Another Morning

I should have known that the tardiness of my instructor would rival my own. I was only ten minutes late to class. He would late by fifteen. Tabitha greeted me in the hallway, taking the tea from my hand, and taking a savoring sip of it. Her eyes were closed in bliss and I swore that I saw healthy color come back to her ashen face while she basked in the goodness of the tea. When she opened her eyes, she looked at me.

"Where's your tea?" She cocked her head to the side, worry lines creased her brow.

"There was an accident. I wasn't able to get another one in time so I'm going to have to suffer." My heart dropped at the thought of not enjoying my morning beverage.

Tabitha started to pace in front of me, becoming more agitated with each step. "This isn't good. This isn't good at all. I don't want to visit you in jail." She stopped and seemed to plead using her eyes. Nervously, she began to chew her bottom lip. I was use to seeing her worry. She did it everyday, but the cryptic remark made me wonder.

"You switched topics on me. What are we talking about now?"

She moved closer to me, leaning in as if we were conspirators. "SHE is here today."

I jerked away from her, growling a few creative curse words. SHE referred to Amanda Jane. The girl was so dim that she had problems remembering which of her names was her first name, Amanda or Jane. Somehow she had followed Tabitha and me through all three semesters of Chinese Language. At the beginning of each semester, we prayed and hoped that our instructor failed her or she would lose interest. Our prayers were left unanswered. In the beginning of the fourth and last semester, we felt sure that our instructor would not advance her. Her language skills were worse than the last and it got to the point where she did not know how to say the simplest greeting, something we learned way back in the first semester.

Her utter stupidity was not enough to annoy us. If it was just her stupidity she brought to class, we could have easily ignored her. While she never contributed in class with her linguistic wit, she forcedly grabbed the spotlight in another way. If a person paid attention to her in class, they would see her flip her hair before she butted into the language lesson with some brainless gossip. As if her gossip was not bad enough, she always asked at least five stupid questions in a single class period. The fact that she only attended half the classes in a semester was Amanda Jane's only saving grace.

I gave a long sigh of resignation. This morning could not get any worse. "I'll just have to control myself and hope that her empty head falls off when she flicks her hair." I resolutely marched into the classroom with Tabitha trailing behind me.

My eyes stealthily glanced at Amanda Jane. She looked like hell. Her hand desperately clutched her coffee as if it were her lifeline. There were bags under her dull green eyes. Her light blond hair was pulled back in an untidy ponytail. Amanda had a short petite body with the hard angles of her skeletal structure showing. I had seen the men flock to her before class and call her beautiful, but I honestly could not see it. Even when she looked like hell, as she did that day, they would shine praise on her thinness. It was obvious that she had been partying the night before. I was secure in the knowledge that she was not going to say anything that would force me to jump two rows of desks to kill her.

--~~--

The waitress seated me at my usual table. I made it a point to eat at the University Restaurant on the days that I had classes. The cafeteria was far more expensive and fattening than what the Restaurant had. The only reason why the cafeteria had any customers was because they were faster; they sported two international fast food chains, and were open from breakfast to dinner. The restaurant often had a line for a table and was only open three hours during the weekdays for lunch.

My waitress brought my usual drink with a smile. Unlike some of the other patrons, I did not demand nor rush and I always had a smile in return. "You alone today or are you going to have a friend eat with you?"

Once in a while Tabitha or Stan, my male friend who accompanied me when the mood struck, joined me for lunch a half an hour after I arrived. I was positive that they would not be joining me this particular day. Stan normally informed me in our language class that he was eating lunch with me. Tabitha, the day before, mentioned that she had the burning need to catch a glimpse of her love interest and would not be joining me.

Just as I was about to answer, Kaden meandered up to my table looking like a better choice for my dinning experience than anything the menu could offer. "Hello, ladies. Is this seat taken?" He indicated the vacant chair across from me.

I was spellbound by him, my mind stuttering to a halt. Panic started to overwhelm me as to how I should respond. I looked at the waitress for help, any help.

