During my years at College I worked at night for my Uncle. His business was going well and he needed people to do some manual readings on gas charts. Five of us worked in the evenings and as there was no supervisor we had a pretty good time.
One night we took turns passing a "Mario Brothers" game around and trying to beat each others level. Every so often we would order a pizza, and on really special occasions we would head to the bar downstairs for a drink.
One of the people I worked with was a lovely girl with an outgoing personality. She was a smoker and because our building was smoke-free we would go into the emergency stairs and talk while she had a smoke. I was attracted to her, but she was with someone so I did not say anything.
"My boyfriend lost his job" she told me one night.
"That's too bad, does he have any leads on a new one?" I asked.
"I don't know, he just lost it and has not gone out for a couple of days".
I wanted to tell her to leave the loser so I could try my luck, but I knew that was not what she wanted to hear.
"Finish up your smoke, I'm suffocating in here" I said.
She gave me a dirty look and crushed out the cigarette. "Happy?" she asked. I coughed a couple of times making sure she knew it was fake.
"Yeah right" she said. We laughed and walked back into the office.
A few days later she announced that her and her boyfriend had broken up. We all said we were sorry and I did my best not to seem too happy about it. I thought about her all night and I wondered if she would be interested in going for dinner. She was very different from the women I usually dated, but then there were similarities as well. My first few girlfriends had all been blonde while she was raven haired. She was of a mixed marriage with a Black Mother and a Father from the Philippines. Her skin was a coffee cream colour and she had almost oriental features in her face and slim body. But like all the others she had an attitude. She was strong, confident, and open to everything. She was a bit of a smartass and blushed at nothing. I have always been intrigued by strong women, especially those that are not afraid to do what makes them happy. A few days later we were talking about vacations we had taken and when I mentioned that I had been to Hawaii the year before she perked up.
"I have always wanted to go there" she said. "Did you take any pictures?"
"I have four rolls of 36 each if you want to see them" I offered.
"Which Islands did you visit?" another friend asked.
"I went to Oahu, Hawaii, and Maui" I answered. "Although my favorite was Hawaii".
Just before quitting time I was in the kitchen when she walked in.
"I will bring the pictures in tomorrow if you want" I said.
"Are you doing anything after work tonight?" she asked.
"No, just heading home" I said. It was a friday night and I had nothing planned except to sleep in a bit and work on a paper that was due soon.
