This very short story was inspired by a strange dream I had the other day. I hope you like it!
This is a work of fiction. All persons are 18 or older.
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"Paul, you want to come to lunch with us?" It was Jenny, the lovely girl I'd been dreaming about for a few weeks now, ever since she started working here in the department adjacent to my own. She was at the rear of her group of coworkers, who were all going out the door.
"Sorry Jenny, I'd like to but I can't get away right now. Enjoy your lunch," I said.
"Okay, bye," she said, and I watched her disappear through the door.
Jenny was beautiful and very different from me. She was about twenty years old. I was a few years older. She was an American-born Filipina, thin, with dark almond eyes. My eyes were deep-set and blue. Her skin was browner in hue but not darker than my lightly tanned Irish-English skin. Her hair was long, straight, luxuriously shiny and black. My hair was wavy and ash blonde. She stood about half a head shorter than me. I barely knew her, but I was wildly attracted to her. Something about her face felt to me like home.
I wondered if she was just being polite in inviting me, or if she liked me. I was starting to realize I would probably never find out, and never date her even if she did like me back. Our schedules were so different that having lunch together would be almost impossible.
Just one more way in which my life was completely mediocre. Why did I have to be so shy and so overworked, in a department full of the most boring coworkers? If there was a contest for most boring department, mine would win, no contest. I seemed to be doomed to watch other people have fun while I was shut out from joining in. I felt like a passenger on the road of life, not the driver I wanted to be.
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On my next day off I took the train to the park where I play baseball with a group I found on Meetup. With the game almost over and the score really close, I tried a little too hard to score a run and slid into home plate. I scored the run but there were pebbles embedded in the ground and my entire side got scraped up, from calf to hip. My thin gym shorts and underwear got torn up also. We won the game but at that point I didn't really care. Someone there had a first aid kit and patched me up most of the way, and I finished the job in the public restroom nearby. I threw the underwear and shorts in the trash and put on some sweatpants I had in my bag. I didn't bring extra underwear.
On the train ride home I tossed my bag and hoodie into the empty window seat and sat in the aisle seat. The ride was uneventful until I heard two women gabbling to each other in French behind me. Their voices got louder as they walked down the aisle toward me.
