Date Night

Extremely inspired by Date Night, A and I decided we should go out on dates as well. Though we have no kids to take a break from...and more often than not, we actually need a break from each other, the prospect of dressing up and going for dinners on week nights sounded good.

We thought we’d take turns each week to plan the date and it would be a surprise for the other person. Now, because I don’t drive, keeping the venue a surprise, is a challenge. But I did it in the past. I don’t tell him where we are going, but enter the address on our GPS and ask him to follow the directions. (We believe that our GPS has saved our marriage for so long. I don’t (OK, can’t) read maps...but insist on never being late anywhere. This was frustrating for A. We could fight in the car “till death do us part”, because reading a map, driving, and fighting was a perfect recipe for a roadside accident. So, a GPS was bought. Marriage and lives were saved.)

But, I drift.

I decided I needed fancy dinner dresses for these dates. To which A said “It’s only us two, why do you need to dress up so much?”. To which I said “Either we do this how it’s supposed to be done...or don’t do it at all.”

Case won. I went shopping.

The following weeks were spent researching the restaurants of the city. We both did that separately, of course. I had my list of fancy places that were busy even on week nights. I hate eating at places where it seems as if the chef cleaned his wok after a year, just to cook for us. I need people around me in the restaurant. Happy, well-dressed, well-behaved people who seem like having a lot of fun. A, on the other hand, didn’t care for “people” at all. As long as the food was good, he didn’t mind walking into a place where no man had ever treaded.

So it was going to be “interesting” to say the least.

Yesterday, was our first “date night”. It was my turn. I wore my new dress, of course. I also thought that a movie would be good, especially because Hangover 2 was releasing on the day. So I bought movie tickets and booked a Nepalese place close to work. I had read good reviews of their momos.

On the way back from work, we decided there was no point going back home and then driving all the way back. So I suggested we go shopping till our dinner reservation time.

We did. Except that A said he’d rather sit somewhere and play poker on his iPhone than walk with me to a million shops. So he chose a nice little corner in the shopping centre as I made a mental list of the things to buy.
The SALE signs allured and hypnotised me. Shoes, bags, knitted tops, candles, books...what could I possibly ignore? When I could not carry any more bags in my two hands, I decided to call A to tell him I was done. But my mobile battery was dead.
Nothing to worry, I thought. I knew where A was sitting. I started walking towards him.

The look on his face when he saw me seemed to suggest either of the following:

• “Sign the divorce papers RIGHT NOW and never attempt to get in touch with me again.”
  Or


• “If I kill you now, I won’t regret spending the rest of my life in jail”.

I thought he was mad at the amount of money I had spent (I had quite a few bags on me). But turned out that it was 8.55pm. Not only had we missed our dinner reservation...we would also miss our movie if we didn’t hurry.

So we hurried. Not a word spoken. Just praying that Hangover 2 would wipe out the memory of a date night gone terribly wrong.

And it did.

P.S. We laughed so much during the movie that it seemed a little silly to start a fight on our way back home. As for our “date nights”, I don’t think we are having one anytime soon (or ever at all).