She gave me a knowing smile and flashed a bigger smile to my unexpected guest. "Looks like it's all yours today. What can I get you to drink? Do you know what you want to eat?"

He ordered as he sat down, my brain was still having problems assessing the situation. I realized that they were both looking expectantly at me. The waitress took pity on me, gave me a sympathetic look. "The usual, Alex?" Unable to speak, I just nodded.

It was disconcerting knowing that my morning grumpiness lent me a sense of bravado to talk to a handsome man. Any other time of the day I was struck dumb. Kaden kept looking at me as if expecting me to burst into a fountain of small talk. I had no idea where to begin. I did not even know if my voice would ever come back to me.

He fidgeted in his chair a little. My silence making him nervous. "I'm sorry to burst in on you like this, but after what my friends did...I at least owe you lunch since you wouldn't let me replace your drink."

His nervousness and his apology had a strange calming effect on me. I was still a little tense, a tenseness that came from habit. When meeting a new person I was always ready to defend, attack, or retreat if the situation called for action. "I have your shirt. It's more than what most people would do. In fact, most people would have just sat there and laughed. Oh wait...they did that. Besides, lunch is more expensive than a simple drink"

Kaden shook his head in disgust. "I kept telling them to stop, but they're young. The world evolves around them. They shouldn't look out for people; people should look out for them. They'll mature out of it. Lunch is the least I can do. I insist."

I snorted in derision either at his insistence or his statement that his so-called friends would mature. I had no clue which. To take his attention off my rude and unladylike manner I latched onto something he said. "It's funny that you should call them young when you're young yourself."

He smiled, "I imagine that I'm older than most people here. I started college late." He leaned over, flashing me his bedroom eyes. "I'm probably older than you are."

"You have a thing for younger women." I rolled my eyes. "That's just like a man. You're barking up the wrong tree, Casanova. I'm out of your age bracket."

"What makes you say that?"

"I may not have started college late like you, but I've definitely been in college a long, long time." Feelings washed over me when I thought of all the years I spent in college. Only one more semester and I was done with my bachelor's degree. Then my thoughts flashed to the graduate application that I turned in a few weeks ago. College taught me a few things. It taught me to pursue my passion instead of money and it taught me that the academic world was the only place that I would ever be comfortable.

"Will you indulge me in something?" He sat back as the waitress brought his drink. In a smooth turn, she winked at me behind her order book and went to help another table.

"After everything you've done for me so far? I think I can allow you a few indulgences." I took another sip of my drink wondering what question would come out of his mouth.

"How old are you?"

For some reason beyond my comprehension he was slightly interested in me. I imagined that interest would soon end when I tell him. He would get up, pay for his part of the check, and tell me where to send his shirt. "I'm twenty-six. I'll be twenty-seven next month."

Kaden's eyes widened. "You are not twenty-six."

The man was odd, I gave him that. "I'll show you my driver's license if you want, but I would rather not. I don't like the picture."

His disbelief slowly turned into a grin. "I have no problems with your age. I'm twenty-four."

I blinked at him. The line came from left field. What was he talking about? "How was my age going to be a problem?"

"Your age wasn't going to be a problem with me. I'm not picky about the age of the women I go out with. I was a little worried that you wouldn't want to go out with me if there was too big a difference in our ages."

"Go out? Where was I when we decided this?" I had to hand it to the guy. Not many people had the ability to floor me. He managed to flatten me like a pancake.

"We didn't, but I thought if I gave you a choice, you would say no. Telling you gives me better results." Our food came just then.

After the waitress set the food down, she smiled a little too sweetly. "Anything else I can get you?" The words were a little too surgery. Had the world gone insane?

"No, we're good." I turned back to Kaden. "Telling me won't give you better results. I'm a woman not a dog." I was starting to get irritated, but I took a deep breath reminding myself that communication was key when it came to avoiding misunderstandings. In other words, I needed a better reason to get angry and explode. I gave a strained laugh and said, "I think before we get into a misunderstanding I should ask if you're serious about going out with me."

