A Short Story - Moving On

My colleagues made me give my number to a man called Ben when we were at the pub last Friday. I'm usually the only one of my colleagues that doesn't go to these social events but I made an exception this time. Ben rang me the following Monday

"Hi Julia, I'm Ben, Do you remember me from the pub last Thursday?"

"Hi Ben" I said which caught the attention of everyone in the office "Yes I do remember you!"

"Would you still be interested in arranging a date sometime?"

By this time Ruth was standing next to me. She whispered in my ear

"Don't you dare say no!"

"I..."

"I'm serious!" she said "You have a tendency to refuse to get involved with life, give him a chance"

When I didn't respond she added "Do you remember how many questions he asked about you, he focused all his attention on you whenever he spoke, and I'm pretty sure he bought you at least two drinks!"

"He did"

I turned back to the phone and quickly said "Yes"

"Great" he said and he sounded relieved as if he had expected me to say no! How about Friday? Are you free then?"

"Um..." I started.

Just then Ruth pinched a tiny bit of my skin with her long fingernails

"Ouch"

"Are you okay?" said Ben into the phone.

"Sorry, my colleague just pinched my arm"

"Ha ha, does a lot of pinching go on in your workplace?" he asked and I could feel that he was smiling.

"Generally not" I said laughing with a big grin on my face.

Ruth whispered in my ear again

"He's making you laugh, you have to say yes to him. Just one date and see how well you get on with him"

"But Fridays_"

"One single Friday, you can make an exception surely?"

"I guess so"

"Or see if he's free on Saturday"

"Um are you free on Saturday instead?" I asked into the mouthpiece.

"I'm not unfortunately, is Friday no good?"

"It will be okay, see you on Friday then, bye"

I hung up the phone.

It rang again immediately

"Hello"

"Hello this is Ben, shall we arrange where to meet?" he said laughing.

"Oh yes, whoops!!! Where shall we meet?"

"I'm sure your pinching colleague distracted your attention, I can pick you up from your place?"

"Okay" I said and gave him my address "See you on Friday"

"Bye Julia"

"Bye"

Ruth turned to me saying

"Sorry I pushed you honey, are you okay about it?"

"I'm not but I suppose I would have to stop at some point. Can you help me find something to wear?"

"Of course, shall we go shopping after work on Friday, keep Thursday free for you?"

"Thank you" said "You're a great friend Ruth"

"Ahh thank you darling, so are you" she said hugging me "Back to work then"

Ruth and I rushed out of work on Friday and headed straight to Debenhams.

"Just grab some dresses you like" she said "and I'll pick some for you to try on too"

"Okay" I said heading for the racks of black clothes while she grabbed some bright dresses.

When she saw my arms were full of black dresses she shook her head, and told me "Not black, you wear it too often" and to demonstrate her point she looked down at my outfit.

"I like this, the trousers are comfortable"

"Hmm" 

We rushed over to the fitting rooms and she handed me a few dresses to try on.

"Lime green?"

"Yes! It will suit your colouring"

"I doubt it"

"Just get it on!" she told me.

"Oi bossy boots" I said.

"I might be bossy but it's for your own good" she said.

Once the first dress was on I headed out to see what her reaction was.

"What do you think?"

"Not good, let's see the next one"

After trying on the next one I asked again "What do you think?"

"I like it, we might find a better one though, keep trying them on" she said passing me a few more dresses. I tried on a few more and she decided on the third lime green dress that I had tried on and we rushed off to find some shoes in the same colour. Next stop was jewellery where she quickly chose a few items. After paying we walked back to my flat.

When we arrived she asked me

"Are you okay?"

I struggled for the words to respond "I'm just not finding it easy to let the past go. I don't think I even want to let it go"

"He would_"

"Don't!" I stopped her.

"Sorry" she whispered "Go have a shower"

After my shower which gave me time to compose myself Ruth started to apply some make up. I almost fell asleep because the gentle way she applied the makeup was so soothing.

"Wake up Cinderella" she said when finished.

I opened my eyes and straightened my shiny auburn hair before getting changed. Ruth came in and put the necklace on me before saying

"You're done, have a look in the mirror"

I walked over to the mirror and saw someone I didn't recognize at all. 

