Blind Date

Originally Published July 24, 2012

I briefly spoke with Sabine at the service last week and she told me I should post more stories about Dom if I had them.  And I do.  It just took me a few days to compose my memories about this one.  I had literally forgotten all about these events up until the day before his services. 

I don’t know how many people he eventually told about what happened but we did share it with our crew in the studio those first few days after it happened.  And what was funny was that, since we both had different perspectives on it, I started off the story from my point of view and then Dom picked it up when he came into the picture.  I’ll try my best to tell it how I remember his version went when it comes to it:

Again, I’m not sure how many people he told this to but Dom and I went on a double date back in December 2002.  Worst of all, for him at any rate, it was a blind date for him.  Let me set the stage…

At the Holiday Party earlier that month, I had taken my girlfriend at the time to the event.  It was being held at the Canyon Crest Country Club.  M. and I had really only been dating about a month or so.  And it was her sister, of all people, that introduced us.  The event was entertaining and Dom was pretty much on the dance floor all night.  He and my girlfriend struck up a conversation at one point where he mentioned he was a volunteer firefighter.  M.’s sister LOVED firefighters. 

M. turned to me and said, “Oh, wouldn’t they just be PERFECT together!”  I only paused for a moment.  How could I tell my girlfriend that, no, Dom would not be interested in your sister. But what I said was:
“Oh yeah, she loves firefighters...” 

“We should all go out next weekend!  Dominic, are you available?”  I genuinely felt bad for him because I couldn’t give him a warning.  It felt like I was part of the set-up and couldn’t save him.

“Yeah, I’m volunteering at the station but I should be off at 7.”  I had to look away, focus on my drink, stare blankly out the windows, something.  Poor guy.

That whole week back in the office, he would keep asking me about the sister.  He kept saying he agreed to the date because M. was pretty cool and her sister probably looks a lot like her, right Louis?

“She’s got a great personality.”  There were brief moments of concern sometimes but then he’d rationalize it away by thinking that I was just messing with him.  She couldn’t be that bad, right?

“She introduced me to M!” 

I’ll be honest, things between M. and I were already on the downslide anyway.  If I had done anything to subvert her sister’s chances with Dom, it probably wouldn’t have been good for me at that point so I stayed silent.  Poor Dom.

Finally, the big night came.  I went to pick up M. and her sister, and I apologize if I keep calling her the sister but I genuinely cannot remember her name.  Anyway, I’m already in the dog house with M. by the night of the date.  She’s upset at me for whatever reason she had so at this point, Dom and her sister's date better be perfect.  Dom is due to meet up with us at Ontario Mills once his shift was over.  We’re waiting by the Gameworks entrance outside in the cool December air.  Dom’s running late and I’m starting to think, maybe he finally realized all those clues I was dropping were more warning signs.  I’m practically arguing with M. at this point. 
“Where is he?  Shouldn’t he be here?  Why won’t you call him?!” 

“His shift probably ran a little late.  I don’t have his number on me, it’s in my organizer.” 

“Don’t you have it on you?”

“It’s back in my car.”

“Well, let’s go get it!” Finally, the sister wanders off for a few minutes while we continue to go back and forth over where Dom is when I see him finally come walking up.  As bad as I feel for him, there’s also a sense of relief.  He’s actually a little anxious to meet the sister. 

“She’s off making a phone call, oh, there she is now.”  This is the part where Dom would pick up his part of the story.

We all turned and looked and there was a group of people coming out of the theater at the time and there was one Hispanic girl, tall, long dark-brown hair and the music just started playing in his head. 

"oohh, Dream weaver…
I believe you can get me through the night…
ooh, Dream weaver…
I believe we can reach the morning light…"

Then that girl turned and kept going the other way. 

“That’s her!”  Record scratch. 

Now, to say the sister was homely probably wouldn’t be fair.  It would be accurate but not fair.  To be honest, she looked nothing like M.  M. was a little short, really curvy, voluptuous would be accurate.  Long wavy dark brown hair, big, pouty lips.  Her sister…  I guess her sister looked more like Princess Fiona from Shrek.  The ogre version of Princess Fiona.  Poor Dom. 

BUT, he was a good sport about it.  Really good sport.  He didn’t turn tail and run away, though I might have.  Instead we all ended up going to a rock & bowl in Rancho for a few hours.  He had a pretty good time despite the company.  When they did a group dance, he actually took both the girls to join him.  To be honest, he had a better time of it than I did because of what was going on with myself and M. at that point.  Even when the situation was pretty much against him, he still went ahead and did his best to entertain himself as well as those he was with. 

Still, at the end of the night, M. was trying to get those two to spark and when we dropped off Dom at his truck, she point blank asked Dom if he and her sister were going to keep in touch. 

“Oh sure, I’ll just get her number from Louis!”  I had to say it…
“She’s right here, you can ask her right now.”  The look he gave me.  Priceless. 

He backed his way out of the car and said goodnight never having gotten her number.