She came out and called me in from the front area. I didn't catch her name. I suppose I could have read her little badge, but my eyesight is too bad, even with my glasses on, to read a moving target like that, jiggling on huge yummy breasts. "Thanks for getting me out of that waiting room," I said. She was a lively, I believe, Latina, or perhaps Filipina. She couldn't have topped farther than the nipples on my chest, but I'm 6'4", so maybe 4"5', 4'6"? Her figure could best be described as roly-poly. Taken as a whole, she was completely delightful. Suddenly, my starvation morning had become iridescent.
"Yeah, but do you have coffee?" she asked, even though she could see that I didn't.
"Sorry," I said.
"Crap, struck out again. Have you had coffee?" she asked.
"I think this is a fasting thing," I said.
"Non-fasting," she said. Then she looked at the piece of paper. "Oh right, fasting. Ha, well it's on the bar codes."
"What were you going to do, drain it out of me?" I joked.
"Well, I have all the tools," she looked up at me mischievously. I could imagine her smile under the mask.
"Should I run away now?" I asked.
"Come into my lair," she said. "Just there to the left." She followed me in.
Even sitting down, I towered over her. "I have to warn you that I can be hard to get blood from," I said. "They usually have to poke me twice."
"Not a problem for me if it's not a problem for you," she joked. "I can go all day," she said more suggestively.
"My veins are... deceptive," I said.
"Deceptive," she repeated, savoring the word. Her eyes danced.
"Worse yet, I've been working out," I said.
"I can see that," she said, her tiny hand resting on my bicep. "Now make a fist." The little rubber constriction band she'd tied around my arm popped off and went flying. She fretted for only a moment and then pulled out another one.
I had to see her face. "Look, I've been vaccinated, and I bet you've been vaccinated, so can we drop the masks?"
"You want to see under my mask, eh?" she said.
"Pretty please." I whipped my vaccination card out of my wallet to show her.
"You're right, I've been vaccinated," she said. We took our masks off. I immediately felt the urge to kiss her. Passionately. And I'm married and sixty years old. And she was perhaps mid-twenties? She looked like one of those professionals that didn't have the time to date. Maybe in medical school. And then there was Covid. We matched smiles and she brightened further. It looked like she wanted to be kissed. I guess she liked my kind smile and cleft chin. The moment passed.
"So do you have a card for... ha ha," she raised her eyebrows and then turned away quickly. She was worried, perhaps, she'd crossed the line, even though in good fun.
"Frankly, I never thought I'd get as lucky as I feel in this moment," I said.
She turned back around and looked at me skeptically, then smiled slightly when she saw I was earnest and not just joking. She looked determined then, like she was going to make it happen.
"I can see what you mean about your veins being deceptive," she said. "Let's try your other arm and the mosquito needle."
"Knock yourself out," I said.
"Well, I'm having fun," she smiled.
"Me, too, actually," I said. "I hope you keep missing so I can stay."
"You're going to give me bad luck," she said, looking up at me fixedly, kinda provocatively.
"We can't have that," I breathed.
She jammed in the needle. "See the splash?" she said. There was blood in the little plastic entrance to the needle. "With these, I can tell whether I hit the vein." She started to fill her vials. "It's a lot slower, though."
"So I get to be here longer with you," I said contentedly. She turned away a little uncomfortably then locked eyes with me again.
She pulled out the needle and asked, "Do you want a band-aid?"
"Please no," I said. "The adhesive is the worst part." Keeping my finger on the tiny wound, I raised my arm above my head.
"That's how I know I've got a veteran blood donor," she said. "Raising the arm above the head."
The bleeding had stopped on the other one, too. I tore the bandage off it, and bent way over to throw it in her trash. "Look," I said. Our faces were close. Her eyes closed. That was a yes. I kissed her gently, then more firmly. Then we got a little sloppy. I didn't care, it felt liberating. Her little mouth, tasting faintly of toothpaste, electrified me. She broke the kiss and furtively looked towards the hallway. I was reminded we were in the middle of a busy medical clinic. In an alcove, surely, but still. There was no door on the alcove.
I found I must have idly picked up a container from her work table. It looked like one of those little containers for a side of coleslaw or potato salad. Sometimes I fidget with things without even noticing. "I'm sorry," I said, "I touched this." I put it back down.
"I gave that to you," she said.