure hope I am,” Nolan grinned. He extended his hand. “I’m Nolan.”

The woman smiled. It wasn’t a beaming, ear to ear smile, but it was beautiful in its subtlety. Her cheeks were reddened from the cold air, and her skin had a natural tan look, despite it being the middle of January. Her hair was long, nearly reaching her elbows. He thought it was brown, but closer he realized it was black with brown highlights.

She took his hand. “Emily.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Emily.”

“Same to you,” she said, taking her hand back. She slipped off her gloves as the two of them sat at the table. “I’ll be honest, Nolan, I didn’t know what to expect from this.”

Nolan chuckled. “Neither did I. But I was hoping for the best and the optimism paid off. You look amazing. This is for you, by the way.”

Emily’s pretty expression shifted into surprise as he picked up the rose and offered it to her. She was putting the paper into her purse, but paused to accept it. Another smile softened her features as she gave the red rose a sniff.

“Aw, thank you. This was very sweet.”

Nolan wanted to say something back to her, but then the waiter chose that moment to pop up. He greeted them and asked about drinks. After he disappeared with their order, Emily took a minute to finish getting settled. She took off her scarf, folded it over, and placed it along with her gloves and purse on the far side of the table. The rose, she laid closer, beside her menu.

She kept her jacket on, as it was a part of her outfit. She was dressed more for a casual day out than looking all glammed up and flashy. He liked that. Brooke was high maintenance, but honestly he preferred someone more laid back. This Emily managed to pull off sexy and down to earth without even trying.

He wasn’t sure, though, why he kept feeling as if she was familiar somehow.

“So, have you ever heard of an app signing people up for blind dates before?” Nolan asked, to get their conversation going. He knew better than to start with something mundane like the weather.

“No, actually, I heard this was the first app on the market like it,” she replied.

“Yeah? Well it’s a neat idea. It made all this more exciting, don’t you think?”

That got a little laugh out of her. “I don’t know if I’d say exciting.”

“What, you’re not excited to meet me?” he joked. She narrowed her eyes as a slight smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.

“What if I said I wasn’t?” she challenged.

Nolan put a hand over his heart. “Oh, I’d just have to gather up my wounded pride and leave.”

Emily laughed again, a scoffing kind of laugh, and shook her head.

“Okay, Romeo. Why don’t we figure out what we want to eat?” she said, opening her menu. Nolan grinned and did the same.

“What are you in the mood for? No, you know what, let me guess,” he said.

Emily arched an eyebrow at him, then gave him a look that said, ‘take your best shot’. Nolan began to look over the menu.

“Hmm… I think… I think you’d want this jalapeno burger with the onion ring bits,” Nolan suggested, in his most serious voice. He looked over at Emily and saw her crinkling her nose in disgust. He broke out in laughter.

“Wow, hard pass,” she said, making a small sweeping gesture with one hand, as if brushing away the awful suggestion. That made him laugh more. It was a joke guess, but her reaction really amused him. He realized she was playing too as a little grin came to her lips.

“Okay, okay. Let me try again. That’s too spicy and greasy. How about… the chicken tenders and fries?”

“What am I, 12?” she replied, and now she was laughing too.

The banter continued as they looked over the menu. Nolan found it increasingly easy to talk with Emily. She didn’t seem put off by his joking. She seemed to be really enjoying herself. And when he switched to start giving her serious suggestions, they had a nice thoughtful discussion about what actually appealed to each of them tonight.

When the waiter returned with their drinks, they placed their food order. Emily ended up getting a Monterey chicken dish, while Nolan opted for a steak.

“So, Emily, tell me something about yourself,” Nolan said, when they again had the table to themselves. “What do you do for a living?”

Emily took a moment to sip at her drink before answering. “Well… I’m a criminal defense attorney.” Nolan’s eyes lit up in surprise. “Wow, really? That’s impressive.”

“Thank you,” she replied, though for some reason, she didn’t sound happy. She was no longer smiling. “What about you? What do you do?”

“I’m a writer,” he answered. He didn’t want to take the spotlight away. He wanted to know more about her. But she was pushing the conversation in a different direction.

“Oh yeah? What kind of writer?”

“I write science fiction. Have you ever heard of the Dark Moon Chronicles?”

Emily pursed her lips together, as if she was thinking about it, but cocked her head as she wasn’t recalling.

“No… sorry, I don’t think so. What’s your full name?”

“Nolan Peters.”

“Hmm, no, I don’t….” Emily suddenly trailed off.

He wasn’t offended by her not recognizing his work. He was pretty successful. His book sales were great and his signings always had good attendance. He had a strong online following too. But it wasn’t a mainstream genre. He didn’t write crime thrillers or historical fiction or feel good romance. People hadn’t heard of him unless they read sci-fi.

What he didn’t understand was what suddenly came over Emily. One moment, she was looking politely apologetic, the next… she looked startled.

“Emily?”

She was staring at him as if he had suddenly turned purple and sprouted a horn. She was looking at him hard. Then she leaned back in her seat with a disgusted scowl.

“Oh, fuck me,” she muttered.

Nolan blinked at her. What in the world was happening?!

“Uhh… is something wrong?” he asked, very confused and, quite frankly, uncomfortable. She was still staring at him, looking disappointed and unhappy.

“You’re Nolan Peters from North Lamore High?”

Nolan furrowed his brow. How did she know what school he went to?

“Yeah…? How’d you know that? What’s wrong?”

Emily let out a sigh and put her elbows on the table, crowning her forehead with her fingers as she tipped her head. She stayed like that for several seconds, muttered something quietly, then finally dropped her hands to look at him.

“I’m Emily Hall.”

Nolan’s expression didn’t change. He was still completely lost. Then… then something clicked.

He looked at her round face, her long dark hair, and suddenly he realized why she felt familiar.

He knew her.

They went to high school together.

And they hated each other.