The midday sun pounded down on the street, but at his shady table inside the café Basta, Ryan was feeling a little clammy. He had been sitting at the small table tucked in a corner of the café for nearly half an hour, and his blind date had yet to show. Listlessly, he toyed with the paper from his straw, fidgeting nervously against the chance that he was about to get no-showed. But in his head, Ryan was coming to her defense -- he had gotten there early, so really she was only about 15 minutes late. All the same, the anxiety over the whole thing was getting to be a little much.

A long time veteran of the single life, Ryan had never even been set up on a blind date by friends before, let alone taken the insane leap of setting up a date with someone he met on an internet message board. But damn if she didn't seem thoughtful, funny, and have a great taste in music. After one hell of a brave phone call and brief conversation -- it took a lot of courage on his part, at least -- a lunch date had been set at a little café in the artsy/trendy part of town. He'd be wearing his favorite gray blazer, and she a white sundress.

The mangled straw wrapper was pushed aside and the cloth napkin in front of him fell victim to the fidgeting. A few more agonizing minutes passed as he watched the door.

Suddenly, there she was -- well, it had to be her because she was wearing a white dress. Ryan blinked for a second. It must have been a trick of the light, coming in from the sun-drenched street to the dim interior of the café, but he could've sworn that...

His blind date stood at the door scanning the room, as Ryan squinted through the bright sun behind her.

Wha…

He panicked and looked for a quick way out, even for a chance to bolt for the bathroom, but escaping from the isolated corner table meant going straight through the center of the café. Trapped. His date spied him and headed his way with a wave and a friendly smile.

Ryan weakly stood up and tried to manufacture a smile that wouldn't seem nervous or uncomfortable. He was sure that he was failing miserably.

As his blind date made her way across the room, Ryan tried to mentally reconcile a few things: She was really quite pretty -- not like a model, but more in a "cute" kind of way that was reinforced by her petite stature. Her brownish-blonde hair was about shoulder length, styled in a way that reminded him of Jennifer Aniston. The sundress fit her well, clinging in just the right ways, and revealed a body that seemed to be pretty well toned, fit and bright blue.

His brain was having trouble with that.

"Uhhh... are you, ummmm... Kim?"

She smiled an innocent little smile that made her seem bashful. "Yes. But only if you're Ryan."

She offered him a blue hand, and Ryan took it, trying to remember to make his body language seem open and friendly. Eyes, eyes... look her in the eyes. Kim looked up and briefly made eye contact before suddenly glancing away in what seemed like another brief flirtation with shyness. Ryan tried to put his body on etiquette autopilot while his brain figured out what the hell was going on. He managed to offer her a seat at the table and looked around desperately for a server as he fumbled to get back into his own chair.

"So," he started, fishing for some small talk, "have you been here before? It seems like a nice little place. It's really quaint."

She daintily dropped her napkin onto her lap. "Yes, a few times -- I'd come here all the time if I could make up some more excuses to come to this neighborhood. And I think there's a really good record store a few doors down as well, in case you didn't know about it already. At least there used to be."

Ryan skittishly ran his eyes over her. She was the color of a hazy sky as far as the eye could see, save for the hair. He'd maybe go as far as to call it periwinkle. Nice cleavage, though.

"Oh, '45 Magnum'? Yeah, it's still there. Well, it's a couple of blocks down now; they moved a year or so ago."

"Oh, okay. Well, maybe we can swing by there when we're done? I don't get the chance to go to many indie music stores."

Ryan found himself staring at the tip of her nose. It moved up and down ever so slightly as she talked.

There was a pause and Kim tilted her head a little to the side.

"So, how do you like this place? Did I do good or what?"

Ryan snapped to attention and looked up into her eyes, ice-blue and inquisitive.

"Hey! Yeah -- it's really great. I can't wait to see what the food is like."

A young gal in a smartly pressed white shirt and black skirt appeared with water for Kim and topped off Ryan's waning glass.

