My first free night in the city and I'm going to enjoy it, I thought to myself. Within reason, of course. I never do anything outside of reason. Well, except... maybe this time. This time I definitely did something that was not within reason.
My company had sent me and my team here two weeks ago and we had made significant progress on getting agreement with our supplier on what we wanted in our new product. Enough progress that they'd agreed to let us hop on planes on Thursday to go home to our families earlier than expected. Which is how I found myself alone in the big city with nothing but time for adventure on my hands for the next few days. I didn't have a family to go home to, so I figured I'd take a much deserved vacation and delay my flight out until Monday. I'd only have to cover the price of a hotel room for a few days.
They'd put us up in a large and trendy hotel in the center of the entertainment district. I liked it. The decor was all in dark hues. The beds were large and plush with the best bed linens money could buy. I knew I'd find the sheets on my own bed scratchy after the luxury of the hotel. I made a mental note to order new sheets to be delivered to my home by Monday.
I decided that I'd grab dinner in the restaurant and bar on the main floor. I sat at the bar having ordered a meal, drinking a mai tai when I noticed a group of people dressed as Jedi Knights walk in. I laughed to myself and then scanned the room. Noticing pockets of people dressed as elves, robots, Star Trek fleet officers and the like.
"What's going on with all the costumes," I asked the bartender when he brought my dinner to me.
"Oh, there's a big convention going on this weekend. It's mainly at the Convention Center, but every hotel within the city will have at least some cosplayers staying with them. We get more than most."
"Oh. That's pretty cool. I should look into going, since I'm here by myself this weekend."
I saw him take a renewed interest in me when I mentioned I was alone. I could have kicked myself. I definitely didn't want to draw that kind of attention.
"You should," he nodded with a grin. "With your hair like that, you're already half-way there."
I reached up to my hair, a bit embarrassed. I had colored it green, blue, and purple. It looked for all the world like the tail of a peacock. I'd done it because I had gone prematurely gray in my teens and now at the tender age of 28 I felt like an old woman with my naturally white hair. The unusual hair color made me feel more my actual age and at the same time brought out the youthfulness of my face and body.
"I don't have a costume, though," I said with a sigh.
"There are several designers that set up shop right here in the hotel for the weekend. You might even be able to find something off-the-rack."
"Maybe," I said doubtfully.
"I'll let you get back to your meal," he said, turning away. "Do let me know when you need anything else."
As I ate, the bar got more and more crowded. I noticed a group of guys off to my right who were watching a baseball game on one of the many TVs around the bar. It seemed they were very invested in the teams playing considering how loud they were being. Some of the smaller TVs indicated that Trivia Night would start soon and suggested getting a console for playing along. I motioned to the bartender and asked for a console. He returned with one in moments.
I logged in to the system and started playing along to the warm-up questions. One of the guys watching baseball slid in next to me at the bar.
"Playing Trivia tonight?" he asked, but it was more a statement than a question.
"Yeah," I said, not even turning to look at him, hoping that he'd get the hint that I was not interested in chatting. My first impression of him was that he reminded me of a brick wall, his chest was broad and hard, his arms thick and well-muscled. His voice reminded me of someone, but I couldn't put my finger on who.
"Are you any good at it?"
"I am incredibly good at... a lot of it," I said turning just slightly to look at him and then back to the console.
"Like what?" he pressed. I got the sense of a certain amount of boyish earnestness to the man, which was appealing, but I still wasn't interested in talking much. But I was raised not to be rude so I continued the conversation.
"Like I am good at science and art questions. Pretty decent at pop culture, except if it has to do with hip-hop, and terrible at sports unless it has to do with the Purdue Boilermakers, 'cause that's my Alma Mater."
"I can help you with the sports ones if you let me," he suggested. "We could play as a team."
"I don't know," I said, finally turning to face him and get a good look at him. "I don't know how long I'll want to play."
"We'll just play as long as you want," he said, his sincerity plain. I looked him up and down, he had a frat-boy vibe that was tempered with a bit more maturity. He was tall, well over 6', which I liked. At 5'10" I require tall men in my life. His hair was dark, his beard reddish and thick, but neatly trimmed, and his very white teeth incredibly even, either from good genes or good dental work. His blue eyes twinkled when he realized I was checking him out.
"Like what you see," he asked, letting out a genuine laugh.
"You look familiar," I said, tilting my head to one side. "Do I know you?"
"I am sure I'd remember meeting such a beautiful girl before, so I doubt it," he said, still smiling. "Especially a girl with rainbow hair."
"My hair hasn't always been this color," I reminded him. "Seriously, you look familiar. I recognize faces but cannot place them out of context.
"Are you sure you weren't in my Freshman Calculus Recitation or something?"
"At Purdue? No, I am sure I didn't go to Purdue. I am nowhere near smart enough for that. Isn't it Ivy League?"
"No, it's not.
"I hope you're better at sports trivia than you would be for a topic like 'Colleges and Universities'," I said, grinning.
"So now we know each other well enough for you to tease me?"
"I guess we do."
"In that case, I'm Connor," he said, holding out his hand.