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History Rebuff (5-11-18)


[WP] Earth was the crash site of a human escape ship that was lost. It is not until the modern era that the rest of humanity has found us in an exploratory mission. [Link to post.]

Mitch Stratford walked into the upscale restaurant and scanned the seated patrons. A woman with bright pink hair sitting alone stood from her table to wave him over like one of his high school students might; she showed complete disregard for the other patrons.

"MITCH! OVER HERE!" Mitch felt warmth fill his cheeks as the rest of the patrons blamed him for her rudeness with their stares, but the woman's attractiveness more than made up for the the temporary embarrassment. He enjoyed the view as he approached the table. She wore a form fitting black tube top with tight black pants. Once he reached the table she greeted Mitch with a hug and peck on the cheek.

"It's so nice to finally meet you!" she said. 

"You too," Mitch smiled. She sat back down in her seat and he sat on the other side of the intimate table. "You know until you waved at me I wasn't sure you were going to be here," Mitch chuckled. She took mock offensive by bringing her hand to her chest and releasing a faint gasp.

"I'd never stand you up," she said. Her pale pink eyes caught the low light in the restaurant and sparkled. Mitch became even more entranced, but he waved away her reply.

"No, not that. I thought you might be a bot or a scam or something," he shrugged. "It surprised me that you wanted to meet so soon after we matched." The waiter interrupted them to take their order. Mitch did not have time to look at the menu, but visited the restaurant enough to know what he wanted. His date was also ready to order. After the waiter left she picked up the conversation again with a flirty smile.

"Well, you just happened to be the most handsome history teacher in the immediate area. No sense in waiting, either we hit it off or we don't," she said. Mitch laughed at her comment.

"Oh, so you're only dating me cause I'm a history teacher?" he teased. She shook her head. 

"Nope. We matched 'cause you're a history teacher. I'm dating you 'cause you're cute." Mitch became aware of a gentle caress rubbing the inside of his shin. 

"Boy, I'm lucky you like history teachers." 

"I just think there's SO much to learn about the past you know? It's fascinating to me, I could probably listen to you lecture for hours," she giggled. He laughed.

"I hope not. It's just a job, not really an interest," he said. Her lips began to form a small pout, but the waiter came by with their drinks, then Mitch immediately sucked half of his up through the straw to distract his nerves. 

"As far as subjects I do have an interest in, I'd like to know all about you. We haven't chatted much. What do you do, Stephanie?" She relaxed backward, no longer sitting on the edge of her seat. Her smile dimmed slightly, though Mitch chalked it up to her head moving out of the romantic lighting.

"I study the Earth," she said. Mitch nodded.

"A geologist? That's cool." Stephanie shrugged. 

"It's alright, but plants and dirt are nowhere near as cool as the people that have lived here through the ages, you know? Like isn't it amazing how much humans have progressed in the past 40 thousand or so years? Tell me about your favorite era." She said. She inched forward on her seat and brought her glass up to sip the straw.

"Oh, I don't know that I have a favorite era myself. Although, the renaissance is fun to teach. It's cool the kids get to dress up and we have a renaissance fair in the parking lot at the end of the section. And yeah, humanity's come a long way. Longer than the last 40 thousand years when you consider we used to live in caves." Mitch said. He didn't realize he'd said anything funny until Stephanie tried to laugh while taking another sip from her drink. She coughed and laughed at the same time just as the waiter appeared with their food. He managed to set the food down in a hurry and pat Stephanie on the back before Mitch could react. 

"Thank you," she said to the waiter. 

"You're welcome, miss." He nodded then walked back to the kitchen. 

"Are you okay?" Mitch asked. Stephanie's alabaster face still held a bit of blush from the near drowning. She shook her head.

"No. I'm sorry. Remember when I said earlier, 'no sense in waiting'?" She asked Mitch nodded. 

"Well, that's kind of my life's philosophy. I'm sorry Mitch, you're cute and all but I don't think we're going to work out," Stephanie said. She did seem sincere, and Mitch appreciated the honesty.

"Oh, wow. Well, I am sorry to hear that, but I appreciate you being direct. Thanks. Out of curiosity was it something I did, or said?" She shook her head, then reached across the small table to squeeze his hand. 

"No, not exactly. I did kind of rush into this without thinking it through. But, I just now realized that we're too different. You could say we're from two different worlds." Mitch began to protest again, but Stephanie squeezed his hand harder. "I don't doubt that you're willing to adapt, but we'd *both* have to adapt. I don't have time, work keeps me too busy." Stephanie stood from the table and left him enough money to cover both meals along with a dessert and generous tip. 

"I see. Well it's a shame, but I'm glad you made time for this date," Mitch said. Stephanie shook her head again. "I didn't. This is work too." She waved politely, turned her back to him, then walked towards the restaurant's exit. 

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