Fashionably Late

How late should one be to be fashionably late?

I am a stickler for time. It's painful, mostly for me. If I say, "see you in 5", it means I would be at the designated spot precisely in 5 minutes. If I am not, I would apologize for being late even if it's by a few seconds!

Why am I stressed about it?
Because I now suspect that others speculate the motive behind my promptness. Especially men.

Now If I run, trip, hop, skip and jump to keep an appointment with a man (I am not even talking about a date here)just because I like to be on time and hate to keep people waiting, he might think I am eager or worse enormously keen to meet him because I might just arrive at the scene out of breath which may be misinterpreted as being 'breathless' in an infinitely feminine way.

That's what happened when I met Mr.G this morning for breakfast.

Texting-

Mr.G : Good Morning. I'll reach your place at 8. Meet me outside your colony gate.

Moi : Hi. Sure thing. Call me when you are 5 minutes away.

Mr. G : Will do. Wear something bright. There is a lot of fog outside. It would make you and your colony gate easier to spot.

Moi : Strange request. But OK. There is a slight drizzle my side of town. I'll be wearing a fluorescent yellow raincoat. Hope that helps. *wide grin*.

No response to 'that' from Mr.G.

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The Dreaded Call-

Moi : Hey. Are you 5 minutes away?

Mr.G : Actually, I think I am just 2 minutes away from where you live. I am about to take the left from the metro station.

Moi : OK. I'll be down in 2. Bye.

I hung up.

I am a woman. I deserve more notice than that!
-Hadn't brushed my hair. It was still in a wild disarray after the blow dry.
-Hadn't decided which shoes to wear.
I had just enough time to put on my sneakers and dash out of the house.

I walked briskly to reach the main gate before his car pulled up. Needless to say, I was panting when he arrived.

Holy F***in Cow! Absolute zero visibility due to dense fog. His car appeared out of nowhere and screeched to a halt just half an inch from me. He would have surely run me over had I not been wearing my blindingly yellow raincoat!
I was already out of breath and whatever little air I had in my lungs was knocked out because of the close shave.

As soon as I got into the car, I gave him a look...the one that said "you jerk, You almost killed me! I hope I am not making a BIG mistake by going out with you...lets see if you can still redeem yourself."

What I think he must have thought when he met my gaze squarely-
Breathlessness = Anticipation
Fiery Eyes = Desire
Tousled hair = Out of bed and ready to jump right back in

He must have misread the signals I was trying to transmit because he gave me a warm-mush look. His hooded eyes were like diluted honey and the half smile was making a promise of sorts.
I got confused and looked away.

He threw me a curve ball when he said, "You look devastatingly cheerful in fluorescent yellow. I am fully awake now."

I decided it would be foolhardy to dignify that remark with a comment. So I let it slide and feigned interest in the view outside the window.

That didn't last long because of 2 reasons-
1. The fog was still very thick and there was no view!
2. We were driving at the speed of 30 kms per hour and I was at tenterhooks, worrying sick about running over or into another car or worse, a cow.

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(To Be Continued...)