Written from a Snug Display Case

Story Sent in by Elizabeth:

Jeremy was normal, online. I guess that was just an act, though. In person, he asked me if I wanted to go see his car. I said sure, and when he took me to see it, he said, "Do you think you could escape from my trunk?"

I said, "Yeah, all trunks have that safety lever on the inside so I could get out."

"Not if I was going 70," he said. "Come on, let's do lunch."

It was 7pm. I asked him, "Don't you mean dinner?"

He said, "Whatever you want to call it, let's do it."

He took me out to a nice French place that made really great homemade soups. When I told him that I had been there before and recommended the soups, he got sullen and asked, "Oh. You've been here before?"

I said, "Yeah, but I really like it!"

He asked, "Do you think you could escape from a basement with no windows?"

Trying to laugh it off, I said, "Is the basement going 70?"

He said, "It's a basement. Not a car."

I asked, "Why would you ask me that? Are you planning to abduct me or something? I told my friends and family that I'd be on a date with you, tonight."

He got even more sullen and said, "Let's just enjoy lunch."

We both ordered soup. He stared at me through dinner, probably imagining me in his trunk or his basement or his closet or wherever else. He asked me if I wanted to go back to his place after dinner to meet his housemates, but I told him that I was fine just being out with him.

He paid for dinner, we walked out together, he wished me a quick goodnight, and that was the end of it all. I thought he just had a dark sense of humor, but maybe I was wrong and it was more serious than that. In retrospect, I think I shouldn't have stayed past his first question.