Blind Dating 2006 Guide

Leo laughed. “I said that once. Drunk. On New Year’s.”

They ordered. She got a chamomile tea (un-ironic, he noted). He got a black coffee. The first five minutes were the usual landmines: What do you do? (She was a bike messenger and a part-time darkroom technician. He was a temp at a publishing house.) Where do you live? (She had a studio in Williamsburg before Williamsburg was a punchline. He had a shared walk-up in the East Village.)

He thought. “ Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind . The first time I saw it, I cried in the theater and pretended I had allergies.” blind dating 2006

She smiled. The real one this time. Wide and unguarded. “Tomorrow, then. 11 PM. I’ll bring the book.”

“Don’t be,” he said. “It’s good.” Leo laughed

“Yeah,” he said, surprised. “That exact one.”

It was a blind date set up by his college roommate, Mark. “You’ll love her, Leo. She’s into, like, weird French movies and hates small talk. Just like you.” The only identifier was a copy of Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore on the table. Her idea. “If I’m not there, hold the book. It’s a signal,” she’d typed over AIM. AIM. The very word felt like a relic. On New Year’s

Nina tilted her head. Rain beaded on her eyelashes. “You’re not going to wait the mandatory three days?”