Around five-thirty, Melinda unlocks the door of her apartment and collapses on the sofa absolutely exhausted. She lies there for a few moments with her eyes closed, resting. She had no idea what to expect in a few shorts hours, and preferred not to think of it actually. She closes her eyes, just for a while.
And she is awakened by Kylie shaking her awake. "Melinda," she hears her say, "for God's sake, get up. You're going to be late."
"What?" Melinda asked confused, as she just woke up. "Late for what?"
"Your date," Kylie sighs while rolling her eyes. "Now come on, you have to get ready."
"How did you even get into my apartment?" Melinda demands.
"You didn't lock your door, and knocking obviously didn't do anything," Kylie huffs. "Now what are you wearing? Tell me and I'll pull the rest of the outfit together while you shower."
"You can make outfits?" Melinda asks in surprise, as she didn't think she ever saw Kylie out of jeans and a sweatshirt.
"Just because I don't do it, doesn't mean that I can't," Kylie tells Melinda. "Now what are you wearing?"
"I think the sleeveless peach-pink dress," Melinda ventures out thoughtfully. "The one where the straps are black lace and there is the small belt belt around the waistline?" She says in a interrogative tone, as to see if Kylie knew what she was talking about.
Kylie nods as she did know exactly what Melinda was talking about. Kylie practically shoves her friend into the bathroom and she goes and starts to go through Melinda's jewelry box and shoes, finding a suitable match that went with the dress.
Meanwhile Melinda climbs into the shower, washing away the dirt and stress of the day in the scent of wild violet and pomegranate shampoo and cherry blossom bar soap.
Melinda would have liked to stay under the warm rain shower that was hers, however she knew she had to get out, as she didn't have a lot of time to spare. So she steps out of the shower and onto the fake tiled floor, drying herself with a threadbare mint towel and wrapping her wet hair up with the other. Kylie had slipped her clothes in the room and the dress was hanging against the back of the door. There was a pair of tan tights, and Melinda knew it was to be worn if she hadn't shaved. However, she would have worn them in any case as it was March in New York and the dress only reached her knees. It was far too cold for bare legs in her rational opinion.
Wringing out as much water as she could from her dark hair beforehand, Melinda slips on the peach dress with the black accents in thick flowery lace straps. Then she steps out of the bathroom and into Kylie's anxiously awaiting hands.
"Good," Kylie declares. "Let's dry your hair first. Sit down over here." She leads Melinda over to her vanity and pulls out the hairdryer, blowing hot hair over Melinda and causing her hair to eventually fall down in a dark, glossy wall. Once that task was accomplished, Kylie moved on to Melinda's face.
Kylie quickly brushes neutral eye shadow over Melinda's eyelids, only a shade darker than her skin tone. Kylie then pulled out black liquid liner and outlined the entire perimeter of Melinda's cat-slit narrow eyes. Following that Kylie then extended Melinda's eyelashes with dark and smooth mascara. The overall effect of this made Melinda's small eyes pop in a way that seemed unimaginable before. Kylie glossed her lips with a light pink coloring, barely noticeable.
"Smile," Kylie commands to Melinda holding her blush brush at an angle, ready to apply it to Melinda's face. Melinda does so, knowing it would be pointless to resist. She was capable of getting herself ready, even more than Kylie was actually. However Kylie didn't seem to care in the slightest.
Kylie hands Melinda some small and dainty silver earrings, formed by many leaves woven together in a dangling diamond. Melinda remembered getting these with Kylie in the Village a few months back. They were on sale and Melinda did like them after all, so she bought them. Kylie also hands her a matching bracket; that is it was silver and formed a circle of leaves around the entirety of Melinda's wrist.
Kylie also hands her a small black clutch. It was simplistic, but classy. "Pack what you need in here," she instructs. "I need to find you some shoes and do you think a necklace will be too much?"
Melinda shrugs as she slips her phone and wallet into the clutch. She knew Kylie didn't really want an answer, but was just saying her thoughts out loud to herself.
"Here," Kylie says, coming back and thrusting a pair of creamy tan-pink pumps at Melinda along with a jade tear drop shaped stone pendant on a polished silver chain. The stone was a pale turquoise green and it suited Melinda's dress perfectly with the contrast of the peach.
Still Melinda hesitated with taking it. Kylie unclasps the tarnished clasp of the necklace, the only place where it wasn't perfectly spotless, and places it around Melinda's neck. "Beautiful," Kylie whispers softly. "Now come on, you don't want to be late." Kylie heads out the door and Melinda follows her, heading out of the building then, and hailing a cab.
"Have fun!" Kylie wishes--okay orders--Melinda cheerfully as she forcefully pushes her into the cab. "Central Park," Kylie tells the cab driver as she hands him some money. "South Gate Restaurant," she adds on. Melinda sighs, knowing why Kylie did that. Everybody who lived in the city knew where Central Park was, and since Kylie was notorious for her inability to remember addresses, well it really was best that she knew how to give relative locations.
The cab lurches off, and for the entire duration of the ride Melinda is bracing herself for the worst. She would rather expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised then heartbroken and hurt with disappointment and loss again. You only learn that lesson once, as Melinda very well knew. Maybe a bit too well.
Melinda wrings her unsteady hands together anxiously: back and forth, together, palm up, palm down, left over right, right over left. She smooths down the corners of her dress and fiddles with the buttons of her light gray wool coat; the color as soft and comforting as the gray in the waves of a calm morning sea. Maybe it wasn't the best coat for this outfit but it was warm and Melinda liked it anyhow.
"Miss," the cab driver says to Melinda. "We're here."
"How much?" Melinda asks him, already pulling out her wallet from her purse.
The cab driver laughs. "Why," he exclaims, "your friend already payed me!" Still Melinda leaves him a three dollar tip before heading into the restaurant.
Going in she saw that the restaurant was artfully decorated and filled with people. How was she supposed to find her date in the crowd. All she knew about him was that he was or still is an engineering student and Asian. Oh and his name, Rob Khan. She could infer, from what Kylie had told her, that Rob was smart, kind, and helpful. Not that any of this was particularly helpful at this moment for her. Except for the name and his appearance of being Asian of course.
Kylie walks up to the stylish podium with the smartly dressed hostess. "How many?" The hostess asks politely with a smile. "One?"
"Two," Melinda tells her. "I was supposed to meet a guy here, Rob Khan?"
A flicker of recognition goes through the hostess face. She holds up a finger, as if saying one moment to Melinda, as she flicks through the wide and thick book on the podium. "Melinda Ken?" She asks once she seemed to find what she was looking for.
"Yes," Melinda confirms, though somewhat nervously. "I'm her."
"Right this way," the hostess says before shepherding Melinda forward, leading her through the stylish modern restaurant and to a table that had a well-groomed Asian man in khakis and a navy blue suit coat with a tie. The man got up and shook Melinda's hand.
"Rob Khan," he tells her. "It's nice to meet you Melinda. I've heard a lot about you from Kylie."
"Me too," Melinda lies, feeling guilty. "Kylie has spoken most highly of you." Well that part wasn't a lie, Melinda told herself. Kylie had spoken very reverently of him, Melinda just didn't know a lot about him.
"Please do sit down," he tells her. Melinda does, and only after she has been seated does Rob sit back down.
"So how are you Melinda?" Rob asks politely, looking genuinely interested in what Melinda had to say. Melinda found herself think that she might, just might, enjoy this dinner. After all, Rob did seem to be a decent guy. It definitely wouldn't be the long and torturous escapade she envisioned it to be. Maybe Kylie really did know what she was doing after all.