I am the epitome of nerddom. You have seen me thousands of times, or at least someone who looks like me. You see, I stand five foot five, weigh no more than one hundred and twenty pounds, wear thick glasses, and in my opinion, sport a very small penis. But none of this matters, as I am always engrossed in my work. Computers and electronics. That's what I live and breathe, and therefore have no time to socialize with women.
I remember one day, long ago, a woman approached me as I worked on a debugging program. She asked if she could watch me work, as she was fascinated with what I did, but didn't understand it. I was a bit annoyed at all the questions she kept asking, but at the same time, I was flattered that someone took an interest in what I did. She came back every day for the rest of the week, spending at least an hour each time. Sometimes she would grill me constantly, and other times she just sat there watching. I actually grew accustom to having her there, and was able to relax a little. Friday rolled around, and she showed up like clockwork.
"Hey! Why don't we go grab some dinner somewhere?" she asked.
I dropped my screwdriver, and hit my head as bent over to pick it up. I then spilled a small container of machine screws, and she started giggling.
"I didn't mean to upset you!" she said with a smile.
"It's just that I don't go out much." I responded softly, as I closed up the little box of screws.
"Do you like Italian?"
"Yeah...I guess so." I didn't ask her if Spaghettios counted.
"Great! I'll meet you back here at quitting time!" She was gone before I could answer. Did she just con me into going on a date with her?
* * *
"Come on! Let's go!" she shouted as she burst into my corner. I had almost forgotten about dinner.
"Uh...maybe we should do this some other time." I said, trying to get out of it.
"Nonsense, you have to eat, so let's go!" She was already turning off lights, and grabbing my coat. Looks like I have no choice.
The restaurant was nice, but a bit dark for my liking, being used to florescent lights all day. I looked at the menu, having no idea what anything was.
"What are you going to have?" she asked, as she read off the menu.
"Uh... I don't know, what are you having?" She responded with some long word that ended in 'toni', and I said "Yeah, that sounds good too."
Fortunately, the waiter took her order first, and I just responded with "I'll have the same."
So far so good. I sat there not knowing what to say, and I think she could sense that. She carried the conversation, but it always centered around me. She never talked about herself, and the few times I asked her something, she would say "My life is boring, I want to talk about you."
Dinner was great, although I had no idea what I ate. Afterwards, she asked if I would walk her home, telling me she lived about three blocks away. As we waited at the corner for the light to change, she turned to me.
"You don't date very much, do you?"
"Uh... no, not really."
"Well, you should. Your pleasant to be with." The next block was walked in silence.
"This is it." she said as she stopped in front of the tall building. "Would you like to come up for a bit?"
"Uh...I really have to go, but it was nice having dinner with you." I turned and walked back home as she disappeared into the building.
I didn't see her again for several days, and actually worried that something was wrong. I knew she worked here somewhere, so I decided to stretch my legs and walk around. In all the years I have worked here, this is the first time I strolled around the office. There she was! She was sitting at a desk, talking on the phone. Well at least now I knew she was in the marketing division. I was about to return to my desk, knowing she was OK, when she saw me out of the corner of her eye. She smiled and waved me over as she wrapped up her conversation on the phone.
"Hi."
"Hi."
"Whatcha doin' over here?"
"Uh...I was just checking to make sure you were OK. Hadn't seen you in a while."
"You were worried about me? How sweet! I thought you didn't like me, so I quit bugging you."
"Why would you think that?"
"I don't know."
I pulled up a chair and sat down across from her. "I'm not real good with this dating thing. I don't go out much."
"So, exactly how many dates have you had?" she asked quietly.
"Uh...if you count the dinner we had, uh...one." I suddenly felt embarrassed, and looked down at my feet.
"Well, if you want, we could double that number by tonight." I was hooked.
"Yeah...that would be great!" I headed back to my cubicle and finished the project I had started earlier. But instead of starting another, I just sat there thinking about...about...I didn't even know her name yet! Now it was time to do some research. I had to find out more.