Passion at the Airport

Submitted by Ed:

I met Hannah at my dentist's office.  She was a new dental assistant, and I asked her out after my cleaning.

She and I were at a restaurant, in the middle of regular, awkward first date banter, when she asked me about my passions.  I told her that I liked writing, biking, and home repair.

She leaned in and repeated, "But what are your passions?"

I repeated, "Writing, biking, and home repair."

Again, she said, "Yes, but what are your passions?"

I said, "I just told you."

She replied, "You told me stuff that you like to do.  I'm asking about your passions."

"Aren't those my passions?"

She shook her head.  I asked her what her passions were, so as to give me an example of something acceptable.

She said, "I can show you after dinner, but you have to promise not to freak out."

Always a loaded phrase, but it was a first date, and we seemed to be hitting it off just fine.  We climbed into her car and she drove us to the nearby airport, where we parked and walked inside.

We sat down on a bench and watched a departure screen.  I asked her, "This is your passion?"

She shook her head, then jumped up and ran to a ticket counter.  I jogged after her but hung a little way back.  She argued with the ticket agent that she had to be on a flight that had just left, and demanded that the plane be sent back to pick her up.

The ticket agent, a poor little waif who looked our age, argued back that it was impossible, that Hannah could be put on the next flight, etc.  Hannah screamed that the ticket agent "would never work in this town again," and stormed off, back towards the parking lot, where she climbed into her car and took off before I could jump in.

I figured that it was all part of her act, so I waited a few minutes before calling her back.  She didn't answer the first two times I called, then answered the third time with a, "I missed my goddamn flight!" and hung up on me.

I had a friend who lived close by, so he was able to pick me up and drive me back to my car.

The next day, I went to my dentist's office and found Hannah there.  She apologized and told me that the game was over, that she had showed me her passion.  Again, she asked me what mine was.  I told her that I'd let her know.

We're going on a second date in a week.