Hello

Definitely, Maybe

Chandeliers glistened in the soft, yellowish light of the luxurious restaurant as classical music played. Malena shivered. She didn’t know how she ended up agreeing to go to this stupid blind date at all. Her best friend, Betsy, was supposed to be the one going to these blind dates that the
matchmaker, whom Betsy’s mother hired, has arranged.

Betsy’s mother was desperate to convince her that Josh is not good enough for her; thus, she wanted Betsy to meet a lot of other guys with a much better job than Josh, who worked at a huge video store well-known for its wide collection of porn movies.

Getting ready for the blind date was a huge torture for Malena due to the slight hangover she still has from the partying she and Betsy did last night until the break of dawn. Betsy had to drag Malena to a late night bar hopping and get her drunk just to get her to agree to go to the blind date.

One thing about Malena is that when she gets tipsy, she agrees to everything she’s asked and once she has given her word, she dared not break them. So there she was, all dressed up and ready to do crazy things to turn her date off but with subtlety.
Malena understood why Betsy hated going to these series of blind dates just to please her mother. Malena’s mother started pushing her to find someone to settle down with ever since her sister got married to the perfect husband they found for her. Malena’s parents took pride in her sister all the time, from her academic performance to achievements in the family business to her husband. Her
sister was an achiever and an obedient daughter. This is one reason why they thought they should find Malena the perfect husband because career-wise, they did not think she could make it. Forget about sparks or chemistry. In today’s world, you just need someone who can support you and
someone you can show off to relatives and friends. That was how cliché her family has become and she wanted to break free from all that.

Malena and Betsy came up with the plan to sabotage their blind dates by going to each other’s
rendezvous and pretending to be each other and ruin the date. This way, it would be easier because they wouldn’t care as much since they are not themselves. This was why Malena was wondering why she even had to pretty herself up when she was going to turn him off anyway. Betsy
insisted on curling the ends of Malena’s black hair and putting on a light blue eye shadow, which highlighted the hazelnut shade of her eyes and a baby peach shade of glossy lipstick on her lips.

“I wouldn’t want people saying that I look like shit that’s why they are rejecting me, right? I still have to be known as a beautiful woman.” Malena remembered Betsy saying to her.

Malena was sitting on her table and caught her reflection on the glass window beside her as she played with the lavender ribbon laced around her arm and noticed how different she looked. She always looked simple with very little to no makeup at all.

Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She answered on the third ring.

“Has he arrived yet? What does he look like? You still remember the things you have to do to turn him off? Remember, be nervous! You always end up a total mess when you’re nervous,” Betsy said continuously over the phone.

“Wow, thanks, Bets! You really are a good friend. Anyway, he hasn’t arrived yet! You seem more nervous than I am! For sure, he won’t like me. And yes, I will first be very indecisive and take forever to order what I want to eat. Then, when the food arrives, I’ll gobble it up like I haven’t eaten in years. While doing so, I’ll keep on throwing glances on his food like my plate isn’t enough for me. Then, I’ll
chew noisily and talk while my mouth is full. After that, I’ll ask if he mind sharing his food with me even if I haven’t finished mine. I’ll eat some of his food and end up not finishing mine because I’m already full. And for the finale, it will be the perfectly loud, airy burp.” Malena enumerated.