This is a story about new love. I hope you enjoy it.
*
I was smitten the very moment I saw her. A girl with a striking mop of curly bright red hair that cascaded to her shoulders sat near the head of the table, her eyes fixed on a form in front of her. She looked like she was deep in concentration as she held a pen which she absentmindedly tapped the non-writing end against her lower lip. As I walked into the meeting room she looked up from the form to me and I immediately noticed her beautiful sparkling blue eyes, and then her cute little smile with which she greeted me. I couldn't help but smile back.
"Hello, I'm Angie. Are you part of Dr Pritchard's lab?" She had a slightly husky voice and in an instant I had decided it was the sexiest voice I had ever heard!
"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you Angie." And it really was a pleasure I thought, as I placed my mug of coffee on the table and shook her hand, introducing myself to her at the same time. I briefly told her about my role as a laboratory assistant.
It was Thursday morning, the day that Dr William 'Bill' Pritchard's laboratory group scheduled its weekly lab meetings. I was a laboratory assistant who worked for Dr Clara van den Berg, who worked with Bill, and everyone who was part of the lab were supposed to attend the meetings. I normally sat up the back of the room with Bill's lab assistant Brent Benson, who we all called 'Benno' (pronounced 'Ben-O'), but on this day I sat down next to Angie and chatted with her. Our chat was very brief though and she was only able to get around to telling me how she was a new student studying under Dr Pritchard before other members of the lab started to arrive, making plenty of noise and interrupting our conversation. Benno raised his eyebrows when he saw me sitting at the table chatting with an attractive young lady that he had never seen before. As usual Bill and Clara were the last to arrive at the meeting and Bill sat at the head of the table, while Clara sat opposite Angie. Clara raised her eyebrows at me as well because I was sitting so far up the meeting room table, which was highly unusual, but she smiled at me, guessing my motive. Bill most probably didn't notice anything different as he spoke in his characteristic booming voice.
"Okay everyone, we have a few things to get through this morning but I am racing to get to another meeting with the department so we will try to make this brief. First, I will introduce Angela Macleod, my new biochemistry PhD."
"Hi everyone." Angie gave a cheerful greeting as she flashed a smile that I thought was the most gorgeous smile I had ever seen. She gave a little wave too and I thought that her wave was super cute! I was already hooked and I wondered if maybe this is what love at first sight was all about!
"We are in a bit of a rush Angela, but I am sure everyone can introduce themselves to you later." Bill was typically in a rush. Though a brilliant scientist, he couldn't have organised a piss up in a brewery. He talked from topic to topic without any obvious connection or order between the topics, just rambling on as things came to his brilliant mind. He let one or two other people from the lab speak about this or that too, including Clara. Bill and Clara were like chalk and cheese. Clara was brilliant too, but she was much more organised than Bill, bringing a sheet of notes with her so she knew exactly what she needed to say and what order to say things in. The difference between Bill and Clara was most noticeable if you were to visit their respective offices. Bill's desk and floor had papers and books piled in every available space and his book case was a shambles. Clara's office was incredibly neat and everything had its place. I really admired Clara and she was very thorough with her work, but I suspect she was obsessive compulsive about neatness! Despite their differences, Bill and Clara worked very well together.
The meeting finished and Bill swept out of the room, heading off for God only knows where. Clara asked me to meet with her in the lab and so I knew that right now I wouldn't be spending anymore time chatting to this lovely creature that had just blown into my life and who had stolen my heart with a smile and a wave.
"I have to go Angie but I am sure we will bump into one another soon." I had work to do, as I am sure she did too.
"Yes, great to meet you. I will be around so, yeah, we will catch up then!" Her reply was very cheerful and her smile and eyes captivated me. We both sort of stared at each other, smiling for a second or two before I caught myself and walked out the door, heading for the laboratory. I couldn't help but grin and I couldn't wait to see the gorgeous new biochemist again!
"Smooth one mate!" Benno slapped his hand down on my shoulder in a friendly manner as he caught up with me in the hall that led to the laboratory.
"Ha ha ha," I laughed. "Mate, she's gorgeous!"
"True. You should find out if she is single. It's about time you got yourself a new girl."
Benno was right. I hadn't had a real girlfriend in one and a half years. My previous girlfriend Harriet and I had been together for three years. We broke up after she moved to the UK for work purposes. Even though we had told each other we would wait and see if perhaps I would follow her too, I wasn't ready to move overseas. The distance made it tough and after six months of her being away we decided it was best to call it quits. While I had some casual relationships in the meantime, I did not feel prepared to get so attached to someone again. Harriet had been my first real love and she was still fresh in my mind. But for the rest of that Thursday I could only think of the new girl, Angie! Like I said, I was smitten and it was definitely love at first sight!
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"You should make your move man! Someone else will ask her if you don't." Benno encouraged me regularly. I established early on that Angie was single. Yet I wasn't very proactive at asking her out. Maybe that just isn't my style and to be honest, the more I like someone the harder I find it to ask them out. And I liked Angie in spades. I couldn't get her out of my mind! I feared someone else might ask Angie out but in the first month with the lab I rarely saw her while she settled in. She was not conducting any experiments early on as she was just getting a feel for her new project and she spent most of the time in her new office. The few times we did run into each other I would try to act casual to hide the fact that I was nervous because I wanted to get up the courage up to ask her out! I compensated for my nerves by trying to be funny, and fortunately she seemed to laugh and smile a lot. I started to get an inkling that she might like me too. Strangely that didn't help give me the courage to ask her out though.
Some of our little group who worked at the lab would occasionally meet socially at a bar, or we would go to a movie or a party every now and then. Angie made good friends with James Farr, one of the other students from her office and he brought her along to the pub one night when we were having a get together. We called James 'Jamie' because there was another James in the lab and fortunately Jamie was gay so I knew he wasn't competition for Angie's affections. Michael, Blake and Benno were not going to be competition either, because they all had girlfriends. In our little social group only James Parson, who we just called 'Jimmy', and Nick, were the other single boys. Jimmy might be competition and he had a bit of a reputation as a lady's man, but I doubted Nick would be a problem because he rarely came out with us and he was quite geeky. I doubted Nick would make a move even if he was interested. But I hadn't made a move either had I.
I remember there were nine of us that night at the pub, including Benno, Isabel, Blake and his wife Tanya, Jamie, Louise, Jimmy, Angie and I. Angie sat next to me as we all laughed and chatted about nothing in particular. There was nothing shy about Angie and she made friends quickly, laughing and joining in from the start. I think our flirting started that night.
"So, what ya doing this weekend?" she asked.
"I'm going to the footy with some mates on Sunday."
"Ahh you go for the Broncos then?"
"Yeah, why, who do you go for?"
"The Storm."
"You go for the Storm? You can't go for a Melbourne team! They don't even know what Rugby League is down there!" I pretended to act shocked, like she was a heretic.
"They won a grand final," she stated matter-of-factly and poked her tongue out at me.
I grinned and shook my head in mock disappointment, "I can't believe you go for Storm."
