Beauty is in the mind of the beholder

David entered the restaurant with a bitter sweet feeling in his gut. Over the previous few weeks, he found himself in a sticky situation, one he was nervous to get out of! He looked around and inhaled the dimly lit interior of his favourite Chinese restaurant. This was the place where he ordered the most succulent barbeque spare ribs on this planet. The meat just slid off the bone, a bone he would later suck on, like a dog, until it was bare. Although it was his go to establishment, David had never dined there.

He looked up from his phone as the waitress approached him, poured out a glass of ice-cold water, and handed him the menu. David smiled up at her, it was more a pleasantry than anything. He didn’t really drink her in, he was just trying to be cordial.

David opened the menu, the clone of the one he had on his hallway table with a few things added here and there. He was instantly reminded as to why he had always collected his order, or got it delivered. His out of this world ribs were double what he would usually pay for them. David wasn’t a tight ass when it came to money, he was just on a budget!

Like many, covid affected David greatly. As a solicitor, he found it hard to communicate with his clients during lockdown. Not all of them were happy to make video calls, and the whole justice system had slowed. He had only opened his own firm in 2019, so, when lockdown lifted, it was as though he was starting over again.  

After he looked at his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes, David decided he needed to go over his speech one last time before he was assured, he had it ready to deliver. Samantha, Davids's girlfriend, was due to be there at 8:30. It was 8:45 when David happened to look up as the entrance door opened, and saw the vision of her walking towards him. He quickly stuffed the speech in his pants pocket.

Just like always, his jaw dropped when he saw that his girlfriend was wearing the skin tight, sexy red dress he loved. He closed his eyes tightly for a second and asked himself, ‘why am I doing this again?’ When he snapped out of it, he got up and, being the gentleman he was, pulled out her chair for her. As he repositioned himself, he heard Samantha say, ‘oooh, this place is nice!’ She put emphasis on the word ‘nice’. ‘How comes this is the first-time you takin me here?’ Samantha asked before she took a sip of his water. David said nothing. In his mind, it was as clear as day that their relationship was solely based on sex. He didn’t want to disrespect the woman, but after they did the deed, she played candy crush on her phone, while he read the newspaper. ‘We’re two worlds apart, we’re two worlds apart!’ he said over and over in his mind, like a mantra.

He knew he was doing the right thing. He was swapping the Barbie doll, someone he called for a bit of fun, for one who was more on his page intellectually. He had just turned thirty, and was now thinking of settling down. He knew there was no way that special person was Samantha. While she wanted to watch trashy reality TV, he would prefer to see a documentary.  

David never thought himself to be a cheater, so when he met Carole, the girl who he experienced his first kiss with, at a belated twenty-five-year reunion for their primary school, he couldn’t help but feel attracted to her. Yes, she didn’t have the physical physique he normally went for, but they were on par intellectually, and he found himself smitten.

At the reunion, Carole expressed that she would love to have a coffee with David sometime. She had just bought her first house in ‘Barnaghera Cove’, one of the new estates in the town. They exchanged numbers and met in ‘Molly’s’, a coffee shop across the road from the hardware place for lunch the following day. They were there, getting coffee after coffee when David decided she was more his type than Samantha could ever be. He knew that he couldn’t explore a relationship with Carole until he broke up with Samantha…which is why he was at his favourite Chinese restaurant!

When he heard Samantha say, ‘do you like my hair like this? It took over an hour…but I’d do anything for my man!’ David immediately announced, ‘I have something I need to get off my chest!’ Samantha didn’t seem to hear him; she just drummed her perfectly manicured fingernails on the table. ‘What you think if I take this yellow off, and put on pink instead?’ She was of course referring to her nails.

David had enough! He placed his hands over Samantha’s and threw caution to the wind, his memorised speech out the window, and simply said, ‘I’m breaking up with you!’ Just as Samantha’s face contorted, the waitress appeared again and asked if they were ready to order. David politely responded, ‘I think we need another few minutes!’ She smiled and walked away.

Intending on treating the woman he had grown to hate to their last dinner, and easing her into the decision he made, David changed his mind. He watched as Samantha looked at him like a deer in headlights, when his phone pinged. He looked at it as it rested on the beautiful, pristine white table cloth and saw it was from Carole. He didn’t read it, but knew he was doing the right thing because a kaleidoscope of butterflies began to flutter in his stomach. Samantha never gave him butterflies. She had given him goosebumps as she revealed some of her outfits, but never butterflies!

‘Samantha, did you hear what I just said?’ David asked her, the expression on her face the same as that of a ten-year-old attempting to do calculus. With her brow furrowed, as much as the Botox would allow, she asked, ‘why? Don’t you like the dress?’ That was the moment David knew he was doing the right thing. For her to even contemplate him breaking up with her for her choice of dress, proved how shallow she was!

David put his chin on his chest and began to laugh. ‘Why you laughing baby? Was you just foolin around?’ David looked at her one last time. ‘I’m going to delete you from my social media, just so I’m not tempted to go down the rabbit hole again!’ ‘So, you are just messin!’ Samantha smiled. David presumed she took his words to mean the opposite of what he meant. He was of the persuasion that if he was alone and had a few beers in him, he might reach out to her for a booty call, something that would send him back into the sticky situation all over again. He picked up his phone, shaking his head saying, ‘unbelievable!’ under his breath, and left the restaurant, Samantha calling after him.

As his car was parked outside the establishment, he rang a familiar number, only to be greeted by the same girl who poured his water. ‘Hello, Ming Gardens, Vanessa speaking.’ David ordered all of his favourites…but this time he ordered two of everything. ‘Ok, that will be ready in fifteen minutes,’ Vanessa informed him. He sat outside in the Audi, and dialled Carole’s number. ‘Hi!’ She said, David noticed that hearing the sweetest, most kind voice he had ever heard, made his heart race. ‘You at home?’ he asked her. ‘Yea, there’s a documentary on blue whales that’s about to start in ten minutes!’ David’s stomach did somersaults. He had goosebumps and knew then and there that he had chosen the right woman, a woman after his own heart. ‘Fancy some company?’ he asked, his fingers crossed she’d say ‘yes’. When she did, David danced his happy dance, one he hadn’t experienced the need to take out of his repertoire for years.

Twenty minutes passed when David knocked on the bluish grey coloured door, whose doorbell hadn’t been connected yet. In front of him was a vision. Although she was wearing Winnie the Pooh pyjamas, he found Carole even more sexy than Samantha in her red dress! He held up the bag of take-out, to which Carole smiled and welcomed him into her home. It was immaculate! Each and every corner was dust free, and the hard wood floors were exquisite. As she was holding the door for him, he had to pass her by in order to enter the three-bedroom, terrace, starter home. Spontaneity got the better of him and he kissed her on the cheek. It was his way of letting her know he was available and, more importantly, interested.

The pair ate their Chinese food whilst watching the documentary, giggling and laughing, just as if they were a pair of teenagers with a free house. Carole also sucked the rib bone after eating the meat, which made David giggle. ‘What?’ Carole asked playfully. David grabbed a tissue and rubbed the residual barbeque sauce from her cheek. They locked eyes. Before either of them realised, they had kissed…a proper one this time!

It was a story they would later explain to their kids whenever they brought someone new home. After all, it was the beginning of a fifty-three-year relationship! David sadly passed first, quickly followed by Carole. The kids presumed she died from broken heart syndrome! All six of them were at both funerals with their significant others, and the grandchildren!