There were many ways Khadija could explain why she’d never noticed, never figured it out until that very first date.

Of course, in hindsight, it seemed insanely obvious and slightly silly. So, to make herself feel better, she’d tell herself that it was understandable, excusable even, since she was:

1) dealing with the worst friendship breakup she’d had in a long time. The last one had been in primary school when a petty squabble over a headless Barbie turned into a gruesome fist fight. Spoils of the war included one (1) baby tooth, a fist-full of hair and a skinned knee. She’d sauntered home with a gap-tooth grin and a battered Barbie stuffed into her bag.

2) in the process of exchanging one (1) life of autonomy and adulthood for the soul-price of free rent and the harrowing realization that her life was falling apart around her.

3) massive credit card debt.

So when the attractive coworker from her new job asked Khadija for her digits, past-Khadija would’ve hem-hawed and mumbled something-or-other before slithering away.

Post-midlife-crisis-Khadija decided, ‘why the hell not’ and the numbers were already scrawled on the back of an old, crumbled receipt before she even had time to truly consider it.

To be fair, the man sitting across from her at the dingy, hole-in-the-wall felt nowhere near the same person that juvenile Khadija knew.

For one, he had the type of puberty transformation that she’d used to pray would happen to her. While he still had the same cavalier air about him, it no longer carried the shade of adolescent insecurity. Instead, it felt as though he’d grown a spine of steel, confidence giving him a shiny new hue that drew her in.

Maybe desperation was driving her insane.

It was only when, a few minutes into their first date, he’d taunted, in the same crafty voice that used to follow her around, “Khadija, one fight and you’ve forgotten all about me, huh?

To think that she was sharing a meal with her primary-school nemesis, that her witty, new coworker was the same audacious childhood friend she’d once traded blows with over a doll.

Yet despite this realization, Khadija stayed for the whole date and sauntered home with gap-tooth grin and a tiny spark of hope in her heart.