Monday, March 09/20
So last week I was sitting with Barry and Chris having lunch at the cafe in our building when the oddest thing happened.
We take lunch together a few times a week as it gets us off our floor, whether it means we go somewhere or just eat our lunches downstairs and talk about a little of everything.
Lately, we've been keeping an eye out for Lena to see who she is having lunch with as we like to name her lunch partners and give them a back story. Lena is friends with Susan from AR and is a very attractive woman of Russian heritage, imagine blue-eyed determination meets blond runway model and you've got Lena. Between us, we've decided to name her usual lunch dates Yuri and Vasiliev, tough-looking former Spetsnaz type characters, probably not what they actually did but it's our lunchtime ritual so live with it. I sort of think Susan has given her a heads up about us as she likes to look over our way and smile in such a manner that sort of says to us "behave, boys"
So there we were sitting having lunch and talking about this project we have all been tasked with when Chris looked up and smiled at someone sitting off to my left. I didn't pay much attention to it until he did so again a moment later and was joined by Barry. I looked between them and laughed and said "Let me guess, Lena, is here with the thugs and smiled at you"
Chris looked over at me and said "not even close, though the women is a drop-dead gorgeous blond, she's no Lena by a long shot, but I'd bet Lena would like to be her"
Barry chuckled and said "Lena is hot but this woman could bend a man to her will, and I'm married and saying this without any hesitation"
Chris got this frown on his face and I asked what was up and he looked over at Barry and then over at me and said something completely unexpected "I think she's staring at you"
Barry looked her way, at Chris, back her way, then at me before adding "Damn, I think Chris is right, you should look over at her and see if you know her"
I laughed and told them both they needed to get some help and maybe Chris needed to start wearing his glasses more often.
I'll admit that my focus was totally on the bowl of cream of broccoli soup that I was filling with a lot of crushed crackers as Marcus does love him some good soup and pretty much nothing else at the moment.
I caught Chris still looking past me at the mysterious woman who had totally become the focus of my two friends and told him to just go over and talk to her.
"Dude, I'm telling you she is checking you out, hell she was just tilting her head a bit when looking at you"
"Let me see if I understand this, you're telling me a gorgeous woman is staring at me, at completely out of shape me, the guy who doesn't attract any attention at all?"
Barry laughed and said "Hey, we're as confused as you are buddy"
My "Thanks for that resounding vote of confidence asshole" was met with laughter just before Chris's eyes got very large and he whispered "Holy shit, she's walking over here, play it cool"
I looked to my left as she stopped at the table and was met by one of the best smiles I've ever seen, matched only by brown eyes I could see myself staring into for hours, should I ever be that lucky.
Not even looking at Barry or Chris, she said to me "Sorry for interrupting your lunch, but you look very familiar and I'm sure we've met before but can't place it"
I took a very slow look at her from her impeccable Jimmy Choos to her pencil skirt and light blue sleeveless blouse finishing with those eyes, which displayed some amusement, and she asked if things met my approval, which made my soon to be former friends burst out laughing.
I'm sure the blush at being caught red-handed cataloging her was proof enough that my approval was so not needed.
I smiled and asked what was the question again, which made her laugh and the sound was like the scent of lavender on a spring day, peaceful and enticing, and I totally felt like I was in over my head with this woman, a woman I'd literally just met.
"It might help if we knew each other's name don't you think, I'm Marcus and you are..."
"Hmmm.....Marcus, well Marcus, I'm Kate and it's nice to meet you, maybe even for the 2nd time"
"I'm confident that if I'd have ever met you before I'd remember but can honestly say I don't think we have, much to my regret"
"Odd, you look so familiar it's sort of driving me nuts not being able to remember"
I smiled and reached out to shake her hand, not having a clue what made me do so as it seemed kind of an odd thing to do at that point "It's my pleasure Miss Kate, please tell me, or at least lie to me if it isn't, a good familiarity on your part towards me"
She looked back over at her friends as they were all starting to stand up and getting ready to leave
before smiling at me and replying "It's looking good so far and I'll let you know what I'm able to come up with the next time we see one another"
"The next time?"
She started to turn to join her friends and looked back at me as she smiled and said "I'm sort of counting on it" and then walked down the concourse towards the other office tower in our complex.
I stared at her not even realizing that both Chris and Barry had stood up and been standing next to me watching Kate and her friends walk away.
Chris elbowed me and said "If I hadn't been here myself, I'd have never believed it" and Barry added "No shit".
Barry asked me if I didn't really remember her as she seemed pretty positive she knew me or had at least met me before, and met me in such a way that didn't leave her with a bad impression.
I sort of laughed and reminded them that I wasn't total neanderthal and did know how to act with a lady.
Chris snapped at me "All evidence to the contrary my friend, you just let her walk away without exchanging contact information"
Barry smirked and said "He was too busy watching her ass as she walked out of his life"
"No, that wasn't what had me mesmerized, I realized as she was walking away from me that she has short hair, it's my kryptonite"
"So what now Romeo?" was the rejoinder from Chris to which I replied "Hell if I know, maybe I've just been pranked"
"No, that wasn't the look of someone pranking another person, there's some real interest there, that's the look my wife gave me when we first met" was the final comment by Barry before we headed back to work.
I've spent the last few days pondering what happens next and I think I'm just going to leave things up to fate.
Life can be so confusing: I go from my nightmare with Jessica to this random encounter with Kate that leaves me scratching my head in wonderment.
My name is Marcus and sometimes being mistaken for someone can be a real boost to one's ego ;-)
My musical suggestion for today is "Get Up" by Mother Mother. I've suggested other tunes from this Vancouver Indie band before and hope you give them a chance to win you over as well.
Hit me up at ooasm2018@gmail.com and let's have a dialogue about anything and everything :-)
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