But I'm not joking - LJI Week 1
I don’t normally have any trouble speaking in front of people. I’ve been a trainer. I’ve delivered speeches in front of peers. I have even acted as emcee for awards presentations. Unfortunately I have never been able to ask a woman out without this stupid stage fright. Just asking for a first date sets my stomach tumbling.
I had met a woman a few weeks ago at the liquor store. An odd place to meet someone I know, but when I was in looking for a good Scotch for a friend’s birthday she helped me pick something. When I went back a week later for some for myself, she was charming and flirtatious and we talked about our personal lives for a few minutes in the checkout lane.
Then I went in yesterday, with my heart in my throat to ask if she might want to get a cup of coffee sometime.
She laughed.
She thought I was joking for all of two minutes until she saw the crushed look on my face. She tried to play it off, but by then it was too late. No amount of apology was going to fix it.
So I apologized. Profusely. I know it wasn’t really my fault that she shot me down like that, but in the moment, with my self-esteem crashing down around my feet I couldn’t really come up with anything else to do or say, so I apologized while backing away slowly until I hit the door. Then I walked very calmly across the parking lot and sat in my car for half an hour before I could get my embarrassment and nerves back under control long enough to drive home without crashing into anything.
I need to find a new liquor store.
Photograph - Self portrait of the author walking alone across a bridge
The above photo is real, the above story is not, though it is based on reality.
Posted for the LJIdol Week 1 prompt.