It was a hot, humid day and I wasn't in the best of moods - my clothes were clinging in all the wrong places, my hair was wispy and sticking to my cheeks and forehead, and generally, I was not having a good day. I'd forgotten just how much I hated summer until it came around, and I was praying for the day the leaves began to fall and I could legitimately return to my legwarmers and cosy days huddled against the radiator.
I had my folder clasped to my chest as I looked up, only to realise I'd somehow managed to almost collide with a large, hard chest - it took me a second to realise that a chest must be connected to a body and therefore a person, and I was not in the mood to make an apology and move to one side. Sadly, however, that I had to do so I looked up to meet the owner of said torso in the face and move to one side - but that was about as far as I got before my heart began to race as I laid eyes on one of the cutest guys I'd seen in quite a while - perhaps that's a testament to my nonexistent sex and love life, but nonetheless - wow.
It was about five seconds after I'd realised he was there that I remembered that in general society you ought to say something after almost walking straight into someone, and I opened my mouth with the vague intention of saying sorry and walking right on by - typically, I was unable to formulate that single word and out of my mouth fell a somewhat disheveled "um...", adding rather neatly to the idiotic portrayal I was giving.
His mouth twitched and he shifted his weight from his left leg to his right, giving me a slow up and down appraisal that I did not under any standards deserve - not that I was complaining at all, since every centimetre of my body seemed to jump to attention. Despite the hot climate, I was suddenly grateful for the folders clasped to my chest as it hid the fact that my nipples were peaking against the thin cotton of my t-shirt, and I fidgeted even as I regained control of my voice and managed to expel a "sorry about that" from my lungs.
"It's fine," he said, his voice deeper than I'd expected. He grinned again and I wondered if hot flushes were common in women of my age - weren't you supposed to get them during menopause? Was I abnormal, or was this man just devastatingly lethal? He leant slightly closer to me, and I bit my lip, wondering what was coming next - "you might need to buy me a drink to make up for it, though..."
I smiled back, trying to disguise the fact that my heart was beating so fast I thought it might fall out of my chest - this was flirting, for Gods' sake, I knew how to do it. At least, I thought I did... I took a breath in, flickering my eyes down over his body since looking in his eyes was doing me no favours whatsoever - "oh, is that so? I didn't realise there was a penalty for almost colliding with people..."
"Normally there isn't," he replied, leaning a little closer again, "but I don't normally almost walk into people quite as pretty as you."
I could feel my cheeks flushing and I cursed the weather - it was so typical that I'd blush at a point where I was practically melting anyway, wasn't it? My mouth suddenly felt parched and over his shoulder I could see a stall selling lemonade - my eyes darted to that at the moment he jerked his head in that direction - "only joking, if you take a seat, I'll get you a juice - you certainly look like you need one..."
Before I could think of a reply to that, he had turned around and was heading over to the cart leaving me to quickly snaffle two seat in the shade - the feel of the cooler air over my clammy skin was a blessed relief and my head cleared enough for me to recall the double intender in his last comment - oh God, was it obvious; the reaction I'd had to him? I caught my lip between my teeth, watching as he turned around with two cups of tangy juice in his hand and came towards me. My legs suddenly felt cumbersome and I didn't know where to put them; I settled for crossing them and by the time I realised that that only added to the close feeling of the day, he was sitting next to me and handing me a drink.
"Here," he said and I nodded in thanks, wrapping my fingers around the cool plastic and looking down at the pale liquid.
"So who do I have to thank for the drink, then..?" I asked him, looking up from under my eyelashes in a faint attempt at a seductive poise, only to find him closer than I expected, barely five centimetres away from my face.