The day couldn't have possibly been worse: after two job interviews and promising feedback, I had been told over the phone that the position was given to another candidate.
I was in shock as I hung up the phone, keeping my professional cool by saying 'Oh ok' loud and clear as if it was all fine with me. But inside I felt so disappointed that I had to sit down and shake my head after I hung up. I had been so close, I thought, so close... one of the two finalists...
It had been a job I really wanted: closer to home, a lot more pay, everything I wanted... and the worst of it was that I hadn't done anything wrong. I knew I had been good at promoting myself and my strengths. The other person had just had a tad more experience...
Still shaking my head every now and then, I opened a bottle of wine and sat in front of my computer, trying to find something to occupy my time with. I didn't care what it was - I just wanted to think of anything but this job I did not get.
And that's when I heard the knock on the front door. And right there and then I was annoyed. Looking at the time on the computer screen, I saw that it was 10pm. Who had the nerve to bother me at this time? But then again, I could not ask for any better victim of my down-in-the-dumps-mood. Bring it on, I thought, as I made my way to the front door.
It had been raining, finally, after weeks of dryness. It was foggy and the air smelled of fresh grass and Spring. Who cares, I thought, as I opened the door.
Did I mention the day couldn't have been worse. Well, forget that, because what stood there in front of my house was none other than the one man I did not want to see. Seeing him was the point on the i, the wrong icing on a messed up cake, the final bad episode to an already screwed up day.
I took a deep breath. 'What do you want, Paul?' I said, or rather, I snarled, not caring about what or how I was saying it whatsoever. I looked at the watch on my arm. 'It is past 10pm. What in the world is so important that it can't wait until tomorrow?'
My question had been only rhetorical in nature. I knew Paul well enough to know that he had a damn good reason to knock on my door this late in the evening. He was a pretty straight-forward kind of guy: being a builder and having his own company, he got up with the birds and went to bed before anybody else. And he was conservative as hell, non-talkative, and he kept to himself, wanting everybody to mind his own business and leave him alone. All that wrapped in a cute package of a 35 year old body of 6 feet and strong muscles - it drove me crazy.
Needless to say he was not interested in the least. He avoided me, to tell the truth, and I hated myself for being attracted to him no matter how obvious it was that he was totally emotionally unavailable and unfit for a relationship. I hadn't had a man in almost two years and all I wanted was fuck him. But hell, he wasn't interest in that, either.
So what did he want, then?
I stared at him standing in front of me, one step down, exactly at my own height now. He was gorgeous, dressed in jeans and a buttoned shirt. My perfect victim. Fists burried in the pockets of my jeans, I stood there, determined to not make the first move, at least not now, even though I always did.
'You left a message on my machine the other day.' he said finally, in a kind of shaky voice. But maybe that was just my imagination. He couldn't possibly be unsure of himself. No, he couldn't be, I wouldn't let him. I needed a fearless person I could let my anger out on without feeling bad about it.
Yes, I had left a message on his machine, thanking him for fulfilling his last agreement on the house we had made half a year ago upon me signing the contract. He had been a total jerk two weeks prior to my phone call, listing all the favors he thought he had ever done for me within the last half year when I called him on the outstanding agreement.
'What about it?' I said, still determined to make him do all the work in this conversation. The hell with all my communication and mediation skills. I wasn't on the job now.
'I just want to say I don't mind talking to you.' he said, finally looking me in the eye.
'Oh yeah?' I said, trying to beat the devilish smile that krept onto my face. I knew he was trying. I knew right there and then he had been thinking about me for the last three days. And I loved to see him squirm.
'How come you haven't been working the last two Saturdays since our little arguement?' This was an understatement. In fact, I had been driving away crying after he had recounted every little incident in our professional 'relations' where he had been nice to me.