He frowned at that. I could easily see that he was having trouble figuring out what to do next. He was not dealing with the average female. "Yes I am serious about going out with you."

My brain stalled again. It was doing that a lot that day and it all started when I met Kaden. A man, especially a man as handsome and smooth as Kaden, did not ask a woman like me out. Men did not want to go out with women who were different. They wanted a woman who was predictable, a woman that fit into the type of category they liked: smart and successful, unbelievably beautiful and stupid, sexy and promiscuous. I was smart and that was it.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

The sorry truth was that I did not have anything to say. I could not think of one thing. "The food looks good today. I think we should enjoy it."

"You're not going to answer my question?"

"You asked a question?" It was the truth, but it still sounded dumb. Most people would have given up. This man seemed tenacious. I started to eat my lunch with a manner that suggested we were discussing something mundane like the weather. On the inside, my heart was beating a mile a minutes.

He smirked, "No I didn't ask you. I will put my statement in the form of a question if you would like. I'm not going to stop until you say yes."

There was no breath in my lungs. "Why?" I asked the one question that was repeating over and over again in my head. His friend spilled a hot drink on me, he righted a wrong, and he felt that the offer of his shirt was not enough. It was the only conclusion that I could come up with, but it did not seem right. The only way I was going to get my answer was from him.

He thought it over, obviously not sure himself. My past boyfriends never really knew why they went out with me. I asked the same question, at least once, to every one of them. The only answer they could come up with was "I don't know." If Kaden gave me the same answer, I would have to turn him down. A person should know why they ask another on a date.

"You're different," he finally answered. "I didn't come here expecting to ask you out, but I saw you sitting here alone. I watched you for a while before the waitress came, waiting for someone to join you. The reason I came here was just to pay for your lunch and be on my way, but you were alone. No one came to join you. Instead of being nervous about it you pulled out a book and started reading, completely comfortable with your surroundings. You don't act like any women I know. I need to get to know you." He seemed confused by his answer.

I was not only confused by his answer, but also thrilled yet saddened by it. "I'm a mystery to you. Once you solve it, you'll leave."

Kaden had been in the middle of taking a bite out of his food, but he stopped. A strange look came into his lovely blue eyes. It seemed like he was looking off into the future, seeing every possible situation play out in his head. A shiver of excitement went up my spine. "No," he said slowly, "I don't think I'll ever solve your mystery. I have this strange feeling that you'll constantly surprise me. That'll be a welcome change."

I pulled out my cell phone and checked the clock. We had been there for a half an hour so far. I had an hour before class. The man had a story to tell, I thought to myself. He might not have came here looking for someone to listen to him, but I felt that I had triggered a change in him. He needed someone as a sounding board to make sense of it all. Lucky for him, I was a good listener and patient. "You have a story. Why don't you tell me? It'll give me a chance to get to know you a little before our date."

The first moment I saw Kaden I knew that he was a player. His smiles were too practiced, his looks too good. There was one thing that tripped up my assessment of him: He thought about what he said. Observing from a distance, I found that most players had lines readily available in a hidden arsenal somewhere, they talked smooth and fast without a pause in between responses. It was as if they had memorized a script for a movie.

Usually I did not give players the time of day when they practiced their craft on me. I am not into one-night-stands. The soul reason why I was not walking out on Kaden, leaving him with the check, was simply because he thought before he spoke.

--~~--

Kaden had a long-term girlfriend in high school. They had been together for six years. On graduation day, he discovered that she had been cheating on him with his best friend. After the ceremony, Kaden snuck off to the locker room to get some items that he left behind. That was where he found them, humping like rabbits against the lockers. His girlfriend bent in half, hands against the low bench, her graduation gown flipped over her head and her skirt flipped up. The best friend had his pants down around his ankles pumping in and out of her at a rapid rate. Kaden identified his girlfriend by a distinctive birthmark she had behind her left knee. He was devastated at their duplicity, leaving as silently as he had entered. The moans of his best friend and the satisfied screams of his girlfriend chasing him down the hallway.

