The Date

Bradley scrolled through his phone as he saw that text he had between Venessa, Bradley stood near a small cafe where people passed by, a homeless man walked up to him, "excuse me sir, do you have any change you can give me?," the homeless person walked with a limp, he looked dehydrated and smelled horrible. Bradley got out his wallet and took out $2, "here, take this and get yourself something," he said as he handed over the money. "Thank you," the homeless man grabbed the money and walked away slowly in pain. "I'm about to have my first date," Bradley thought to himself as he looked at the sky.

"I've been texting this girl for a while that I met at the library, she's blonde and beautiful, has a perfect face and everything, I asked her for her number, we started texting, and I finally asked her to meet me here, I wonder if I could ask her to be my girlfriend!" Bradley had a smile on his face as he thought about the future. Bradley texted Vanessa, "hey are you close?" Bradley then looked at the time on his phone as a child walked in front of him, "hey mister," the child was crying, "can you help me find my mommy!" The child cried out loud as Bradley tried to calm him down.

"Do you know your mothers phone number?" Bradley asked the child, she shook her head, "can you tell me your name?" She nodded, "my name is Sarah," people walked passed as Bradley looked back at his phone, Vanessa hadn't texted him back. "How old are you?" Sarah put her hand up with five fingers, "five years old? Alright I'll help you look for your mom." Bradley put his phone away.

"When did you get lost?" Sarah looked straight at Bradley's face, "we were walking near here, and I let go, and I was scared," Sarah kept crying, "hey don't worry, we'll find her," Bradley smiled as Sarah stopped crying. "Really mister!"

"Of course we will, I don't think I've given you my name yet?" My name is Bradley," Sarah looked at him surprised, "can I call you big brother?" Sarah asked as Bradley was taken back from that question, "yeah sure, I'll be your big brother," Bradley patted her head as she smiled. "Where was the last time you saw your mom?" Sarah pointed at a hot dog stand, "over their? Maybe we can find her if we ask around?" Bradley held onto Sarah's hand, "if we can't find her there, we'll just go to a police station, now that I think about it, we should have gone there at first, your big brother is an idiot." Bradley faced the floor with a sad expression as Sarah laughed.

The two made it to the hot dog stand where a line was formed, "are any of these women your mom?" Sarah shook her head as her stomach growled. Sarah looked at Bradley as he gave a small smile, "I only brought forty dollars, then I had to give that homeless person 2 dollars, just my luck," Bradley thought to himself, "do you want a hotdog?" Sarah nodded, "alright, let's get in line." The two got in line and waited, once they were second in line when they heard a woman scream, "stop touching me!" Bradley turned his face and saw a man his age groping a woman's breast, "c'mon, I know you like it," the man had his tongue out.

Bradley stepped out of line, "hey let her go!" He screamed as the man faced him, "what do you want asshole? You want a piece of me!" The man yelled, "why are you doing that to her! She clearly doesn't want you to do that!" Bradley let go of Sarah's hand, Sarah reached out to him but Bradly walked near the man, Sarah started to cry. "Let her go!" The man started to laugh, "maybe you should be more worried about that stupid annoying brat," Bradley clenched his fist and punched the man straight in the face, the man fell to the ground as the woman ran away scared.

The man got up and started to touch his bruised cheek, the man had a grin on his face, he grabbed his phone and dialed 911. No one was looking at what the man had done, they didn't care, they just left the scene, Bradley walked back to Sarah and grabbed her hand. The police arrived 5 minutes later and took the three of them to the station. Bradley and Sarah sat down on some seats as Sarah looked at Bradley, "hey big brother, will you be okay?" She asked as he chucked, "we'll see, first we have to find your mom, then I'll worry about my situation." Bradley answered as he called for a police officer, one arrived, "can I help you?" She asked him.

"Yes this child was lost and I'd like to report it," the police officer looked at Bradley weirdly, "aren't you waiting here because you assaulted someone?" Bradley sat straight in his seat, "yes that too, can you please try and find her parents?" Bradley asked as he gave a small nervous smile, the police officer looked at Sarah and extended her arm, "Sarah go with her and answer some questions, she'll help you find your mom," I smiled at her, "okay big brother, see you later," she smiled, "see you later," I smiled back as she walked away.

