Liars In Love

It was safe to say that Eric's blind date experience was not going well at all. His first date had been with a woman who had seen him as something closer to clay. Clay that she could mould and cut away until he fit into the specific dimensions that she wanted him in so that she could control him easily. 

Then the second one had not been any better. Liza had turned out to be someone who thought bringing a roach to a blind date was a splendid idea. Never in his life had Eric been on a three way date where the third being was a cockroach. Liza was definitely not someone that he would be forgetting any time soon. As kind as she had been, he would be sure to keep his distance if he ever saw her again.

No doubt she probably had a colony of ants that could easily dispose of his remains if he ever got on her bad side.

When he had told his sister how the whole thing had gone, she had apologised profusely, and had promised to set him up on yet another date- a better one. This one came earlier than Eric had expected.

Apparently the woman was very busy and had barely managed to make time. Which had forced Eric to go on a date in the middle of the work week. Something that he was not at all happy about. He preferred not having things that could drain his energy too much during the week. Wanting to save most of it for class.

Kids were natural predators, if he showed up at less than a hundred percent they would attack and show no mercy. He should not have been out.

But instead of resting after marking some truly horrible quiz answers, Eric had instead showered and gotten ready to go out, not getting ready to go to bed like he had wanted to. Now he was at Chardays, staring over at his date.

At first glance there seemed to be nothing wrong with her. Had it not been for the first two dates leaving him jaded, he would have relaxed. But instead, Eric found himself tense, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Miranda, a banker, wore a simple dress and a large coat for some reason. A coat that she had refused to let Eric take even as they had sat down. Now he finally knew why Miranda had not wanted him to take the garment from her. 

As it turned out, Miranda was a thief. 

He did not mean thief in the 'you're a thief, you stole my heart kind of way.' He meant an actual thief, as in stop, that is a crime.

The first time that she had snatched something- a spoon. Eric had thought that he was imagining things. After all, there was no way anyone would be brazen enough to steal cutlery straight from the table before their meals were even served. But a few seconds later when he had watched her manicured hands drift out from beneath the sleeves of the coat and snatch a fork. He had realized that he had not been imagining anything at all. She really was stealing things. Not really sure what to do with the whole situation. Eric had sat there, dumbfounded. 

"Are you seriously ste-" Before he could finish his sentence, she winked at him, placing a hand over her mouth in the universal sign for silence. While he sat there, frozen, still trying to decide on what to do, his date was not having any of those problems. She kept on stealing, her eyes lighting up every time she snatched something, like she was on some kind of high.

It was unsettling to watch.

Eric would not have believed it if anyone else had told him. In fact he could barely believe it himself and he was sitting there witnessing it as it happened. His date, done with stealing the minor silverware actually grabbed a bottle of wine off the table, and just as with the forks and spoons, it disappeared beneath her coat.

He looked from her coat, where she had hidden the pilfered alcohol, to the satisfied smirk on her face. Her cheeks practically glowing with contentment, and for a brief second Eric saw the future. A kleptomaniac, that was what she was. If he let the date go on, he would somehow find himself married to her.

Decades would go by and he would grow old bailing her out of jail, and attending hearings. An old man resigned to the fact that, it was just the way that things were. He would be paying for things that she had stolen for the rest of his life.

Just imagining such a cruel fate had him breaking out in a cold sweat. Unwilling to tie himself up like that, he immediately got up. This time when Eric paid for both their meals(again doing so way before the date should have ended), he added enough extra money to cover for everything that had been stolen. The manager at Chardays did not even seem particularly surprised when Eric explained the reason for the large sum of money.

"You would be surprised how often this happens," Was the manager's only response, a look in her eyes that spoke of just how sick and tired of it all she was. 

That night Erik did not see the colourful lady at all( which he had kind of expected since the date was earlier than the ones that he normally went on). But it made him feel even worse about having come out for the blind date. He had not even realized that in a way he had come to use her to soothe himself whenever things were not going well. 

Just a simple glimpse of her making it easier for him to get over a disastrous date. But without her presence there was no brushing aside how awful the whole thing had been. Rather than going home where he had nothing but papers waiting for him. Eric instead headed over to his sister's place. Greeting her with a simple hello, and pretending not to see the awful understanding in her eyes.

He spent the rest of the evening being a ladder for two very energetic twins. Giving his sister and James some much needed time together. Seeing them enjoying an impromptu dinner date helped to ease the ache in his soul a bit.

Reminding him that there were still genuine people out there who loved each other. People who were not risking jail time just by spending time together. People who actually enjoyed spending time together.

After the mess that had been his previous relationship. He had lost hope in that, and the blind dates that he was currently going on were not helping matters.

So it was nice to see evidence of the real thing. When he got ready to leave later that evening, his sister pulled him into a hug, and then looked at him worriedly. 

"Are you all right? Was the date that bad?" There was no need to beat around the bush. The fact that he had had the time to come and see them,was a clear indicator that things had not gone well. Eric did not bother lying to her on that front. 

"We did not see eye to eye on certain things, he told her tactfully," 

'Your friend is a thief, he wanted to say,' but he kept that to himself.

"Don't worry about it. I am sure that the next one I go on will be the best yet," He reassured her. He had already read the kids their bedtime story, and kissed them good night. So he merely said his goodbyes to her and James, and with one more hug to his sister he was gone.