He joined the army and was dispatched to boot camp shortly after. Kaden told no one what he saw, not even his parents. They did not understand why he decided to go into the military, why he was in a hurry to leave. She wrote him many letters. Some wondered why he left without telling her, others pleading for a response. She managed to corner him when he was home on leave.

His girlfriend was confused and angered by his actions. When she asked him, "what has gotten into you?" Kaden told her in graphic detail of his witness of her duplicity. With months to replay the scene over and over in his head, he felt nothing with the retelling. She cried pretty little tears afterwards, and pleaded for forgiveness. Excuses poured from her, then actuations, then angry words. He felt nothing for her, nothing about anything. It was like his feelings switched off and he was running on automatic.

Kaden spent his army years being a good soldier and bedding women when the need struck. He left the army and went into college for a degree in Computer Science. There was no lack of female companionship in college. He found that they liked older men due to the experience they tended to have. Shortly after, he entered the party scene. Admittedly he picked up women more than he drank at the parties. Lately, he had been giving rides to his drunken friends instead of enjoying the parties.

Last night, after he had sex with a woman he had been seeing for a few weeks, the longest relationship he had since his high school girlfriend, he started to feel again. He was starting to feel discontent with his life. Bedding women was great, but he was starting to crave something deeper. It was obvious that he was not going to get what he needed from the woman beside him.

--~~--

I leaned back in my seat and stared at the small bubbles in my soda, a little amazed at his tale. His story was cliché, something I had heard several times before. It still had the same impact on me. As a woman, I had urges, wants, and needs, but I denied them by telling myself that men were just not worth it. They were unfeeling creatures that think with their dicks than the heads on their shoulders. Telling myself a generalized lie like that over the years, I started to believe it. Only once in a while a man comes along willing to tell me his story and I am reminded that there is a lot more to a man than what I have observed.

"You were ready for a change." I mumbled it to myself, but he still heard me.

"Yes I was. That drink spilled on you and you didn't react like any of the girls I've been with, not even my high school ex. They would have screamed and run out of there. You didn't scream or make a big deal out of it." Kaden smiled to himself in memory. "You looked more annoyed then anything."

I chuckled and looked at him again. "I don't like it when my routine gets interrupted with complications." With a breath, I pulled out my cell phone again and looked at it. Twenty minutes till two and I still needed to talk with Tabitha. As a concerned friend, she required a detailed account of what happened to me before I got to class. "I don't really date because I have no clue what to do. It seems so uncomfortable, like a job interview. We'll have a dinner as friends."

"How's that different from dating?"

"It's not, but if we call it something else, it makes me less nervous. Call it a change of perspective. The act might be the same no matter what you name it, but one makes you nervous as hell and the other makes you a little nervous and very excited." I packed up my stuff and got up from the table.

He flashed a bright smile at me. Not a practice smile, a smile a guy would practice in front of a mirror over and over again to get it perfect. This smile was real reaching from his mouth all the way to those eyes I was fast coming to adore.

I sauntered...actually sauntered next to his chair like a sexy courtesan practiced in the art of driving a man wild. Kaden was still facing the table; I was facing away from it. My hand found its way to his should. I leaned down, my mouth almost touching his ear. "China Town restaurant on route 171. Do you know where that is?" He nodded his head, his soft hair brushing my cheek. I shivered slightly. "Be there Saturday at seven. Don't be late."

I walked away without looking back, a smile on my face, my heart dancing out of my chest. The waitress was conversing with the cashier and looked at me. She gave me a thumbs up with a questioning look. I returned with a wide joyful smile and a little happy skip in my step. She wrote a note really fast just before I left out the double wide glass doors, the note read: "Details Thursday?!" I nodded to her and walked out.

--~~--