About 2.5 years ago I left a full time, single location site position and switched to this independent contractor job which required me to travel across our medium to large metropolis. In my travels, I would go to this one diner (one of a chain) and it was there that I met this server named Sidney. She had this immediate connection with me that I can't quite explain. Sidney had short hair, a cropped cut and intense blue eyes, crystal blue in fact. Sidney, however, was an enigma to me. I couldn't figure out whether she was a very effeminate young male or a more masculine female. But I did know that when she smiled at me, I'm was truly taken aback. I often thought to myself, how could I be attracted to someone that I wasn't even sure of their gender? But I was attracted to her or him, either way. She always remembered my name and took a personal interest in me each and every time I came into the diner (which is maybe once every 10 days). She did this even if I wasn't at her table. There was this pull there between us like a magnet force. I had even dreamed about her on occasion.
One day while dining, I met her girlfriend...I was still not sure if they were lesbians or not. The uniforms at this diner are not form fitting, so if she had breasts, they were small but then again she wasn't muscular either. A lean frame was the best description. But Sidney also didn't have the obvious masculine curve of the shoulder blending into the arm/bicep or the square of the jaw which is so blatantly male. I watched Sidney and her friend giggle which made me mentally check off the box for lesbian; however, the question still hung there, not really important but ever present. I noticed that I couldn't stop watching her and her friend.
Time passed and I went to that branch of this diner chain a couple of times and she wasn't there. I wondered if she still worked there or had just changed shifts, but I was not going to ask. I mean, I was just a customer; not a friend, not really even an acquaintance. Another branch opened right near my son's school...so it was a perfect location for me because I had to drop him off at 7:10 am and usually didn't have to be at work until 8 or 8:30 at the earliest. Time for breakfast!! Coffee, leisurely eating and precious alone time. The perfect time for writing. I watched the building being built and was strangely excited about the prospect of going. I hadn't seen Sidney for months by then, perhaps 8 months or so. It was possibly even a year and this was a new building so she probably wouldn't be there, I told myself. Could I be just excited about breakfast and my writing time? I didn't think so.
I went on one of the first days of the grand opening...new staff everywhere. I recognized an area manager but no Sidney. Oh well. I routinely went back 1 to 2 times a week because it was so convenient for me. Then one day while I'm engrossed in my writing, I didn't notice someone had come up to my side. This presence wasn't directly facing me like my server would but just beside me, just there. I looked up and saw those blue eyes. But wait, the eyes were different as if someone poured green-grey flecks of paint in them. It was Sidney, but it was not. The shoulders we're broader, the voice huskier when she said hello and...was that a 5 oclock shadow? I smiled warmly and said, "Well hey there. I haven't seen you in forever." She smiled back and said, "I know."
I glanced at her nametag, 'Sid' it said. Sidney is now Sid. It was a subtle difference, but yet no difference at all. She had become a 'he' in those 8 months to a year and had probably had been working towards that change way before then. I knew it was a long process because I had known other acquaintances that had changed with or without surgery. They had compared it to a butterfly's transition. There was tons of work building the cocoon, their surroundings and then the time inside the cocoon itself when they were in between genders until the final surgery burst them forth into their new being, their true self. Even if they chose not to have the surgery, it was still an explosion of sorts into a new self, the self they always knew they were meant to be.
We began talking and obviously flirting. I found myself laughing at the small one liners he threw out. I was thoroughly entranced with him. I'm not sure Sidney even knew what he was doing, but he was making me want him more than in a casual, customer relationship way. My brain was scrambling, trying to figure out some way that I could subtly give him my phone number or email address. Then, I noticed several tattoos on him that somehow I had missed before (or were they even there before?) and I started asking about their symbolism. I did this to try to see if there was some personal connection that I could work with that would then lead to exchanging numbers.
He easily opened up about his ink. Describing one that was personal, having to do with his grandfather and another related to a sports team. But there was nothing there that I could truly grab hold of in order to relate to me somehow. Suddenly he chuckled and said I have others but they're not really appropriate to talk about here. Yes! I almost blurted out loud, that was the connection. It was just what I needed, plus a challenge. I like challenges and told him as much. Sid's eyes just twinkled a bit and then he gave me that easy smile that made my heart melt.
He stepped away from my table for a bit to return to work which gave me time to gather my thoughts and courage. I kept battling with myself about whether I was just making this apparent mutual attraction up or if he was just being friendly...to a customer. I took a deep breath and allowed myself a slow, calming exhale. I closed my eyes for a minute and made up my mind to go for it. Live life in the now, as 'they' say. I opened my eyes and turned slightly to grab a pen from my purse when I literally felt heat on me. Looking up, I saw him staring at me from about 50 feet away and smiling. Had he seen me breathe deeply, obviously shaken, or was he reading my mind?! My hand was grasping the pen but started to shake a bit and I nearly dropped it. Turning, I grabbed a napkin and quickly wrote down my number before losing my nerve.
Ok. Now I needed to give it to him. I waited for what seemed like an eternity but he didn't come by again. All this internal pressure was making me have to pee so I got up to go to the restroom leaving my number on the table in plain site, hoping he would notice it if he came by tHe table. When I was walking back from the restroom , I could see the napkin still laying where I had left it. My heart was dropping with each step I took closer to my seat. I plopped into the bench like seat, a bit depressed when I noticed the napkin in more detail. Written under my number was another set of digits and a quick note stating, "Call me."