I feel old.
Especially being a "middle-aged" guy in a small midwestern college town, it feels like EVERYONE I see on a daily basis is half my age. I generally didn't engage with many of the college kids, so it almost felt like they were in a different world than me. One exception was my local coffee shop.
I'm a sucker for a daily routine, and I like to support local businesses, so despite the two Starbucks with drive-thru windows in town, I went almost every day to a local shop in our small downtown. One bonus to going in person is I got to interact a bit with the younger crowd in a natural way.
Today I walked into my coffee shop and one of my favorite baristas was working. There were maybe 8-10 girls who cycled through the various shifts at the shop, and the owner had a knack for hiring a specific type of girl. College-aged obviously, but typically thin, outgoing, pretty girls greeted you every time you walked in the door.
Anyway, the aforementioned favorite barista was named Kristina. She wasn't the typical kind of vapid pretty girl who worked there. She was still gorgeous, but had a smarter kind of confidence to her. She got my little jokes that I made every time we had to make small talk while my coffee was being made, she wasn't afraid to dish out the occasional jab. I felt like when I got a smile out of her I had earned it.
Today when I saw her she didn't seem to be smiling so much. I ordered a breakfast sandwich and debating engaging her. The last thing I wanted to do was be a creepy older dude prying into the lives of the 20 year old barista. Or just being the douchebag who tells a girl she should be smiling more. But I figured I'd give her an opening to open up. "So, how's your day so far?"
Her shoulders slumped and she paused, almost like she was debating whether she wanted to open up to me. We had a friendly rapport but weren't exactly friends. But sometimes people need to talk, and when she turned around her eyes were a little wet and I could see she was anxious to talk to someone.
"Just the usual college shit, but my car is making noises and I'm afraid to take it to shop because I can barely afford rent this month, let alone some ridiculous car repair. Like, I know, such a cliché, single college girl working as a part-time barista has no money, but... guh, I need to find a second job and I just don't have the time." She paused, and I could tell she was starting to regret getting emotional. "Sorry. I hate money. It's hard enough to get hours here to jibe with my classload, I just don't know how I'm going to get a second job."
I looked at her for a bit, going over what I knew of her, trying to think of some way to help. If I'm completely honest, if it wouldn't have been creepy as fuck I just would have offered to fix her car for you. I'm divorced, have no kids, and managed a tech company I had founded several years back. I'm not rich rich, but was doing well enough that I wouldn't notice paying a thousand dollars or whatever for her car. But even being the socially awkward nerd that I was, I realized that was not an appropriate thing to offer someone.
Suddenly I had an idea. "Dogs!" I yelled out. She jumped a bit, startled by my outburst. "Sorry. I just remembered you love dogs. I just got a new puppy, plus my older dog, and work has been busy as shit lately, I could use someone to walk my dogs! I've been dreading trying to find a stranger to do it, but you're... mostly not a stranger."
She briefly looked hopeful, but then deflated. "That sounds great but I don't know how I can do it with my classes...."
I stopped her. "I just need someone to come to the house once or twice a day, no schedule required. I'll give you, like, 40 bucks a visit." Her eyes perked up at that. I knew it was on the higher side for what she was doing, but honestly I was just trying to find an excuse to help her out.
"Mike. This is so generous, you really don't have to do that."
"I'm not kidding, I need this service, you're helping ME."
She gave a little jump and said "then ABSOLUTELY! This is great!"
"Awesome. I have a guy you can call about your car too, he'll give you a deal. You can just stop by some night this week and I'll introduce you to the dogs and show you where all their stuff is."
"How about tonight?" Wow, I guess she was eager.
"Uh, sure, tonight is fine. 7Pm or so?"
"Yes! See you then!! Thanks again Mike!!" I gave her my address, got my sandwich and coffee, and headed out to work.
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Later that night, I had just ordered pizza and was relaxing with a beer, scrolling through my phone, when I heard a loud squealing sound coming down my driveway. I briefly thought my pizza got here in record time, but then realized it was Kristina. Her car did sound awful.....
I threw leashes on the dogs and went out to greet her. It was a warm spring night, and she was wearing sandals, a pair of tight shorts and a loose half shirt that let me see her entire midriff. One of the sexiest looks on any woman, in my opinion, and Kristina was no exception. Her medium large breasts kept the half shirt swaying in front of her as she walked, almost threatening to give a glimpse underneath every time she stepped. I was so distracted by her that I dropped the leashes and the dogs immediately ran up to her. She knelt down to pet them -- I could see they would do just fine together -- as I snapped out of my ogling and apologized. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to unleash the hounds on you."
I don't think she could even hear me as the dogs licked her on both sides of her face. I was almost light-headed how good she looked in that moment. Squatting down and leaning forward to pet the dogs I could see her ample cleavage showing, and her smile went ear to ear playing with the dogs. I left her to snuggle with them for a few seconds, and finally figured we should move on. "OK, come on boys, I know she's hard to resist." Uhoh, creepy old guy coming out again. "You ready to see the place?"
She stood up with the leashes in her hand and smiled. "yup, let's do it!"
As we walked into the kitchen from the driveway she got wide-eyed. "I LOVE your house!" It wasn't ostentatious, but I had spent a lot on making it an authentic arts and crafts style bungalow, so it had a lot of style that people took to, especially coming from a dorm room or apartment.
"Hey thanks, I'm really happy with it. Anyway, all the dog stuff is in this closet. You don't have to feed them or anything but treats, poop bags, all that fun stuff. If you can just take them for a walk so they get some exercise and give them some attention whenever you have time it would be awesome. I'll pay you for as many visits as you can manage. Here's a key." She took it and looked up at me, staring right into my eyes very earnestly. The happiness from a few minutes ago seemed gone.
"Mike, seriously, I really appreciate this, the extra money is a huge help, but I saw that mechanic you recommended earlier today, and he said just the parts are going to be like 1500 bucks. He said he'd do the work for free because of you, but the parts are still that expensive. I don't even know if my car will get me here, and even the generous amount you're paying me won't get me what I need for a long time. I hate to ask, I'm so embarrassed, but are there any other things I can do around here to make some cash?"
I really felt for her, and almost debated just offering to pay for her car right then. "Uh, sure, I cold use some housekeeping stuff done, and the pool and spa need to be maintained. I can get you a few extra bucks." As she looked up at me I was struck by how close she was to me.
"Did you say spa?" she said with a crooked smile.
"Yeah, I got a hot tub last year, it's the best! Just needs the chemicals tested and balanced every few days; here, let me show you." I led her through the house to the back yard where the in-ground pool and hot tub were. "Here it is. All the test strips and chemicals are in here, so just pop it open like this and follow the instructions on this sheet here." I pointed to the sheet, and then opened the top of the tub to show her that.
