CHAPTER 9
AVRIL
My date flasheda charming smile as we headed into his place.
I took a deep breath, reminding myself that it wasn’t a big deal. This would be my first one-night stand. Who knows, maybe it could possibly lead to more?
But whatever happened tonight, I deserved to let loose and have a little fun. After all of the horrible dates I’d gone through, I deserved to get lucky.
One step in, and I froze in the doorway.
On the surface of every counter… on every square inch on the kitchen table… and I mean e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e—was random trash.
Every square inch of the counter was cluttered. Red Solo cups, piles of them, were knocked over. Some still dripping and stained with liquid. There were open bags of chips with crumbs scattered every which way.
I didnotwant to look too closely at the haphazard stack of dishes in the sink. Was that a dead fly? Half-drowned in the milk and soggy bits of cereal? I didn’t want to even take a second look to figure out if the fuzzy slime on some of the plates was mold—itwas too hard to think about over the rush of my pulse pounding in my veins.
And why, for the love of all that was holy—why were there so many crumpled up napkinsfreakingeverywhere? Greasy and crusty, just scattered about all over. Why were there paper towels torn and huddled in all the little corners? Why was there so much random stuff that had ended up on the floor? Wadded-up clusters of dirty clothes, mismatched socks that were marinated with bacteria and sweat…
It was like my date couldn’t even see it. Already pulling off his jacket, he casually tossed it into the corner. I followed him into the living room. The sofa looked… questionable. They were random blotches of staining all over the fabric. The cushions were heavily sagging in the middle, and I could see crumbs from various chips and random dirt hugging the surface.
“Are you okay?” my date asked me.
Oh,shit. I was hyperventilating.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I just… I just like… I need a second.” Just needed one second to get everything together. “Could you tell me where the bathroom is?”
I walked in the direction he’d pointed, making sure not to step on any of the crumpled plastic bags that were randomly hanging out on the floor—because I guess it was just too hard to just throw that in the trash. I just needed a second to cool down. Just one second to get myself together.
I walked into the bathroom and stared at my face in the mirror but had to immediately cover my nose and mouth.
God.
What was thatsmell?
There was something rancid in the air. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I think it was the worst odor that I’deverhad the misfortune to smell. Did I even want to know? I looked aroundthe bathroom. In the corner there—was that black mold? Okay, so that was bad. But that wasn't even half of it.
There hanging by the sink was an already damp hand towel fraying on one side. It looked like it was the kind of yellow that had once been white. But the very worst part, right in the middle of it… that brown streak… was that literalshit?!
Did my date actually bring me to his house and think that it was okay to have shit on his hand towel?
No.
No, no. This was too much.
The mold, the literal shit staring me right in the face. All the trash everywhere… so much of it. It was like the room and all the garbage in it started to spin around me, closing in on me.
I had to…
I had to get out of there, and I couldn’t even take a deep breath to get myself under control. I burst out of the bathroom, breathing hard. I couldn’t even look at my date. I just started charging towards the door.
“Hey what’s going on?”
I couldn’t. No. Couldn’t even get the words,I’m sorry,out of my mouth before I was running to the door and out of there.
Until tonight, I thought that the worst thing that had ever happened to me was getting cheated on by the man who I’d thought I could trust. Then with each awful date, watching as it looked like all my work, and all my wedding dreams were crumbling into dust.
But no.
