As this is my first story here, please bear with me. It'll be a multi-chapter story, this being the first one. I'd appreciate feedback on what you think of it.
--
The air was hotter than usual in the games room, creating a stuffy atmosphere. As Erica lined up her cue in silence, Sean looked on and wondered if he should have played a different ball. With a loud crack, the cue ball hit one of the designated red balls, waking Sean out of his reverie.
They were playing a game of impromptu snooker on a pool table, using all but the brown balls as colours and the rest as designated reds. It worked out surprisingly well and scores of over 60 weren't uncommon. Both usually spent their breaks at the pool table, playing a game or two and spending there time away from their shared work. They were junior accountants with hugely varying backgrounds. Sean had landed himself the position straight out of college with a degree in Business Administration, whereas Erica was a school dropout, had seen more jobs than years she had worked in them and had only earned wormed her way in by reading up on end-of-year reports of several companies listed on the stock exchange and knowing how the numbers correlated. Both were gifted in their own right, either practically or through books.
The cue ball had hit the intended ball perfectly and sank it, the cue ball rolling to a perfect stop to hit the black next. Sean added the points to the scoreboard.
'Nice shot!' Sean exclaimed. 'What are your plans when they don't agree to your plans of a raise?'
'Well', said Erica, lining up for the black ball, 'I've already had two interviews and another one lined up in several weeks, plus a second interview in two weeks' time. If management really wants to keep me here, they'd do well to offer me a contract instead of having me work through the temping agency.'
With a soft clack, the black rolled into the jaws of the pocket.
'If they're unwilling to do so, it's adios amigos. Since they don't consider me to be your equal because I don't have a relevant background, which they knew in the first place, or perhaps because of my autism, it's their loss, not mine.'
Erica lined up for the next designated red ball and cued. She accidently used a little too much top spin and the cue ball rolled on too far.
'Good luck with that!' said Sean with a smirk. 'It'll be a shame if you leave. You've got potential, and management is wasting it if they don't use it. Plus I won't have a decent snooker opponent anymore.'
Sean was a good looking bloke, heading on 6'0", a had a slight dad bod, but had legs made of mean muscle thanks to all the dancing he did. He lined up for the ball Erica had missed and was now lying in the jaws of the pocket. He played it softly, potted the red and bounced off the back cushion, landing him a perfect shot on black.
'Would you feel like playing on a full sized table on Friday?' he asked with apparent confidence, although his heart was racing slightly. He was unaccustomed to asking women out and had been trying to find a way to ask her out for a while.
Erica was one of those women who was beautiful, knew it and chose not to flaunt it. At 5'10", she looked lean as a bean and appeared chirpy and bubbly, as well as being highly intelligent, and a true ginger: she was what Sean thought to be the pinnacle of elegance and beauty.
'Since we've got the day off, I'd love to!' replied Erica. 'I've got nothing planned, how would 3pm suit you?'
Sean grinned. '3pm sounds like a plan', and potted the black with a satisfying whack.
--
That evening, Erica had her best friend Leonora over for dinner and, as usual, was being quizzed about her love life. Most of the guys that had asked her out had done so because of her looks, and arguably because of her flaming red hair. Leonora didn't keep the guys coming, but had had a few boyfriends and beaus.
'I'm not going on a date', Erica exclaimed. 'Sean and I are going for a few frames of snooker on a proper snooker table. He hasn't asked me out for the usual drinks, dinner, or anything else. He's been nothing short of a gentleman, and hasn't made any indication of being one of the usual guys who I seem to attract. From what I know he isn't seeing anyone'.
'If he's such a perfect gentleman, he's not likely to make a blunt move, is he?' retorted Leonora. 'He seems to be capable of thinking with his brains instead of with his banger. What other guys with brains have asked you out? There was Matthew last year, but you thought he was joking so you said no, after which he pretty much went his own way. Jeremy had his heart in the right place, though you didn't like his doggedness. You don't like the guys without brains, but say no to the guys with brains. If you have any wish of not ending up like an old spinster, give Sean half a chance to let him ask you out should he do so, or ask him out yourself.'
Erica had always been adamant that men should ask her out to do something both she and the man in question liked if they wanted half a chance to go for an official date. She oftentimes failed to recognise that the men who had asked her out had done exactly what she would have liked them to do.
