Coincidence or will power?

William S Burroughs once wrote, "In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen." Last night I got stood up and through the encouragement of a very nice door guy, I started calling my friends. Mel jumped at the chance to go to a show and soon met me downtown. Childhood friends, we haven't seen each other in over a year. She takes the seat next to me and we begin gabbing.

"I met a guy," she says. Mel has never had a boyfriend, or even a "real" date.

I gasped and punched her in the arm, "Really? That's wonderful! No one deserves it more than you. You've waited so long for this!"

Mel rubbed her arm, "Thanks."

"So how did you meet?"

"At Barnes and Noble, my new favorite store."

"Wow. I sit at coffee shops by myself on Sunday mornings with the paper, hoping to encourage a meeting like that and nothing ever happens to me."

"It's crazy, isn't it?"

"It's crazy awesome!" I slumped in my chair. "I, on the other hand, am on perfectmatch.com."

"Don't worry," she consoles, "I was on there too."

"I'm actually meeting someone tomorrow. He just passed the bar."

"Is his name Lawson?"

My mouth hung open and I studied her face. She was completely serious. "Yes," I answered.

"Was he wearing a blue shirt in his profile?"

He was, but I didn't know where this was going, so I didn't want to admit it. "I can't remember."

"If it is, I went out with him. Sarah, it was so awful. He's not a cute as his picture and he just wouldn't talk. The whole ordeal was like pulling teeth."

I slumped in my chair even lower. We pulled out cell phones and sure enough, Lawson's number matched perfectly. Shit. I told her about the 3 minute phone call. "Yeah that sounds like him," she says. "He was very perfunctory. He told me to call him if I wanted to hang out again and I thought, 'Yeah, right.'"

"Should I cancel? Because I totally will!"

"No, you should go, but you have to promise to call me afterwards."

"Deal."

I faced front and thought about it. I haven't been excited about a date in so long. I can't even remember. To me, these dates are like small scheduling sacrifices. I've been so busy that I always have to rearrange something to go out. Maybe it was because these recent dates have all been set ups; maybe it's because my life is full now.

I was already not looking forward to the date with Lawson, now I wondered if I should cancel anyways. Then again, Mel is not exactly a man's girl, so maybe he just wasn't attracted. "That's it, I'm not showering beforehand." I huffed. Mel laughed. I'll go on the date, but I'm picking the restaurant.