Mark & Beth
(A G2S story)
Beth sat watching the two men as they talked, sitting at the booth in the restaurant. One was quite tall, broad shouldered with sandy hair and had a short beard. The other was a little shorter and a lot skinnier, yet he still had an handsome, clean shaven face. The two of them had come in right after she had sat down to eat and ever since she couldn't help sneaking clandestine glances, noticing little details about them.
Beth was alone tonight, like most nights, having a quick sandwich. With work being so busy she rarely had time for anything else. It had been months since she had any interaction with her friends outside of the occasional Facebook post.
The thought of having dinner with a friend like these two men were doing, seemed so impossible right now. She was jealous but knew that in a few months she would finally be on top of her work load and be able to take some time off. It wasn't like she was going to be stuck in this job forever, right?
Just keep telling yourself that, she thought, resigned to her probable fate. She turned her attention back to her dinner. A chicken sandwich, with light cheese and sauce on the side.
She took out her phone and checked to see if she had any new emails, her work would probably have sent her something new for tomorrow already.
"Damn, that looks good." Beth's head snapped up at the voice. She had been so intent on what she was doing on her phone she hadn't noticed that someone had walked over to her table. It was the taller and broader one of the two men that she had just been studying.
He was just as tall as she thought from a distance, well over 6 foot, and broad shouldered. He was also the one with the bluest eyes she had ever seen, she noticed now that he had come closer.
"Huh?" she said and had to force herself to keep from smacking her head with her palm in frustration. Out of all the things she could have said when a man this gorgeous walks up to you, she chose to grunt like a cave woman.
She knew it was because he had caught her off guard, coupled with the fact that she was tired and not used to the attention of random, handsome strangers, but still wished the first word out of her mouth was a little more elegant. Might as well go for it.
"Do you want a piece, I could tear some off for you?" she asked, and instantly regretted it. Even toddlers know you don't take food from strangers and here she was, offering him some of her already chewed on sandwich like a lunatic. This man, and those wonderful blue eyes that looked like they belonged to an ice dragon, was just making her so flustered she was making a dork out of herself.
"Um, I do, but I think I will just order a whole one next time," he said.
"That would probably be better," Beth said, happy to be off the hook. "It is the Thursday special, every week."
"I'm Mark," he said simply, and smiled while he waited for Beth to give him her name.
"Bethany Moss, but I go by Beth for short, and it is nice to meet you, Mark" she said. She saw over his shoulder that his companion was paying and talking to the waiter. It looked like he was flirting with the man, too.
"Are you here every Thursday? For the special?" Mark asked her and she returned her attention to him.
"I'm here almost every day, now that you mention it," she said.
"My boyfriend and I just moved here, we might see you around," Mark said, smiling broadly.
"That would be wonderful," Beth said and meant it, as it would be nice to meet a new friend and not have to eat alone every night. It took a second for the fact that he had casually mentioned that he had a boyfriend to sink in. She guessed what they always said was true, the good ones were either taken or gay.
Well, she hadn't been looking for anything like that to begin with, it was only when she got lost in his eyes did she start having naughty thoughts.
Mark's boyfriend came up to join them. "Hey, I want you to meet a new friend of mine," Mark said to him. "Paul, this is Beth." Paul looked her up and down and she felt that he was trying to hold back a sneer. She didn't like being judged solely on the fact that she was a woman and therefore, not worthy of interest, like a few gay men did, and had a feeling that was exactly what was happening now from Paul.
"Right", Paul said, dragging the word out unnecessarily. It wasn't flat out an insult, but the way he played with the word, and the roll of his eyes, made it obvious he was trying to make it one. She brushed it off.
"Yeah, I was just telling Mark what I do. We might see each other here if you two decide to make this a regular spot."
"Relax Hun," said the other man. "Mark already has everything he needs," He slid his arm around Mark's waist possessively. Beth wasn't trying to say she would be joining them or anything, but Paul just wanted to make the point she wasn't welcome anyway.
Just great.
Paul was tugging Mark at the waist to leave, and Beth figured that was for the best, she didn't want to have any more drama in her life if she didn't have to, she was much too busy with work for that. "It was nice meeting you," Mark said, with a smile that seemed to be both warm, and apologetic, on behalf of his rude boyfriend.
"You too," Beth replied. Paul had already turned away and had offered no goodbye to her. As the two men moved to leave she saw Mark take something out of his back pocket and drop it on the table in front of her. He did it in such a way, knowing that Paul's back was turned, she knew he hadn't wanted Paul to see him do it.
Beth waited until they had left the restaurant before picking it up. It was a business card with Mark's name and texting phone number on it. She could leave it here and that would be the end of it, or she could take it with her. She looked at the card for several minutes before tucking it into her purse for later.
The next few weeks, Beth and Mark sent enough text messages to fill up a library. She had gotten into the habit of checking her phone the first thing, when she woke up in the morning and several times throughout the day.
Every time she looked, there was something new from Mark. Encouraging messages, chit chat about his day, or just to let her know he was thinking about her. She had shared a lot of her personal history with him too, something she'd never really done with anyone else.
Mark in turn told her about his life with Paul, and how unhappy he was feeling lately. The last few days she noticed a pattern emerging. Mark and Paul had always had problems in their relationship and now it seemed to be coming to a conclusion. Mark finally asked if he could meet with her face to face alone to talk, and Beth readily agreed.
She offered to meet at the restaurant when they had met, but Mark didn't want to risk running into Paul there and asked to just come to her house.
Right as he came through the door he was already talking, looking a little flustered and frantic. "I need your advice, I just don't know what to do anymore," he said.
