Note that this story takes place in the early 2000s.
Science Fiction clubs are supposed to be fun, but a business meeting is still a boring business meeting. I stifled a yawn and tried to listen to one more committee report that had way too much detail and very little substance. There needs to be some sort of handbook for amateurs trying to run an efficient meeting, and for the committees telling them how to get things done and make reports properly. Not all this trying to re-invent the wheel each time a new chairman is elected or a new idea or project gets started. Such a book probably exists, but obviously nobody around here has ever heard about it.
I caught someone else across the table from me hiding a yawn, a plump and nerdy young woman with thick glasses, maybe in her mid-twenties a couple years younger than me. I had seen her at previous meetings and heard that she was some sort of librarian. I tried to remember her name, I think she had a very ordinary name, Jane or Pat or something like that. I made eye contact over the top of my eyeglasses and waggled an eyebrow at her. She smiled and rolled her eyes at my antics, so I winked and attempted to quietly flirt in my own geeky way. Finally she stifled a giggle instead of a yawn, then started playing with her mouse-brown bobbed hair, twirling a strand around her finger. I took that as a good sign.
She was definitely not model material, but then I was no buffed up hunk either. Her round face was kind of plain looking and chubby cheeked, but those eyes hiding behind her thick glasses might be rather pretty. It was hard to tell through those distorting lenses. She was plump bodied with a bit of tummy, and her breasts seemed smaller than her body size would suggest, but I could overlook that. I was hoping that she had a round bottom that filled out her jeans nicely. Later I found out that she did.
After the meeting ended, I made sure to get next to her on the way out of the park's community room and started a conversation in the hallway. Well, I tried to start a conversation, but we were both so awkward that we ended up laughing at each other's lame attempts at small talk. I tried to restart the conversation.
"I hope you'll forgive me if I don't get your name right... it's Pat, right? And you're some kind of librarian?"
She gave a typically nerdy snorting giggle. "No it's Teresa, Teri for short. I work in a private science research library as an assistant librarian. And you're Pete, no, Paul?"
My turn to laugh. "Nowhere near, my name's Walter..."
"Wall-E!" She exclaimed, interrupting me.
"No, no, just no." I tried to forestall her, shaking my head. "Borrowing from Riker, I go by Will."
"Hmm. It suits you." She said, looking at my trimmed beard.
"Thanks. So Teri, what do you do for fun? I mean, besides science fiction... and don't say reading, I already know that. What librarian doesn't love to read?"
"Most of the stuff in my library is far beyond my comprehension, so I don't read beyond what I need to file it. Usually just the abstract or a synopsis." She smiled again, she looked prettier with a smile. I was hoping her eyes would be as surprising. "For other fun I folk dance. Hey, the folk dance club meets here tomorrow in the other room, the big one, and we always welcome beginners. Want to join us?"
"Do they welcome beginners with three left feet? I'm not much of a dancer."
"Three left feet?" She looked confused.
"Yeah, because I always get tangled up like I've got an extra foot and don't know what to do with it."
"Oh." Teri did her charming giggle again. I was beginning to have higher hopes about this relationship, if it was going to turn into a relationship. I was never good with one night stands. Well, honestly I've never really had a one night stand, but I have had a couple relationships that lasted more than a year.
"Come to the dance club anyway, maybe you'll surprise yourself." She tilted her head in a cute way. "But you didn't tell me what you do. What's your work?"
"I'm a programmer, pretty typical, right? I work for a custom accounting software company following instructions from a bunch of accountants and doing client support. I know it sounds boring, but..."
"Not boring, but I bet it's repetitive. What else do you do for fun?" She tilted her head again, like a puppy trying to make an good impression.
"Like every other geek I write fanfiction, I used to do some camping and renaissance fairs, but that got too expensive. I've also competed in curling recently, but I'm not that great."
"Curling? Really?"
"Yeah, just local competitions, I'm not up to international standards, or even regional."
"Closing time! I need to lock up, time to leave!" The park staff person (I don't think they were a ranger, but I'm not sure what to call them) started shooing the dawdlers down the hallway towards the exit doors. There was a wooden bench on the walkway facing the parking lot where we plopped down and continued talking for a while, learning about each other.
"Oh, I've got to get to the bus stop before I miss my bus." She had glanced at her watch, I assumed because she was bored with me.
"No car? Don't worry, I can give you a ride home... uh, if you trust me." I tried to give her a trustworthy smile, hoping that I didn't look creepy. Maybe I managed one, or else I looked so forlorn that she took pity on me because she said yes. I led her to my little old 4x4 import pickup, a relic of my camping days.
"My car is in the shop for repairs so... a 4x4! I didn't think you were the off road type."
"We used to do a lot of camping, sometimes in pretty primitive places." I winced at my own accidental alliteration. "A 4x4 is handy for sandy or muddy sites where the road is mostly by opinion instead of by pavement."
"We?" She sounded curious.
"My brother and a couple of cousins. They're avid fishermen and I'd join them just to be out in nature but I didn't fish much. Plus it was useful to haul stuff and when I was going to renaissance fairs, but that got too pricey." I pulled out of the parking space. "Give me some directions and I'll get you home safely."
