Hugh currently sat in the middle of a small, dimly lit diner, waiting on his date to show up. Only, he was 30 mins late and wouldn’t respond to any of Hugh’s many messages asking him where he was. He tapped at the mildly-sticky table and turned to the outside window, thinking about how crummy the last few weeks had been going.

After talking to Jack for a few weeks, he noticed nothing really seemed to be happening, nothing seemed to be moving forward at all. It baffled him, and he couldn’t help but be let down. He had really felt some sort of chemistry, but it had turned into nothing more than a few messages a day, which he, of course, enjoyed endlessly, and the constant swirling around anything Hugh felt was important to their lives. After the oddly-worded and mildly perturbing statements Jack had made, ones that had made Hugh feel like Jack was on the verge of giving up and killing himself, he seemed even more distant, and even further removed from his more emotional side. It worried Hugh greatly, but what was he to do? He had a lot on his plate already between work and school, and while it certainly gave him a guilty conscience, he needed to focus on himself sometimes.

And so he started talking to new guys, and one caught his eye. He was handsome, smart, successful, everything Hugh normally looked for. Of course, a part of him nagged him for so easily forgetting about Jack, but they weren’t dating, haven’t even met, and likely never will at this rate. He needed to chase after someone who at least seemed mildly interested in him, he mused.

And yet, here he was, sitting in a diner, alone, waiting on a date who seemed less and less likely to show up by the minute.

It was horribly demoralizing, and it stung him in his most insecure areas.

Hugh didn’t think he was that bad. True, he had flaws, who didn’t, but he tried to work out and stay healthy. But he knew something just never clicked when he talked to other guys, something no amount of calorie-counting or healthy habits could solve, and it was something every single guy he had ever talked was happy to tell him.

He was boring.

It stung every time he heard it, and yet, he couldn’t deny it. He didn’t do much more than play games, work, go to college, and read every once in a blue moon. Personality-wise? He was like a communion wafer, he had no flavor, bland. He was beginning to feel like this was going to be another one of those things, where it went well at first, but they eventually got tired of his flavorless conversations, and bailed. Then his phone went off, with a message from his date.

“Hey man, couldn’t make it, sorry!”

Hugh snorted. Well, you’re 45 minutes late now, I thought as much. He sighed, extremely disappointed his whole day had been ruined. He got another message, this time from Jack, asking how his day was going. Then he got an idea, one that made his heart rate pick up faster than his newly-ditched date ever had.

“Hey Jack, my day’s been pretty crappy. Would you want to hang out or something today to make it better?”

Hugh hit send, then waited with bated breath. 5, then 10, then 15 seconds went by, and Hugh’s heart started sinking again, until…

“Sure, I’ve invited people over I’ve known for less time :P”

Hugh crowed silently.

He had himself a date after all.