Part 2: Preparation

(Read Part 1 here)

Friday rolls around. It's only been two days of talking with this girl. All you really know about her is that she likes art and could, apparently, devour hamburgers every single day. Sounds like your type of girl, you think, but a fog of nervousness sends a shiver up your spine. You have no idea who this person truly is. For all you know, she might be a serial killer. You try to brush off that particular anxiety.

Today, you're practically a beaming light. Even Karen at work catches your unusually positive vibe and cracks something resembling a smile in your direction. Nothing, not even actual death, you feel, could rain on your parade today. (Actually, on second thought, death is probably the only thing that could prevent you from continuing to shine.) Driving home after work, you catch yourself humming along to "Photograph" by Nickelback in your deadbeat car.

Shit.

Quickly glancing around to make sure no one has witnessed such a transgression, you hastily change the tune. Your phone, meanwhile, is on full ringer, just in case she bails. It's happened more often than you’d care to admit. Last-minute cancellations are practically Vancouver's new "it" trend, so hot right now, like Hansel from Zoolander. The phone remains silent. Good. You're genuinely excited for this burger date. It’s a bit unusual, taking someone out for fast-food burgers on a first date, but you figure, what the hell – experience everything at least once. (Except maybe heroin. You’ll save that for when you're 75 and have become a complete vegetable, purely for research purposes, of course.)