Anna McCarthy
Sabatino Mangini
English 101
09 December 2015
A Girl Walks Into A Bar
As she drinks her morning coffee and scrambles eggs one morning in September, she hears the familiar buzz of her phone sitting on the dining room table. Oh! a message she mentally exclaims to herself. It was a Tinder Match! The message was from someone she had swiped right the night before. Taking a look at his profile, she sees that he has a mutual friend in common with her. This friend is someone who she believes has a good read on character, so if this friend of hers is mutual friends with this guy, he must be alright.
*Click* - she locks her phone and continues to scramble her eggs. She flips them, then after flipping them once more, she pulls them off the burner and pushes them with a spatula onto a plate, grabs a fork and sits down. *Ping* her phone goes off. Placing down her fork she pulls up the message. It's from him. Sweet! He messaged first. Nice! I find out his name is Thomas and we talk for awhile. He continues to seem pretty nice and it seems like we have stuff in common.
The conversation went back and forth throughout the day. Eventually she notices something new. A snapchat notification! Snapchat alerted her that she had a new friend! It was him! She then goes to add him back and sends him a snap. *Takes a picture* with the caption “Hey!” and clicks send. An hour later a snap back! He matches his profile! He’s not a hairy old man! Yes!
A few weeks later, while sitting on a wine rack and eatting staff lunch surrounded by fresh air and smoke clouds she checks her phone. The blue LED flash is flashing. You know what that means? A message is waiting! Who was it from? Thomas! The text read:
Thomas: Hey Anna, I was wondering if you wanted to grab drinks at “Mas” around 7:15pm tomorrow night?
Me: Sounds good.
The next night arrives. I make sure I’m ready before class. While sitting in class it seems like we can’t get through the math problems quick enough. The minutes on the clock drag by 5:00, 5:01, 5:03….. finally 6:30 happens and it is time for me to be on my way. I’m halfway there and I realize that I should probably stop for gas. Pulling into Wawa I text Thomas at 7:05pm:
Me: Hey Thomas, I had to stop for gas, so I am going to be a little late.
Ten minutes later, after I finished getting gas… there was no response.
I thought that was a little weird, but chalked it up to maybe he is running late and still driving so he can’t text. I finally arrive and look for parking. Finding a spot I start to dig for quarters. at this point it is 7:20pm so I send Thomas another text:
Me: Hey just paying the meter, be right in.
No response..
Meanwhile, while searching for quarters in my bag I start to panic. What if I can’t find quarters? Will my car get towed? Should I just leave it and hope for the best? Then I saw a group of West Chester University students walk by and I try to get their attention.
Me: Hey, do you by chance have any quarters?
Before, I can say I’ll pay you in dollars one of the girls cuts me off and sarcastically says with dripping sarcasm: Oh haha ask him (pointing to her boyfriend) he has all the money and without pause,they keep on walking.
When I thought all hope was lost, a nice man probably in his middle forties is walking by and I stop him:
Me: Excuse me sir?
The man turns around.
Me: Do you by chance have eight quarters for two dollars?
Man: Let me check.
The man feels around in his pocket and then digs in his wallet.
Man: Ugh, sorry I don’t. But, if you hold on a minute I’ll go check in my car.
Me: Nah, don’t worry about it I’ll just go look elsewhere.
Man: Don’t worry about it. I’ll be back in a second.
The man then jogs off in the darkness around the corner.
What feels like forever, but really is only five to eight minutes goes by and he comes back with a handful of change and he picks through and finds me a dollar fifty in quarters. I handed him the two dollars anyways, but he wouldn’t take the money. What I had in change only get me a hour and twenty minutes of parking time, so I figure if he doesn’t show up I’ll just sit for the time I parked there and leave.
I walk down the street and around the corner to “Mas” a three story restaurant on “Main Street.” I walk into the first floor the bar with a friendly bartender is to my left an empty restaurant is to my left. Seeing no one is there I take the stairs and explore. I make it to the second floor and open up the door to the second bar. The room is purple and has a dark glow to it and the wall are decorated with spanish crosses. Other than the gaudy spanish/mexican decor there is not a soul to be found so, I turn around and make my way to the third floor.
When I get to the third floor it's the rooftop bar it is a little more populated than its’ first two spaces. I’m first greeted by a hostess who asks me how many, but I tell her just one for now and say I’ll just be sitting at the bar. Aside from the bartender and hostess there is only a table full of men wearing man buns and woman with hipsters glasses sipping on P.B.R. in the corner.
Aside from quiet chatter from the hipster table, and the low chatter from the Flyer’s game it was quiet. Too quiet my gut was telling me I was being stupid, cause clearly at this point this guy was playing me. I still had a hour of parking meter time left so I sipped my beer. While sitting there getting my hopes up I look around. Unlike most of the bar the rooftop is rather pretty. The floor is a tan tile, surrounding the bars is wooden tables with candles swaying in the wind, and hanging from the walls and the corners of the bar are those six to eight point stained glass stars glowing in the night. I take another sip and look at my phone. The clock shows that it is 8:20 p.m. and no new notifications and no one sitting on either side of me. I feel like it is safe to say I was being stood up. I catch the bartender’s attention and pay my tab. I get up and make my way downstairs to the bottom floor. On my way down I check the guady purple bar and there is still not a soul in there and only the bartender and the empty tables in the yellow room on the first floor. I walk outside and pull out my phone and dial his number still not willing to take the hint I dial his number and get his voicemail and leave a message: Hey Thomas, I hope all is well I’ve been sitting here for awhile and you haven’t showed so I’m making my way home. *Click* I hang up and walk around the corner and down the street and make my way home.
