Snoopy Mutual Acquaintances (Chuck)

[Eric Liu]

"Errr..." Eric floundered at the counter, eyes full of panic glued to the menu that some enterprising, creative young person had written out by hand in colorful chalk. "Just uh... the..." He squinted hard. What were these drinks?

In Eric's day, you went to a coffee shop to get coffee. If you felt particularly adventurous, maybe you would get some sort of flavored cream to go along with the (plain, black) coffee. He never felt more his age than when he walked in to coffee shops and dithered at the register, while trying to choose what he wanted.

Truthfully, all of the choices sounded good. He doubted that any of them would taste terrible but he also didn't know what went into half of them, and he just hated not knowing. It was mostly the not knowing bit that made him so hesitant to simply close his eyes and point.

"Just a black coffee, thanks," he said meekly, adding, "medium" but feeling rather small himself as he noticed the size designations on the list. Grande? Venti? Were those words? 

The girl behind the counter flashed him a bright, white smile, seemingly amused by his indecision. He smiled sheepishly back at her and forked over a few bills. Then, gathering up his change--and leaving some in the tips jar because he felt terrible for holding up the line--Eric shuffled aside. He heard the next person in line ordering what they wanted and was amazed by how quickly they rattled off the list: A tall iced pumpkin spice soy latte with whipped cream.

Well then. 

After his coffee came, he meandered towards the back where he had spied some empty booths. More cozy for a blind date, no? ...too cozy, perhaps. What if things got weird? What if they spend the entire time steeped in that awkwardness that sometimes marked the meeting of two people brought together by inexorable outside forces?

Not fate--snoopy mutual acquaintances. 

Eric, however, was game if this 'Chuck' person was. Jackie had only good things to say about him. She positively gushed over how handsome he was, and what a great personality he had. Physical attributes may have been exaggerated as well; Eric couldn't say for sure, but if Chuck was half as attractive as Jackie made him out to be, then his embarrassment at the counter was already worth it. 

He sat in a conspicuous place and sipped his coffee, while scrutinizing every man that walked through the door. They agreed to wear a purple sweater to make it easier to recognize one another. Idly, Eric glanced down at his watch. Not long now... Then he saw (or thought he saw) him. And Jackie hadn't lied, evidently. He lifted a hand to wave the man down, with a slightly self-conscious smile.

[Chuck Miller]

Truthfully Chuck was beginning to feel a bit disenchanted with the idea of blind dates, given how they had worked out thus far. Of course, all the other dates had worked out just about as horribly, so what was there to lose?

It wasn't as if he had any dignity left to lose at this point.

So when Jackie had insisted that she knew the perfect date for him, Chuck had agreed. Granted, he hadn't been able to get much out of her about this date, except that apparently she was a single mother who also had suffered through a divorce.

Chuck felt rather terrible for his date for that; he wouldn't wish bad divorces on anyone, and he was given to understand that single moms had the worst dating luck.

He inhaled deeply as he entered the coffee shop, looking around for his date.

But the only person wearing a purple sweater was another man. The only other person wearing a purple sweater was a man, and suddenly it dawned on Chuck that Jackie had gone to great pains to avoid ever gendering his date.

Trying to explain to Daniel that he was straight after suffering through an entire date had turned out to be extremely awkward, and he wasn't sure if he could do that again. On the plus side, at least this time he could blame Jackie instead of admitting that he clearly had misread an online profile.

He gave his date a timid wave as he made his way to the table.

Or...no need to be hasty, maybe Erica was a trans woman. Maybe Jackie was banking on Chuck being more understanding of that than other people (which would be flattering).

"You're...Erica?" He asked, as if there was anyone else in the coffee shop in purple.

[Eric Liu]

Errr...

Did-did Chuck just call him Erica?

Eric had risen out of his chair to greet Chuck, who appeared to have recognized him as being the blind date. That was a good thing. Calling him Erica... not so much? 

"Uh..." He sounded like a bamboozled ape for a second. "N-no. I mean... You're Chuck?"

God, how dumb could he sound? You Chuck, Me Eric. No Erica.

Well, at least the wheels hadn't fallen off the wagon that quickly yet. Gathering himself, he cleared his throat softly. "I'm Eric. I uh... was set up by Jackie. Jackie Reynolds?"

They were the only two people in the cafe wearing purple at the moment, true, but it wasn't as if the color was exclusive to themselves. Plenty of people wore purple at all hours of the day. Some of them probably felt like grabbing a coffee at the same appointed time as Eric's blind date. If this was a hilarious mistake, it wasn't a big deal!

[Chuck Miller]

"Yeah, she sent me here, too," Chuck sighed audibly and pressed a palm to his forehead. Why Jackie had sent him on a date with another man was beyond him; he was pretty sure that he was clearly straight. He'd certainly never expressed even mild curiosity in another man!

"But ummm.....she must have made a mistake," He continued, expression apologetic. "Because she....she ummm...didn't tell me you were a guy and...well, I'm straight so..."