'Maybe you should ask Sean out for a drink?' Leonora asked. It's the twenty-first century!'
'Come one, he's a good colleague, a proper gentleman, good looking and has quite refined taste. Who am I to ask him out?'
'Those are the very things you keep telling everybody you want a guy to be! You're always nattering on that the usual bunch you attract don't have standards to speak of. Now that you're finally presented with one, what's there to stop you grasping it with both hands? It's being handed to you on a diamond-encrusted gold and silver platter?'
'I'd love a guy who's all of that, but can also make me feel small. My usual self is what the world sees. Most guys can handle my daytime self, but have no idea of what I really want. I don't want to scare Sean off with blurting out whether he likes vanilla and what else he's into. I mean, he is more like the guy I would ideally date in my normal life, though with my other cravings... I don't know...'
'There's only one way to find out. After your beloved game of snooker, take him out for a drink and talk to him.'
--
Friday rolled around and Sean found himself hurrying along to be on time. He usually didn't pay all that much attention to what he wore, although he never looked scruffy. Today's outfit was a short-sleeved salmon-pink shirt with a light-grey waistcoat and a pair of chinos in the same colour.
He arrived at the pool hall bang on time. Erica had already claimed a table, having arrived early. She was busy racking the reds when Sean walked up behind her and called her. Erica positively jumped and nearly spread the reds all over the table, turning a shade of red darker than her hair.
'Good grief!' said Erica with a slight nervous stammer, straightening her crop top. It was a surprisingly tight fit, given that she didn't usually flaunt her perky C cup breasts. Her trained tummy and belly button showed a little above a cream-coloured thigh-length skirt.
'It's good seeing you too. You're not usually that jumpy, what got into you today?'
'I'm not usually one to go on dates, but--'
'Date? Well, you're ramping up the pressure here!' Sean replied.
Erica cringed and, unlike her apparent usual self at work, didn't have an answer ready.
'Hey, it's ok. I'm not particularly looking to date, but am not averse to the idea either. Let's just have some fun playing snooker and see what the rest of the afternoon brings us.'
'I'm sorry, I didn't know whether you have a relationship or whatever, and here I am making assumptions and a fool of myself as usual. I really don't know how else to put it, with all the expectations that people have with dating and relationships and everything that comes along with it. I just want to do my own thing in my own time...' She trailed off and didn't know where to look.
Sean took the rack from Erica's hands and re-racked the reds, placing the pink and black on their respective spots. Yellow, brown, green and blue had already been placed. Sensing Erica wasn't quite ready to break, Sean walked over to the selection of cues and picked one at random to start out with.
Erica seemed to calm down a bit, but was almost crying inside. She was even more of a nervous wreck than when she arrived. She watched Sean break, and though it was good break with the cue ball reaching the baulk circle, an open red to the left black pocket was available. She gathered together what nerves she had and went for it, screwing back slightly for good measure. The red bounced back and forth in the jaws of the pocket and after a slight rattle, still went in, leaving the cue ball a little above the black. It wasn't the best angle to be able to follow up on. Sean tapped the table from the baulk end. Although an easier shot, Erica lined up, cued and missed wildly.
'If anything, I was expecting a 147 from that. That first red went in at quite a pace, leaving you nicely on the black. What made you miss?'
'It's a big table with other people watching, I guess. Usually we have the pool room to ourselves and we can goof around, but here, I feel, well, seen.'
'You've got some serious snooker skills and are good looking, both of which attract attention. What's there to be afraid of? I've seen you ward off the guys in the warehouse at work, gawking at you. The way you handle unwanted attention is pretty cool!' said Sean while he looked at the most advantageous way he could pot a red.
'It's the factor of being in an unfamiliar situation that gets me more than anything else. Something I don't tell a lot of people is that I often have high levels of anxiety if I don't know what my plans are or if I don't know at least a few people in a crowd. Like this place. I know you well enough, but don't know anyone else. It gives me the shivers. That first red, it gave me something to really concentrate on, whereas the black didn't need the concentration. I'm still just nervous and anxious about even mentioning my anxiety.'
Sean was silent for a beat. 'What makes your anxiety hard to talk about?'
'I guess it's the fear of the unknown, of interpreting situations for others and making assumptions based on those situations, which leads to all kinds of confusion. It's about knowing, or not knowing, what'll happen which gets to me.'