Sabatino Mangini
English 101
09 December 2015
A Girl Walks Into A Bar
As she drinks her morning coffee and scrambles eggs one morning in September, she hears the familiar buzz of her phone sitting on the dining room table. Oh! a message she mentally exclaims to herself. It was a Tinder Match! The message was from someone she had swiped right the night before. Taking a look at his profile, she sees that he has a mutual friend in common with her. This friend is someone who she believes has a good read on character, so if this friend of hers is mutual friends with this guy, he must be alright.
*Click* - she locks her phone and continues to scramble her eggs. She flips them, then after flipping them once more, she pulls them off the burner and pushes them with a spatula onto a plate, grabs a fork and sits down. *Ping* her phone goes off. Placing down her fork she pulls up the message. It's from him. Sweet! He messaged first. Nice! I find out his name is Thomas and we talk for awhile. He continues to seem pretty nice and it seems like we have stuff in common.
The conversation went back and forth throughout the day. Eventually she notices something new. A snapchat notification! Snapchat alerted her that she had a new friend! It was him! She then goes to add him back and sends him a snap. *Takes a picture* with the caption “Hey!” and clicks send. An hour later a snap back! He matches his profile! He’s not a hairy old man! Yes!
A few weeks later, while sitting on a wine rack and eatting staff lunch surrounded by fresh air and smoke clouds she checks her phone. The blue LED flash is flashing. You know what that means? A message is waiting! Who was it from? Thomas! The text read:
Thomas: Hey Anna, I was wondering if you wanted to grab drinks at “Mas” around 7:15pm tomorrow night?
Me: Sounds good.
The next night arrives. I make sure I’m ready before class. While sitting in class it seems like we can’t get through the math problems quick enough. The minutes on the clock drag by 5:00, 5:01, 5:03….. finally 6:30 happens and it is time for me to be on my way. I’m halfway there and I realize that I should probably stop for gas. Pulling into Wawa I text Thomas at 7:05pm:
Me: Hey Thomas, I had to stop for gas, so I am going to be a little late.
Ten minutes later, after I finished getting gas… there was no response.
I thought that was a little weird, but chalked it up to maybe he is running late and still driving so he can’t text. I finally arrive and look for parking. Finding a spot I start to dig for quarters. at this point it is 7:20pm so I send Thomas another text:
Me: Hey just paying the meter, be right in.
No response..
Meanwhile, while searching for quarters in my bag I start to panic. What if I can’t find quarters? Will my car get towed? Should I just leave it and hope for the best? Then I saw a group of West Chester University students walk by and I try to get their attention.
Me: Hey, do you by chance have any quarters?
Before, I can say I’ll pay you in dollars one of the girls cuts me off and sarcastically says with dripping sarcasm: Oh haha ask him (pointing to her boyfriend) he has all the money and without pause,they keep on walking.
When I thought all hope was lost, a nice man probably in his middle forties is walking by and I stop him:
Me: Excuse me sir?
The man turns around.
Me: Do you by chance have eight quarters for two dollars?
Man: Let me check.
The man feels around in his pocket and then digs in his wallet.
Man: Ugh, sorry I don’t. But, if you hold on a minute I’ll go check in my car.
Me: Nah, don’t worry about it I’ll just go look elsewhere.
Man: Don’t worry about it. I’ll be back in a second.
The man then jogs off in the darkness around the corner.
What feels like forever, but really is only five to eight minutes goes by and he comes back with a handful of change and he picks through and finds me a dollar fifty in quarters. I handed him the two dollars anyways, but he wouldn’t take the money. What I had in change only get me a hour and twenty minutes of parking time, so I figure if he doesn’t show up I’ll just sit for the time I parked there and leave.
I walk down the street and around the corner to “Mas” a three story restaurant on “Main Street.” I walk into the first floor the bar with a friendly bartender is to my left an empty restaurant is to my left. Seeing no one is there I take the stairs and explore. I make it to the second floor and open up the door to the second bar. The room is purple and has a dark glow to it and the wall are decorated with spanish crosses. Other than the gaudy spanish/mexican decor there is not a soul to be found so, I turn around and make my way to the third floor.
When I get to the third floor it's the rooftop bar it is a little more populated than its’ first two spaces. I’m first greeted by a hostess who asks me how many, but I tell her just one for now and say I’ll just be sitting at the bar. Aside from the bartender and hostess there is only a table full of men wearing man buns and woman with hipsters glasses sipping on P.B.R. in the corner.
Aside from quiet chatter from the hipster table, and the low chatter from the Flyer’s game it was quiet. Too quiet my gut was telling me I was being stupid, cause clearly at this point this guy was playing me. I still had a hour of parking meter time left so I sipped my beer. While sitting there getting my hopes up I look around. Unlike most of the bar the rooftop is rather pretty. The floor is a tan tile, surrounding the bars is wooden tables with candles swaying in the wind, and hanging from the walls and the corners of the bar are those six to eight point stained glass stars glowing in the night. I take another sip and look at my phone. The clock shows that it is 8:20 p.m. and no new notifications and no one sitting on either side of me. I feel like it is safe to say I was being stood up. I catch the bartender’s attention and pay my tab. I get up and make my way downstairs to the bottom floor. On my way down I check the guady purple bar and there is still not a soul in there and only the bartender and the empty tables in the yellow room on the first floor. I walk outside and pull out my phone and dial his number still not willing to take the hint I dial his number and get his voicemail and leave a message: Hey Thomas, I hope all is well I’ve been sitting here for awhile and you haven’t showed so I’m making my way home. *Click* I hang up and walk around the corner and down the street and make my way home.