Love's Twisted Path

Ever find yourself asking the question how is this my life? How is this my reality? That sensation of surrealism when life throws you a curveball entirely outside your frame of reference for what falls within the category of real. When the rug is pulled out from under you and suddenly the rules have changed. This is not what I signed up for. There was nothing about this in the terms and conditions. Not even a sneaky line in small print that I neglected to read. Who ever reads the terms and conditions anyway? Do you have any idea what you signed up for? Anyway I’m getting ahead of myself here. You have no idea what I’m talking about. Sorry about that. Let’s start from the beginning. That is what you conventionally do when telling a story. I’m a writer. I know writer things. Literary devices and tropes and such. Deux Ex Machina. That Russian dudes gun. You know that thing where you establish a thing for later use. I’m getting distracted. This isn’t English lit class. Is it? No. Definitely not. I would know if it was. I think. I mean I definitely would know. Moving on. Where was I? Right. I still haven’t explained anything yet. Look at all that rambling. Right. You literally are. That’s exactly what you’re doing right now. Thanks for that. Much appreciated lovely. I hope your day is going well so far. And if it isn’t who do I need to shank? Hypothetically speaking. In a video game. Wink wonk. If any police are reading this, calm down. I’m not actually offering any illegal services. Cynthia. Please. I swear to God. Focus. Hey, I’m Cynthia by the way. A pleasure to meet you. Cynthia Cameron. As you must have noticed by now my attention span is not great. But it’s fine right? This is a bonding kind of moment right? Cynthia. Don’t be needy. That’s enough introduction. Let’s get started. You’ll learn more about me along the way. It all started with a date. A blind date. A friend knew a friend who knew a guy. Apparently I needed to go out and do the dating thing. I was hesitant but I was bribed. With really cute clothes. And Amy paid for the date so free food. Amy is the friend. I wore this absolutely adorable pink dress and shoes to die for. Really pretty and I mean princess pretty. The restaurant was a rather expensive one. Far outside my price range honestly. Is it bad that’s one of the reasons I agreed to the date? Like Amy knew I would. How could I possibly have said no? He could be a serial killer or something. Amy wouldn’t have set me up with someone without thoroughly vetting them first. I’m sure of that. If you’re thinking but serial killers are really good at avoiding detection nah not really. They usually get away with it due to police incompetence. Did you know that the Columbine shooters were reported to the police for bragging about their gun collection and they weren’t investigated? Just saying. As I stepped inside the frankly beautiful restaurant I admit I was feeling nervous. Was this a good idea? What if I had made a huge mistake? Obviously since you’re reading this I didn’t get shanked by a psycho. Always nice when that doesn’t happen. I would have been so annoyed if that had happened and I would so have haunted Amy and stolen one sock from every pair she owns. And moved every piece of furniture by about an inch every day. The place really was stunning. The pink tables and chairs. The gorgeous traditional Japanese art on the walls. The large windows letting in plenty of light. The cherry blossom tree in the middle. It was all immaculate. Just lovely. Well worth the risk that I was possibly coming here to meet a psychopath. I was carrying a pepper spray and a gun in my pink purse. Not strictly speaking legal so let’s keep that between us. Sadly our laws treat the two items as being the same and they are equally illegal. The only thing we’re allowed to carry legally for self defence is an alarm. Like that’s going to do anything. I’d rather be charged with carrying an illegal weapon than end up getting murdered or.... I don’t need to mention the other word. You know what I mean. I just wanted to tell you I am taking necessary precautions to protect myself. I did not come entirely unprepared for the worst scenario. Mom didn’t raise a fool. Don’t let all the pink make you imagine I’m not a pragmatic girlie. I may be a bit lacking in the ability to focus but I am not dumb. Please banish such notions if you’re entertaining any. It didn’t take me long to spot him. Tall. At least 6ft. Short neat black hair. Dark brown eyes. An immaculate black suit that honestly looked very uncomfortable. Such a contrast to me dressed in pink with my long flowing blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Also I’m somewhat on the short side. Under 5ft honestly if you must know. Jonathan. His name is Jonathan. Jonathan Hardin. I have no idea how exactly Amy knows this guy. Maybe a friend of the family or something like that. I probably should have asked. Did not think of that. Note to self for possible future use. That would have been a good idea. Look at me already making a learning opportunity out of this. Let’s gooooo. Jonathan took out a chair for me. A bit old fashioned. “Hey.” He said after we’d both sat down. “Hey.” I said. There was a moment of silence that seemed to stretch out forever. Damn I thought were we already out of things to say? I hadn’t thought about this part at all. The part where you say things and make conversation happen. Kind of important. Rookie mistake really. Mental note, need things to talk about on a date to facilitate social interaction.