"Can you do this for me every day?" I joked staring at the beautiful women in the mirror.

"Cheeky!!" she said hitting me playfully on my arm "You look beautiful, you should wear colour more often, I can help you if you like"

"Thanks" I whispered choked up. I was aware that I didn't look after myself as well as I should.

The doorbell rang just then, my date had arrived.

"Go on then, answer the door"

So I walked to the door and opened it saying

"Hi Ben"

"Hi Julia, you look.... so beautiful" he said.

"Thank you, so do you" I said blushing and suddenly flustered "I mean, handsome, not beautiful"

"Thanks Julia" he said with a smile.

Ruth passed me my jacket and told me she would lock up when she had packed all her makeup away.

"Thank you so much Ruth" I said kissing her cheek.

"Thank you for agreeing to come tonight" said Ben as I closed the front door "How has your week been?"

"Good thanks" I said "And yours?"

"Better once you agreed to meet me" he said smiling. He had lots of lines around his bright blue eyes so I could see that smiling a lot was natural for him.

We arrived then at the Chinese restaurant and Ben opened the door for me. The waiter took us to our table and gave us menus.

"There's so much to choose from" said Ben.

"Too much, it all looks delicious"

"How about us ordering a few dishes to share?"

"Sounds good to me"

So when the waiter returned Ben ordered quite a few dishes that we had agreed we both liked. It arrived quickly and the portions looked very generous.

"It looks delicious" I said.

"It certainly does, dig in" he said starting to fill his plate

"I love food, and cooking" I said.

"What's your signature dish?"

"Steak and chips"

"Wow" he said "That sounds wonderful, I love to cook too, and I work as a baker"

"Do you enjoy it?"

"Yes, I love my job, what do you do?"

"I work in admin, sorry that's not very interesting.

"Not at all, do you enjoy it?"

"It wasn't my dream but yes I do"

"What was your dream?"

"To open a restaurant" I said then quickly changed the subject "Favourite cake?"

"Cakes" he said laughing "My favourite subject. I love them all. How about you?"

"I love all cakes too" I said laughing.

We were both getting very messy eating the pork ribs which were sweet and sour flavoured but for some reason it didn't matter. Afterwards they gave us hot towels so we could clean our hands and faces.

"Would you like any dessert?" Ben asked.

"I'm too full unfortunately" I said holding my stomach.

"Me too but I enjoyed it"

He quickly gave his card to the waiter.

"Can I_"

"No" he responded quickly.

Ben told me he would walk me home and he gave me his elbow so I could put my arm through his.

"Do you mind me asking about your dream restaurant? Why didn't you follow your dream?"

"I don't know if I can tell you"

"You don't have to, I'm a good listener though"

We came across a bench and sat down.

"My....husband....died" I said starting to sob "I couldn't carry on without him"

"Oh that's awful, I'm so sorry to hear of your loss sweetheart, was it recent?"

"Ten years. I always go to the cemetery on Friday nights to see him"

"And let me guess, you didn't go tonight because you agreed to meet me?"

I just nodded in reply.

"We'll go now" Ben said and we stood up and started walking. The cemetery wasn't far from where I lived so we got there quickly. I lead Ben to the grave and knelt down in front of it. Ben walked away giving me some space.

"I love you John" I spoke hoping in some way he might here "I miss you so much"

The tears dripped onto the ground where his body lay. Ben came over then and started stroking my back.

"John! Do you mind if I date your lovely lady?"

As he said it the full moon shone came out of the clouds and shone on us and the grave.

"I think that's a sign" said Ben.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and smiled looking at Ben, his bright blue eyes shining in the moonlight.

"Shall we go out next week?" I boldly asked him. Such a lovely man.

He walked closer and pushed a strand of hair out of my eye and tucked it behind my ear.

"You ready to move on, I don't mean to forget him but to start living again?"

"Yes, suddenly I realise I am ready"

"Next week then" he said leading me out of the cemetery and back home "And we can chat more about your restaurant"

"I can't wait"

"Goodnight then Julia, see you next week" he said quickly kissing my cheek and walking away.