Dear Reader,
This is not a very long piece but the naughty bits are well into the second half of the story. If you're looking for something quicker, you might want to try some of the other excellent fare on the site. For those who are staying, hope you enjoy it and I would suggest you have a look at the tags first to avoid any unexpected surprises.
Suggestions for improvements are welcome! Please be polite.
------------------------
Like most things in life, it had started fairly innocuously. I was going through my emails on the phone when I head a polite cough with an equally polite, "Excuse me," following it.
He stood at the other end of the table, head cocked towards me as he waited for my attention. There was a coffee in one hand and a plate with a bagel on it in the other. "All the empty tables are taken," he said, his voice quiet but clear, and still very polite. "Would you mind sharing your table with me?"
The Bitter Bean
was a great breakfast cafe except for the fact that it was a tiny hole in the wall. It only had space for five tables and enough wiggle room for you to just about not bump into them as you navigated towards your seat. Of course, it hadn't escaped my notice that he had ignored two relatively free tables on his way to mine, which was the furtherest from the counter. The answer as to why seemed obvious: there was a guy sitting at each of those tables.
I took a bit of time and made a show of looking at the two other obvious choices he could have made before giving him a light nod of acceptance. "Sure, go ahead." I went back to my phone. Polite or not, I had no interest in being hit on by some random guy just before work.
It looked like he either got the hint, or had no interest in chatting with me in the first place. I could hear him quietly eat his bagel and coffee as I went through the rest of my emails. Finally done, I put my phone away and took a large bite of the Bean's heavenly jam donut and a sip of my waiting coffee.
"I...," I heard him start. I sighed internally. Here came the bad pick up lines. Just when my opinion of him had gone up several notches.
I looked at him. He was looking down at the table, face lightly flushed, apparently trying to make up his mind. He then squared his shoulders and looked up at me. "Uhh... you probably thought that I came to your table just because you were a woman sitting alone," he finally uttered.
I raised an eyebrow in response but didn't say anything, waiting for him to go on. The flush slowly suffused his face as he continued. "I'll be honest, I didn't beeline to you because you were a pretty woman, it's more because you are the only person in the cafe I recognized." He saw the look of surprise on my face, because I obviously didn't recognize him, and hastily continued, "We work at the same building. I'm at
Format Solutions
... two floors below you."
The analysis firm I worked in was located in an office building downtown that housed a few other firms as well,
Format Solutions
being one of them. It hadn't escaped my notice that he had slipped in the word 'pretty' and had figured out exactly which floor I was on. I was still suspicious that this was some roundabout way of hitting on me, and it did look like he had been noticing me for a while, but for the life of me I could not remember his face. There were a few hundred people that worked there but he should have triggered some trace of recognition.
"I don't recognize you," I said honestly as I took a better look at his face. Pale skin, short blond hair, light blue eyes and light scars on his cheeks that told me of the pimples that must have plagued his teenage years. Most likely on the younger side of twenty five. He wasn't incredibly handsome but neither was he ugly. The cuter side of plain with a slightly nerdy bent. At any rate, he didn't seem to be one of those macho, overconfident guys I was occasionally plagued with, so he would probably leave me alone if I had to shut him down.
"Oh yeah, I'm a new hire. I only started about four months ago." Ah! That made more sense. "I was originally taking the bus from Central but someone from office told me that the stop from here was much more efficient," he continued. "Anyway it was a nice surprise to see a familiar face... I just didn't want you to think I was being a creep," he finished lamely.
"People assume you are one a lot?" I asked.
"Uh no, no." He looked like I'd hemmed him into a corner. "I should have just kept my mouth shut, huh?"
"Oh, I don't know... I just found out some guy's been checking me out for four months behind my back." The devilish part of me was enjoying his discomfort. His demeanor told me that he wasn't a creep, just socially awkward. I still wasn't completely convinced that he wasn't trying to chat me up. "I mean, what else am I supposed to assume? You couldn't find another girl to look at, or was my brown skin a little too
exotic
for you to ignore?" Time to see how he'd react to that last bit.
"No, I wasn't checking you out!" He was fighting back a little, vocally at least. Not a complete pushover then. "And your race has nothing to do with it. Look, I'll just leave you be, I can see that I'm making you uncomfortable. I'm sorry for any trouble I caused." He began to gather his things.
I might have pushed him too far. Feeling a little guilty, I tried to delay him. "You should finish your breakfast at least. And are you just going to walk away without telling me your name?"
He hesitated, half out of his chair. He was probably wondering if I was asking his name so that I could make a complaint. "Brian," he said at last.