For Reasons Unknown

Maya spent the whole of Friday with Abi, shopping for an outfit for her date with Brian. Once the outfit was bought she shopped for the accessories to go with it. She went home with an outfit, new shoes, a new purse, earrings, necklace and even new makeup.

Saturday morning she spent, firstly in the nail salon and then in the hair salon. She was using this as the perfect excuse to have the purple panelling put into her hair that she’d wanted ever since she’d put the red ones in almost a year ago. As she sat quietly reading a magazine, waiting for the colour to take, she suddenly heard Brian’s solo from Bat County, indicating that he’d sent her a message. An instant smile appeared on her face as she removed her cell from her purse.

“Hey beautiful, what you up to this fine morning?”

“Getting my hair done. How about you?”

“Scouring the net to see if I can find a place to take a beautiful girl on our first date. What you getting done?”

“You’ll have to wait and see. And I think you’ll find that the girl is easily pleased and won’t really mind where you take her.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, but I’ll still need her address so that I can find her, to take her on the date.”

Maya chuckled as she replied to the message and jay, her hairdresser, began to take the foils out.

“What’s so funny? I haven’t seen you smile this much in a long time.” he asked, their eyes meeting in the mirror.

“Oh, it’s just the guy I’m going on a date with tomorrow; he’s nothing like I expected him to be like.”

“Is that a good thing?” jay asked.

“Yeah, I had him down as being all macho and stuff, which he kind of is, but there’s this other side of him. He’s all sweet and funny and caring and stuff.” Maya replied as Brian’s message tone rang again.

“I’ll see you there at 7, can’t wait...”

“Looking forward to it.” She replied before getting her hair rinsed.

Maya was like a bottle of pop throughout her Sunday morning shift. All she could think about was her date with Brian. The clock above the bar seemed to slow unnaturally as Maya kept glancing up at it. Why couldn’t it be 5 o’clock already? She wanted to be at home getting ready for her date with Brian.

The pub was quiet. It was only her and Bridget working and as usual on a Sunday it was cleaning day. As Maya cleaned the glass shelves and the fridge doors her mind began to wander. She began to think about her date. Where would he take her? Chinese? Italian? Mexican? Would he like what she was wearing? What would he be wearing? Would her outfit be smart enough? Would they go anywhere after the meal?

She’d worked her way through a dozen scenarios of what would happen by the time she’d finished the last door. She picked up her cleaning equipment and glanced up to the clock again. 4:50. still ten more minutes. As she reached the end of the bar Bridget returned from cleaning tables and also glanced up at the clock and then quickly around the rest of the pub.

“You can go now if you like.” She said.

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s only 10 minutes, it’s quiet, Damien will be here any second, go get ready for your date.”

“Oh, Bridget, you’re the best – I’ll see you Tuesday.” Maya replied, hurriedly removing her till fob and apron and grabbing her purse and helmet.

Maya stood in front of her full length mirror in her bedroom. She checked her hair and make-up and then made slight adjustments to her outfit. She jumped at the sound of the door buzzer ringing from the kitchen and turned to look at her alarm clock on her nightstand. 6:54. He was early, but at least this way she wasn’t going to be hanging around getting nervous.

“Ok, come on up.” she heard Abi say and Maya’s breathing doubled in time. She’d never been this nervous about a date before. What was so different about this one?

“Um, maybe it’s got something to do with the fact that this is a date with Synyster Gates?” she mumbled to herself. There was a light tap at the door before Abi opened it slowly without waiting for an answer.

“He’s here” she said smiling widely.

“Yeah I know.” Maya replied with a large smile and a deep breath. There was another knock at the door, this time coming from the front door.

“I’ll let him in, that way you can make an entrance.” Abi said turning quickly and walking across the room to the front door.

“With another deep breath Maya sprayed an extra bit of her GHOST perfume, checking herself again in the mirror. She could hear Abi talking to Brian so she grabbed her purse and made her way into the next room. The conversation stopped abruptly as Brian stopped talking mid-sentence as he caught sight of Maya walking towards him.

“Hi” she said shyly, feeling herself blush.

“Hi, wow, you look awesome.” He replied in a whisper, his eyes lustfully glancing up and down her body.

“Not too casual?”

“Perfect.” Brian replied taking a step forward towards her. He gently leant down and placed a soft kiss against her cheek.

“You’ve got purple hair.” He said as he pulled back, his hand gently running through the panels.

“Yeah, had it done yesterday.” Maya said, smiling that he’d noticed. Guys never notice girl’s hair.

“I like it. Purple’s my favourite colour.” He stated staring into her eyes.

“Really mine too.” She replied, still smiling.

“Best colour in the world.” He whispered and Maya nodded.

“Shall we go?” Maya questioned. He nodded and Maya turned to face Abi, who’d been watching everything as if it was a TV show. She may as well have had popcorn.

“I’ll see you later.” Maya said.

“Ok you guys, have fun.” Abi cheered as they left the flat.

“We will.” Brian replied, pulling the door shut behind them.

“Ok, so I found this place on the internet, Don Luis,” Brian said as he started his SUV, glancing over at Maya who bit her lip and raised her eyebrows.

“What? Is it no good?” he replied panicked as he pulled off down the street.

“Put it this way, I barely left the bathroom for two days after the last time I ate there.” She explained.

“Fucking brilliant!” Brian said loudly slamming his hands against the steering wheel. “I spent fucking ages searching for the perfect place to take you.” He explained.

“Hey, it’s not your fault. If it’s a Mexican restaurant you want, I know the perfect place. But there’s one small problem.” Maya said softly.

“What’s that?”

“You’re driving in the wrong direction.” Maya said through a small laugh, which Brian echoed as he glanced across at her and caught her smile.

“Ok, you give the directions.” He said as he found a place to turn around in.
Maya directed him to La Esmeralda, a small Mexican restaurant that she loved. They were both greeted by the maitreadee who she knew from previous visits. He guided them to a small table for two towards the rear of the restaurant.

“For you both to have some privacy away from other customers.” He said in his exaggerated Mexican accent and a wink as Brian helped Maya take her seat like a true gentleman.