A Date with Tony - or not

Doubts overcome for now , I head off to the rendezvous.
That's not quite it - I may have overcome the doubts, but I'm still very apprehensive. I really don't know what's going to happen. I've got a horrid feeling that him up there will arrive all of a sudden to rescue me, and he'll think I'm two-timing him, so he'll go away again. The thought that that might actually happen scares me quite a bit. At times I seem to have forgotten that I really don't want to stay down here, that I want to be alive again, that have a life to go back to. You know, it seems to me that the longer I'm down here, the less I remember about life up there - how nice it all was, having him around, even if he did keep messing things up with the hordes of wild animals that he'd charmed. Right now, I think I'd give almost anything to be plagued by things like that - maybe hundreds or even possibly thousands of wasps that he'd summoned with a song, if only I was alive, up there and with him. You know how much I hate wasps, so that's rather a big deal for me. It all seems so confused and so long ago - like a different world. Which in a way I suppose it is, isn't it.

And now here I am, off on a date with another man. Someone I hardly know, but who seems to have charms and powers that I don't know how to deal with. In case you are wondering, I've gone for the "modest" look - nothing provocative, basic stuff - if he wants me, it's going to have to be the real me he wants, not some bimbo airhead who's dressed up to kill and pull.

When I get there, he isn't there yet. Normally that would be irritating, but not desperate. In his case, I start wondering if either he's changed his mind and got cold feet about me, or that maybe she won't let him out, because she knows what he's up to, and then I think maybe she's found out who I am and will get me next. That's not something I find comfortable to think about.

I'm also thinking about how long I have to wait before I can run away and tell him it's his fault because he didn't show up. Not just yet, obviously. So I sit and wait.
Then it happens. I get a message from the waiter that he's been held up and will be there as soon as he can. With apologies, a bunch of flowers and a bottle of champagne - until he can get here. That kind of makes my mind up. Nice though it all is, it seems obvious to me what he's after, and I'm not sure that's what I want - and he seems far too sure of his charm, too. He obviously thinks I'll wait for him to show up when he's ready to, and that I'll do whatever he wants. So I decide to walk out. I tell the waiter to tell him thanks for the thought, the flowers and the champagne but something else has come up and I couldn't wait for him. And then I take the flowers and bottle with me and go. That should make him think. At least he won't think I'm a pushover, waiting on his every word with bated breath. Now we'll really see how keen he is. One other question still strikes me though - why am I bothered ? That's a good one. It's part of the waiting bit, I reckon. Let's see what happens.