Date Night!

Melina twirled around so Eleni could get a complete view of her outfit for the date she was going on that night.

“Oh! Can I get a closer look at the Choos?” Eleni asked sitting up on her bed.
“Yeah for sure,” Melina replied taking the shoes off and holding them to the camera.
Eleni nodded in approval and sighed, “I wish I could be there. I have a feeling this guy can really be the one.”

“I know right. The other day we were playing 20 questions, and he asked what I would name my kids…when I said Christian and Jimmy he laughed and said ‘after shoe designers?’ I am training him quite well. Although, I do hope the chemistry is there in person,” Melina said this as she smeared on her favorite MAC Lipglass, and both girls let out a little laugh.

“Where are you guys going?”

“I am meeting him at Cafe Lalou, and we are going to dinner and then to the hockey game. It should be fun,”

“Lucky girl. I am working at the bakery tonight. We have a wedding this weekend and they want pastries for 500 Greeks,”

“How fun. I should go. I’ll call you later and give you details!” Melina grinned waving goodbye.

“Bye Mel! Be good,” Eleni grinned waving goodbye and signing off iChat.

Eleni laughed to herself. Mel always felt the need to buy a new pair of shoes for an event. She remember back several years when Mel bought a new pair of shoes at every different city they visited. No one else could come close to her obsession. Ever. El looked at herself in the mirror, moving to Arizona seemed to fit her well. The dry weather and hot nights always gave her good hair days, and the constant sun didn't hurt either. Mel on the other hand had looked even more stressed out lately. Living in Manhattan seemed to be taking its toll on her. She lacked that glow.

Mel finished getting ready for the big night intermittently thinking of her best friend. She was envious of El, in a good way. Her relaxed lifestyle seemed to be what Mel needed these days. NY was amazing, but stressful. Arizona seemed more her style. She longed for days relaxing by the pool in the hot sun. Too bad Mel couldn't have that. Who could? In fact, El worked more than most people she knew. "You can't have your cake and eat it too" Mel thought to herself. She laughed...."I'm bound and determined to change that!" Mel brushed her signature hair one last time and headed out the door. A smile crossed her face. She was so happy she got to talk to El. El was the one person who could make Mel smile even when she was beyond nervous.

Deep inside, Mel knew that tonight felt different, she just couldn't figure out exactly what was different.



I signed off from talking to El, and headed out into the chilly New York night. Shoe boy, as El and I had nicknamed my current boy, was the perfect guy. He was Ivy League educated, and had a job. He also didn’t criticize my shoe fetish…wish was a major plus.

We had agreed to meet at a coffee shop we both knew, and head out to the restaurant he picked out. I walked in had scanned the room before ordering a latte and sitting at a table near the window. A few seconds later a familiar face walked in and our eyes locked. I knew then, and just then what I was about to get myself into.

I met him in a neo-traditional way. A singles site for Greeks, and we hit it off quite well. He was an up and coming entertainment lawyer, representing the hottest new singer, and I was the owner of a cute boutique in the meat packing district. I like to consider myself a guardian angel for those up and coming in the fashion world. Just like people took a chance on me, I like taking chances on new designers. Fresh ideas, great fabrics and styles. Of course I still love my traditional favorites, but I'm making it my goal to give the newbies a place in the fashion world! Or at least some space in my shop! Kosta, Shoe Boy, like my best friend Eleni, is from the West Coast moved to NY to attend Columbia Law, but decided to stay upon getting hired.

El and I dubbed him shoe boy because from day one he has tolerated my shoe fetish, and buyer's remorse for buying a pair of one of a kind Christian Louboutin's with a pink sole made for breast cancer awareness.

Kosta and I started our 'relationship', not that it is one, but what else do you call it when you talk to someone all day every day, and download AIM onto your iPhone just for him. Clearly, that is more than friends....right?...anyway, we started talking all the time. He is just wonderful and supportive. Which is more than I could ask for. It's strange though, because we haven't hung out a lot, even though I know so much about him, I still get freaked out by the thought of going on a date with him! Ugh!


As soon as Mel and I finished our predate chat I changed into my favorite after-hours work clothes and left my condo for the bakery.

I started working in bakeries my freshman year of college, and since then I have become a professional baker. I think some of my pastries might even be better than the ones my grandmother makes that are loved by many.

I got to the bakery and Dimitri was already there mixing the batter for the first set of desserts.

“Hey Dimitri!” I yelled as I snuck into the office to put down my purse, far away from the loads of powdered confection that we were about to spread all over the kitchen. I couldn’t help but to also sneak a look at Dimitri. My thoughts about him are all over the place, but no time for that, time to bake.

“Eleniki my little baking star! How are we tonight? Missing another hot date night, huh?”

I pushed Dimitri out of my way and ignored that last jab. My dating life had been slow, full of men who’s idea of a good time eventually led to trying to change me in every way possible.

“So, El, I met this girl.”
“Here we go…the usually Friday conversation with Dimitri.”
“Yeah, tell me about her? Where did you meet?”

After a small narrative from my baking friend about how he met this girl at his brother’s restaurant, she is the hostess, apparently with the mostest……maybe the mostest baggage. She comes with, not only “a beautiful body, nice eye (sure, eyes Dimitri), a good head on her shoulders….sounds good right, well she also has a boyfriend.

My hope for the improvement of men dwindles every day, “Dimitri, I’m sure she is a wonderful girl, and a knockout, but she has a boyfriend, right?

“El, honey, once she really gets to know me, I know I can get her to leave him.” This comment not only startled me, but it caused me to break the egg I was trying to crack into my batter. One thing I had yet to learn was controlling my emotions in the kitchen. I sat picking out the broken pieces of eggshell before I started my next tactic with him.

"Dimitri, that’s risky, how about you let me set you up??” That was the first thing that came to my head to distract Dimitri from the oncoming train wreck.

“El, you set me up, come on.”

“No no, let me do it, just give me a little time!”

My eyes flickered with excitement, this was it! To educate men, one must help them out, this in turn will help to educate women! I ran into the back, wiped my hands down my white apron and reached for my cell, it was time to let Mel into my little plan!

Best friends. Some are inherited at birth, some in early school days, and some are acquired later on in life. For Melina and Eleni it happened somewhere in between. They were both fresh out of high school, and attending an annual convention that was popular among the Greek community.

Melina- a native New Yorker was getting ready to study at NYU, and Eleni- a Southern California transplant who would be attending the University of Southern California. Although having lived a country apart, one faithful summer with NYC as their playground, the girls would embark on a friendship that would last a lifetime.

For the next seven years, the girls spent a week in a different US city, followed by three weeks in Greece. It became their tradition. A week of strictly family, followed by two weeks of island hoping and endless hours in the sun.

This summer would be the first the girls would not be gallivanting off to Greece, each girl would be "stuck" on their respective coasts, but one thing was for sure, their worlds were about to be changed in a way neither of them could imagine.