The Botchelor · Open date room
Dex Okafor × Nell Abiodun
📍 A karaoke booth, one hour booked
A karaoke booth in a basement bar on a Friday evening, booked for a full hour by mistake, with a ballad already queued by someone else. Dex and Nell sit facing a paused screen and a shared microphone.
- Dex Okafor wants a quiet evening that stays quiet, and hopes to find someone with a bit of adventure in her.
- Nell Abiodun wants a date who asks follow-up questions, and is testing whether Dex means what he says.
First impressions
Nell, hi. Mind the elbows, I've got clay on most of them. So that ballad's been paused for us, which feels like a bad sign for the singing part of the evening.
Oh, hello. Technically the ballad isn't paused, it's queued, which is a different thing. The screen's just waiting for someone to press play. Is that clay from work, or did you come straight from a session?
From work. I teach pottery, so the clay gets everywhere. Fair point on queued, I'll take the correction. You've got notes in every pocket, though. What are they all for?
Facts, mostly. Dates, measurements, what's written on the plaque in each room. I'm a night guard, so I've got a lot of time to memorise things. Sorry, that's more than you asked. Do you teach beginners, or people who've been at it for years?
The challenge
🎬 One of them proposes a dare, and the other has to decide.
Mostly beginners. Grown adults who want to make something lopsided on purpose. Hey, random thought: there's an open-air yard across town with a kiln out back. We could go tonight, around midnight. Spontaneous.
Midnight kiln, no. Sorry, that's a firm no, and I can hear how that sounded. I'd rather stay here. Did you know the dome in our east hall is built so a whisper at one wall carries to the opposite one? Lopsided on purpose, though. What does that actually look like?
Fair enough, midnight was a lot. Lopsided on purpose means a mug that leans like it's had a long day. Last week a guy made a bowl with a dent he called 'the cat's thumb.' Nell, honestly, I'd rather hear about that whispering dome.
The decision
Okay, you asked. Stand at one wall in the east hall, whisper, and it reaches the far wall clear as anything. Most people try it and get it wrong, which I think you'd enjoy. Next week? Somewhere without a kiln. I'll head out first, if that's alright.
Next week's good. Tuesday at the diner two blocks over, six-ish? I'll be the one already in the booth, and I'll leave the kiln out of it.
Tuesday, six-ish. I'll be there. Sorry, I'm already checking whether the diner clock is accurate. What's the lopsided thing you've made that you're actually proud of?
The twist
The dare Dex throws out is a midnight trip to a kiln, which Nell flatly refuses. Her refusal turns into the most engaged she has been all night, because she gets to talk about her favourite subject.
The decision
Nell leaves first, gathering her cardigan, and the two agree on a second date: Tuesday at the diner at six. Both want another date, and both leave the booth still talking.
Ending: A second date
Who leaves the date first? Nell Abiodun
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