I never even got her name. I have no contact information for her, nor any way of ever seeing her again. Unless I see her ad again or go back to the same spot and hope she is still wearing her white Cashmere sweater and that it means the same thing it meant last week. I have jumped ahead a little bit...
(Last Thursday)
I was at work and bored as usual. I was flipping from sight to sight trying to find some way of passing my time. Nothing too graphic, mind you, you never know who may be looking at the history on a work computer. I was just bouncing around the singles sights and the boring dating sights looking for anything to pique my interest. Most of the ads looked a little wishy-washy and all required a picture to garner a response. I, of course, had no way to submit anything seeing how I have no pictures of any kind at my office. So, the lackluster experience was about to come to an end when a small non-glittering ad with no special accoutrements caught my eye. The heading was simple and to the point:
"I will be sitting next to the magazines at a table with one chair in the bookstore, wearing a white cashmere sweater. Tap me on the shoulder 3 times and I will know its you."
This approach was very new to me. This was clearly someone who was neither picky nor selective when it came to her trysts. I was instantly curious to see what happens when you tap her on the shoulder. I checked the timestamp on the post and realized that it had been posted about thirty-five minutes prior to my reading. It's possible that she may actually be there. I knew that the odds were against this even being a real situation, but being that there is only 1 bookstore near me, and her post fell within my zip code, I thought it might be worth a shot.
(15 minutes later)
I was in the process of parking my car in a busy parking lot in front of the busy store. Think supermarket sized bookstore and you will have an idea of where I was. The parking lot was easily half full, which meant there were probably about forty-five to fifty people inside. This should be interesting. As I was walking in, I found myself becoming a little nervous. I had never done anything like this and what was I going to say when I saw her and tapped her shoulder, assuming she was even there.
I nonchalantly walked into the store, looking the entire world like I did not belong there. I have a hefty build, similar to an athlete who has since ceased being an athlete over the last ten years, but still an attractive man. But not the scholarly looking type you expect to see in a bookstore. Granted, I am a very well read and educated man, but I am more of a library person, really. Passing through the automatic doors and cringing at the a-little-too-loud beep that announced my presence I made a beeline to the first set of shelves that I could find. They happened to be cooking, which was fine. I also began to notice that my hands were a little bit clammy and that my heart was fluttering a little. I felt as nervous as an eighth grader at his first dance.
(10 minutes later)
After glancing emptily at the cooking books and travel section I decided to meander over to the small cafe where all the tables were. I had calmed my self down a little bit by convincing myself that what I was doing was bordering on sheer idiocy. What kind of woman would post something like that and actually be here. Who was I kidding to think that someone would actually do this?
I continued to approach the cafe and when I came to the cafe, I took a brief look around. There were a few people there reading or talking but every table was filled. I looked closer at the tables and saw that three of them had only one chair. Unfortunately they were not filled with women wearing white cashmere. I muttered to myself of my own follies and got into line to get a coffee before I left. To my surprise, I got into line with a woman wearing a white cashmere sweater. She was holding a magazine and was staring quietly at the floor while the person in front of her ordered a coffee with far too many instructions to be considered coffee. She had a nice frame, not too thin, but definitely not fat. Curvy, I think is the word that people use to describe that build. She had long curly brown hair and an olive complexion that was reminiscent of Greek or somewhere else on the Mediterranean.
She moved forward in the line and began to say her order for some weird lemon chai tea something or other but I was not paying attention to her order. Here she was!! The Cashmere Sweater Girl. I was absolutely amazed and immediately my palms began to sweat again as my mind raced a hundred miles per minute. I glanced at the cafe tables and saw that one had just emptied and that it had two chairs in front of it as well as being right next to the magazine rack. She collected her drink and walked over to it and scooted the other chair over to another table with a quick apology to the woman there about being cramped. She sat down and opened her magazine and leaned back in her chair, looking as relaxed as a person could look.
"Sir." An impatient voice stirred from my staring. "Sir, would you like to order something?" a voice said as I brought my attention back to the counter where a pierced-nose'd teenager looked impatiently at me. I mumble an order quickly to her and gave her money and did not grab my change. I grabbed my drink tightly and began to walk towards the table where my cashmere'd angel was sitting.
(The moment of truth)