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Countdown (Part 1 of 2)

By on September 29, 2013
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A195 countdown

“So, how many siblings do you have?” I asked him brightly, going for ironic.

He looked confused, and opened his mouth like he was about to remind me that I already knew how many siblings he had. Then he caught himself. “Oh,” he said. “That was a joke.”

I flushed. “Um, yeah. Sorry.”

“No, don’t – I’m sorry, I ruined your joke.”

“Don’t worry about it, it was a dumb joke anyway,” I mumbled.

“No, no, it was funny.”

Silence.

Or this:

“So you go by your full name now?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“When Tali told me about you, she called you Efrayim.”

“Oh.” Pause. “Actually,” scratching behind his ear and looking down at the table, “I’ve always been Efrayim. It’s just my family who calls me Effi.”

“Oh.” And all those years…

“I don’t mind if you call me Effi,” he said, and then suddenly he froze. “Not to say – that is – I wasn’t trying to imply – or assume –”

“Oh, no, I didn’t – it’s fine,” I said hurriedly.

I caught my fingers tapping and quickly sat on them.

That kind of thing.

By the time I got home, I was ready to go on a good old chocolate and wine binge. I told Tali the whole thing, and she cringed like a good friend at all the appropriate times.

I’d blown it, or he had, or we were incompatible all along. How disappointing.

He called me the next day, and I steeled myself before hitting the green button.

“Hi Shev, it’s Effi.”

“Hi.” Just get it over with.

“You do go by Shev, right? It’s not just my sister who calls you that?”

Surprised, I laughed. “Yes, I’m Shev to everyone but my drivers license.”

He laughed, too, and oh God did I want a second shot.

“Listen,” he said, “do you want to go out again tomorrow night? But maybe something more casual, like a walk instead of a meal.”

Smoothly, as if I’d never doubted it for a second, I said, “Sure, that sounds great.”

I didn’t always know this about him, but Effi has this way of saying, “We all see the elephant in the corner, but the truth is that elephants aren’t that scary. Yes, they’re big, okay, but they’re herbivores, and they’re scared of mice, so how bad can they be?” And it tends to put people at ease.

That’s what he did to me at the beginning of our second date. We were walking down the stairs of my building, and he said, “Here’s the thing. We both said yes to this, knowing who the other one is. That means we both see the potential here; we just need to harness it. Do you agree?”

It took me a few seconds to recover from the sudden bluntness. “Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, exactly.”

“Great.” He flashed me a smile. “So let’s just assume this is already going well and pick up from there.”

I may have melted inside a little bit, but I bounced back quickly. “Only if you agree to stop ruining my jokes. It kind of kills my confidence.”

“Sure, blame the audience instead of sharpening up your material.”

“Hey! That was quality material. At least I wasn’t the one all, ‘Don’t you remember that I have three siblings –'”

“Three siblings? Really?”

“I mean – darnit – I mean three including you.”

“Go on, since you know so much about me, tell me about these three siblings I have.”

“Jerk.” But I was laughing.

Continue reading “Countdown (Part 2 of 2)” tomorrow…

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Noa believes in romance, friendship and justice. She doesn't, however, believe in the Oxford comma.
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