"Bradley step inside my office so we can finalize this report," a female police officer said as she opened the door to an office, Bradley walked inside and sat down on a seat. "Alright Bradley, explain to me what happened?" She asked as he looked at the floor nervously and back at her. "Me and Sarah, the girl I came here with, were waiting patiently in a line trying to buy some hot dogs, when we heard a woman getting sexually assaulted by that man, I intervened but the man still didn't let go, when she talked about Sarah, I just couldn't control myself and punched him in his face. He fell to the floor letting go of the woman, she ran off, he got back up and called the police." Bradley looked at her eyes as he grabbed the back of his neck and started feeling it. "Are you sure this all happened?" "Yes I am," the police officer put her hand on her desk, "were there any witnesses?" She asked, "yes there were, but they all left once I confronted the man, they just stared at the situation then left." "I see, well I'm not sure what to tell you Bradley but, without any witnesses you'll have to go to court, then a judge will determine the verdict." Bradley looked at the ground as his hands shook with fear, the two of them heard a knock on the door, "come in," she said as a male police officer opened the door, "we have someone here who's asking to speak with you," she stood up from her desk, "who?" She asked as the police officer answered back, "a man who looks dirty, shall I let him in?" "Alright, Bradley can you step out of my office, after I talk with this individual I'll have some paperwork for you to get done," Bradley stood up and left the room with his head down. As he left he noticed the homeless person near the door, "oh hey it's you," Bradley said, "hey man, thanks again for lending me 2 dollars, without that I would have died from dehydration." The old man said as he smiled at Bradley.

The female police looked at the both of them, "you two know each other?" "Yeah we met earlier today, anyway I wanted to report something, I went to a hot dog stand and bought a water bottle then went to sit nearby when I saw a man sexually assaulting someone, I was too far away to hear anything, then I saw another person punch him letting the woman go." The homeless man stated.

"Hey let me go already!" Someone yelled near them as he tried to leave the station, "I already told you guys what happened," "sir please don't leave," the homeless man pointed at the man, "hey that's the guy!" The female police officer looked at Bradley, "today must be your lucky day," she smiled at him as he looked at the ceiling. "Hey don't move! Come into my office," the female police officer yelled from across the room. "What will happen to him?" Bradley asked, "you're free to go, but until the woman actually brings this case forward we can't do anything." Bradley nodded at her, "thank you officer, and thank you," Bradley looked at the homeless man, "no thank you," the homeless man put out his hand, Bradly grabbed the hand and shook it, "well I better be going now," he smiled as he left the station.

Once he was outside he saw Sarah walking with a woman, "hey it's big brother!" The woman turned to face Bradley as he shook his hand, the two walked towards him, "thank you for finding my baby, I was searching around and I couldn't find her," she began to cry, "no need to thank me," Bradley smiled at the two of them, "goodbye big brother," Bradley crouched down facing Sarah, "goodbye, Sarah," he patted her head then got back up. "Thank you once more, what's your name?" She asked, "my names Bradley," "thank you Bradley," "goodbye," Bradley said as he walked away from them pulling out his phone.

"I'm almost there," Vanessa responded to his text. "I almost forgot about my date," Bradley ran from the station all the way back to the cafe where panted heavily as a woman his age stood before him. "Hello Vanessa," he struggled to say, "let's go inside," Bradley opened the cafe door as Vanessa walked inside. The two sat at a table, a waiter walked towards them, "what would you two like to order?" He asked as Vanessa looked through the menu, I'll have a banana split sundae with a large iced coffee and some pastries, "that alone cost thirty six dollars, I won't have enough to buy myself something to eat," Bradley thought to himself.

"I'll just have a plain coffee with a little bit of sugar," Bradley said as the waiter wrote everything down, "your order will arrive in just a few minutes," the waiter walked away. Bradley looked at Vanessa and saw her using her phone, typing something, "so how's your day been?" "It's been going all right so far," she responded without looking at Bradley. The two of them sat in their seat, Bradley only heard the messenger sound constantly coming from Vanessa's phone. The waiter came back with the things the two ordered and placed them down, the left.

"Wow that looks delicious, I should have ordered that," Bradley said, Vanessa didn't response and kept looking at her phone as she ate and drank, when Bradley finished his coffee he got up, "I'm gonna head to the bathroom," "alright," she responded as he walked into the public restroom and looked at himself in the mirror, "am I doing something wrong?" He asked himself, "this is my first date, I have no one to go to ask about this type of stuff. The only person I talk to is my dad but we barely can communicate after my mom passed away in an accident, I've been alone with no friends, I don't talk with other family members since they have their own family." Bradley washed his face and dried it, he walked out of the bathroom and walked back to the table where the only thing that was there was a check.

Vanessa had left, Bradley took out his phone and texted her, "hey I didn't know you were going to leave," the read message appeared but no answer, he texted again, "hey can you please respond," this time there was no read message, he texted her again, nothing came up, Bradley sat on the seat he sat on as he contemplated what had happened.

After that day he hadn't seen her in a while, he had been alone all that time as he kept thinking about what he had done wrong. Bradley got up from his bed and walked outside, Bradley walked into a metro station where he went down the escalator, a train was passing by, "that's not the train I need to get on," Bradley thought to himself as he watched the train leave. Bradley's expression was gone from his face, he couldn't think, he was hurt, his heart shattered as he saw Vanessa kissing the man who he had punched in the face, the man groped on her chest as she laughed and moaned, then the man noticed Bradley standing there staring at them with tears in his eyes, the man smiled at him as he had his way with Vanessa, without thinking Bradley fell onto the tracks as his train was arriving, Bradley looked at the bright ceiling as he last heard the moans of Vanessa echoing from the walls as the both of them laughed.

End