The scent of fresh bread and pickled vegetables permeated the air as Griffin pushed open the door to the sandwich shop. It was evening, only about a half-hour before closing time. Aside from himself, there was one other customer, a petite, blonde woman in a calf-length black skirt and a gray sweater. She was hemming and hawing over her sandwich order, mumbling contradictions like "Do you have salt-free pickles?" and "Hmm, lite mayo- wait, no mayo." The woman behind the counter, a tall redhead with bags under her eyes, looked more and more exhausted with each comment.
Griffin waited, eying the blonde's backside without bothering to be subtle. She was so engrossed in her order, and the redhead was so drained by her work, that he figured neither of them would notice a little harmless oogling. He wished idly that she was wearing something more revealing; her long skirt fanned outward instead of clinging, and he could barely make out the shape of her curves under her sweater.
The blonde leaned forward, tapping her finger on the glass that separated her from the sandwich fixings, and her sweater rode up half an inch, revealing a hint of smooth skin just above her skirt.
Griffin stared at her bare skin, which was
just
enough to kickstart his imagination, but not nearly enough for him to come to any actual conclusions about her body. A few seconds later, she rocked back on her heels, causing the sweater to drop. He had to bite his lip to keep from vocalizing his disappointment.
Griffin glanced around the sandwich shop. His gaze skirted over crumb-covered tabletops and sticky soda fountains before they landed on an analog clock hanging above a door with an
Employees Only
sign fixed on it. It read 8:34, though with every passing second, the longest hand ticked away toward 8:35. Griffin closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and, with the clock at the center of his thoughts, willed time to slow to a stop around him.
The drone of the blonde's indecision stopped abruptly, as did the hum and buzz of the machinery behind the counter. Griffin slowly opened his eyes to find the blonde poised in directing the redhead, who had a clump of spinach in her half-raised hand. The two were frozen in the previous moment, as was everything around them, except for Griffin.
Griffin stepped forward until he was directly behind the blonde. She was at least a foot shorter than him, a height difference that thrilled him. He slipped her purse off of the crook of her arm and rummaged in it until he found her wallet. He flipped through her credit cards and IDs, searching for her name.