Where Are My Keys?

Word Count 603
She had decided the short black dress was too formal. After all, it was only the third date, and they were just having dinner and then drinks with Ben's friends.

Amy really liked this guy. He was the nicest guy she'd met since moving to Philly. Ben was getting his Master's in Education at Temple and taught second grade in a run-down North Philly school. Unlike the other men she'd met here, he didn't seem to be focused on money or success.

They had dinner reservations at seven. She rushed out of her apartment with a vague sense that she'd forgotten something. She just wasn't sure what.

He brought her home at eleven. They sat in the parking lot outside of her building. Amy was feeling a bit tipsy by then. They had shared a bottle of wine at dinner and then had a couple of beers at Smokin Betty's in Center City wih his friends. When he leaned in to kiss her, she did not object. That was as far as she intended to go tonight. It was only the third date after all.

"So, I had a nice time. My friends seemed to like you," Ben was saying.


She wasn't listening. She was frantically going through her purse, searching for her house keys.

"Crap! I don't have my keys. I remember now. I rushed out the door and left them on the kitchen counter."

"Isn't there a manager you can call?"

His calmness irritated her somehow. "He isn't on the premises on the weekend."

They discussed calling a locksmith. Amy was not going to spend money to get into her own apartment. And she was not about to borrow money from Ben.

"I live on the second floor. Maybe I can climb the wall, and get in through the balcony. I think the screen door is unlocked."

He actually burst out laughing. "You're going to scale the wall like Spiderman? In a short dress and heels, no less."

At that point, she burst into tears. Poor Ben. He was only trying to make her feel better.

Then, they heard the siren as a Philadelphia police vehicle pulled up beside them.

Ben rolled down the window. "Something wrong, Officer?"

The police officer appeared to be in his 30's. Not much older than they were.

"You kids okay? You know you can't be loitering outside an apartment building like this."

Kids? They were twenty-six
years old. And since when was she not permitted to sit in a car outside her own home? Could this night get any worse?

"We're sorry Officer. She lives here. I was just dropping her off."


"Well, there have been a rash of break-ins around City LIne Avenue. So you might want to be moving along."


After sitting in his car and watching them for a few minutes, Officer Friendly finally took off.

"Amy, why don't you come to my place? You can call the property management company in the morning to let you in."

"Fine. But I'm sleeping on the couch."

He was being so kind, and she was acting like a raving bitch. "I'm sorry things turned out like this, Ben."

He would probably never call or text again, and she wouldn't blame him

They went to his place, and he gave her pajama bottoms and a tee-shirt of his to wear. They sat on the couch together drinking hot chocolate and cuddling. Later, he got blankets and pillows and made a bed for her out of the couch.

She fell asleep feeling comfy and safe, Maybe forgetting her keys wasn't such a bad thing after all.