Day 3

We arrived at the same time today, he held the door open for me, and we walked into a long line of waiting people. It was cloudy and looked as if it were about to rain at any second; people were scrambling for their caffeine fix before then. A group came in behind us, and suddenly we were standing inches apart from each other. I turned my head to look up and up at him as he stood behind me, it was easy to forget how tall someone is when you always see them sitting down. He smiled down at me. I noticed I barely came to his chin, and couldn’t help but wonder how we would be able to kiss with that much distance. The lady in front of me suddenly took a few steps back, shoving me into him. His hands went to my hips, to steady me. I forgave the lady when she apologized, how could I not when I was standing up against someone as tasty as Paul. His hands lingered on my hips for a few seconds longer than he needed to, then he slowly let me go. But we were still pressed into each other as we made our way to the counter.
Being against him, I could feel his lower chest all the way down to his hips as they touched my back. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the sensation. By now we could have separated, but he didn’t and I wasn’t about to. You know that saying ‘butterflies in my stomach’, well there were millions of them, flying around in a tornado inside me.

Our table was available somehow, and we grinned at each other as we walked over and sat down. I left my notebook at my desk, and he again was without his briefcase.

“I have to say, I’m sad that they are out of cinnamon rolls,” he said nodding toward the counter.

“Me too, it’s my daily vise,” I grinned, although my stomach was spinning and I wasn’t so sure I could eat the pastry.

“I can see why.”

“Let’s hope these danishes are a good substitute.”

They were, and we both declared that now we had a dilemma on which to choose at our next visit. I was only a few bites in when we heard a thunderclap, and turned to see that it was raining heavily. We watched as people ran on the sidewalk, having been caught without an umbrella.

“Shit,” I said suddenly realizing I didn’t have one either.

“What?” he asked sounding concerned.

“My umbrella is sitting on my desk.”

“If it helps, mine is sitting on my kitchen counter,” he said with a laugh.

“Isn’t the drowned rat look in these days?” I asked seriously.

“It is today anyway,” he said nodding to the people outside.

“I’d call in sick if I could,” I said slumping back in my seat with a laugh.

“Raining should equal a day off, in my book.”

“It should be a law.”

We sat smiling at each other, looking away from time to time, in silence for a bit. I wasn’t sure what to say to him and those damn butterflies were getting more and antsier every time our eyes met.

“Do you have any big plans this weekend?” he asked softly.

Sighing, “Not really, unless you consider grocery shopping big plans.”

“No not really,” he said laughing, “I’m going back home for the weekend.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“I’m hoping,” he said almost sadly, and then he cleared his throat, “So, uh, are you dating anyone?”

“No, not for a while now,” I answered with a laugh.

“Me either,” he said softly giving me a smile.

I grinned back like a moron, I couldn’t think of anything to say.

“Are you free next weekend?”

“Yes.”

Smiling, “Here, Saturday at 6?”

“Sounds great.”

I was the one who noticed the time today. We both grudgingly stood up and walked to the door. It was still raining in heavy sheets, our cars were parked around the corner and there was no way we wouldn’t be soaked by the time we got to them.

“Here,” he said and I watched him take his suit jacket off, “I knew there was a reason I wore this today.” He held it over my head and we ran for it.

If it wasn’t for him I would have slipped and fallen on my ass as we turned the corner. He dropped one arm from his jacket to catch me, but this time he didn’t let me go. He kept one arm around my waist and the other still held up our makeshift umbrella. It hadn’t really helped; we were both soaked by the time we got to our cars.

“See you Monday!” he shouted above the rain as I scrambled with my keys.

“One-thirty sharp!” I yelled back. He waited until I was safely in my car before he took off to his truck three vehicles down.



It turned out to be one of the longest weekends of my life.