"Hi, how are you two doing? My name's Ann and I'll be taking care of you today." She handed over a pair of menus. "Oh, I love your nails, those are so cute!"

Kim beamed up at her. "Thanks, I just did them this morning. Thought I'd go with something spring-ish."

Ryan looked around his own menu to see Kim's fingers. The nails were done in a glossy white and seemed to have little daisies painted in the center. He looked up at the server and thought to himself You’re talking to a blue woman and notice her nails? That's what you notice?

Ann started rattling off the specials.

Well, I suppose that it would be kind of racist to point it out. Wait -- what the hell am I talking about? "Blue" isn't a race.

"...I'll give you a few minutes to decide," Ann finished and smoothly walked away.

The next few minutes blurred past. Requisite chit-chat about food, what sounded good, Ann returning to seal the deal. When she glided away again, Ryan suddenly felt very naked without a menu to place between himself and his blue companion. He fumbled for something new to say.

"Well, I'm glad you like the café so far... and yeah, I think it'd be cool to go down to '45' when we're done. What kind of music do you listen to?"

Kim smiled thinly at him and leaned in a little bit.

"Look, we might as well just get this out of the way, because I can see that you're not dealing with it very well. Yes. I'm blue. I have been since birth; it's a rare genetic condition. If it makes you too uncomfortable, you can go ahead and take off. It'll save me the time of having to go through the whole routine of making nice and then getting blown off again."

Oh…

Ryan's apprehension disappeared like a popped bubble.

"Hey, back it up, there -- it's only fair to point out that I've been a weird, nervous mess since before you walked through that door. I've had a couple of bad relationships, and it wasn't easy to get back into this whole ‘dating thing,’ let alone go on a date after meeting someone online. Cut me a little slack, alright?"

Kim's expression visibly softened and she busied herself studying the table in front of her.

"Although," Ryan continued," the blue thing was a bit of a surprise."

"Ha! See?"

"That being said, it's trumped by the fact that you're much more attractive than I thought you'd be. I was kind of afraid of meeting someone that... umm... wasn't."

Kim eyed Ryan curiously.

"I mean, because you're really pretty. You remind me a little of -- oh, what's her name... the gal who was in Wicked and did some Old Navy commercials..."

"Kristen Chenoweth?"

"Yeah, that's her!"

"So you think I'm short, too?"

Ryan's mouth went a little slack.

Cracking a smile, Kim giggled a little. "Sorry, I get abusive when I'm nervous. You're fine. So we're good with the status quo?"

"I don't see why not." Ryan eased back into his chair. "Is it okay if I ask you some questions?"

"About my coloring?"

"Well, that and some other stuff. We're supposed to be getting to know each other, right?"

"Oooo, direct approach. Don't see that much. Okay cutie, shoot."

"Did you just call me cutie?"

"It's the bed-head hair, I'm a sucker for emo boys."

"Ow. I just got called 'emo' -- I'm not sure if I'm cool with that."

"First impressions are killer, aren't they?"

There was a pause as they both lingered over a drink of their waters.

"Okay," Ryan said, settling in. "First, why not mention that you're blue up front?"

Kim toyed with her straw. "Would it surprise you to know that doesn't work so well? First of all, who's going to reply to ‘SBF seeks SWM, likes puppies, hates Smurf jokes.’ Mentioning the skin color is a deal breaker, either because they think you're nutters or because it is what it is. Besides, in a perfect world..." She shrugged.

"It wouldn't matter?"

"Right."

"We're a little short on the whole ‘perfect’ world thing."

"Right, which is why I keep trying. It's not that easy to find someone who's willing to give the blue girl a shot."

"What do you do for a living?"

Flipping her hair off of her shoulders, she said, "I’m a tennis instructor at Westmore Country Club. I used to play competitively but wasn't good enough to make a living at it."

"That explains why you look like you're in such good shape."

"Ah, again with the compliments!" Kim feigned a look of begging for adoration.

