Of course–honestly, he should have seen it coming–the date didn’t turn out well. The list of things Adrian could scream from the mountain of why this date was, yet again, a failure…
There was a lot. Adrian held each one close because he’d never been one for confidence. It was a folly of his life. But, nothing special. Nothing beyond the same, normal, casual problems that everyone else was accustomed.
Adrian wasn’t anything special. He wasn’t a magic man, a personality person, a cute customer, or a righteous rhino.
He was just a man. Just a simple one who acted like a pig in front of another date.
Adrian sighed to himself. A deep breath that drew further out as he tried to wash the memories away. He felt tears welling but mentally brushed them away.
He never understood why he acted that way.
No, that was a lie. He tended to lie a lot, too.
Sitting alone in the restaurant, seemingly surrounded by couples, Adrian dug into his plate of food, a perfect steak. His date hadn’t even touched hers. So, like always, he’d take it home.
Staring at the empty seat, Adrian missed the company fast. It was immediate, through the first bite of meat.
Adrian sighed again and took a swig of wine. He peaked up and caught a passing truck with an advertisement about his brother.
A fleet commander who’d ‘saved’ the world.
Adrian clicked hard against his fork, bending a few prongs–
Everything was always about his brother. Even though, they’d both saved the world. Just one took all the credit.
Adrian sighed through his next bite. He fixed the fork then dropped it loudly onto the ceramic plate. He gained the attention of the entire room, as he walked out on his bill, annoyed and beaten by his own reputation.
Adrian was having a bad day.