What's the Hint?

There are a lot of times in my life where I just don't get the hint. If someone cancels a date with me, then I would probably take that as a hint, but not when they reschedule it. What I should have assumed was that she didn't want to see me on the day of the cancelled date, though. That probably would have been clear to anyone else, right?

Mandy and I had had a terrible first date, and a second date that was far better, but still hadn't quite made up for the disaster of our first meeting. We had planned to see each other a third time, though we had no distinct plans of what we were going to be doing.

It was the day before we were going to meet, and I was still trying to figure out what we could do where I could steer her away from any alcohol. Then my phone rings.

As soon as she started talking, I could tell she was cancelling the date. Not because she was finished with me, but because she sounded like she was dying. Her voice was hoarse, and every few moments she would start coughing. Her breathing was labored to the point that I wasn't sure she would survive the night, which would actually have taken off a lot of the pressure for the next meeting (because there wouldn't be one, what with her death and all).

We agreed to cancel the date the next day, and she said that she would call me and let me know when she was feeling well enough to go outside again. At this point, since she had rescheduled, I had no reason to think that that was her way of telling me she wasn't interested.

Because I can be cripplingly nice, and since my hours at work had been cut to nothing and I had only free time on my hands, I went out and bought a can of soup and a thermos. That's right. I made her soup.

I made the soup the morning that our date had been scheduled for, and I put it in the incredible-dinosaur-thermos-that-I-thought-would-make-her-laugh-but-really-I-should-have-kept-for-myself, and I got on the bus and went to her apartment complex. My plan was that I would drop off the soup, tell her to get better, and then be on my way.

As I'm getting off the bus, I pass by a girl that looks suspiciously like Mandy, but I think nothing of it, and I continue on. I buzz the apartment and it's the roommate that answers. I tell her who I am, what I'm doing there, and she tells me that Mandy's not there.

I paused, thinking that was a little strange if she's not feeling well, but I say that I just wanted to drop off the soup anyway, and had no plan to stay. So she buzzes me in, I go up to the apartment, knock on the door, and hand the roommate the soup. Because I'm curious, and love punishment, I asked if Mandy was feeling any better.

"What do you mean?" the roommate asked, "what's wrong with Mandy?" I told her about the cancelled date and how Mandy hadn't been feeling well, to which she responded, "I dunno anything about that, she seemed fine yesterday."

To be honest, I wasn't that broken up about the whole thing. I went on my way downtown, bought a few things that I needed, and then I headed back home, and settled in for a quiet night. It wasn't too late in the night that my phone rings once again, and I see Mandy's name on the display.

When I pick up, she thanks me (half-heartedly) for the soup, and tells me that she started feeling better at some point the night before, but thought that it would have been too late to contact me to reschedule our date. It's nice to think that someone would assume that I could make other plans, especially at the last minute. She continues to ask when would be best to reschedule the date, and I told her that whatever day worked for her would probably work for me.

This was a weird head-game to have played on you, especially by someone that you had never really been interested in in the first place. But I agreed, and we rescheduled.

And so, a few days later, the story was to continue.