Shannon sat in her car as the rain beat down on her windshield. She checked her radio to see how much longer she could wait for the rain to stop before she would be late for her company's holiday party.
6:26
"Being an adult is so fun, they said," Shannon shoved her keys and phone into either side of her dress pockets and zipped up her jacket."All you have to do is pay bills and check the weather every morning..." She eyed her wallet as she had run out of space and decided to forfeit it in her glove compartment. "Company Party means the company pays, right?"
As the rain seemed to lighten up, she eyed her path to the front door of the restaurant. Once she got out of the car, she knew she'd be eyeing the pavement to avoid potholes and puddles, and she knew that the wet sea monster look would not be suitable, at least not for the Valentine's theme.
She quickly opened her door and paced through the rows of parked cars. While she mumbled encouraging words to herself as she tried to avoid taking the occasional side mirror to the hip, she was only pulled from her thoughts by a chivalrous voice.
"Umbrella?"
Shannon stood still as another car passed and she looked to see who the voice belonged to, and expected it to be Oscar from accounting, or another co-worker, that she wasn't quite ready to socialize with but nope, it was a stranger. "Thank you."
He stood a few inches taller than her and wore unframed glasses. He looked a bit like the secretly villainous character in an anime who is always pushing their glasses up their nose. His hair was blonde and curly like a 2000 Justin Timberlake but without making her crave ramen noodles.
"No worries, it looks like we're going in the same direction so I figured I could be a gentleman for a few minutes." They walked side by side as they stood along the sidewalk. It was like a game of Frogger, and fortunately, neither was interested in walking half a block to the actual crosswalk.
Suddenly he lowered the umbrella like a shield just as a car zoomed by hitting a set of potholes. Shannon had stepped back and had been blocked by the umbrella but when she looked back him standing next to the street with wet shoulders and dripping hair.
She could take in his outfit now and noticed that he had on tan dress pants, a thick black belt, and a maroon button-up dress shirt. He looked three levels of pissed, with a clenched jaw and furrowed eyebrows but didn't move or say anything. Meanwhile, Shannon was trying to stifle her laughter.
"Come on Captain let's get you dried off." She took his hand and quickly walked him across the street to the restaurant. Once inside she searched for the attention of the waiter. "Excuse me do you have air driers in your bathrooms?"
"It's alright" He suddenly spoke. "I'm a bit early for my date and I think it'll dry enough by then." Shannon turned to look at him and pinched the fabric of his shoulders questionably.
"Are you sure? I feel bad, despite, you know laughing a bit..."
He started towards a waiting bench that just cleared up as another party headed to their table. "You can make it up to me by keeping me company until my date arrives." He sat down, gestured for her to sit next to him, and cleaned his glasses with a handkerchief from his pants pocket. "So tell me, is Captain what the young people say these days when they address strangers?"
"Young people?" What are you like 30? You're aging yourself pretty badly." Shannon sat next to him and unzipped her jacket, to reveal her black dress. It was lace on top with a black-slip material sewn underneath. It wasn't form-fitting at all and fortunately, she had yet to meet an occasion where it didn't fit. Her black Doc Marten's however had a different story. Nonetheless, most people would see the dress, while her shoes hid quietly under the dinner table tonight. "I called you captain because you sort of looked like Captain America holding his shield back there."
He broke into a smile as he cracked his knuckles on one hand. That is when Shannon took the time to notice the absence of a ring on his finger. She briefly thought that he did look a bit attractive but remembered that he was here to see a date, so regardless if they were married or not, he seemed to be spoken for.
"What do you mean by 'sort of'? Maybe I'm the real deal." He moved himself closer to Shannon and then his face. "I'm white, I've served my country, I like manners, and I've been told I can crack walnuts..."
Shannon started to smile and felt a bit embarrassed and covered her mouth. "I thought you were a good guy but I think you might be a bit troublesome. Don't you have a date? Shouldn't she be here soon?"
He leaned back and started to smile as well. "You're right but love is in the air."
"Shannon!" Shannon looked in the direction of another voice calling her attention and recognized her co-worker, Toby. "C'mon back we're about ready to start. Grab your jacket, and you're plus one because we're about to have the first round of champagne coming around." Toby from payroll had a glass of something already in his hand and he pointed a finger between Shannon and the gentleman friend as he disappeared behind the curtain with his drink.
"Love may be in the air, but for me, at least not tonight." Shannon stood up and was surprised when the captain did too. "Well, if your date doesn't show up, it looks like you're more than welcome to join our party."
"On Valentine's Day?" He questioned.
"Yeah, the email subject said, "Who, needs Cupid when you have a cubicle?"
Captain started to give a partial smile as he checked his phone. The smile quickly wavered for a second but was just as quickly forced back. "Actually it looks like my date will not be coming after all so luckily for me I'm with you tonight.
...
Alright folks so at this point last year this is how much we did in sales. As you can see when it comes to subscriptions we increased our output but when it came to orders, those certainly hit a decline. Fortunately, the numbers balanced out and we did a little bit better than just breaking even...
Captain sat next to Shannon at their table while they looked at the PowerPoint slide up front. It had been a solid 45 minutes and the champagne certainly had not been flowing as Toby had hyped it up to be. Shannon and the Captian had decided to let some of their table guests believe they were indeed a couple for the night, just to make things more entertaining and playful. However, at this rate, the business side of things had stripped the feeling of love, romance, fun, or relaxation.
"I thought you said this was a company party?" He whispered into Shannon's ear. She nearly jumped at the sound and feeling of his breath on her shoulder. "Don't talk so close to my ear? How do you know your breath doesn't stink?"
"Because I am very..." He slipped his arm over her shoulder and leaned past her ear and fully into her neck "particular about what...and who I put in my mouth."
Shannon turned toward him and gently pushed his face away. "You can get as flirty as you want once the lights come on and the projector is put away."