Ryan smirked a little in response.

"Anyhow,” she continued, “teaching tennis for a living sure beats what I used to do."

"Which was…?"

"I used to play Smurfette at a theme park."

"Didn't you just say you hated Smurf jokes?"

"Oh... just hush up or I'll call you 'emo' again. Your turn, what do you do for a buck?"

"I process data for the EPA."

Kim blinked. "Seriously?"

"Yeah, not kidding. I got a degree in environmental science and am pretty good with numbers, so I somehow wound up being a data whore for the environment."

Ann swooped in with their orders, laying them down in front of Ryan and Kim almost before they could react. Lunch went by swiftly, awkward only in trying to balance eating and conversation. Kim liked to politely hold her hand in front of her mouth as she chewed, which Ryan found kind of cute.

"...so that's why I've pretty much been a life-long conservative." Kim said as she laid her fork down on the remains of her salad and finished off her water.

Ryan chuckled.

"What?" Kim looked bemused as Ryan finished the last of his sandwich. "That wasn't all that funny."

"Oh, I was just thinking about how wrong it is that you're conservative. I'm pretty liberal, and yet you're the one that's blue."

"Oh PUH-leeze! Looks who's gotten comfortable enough to make personal jokes."

Ryan backpedaled a little, not sure if Kim was kidding with him again. "Hey, sorry… I really didn't mean --"

"Well, it's a damn good thing that this has been the best first date I've been on in about... ever. Otherwise you'd be in trouble, environment boy." Her blue lips pursed together into a smirk.

Ryan thought for moment. "It has been good, hasn't it?"

"Yes, which makes me sad that we've spent so much time here that we'll have to skip going anywhere else. I've got to give some lessons this afternoon. Saturday is big money day for county club kiddies."

"Oh... I figured you'd be off for most of the day."

"Well," she said, giving him a frank look, "I figured that this one would be like most of the others and wouldn't last that long. So why should I miss out on an afternoon of income?"

"Am I going to get a second chance to see you, then?"

The playful look came back to the ice-blue eyes. "I think there's a good chance of that."

It suddenly got very warm at the table, and Ryan and Kim made quick studies of the room.

"Well, I'd better get going... It was really, really nice to meet you today," Kim said as she pushed back her chair and stood up. Ryan did likewise. Kim held out her hand and Ryan took it.

"Yeah, I had a really great time, too," he said.

"Well, you've got my number... You going to use it again?"

"Count on it."

Kim recycled the same bashful smile from the beginning of the date and pulled her hand away.

"Bye then," she said, and with a flip of her hair, she turned and walked toward the door, leaving Ryan to wait for the check.

He watched her pick her way around the tables as she left, taking note that her ass looked incredible in that sundress. He tried to picture it without the dress, but was having trouble getting the color right.

"I wonder," he muttered to himself, "if she gets tan lines."

Ann appeared from behind him, little black check folio in hand. "If you don't mind me asking," she said as she hovered near the table, "was that a first date for you two?"

"Yeah. I think it went pretty well, too."

"So, did you know that she was blue?"

"Before she came in? No. That was kind of news to me."

"You seemed to handle it pretty well -- we were all watching you from the kitchen door."

"Well," Ryan mused, "I think she actually might have been more nervous about it than I was. She said she'd had a lot of bad first dates. I stopped feeling weird about it after she told me that. I mean, it sucks that something that's really kind of… trivial can scare people away."

Ann considered him for a second, then flipped open her check pad and hastily wrote a few lines.

"Here's your check," she said, laying it down on the table. "I hope you have a great day, and good luck." She was off with a smile.

Ryan dug for his wallet and looked down at the check.

Lunch is on the café. We're glad to see she's finally met someone decent.

The note was graced with a smiley face.

Ryan’s head was spinning a little as he slipped out of the café and back into the blinding sun. He had no idea how things had worked out like this, but wasn't it weird that that he was so happy after getting the blues?