It was about 3 on a Saturday afternoon, about six years ago. I had gone to the supermarket for the weekly grocery shopping. I was 27, a single guy with a good teaching career, not bad looking at 6 feet and 170 pounds. I worked out frequently and was told I had a "smoking" body by at least a couple of the "gym rats", as I called the girls who I saw regularly. I dated often but hadn't found what I considered the "right" girl yet.
I was waiting at the deli counter when I first spotted her. She was 5'10, about 140, wearing a baggy sweatshirt over skintight bike pants, legs stuffed into a pair of Uggs. Even through the sweatshirt you could see the curve of perfect breasts -- 34C, I would later find out. The bike pants accented every curve of her tight, muscular ass. Her toned legs seemed to go on forever. You could see the tautness of her leg muscles through the pants. She had curly light-brown hair that fell past her shoulders.
Even looking at her from a distance, she looked like she belonged on the cover of
Vogue
.
We just glanced at each other for a second, and smiled.
I picked up my order and headed off to my next stop in the store, the dairy section.
I reached for the last container of lemon yogurt, and noticed a hand also trying to take it. I got to it first. I looked up... and found myself staring into the warmest brown eyes I had ever seen. It was the girl from the deli counter. Without thinking twice, I handed her the yogurt container. I could see she had high, round cheekbones, and full lips that, when she smiled, opened onto a set of absolutely straight white teeth. Even without makeup, this woman was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. I smiled at her, nodded, and walked off.
After picking up a few more items, I decided I needed Cheerios. I headed towards the cereal aisle. I walked towards the center of the aisle, towards the Cheerios section, and stopped in my tracks.
There she was, kneeling, trying to figure out which box of Cheerios she should take.
I shook my head, but decided not to fight it. I walked over, knelt down, and said "Hmm,
this
one looks okay." She looked up, startled... but looked right into my eyes and gave me another warm smile.
We ran into each other three more times in our travels around the store. Each time, the same thing happened -- we'd stop, look at each other, smile and move on. My shopping completed, I walked over to the checkout lines, and absent-mindedly got on the shortest one.
You guessed it. She was right in front of me.
I was never bold when it came to talking to women. Quite the opposite, I was somewhat on the timid side. But I was feeling rather confident that day, and I decided to take the risk.
"Excuse me, miss, and I
know
this is probably going to sound like the worst pickup line in history, but I
have
to ask you: what is someone who looks like you doing in a supermarket this late on a Saturday afternoon, when she
should
be getting ready for a date?"
She contemplated me for a moment. I almost instantly regretted saying it. I stood there, waiting to get shot down.
She finally answered. She had a soft, melodious, measured voice. I guessed -- correctly, as it turned out -- that she was a singer.
"Because guys always presume that someone who looks like me already has a boyfriend. Therefore, someone who looks like me never gets asked out. Someone who looks like me, who according to you
should
have a date, is probably going to spend this night, like I do so many others, watching a romantic movie on TV."
I appreciated the blunt honesty of her answer. I also liked that she was entering into the spirit of the game.
I answered, "So let's suppose that someone who looks like me asked someone who looks like you out on a date -- tonight, right now, under these same circumstances. What would someone who looks like you do?"
She took a pen out of her purse, wrote on the back of her groceries receipt, and handed it to me. She said, "Someone who looks like me would write her address and phone number on the first piece of paper she could find, give it to you, and tell you to pick her up in two hours."
I quickly read the phone number and the address, and realized she lived only a few blocks away from me. I let her know about it. She said, "I figured you lived close. One generally shops near where they live.
"And, by the way, Sherlock, it also helps if you ask someone who looks like me her name. I'm Lori."
Sassy. I liked her attitude. I was so in shock that she'd talked to me at all that I'd forgotten to even introduce myself
.
Boy, did I feel like a dumbass.
"Sorry. I'm Mike." We shook hands. Her hands were warm and soft. Yet she had a very firm grip.
"Hi, Mike. Call me when you get home, just so you can satisfy yourself that the number I gave you isn't the local pizzeria. That way, I'll also have your number on my caller ID. Wait a second, give me back the receipt. I want to add one more thing." I handed it back to her, and watched her scribble something quickly on it. She handed it back to me. "Put that in your pocket. Don't read it until you get to your car. See you later."
I watched her walk out -- she turned and gave me a big smile as she left -- and I hurriedly bagged up my groceries and put them in the car. As Lori had instructed, I then pulled out her receipt and read it.
"5:30 P.M. Don't be late." The O and 0 were drawn in the shape of a heart. She also did a little drawing that looked like puckered lips.
I said to myself:
That