Note: This is an entry for the Valentine's Day Contest 2014. Enjoy!
*****
The taxi came speeding down the city street straight at me, and there was no way it was stopping in time to miss me. My life began to flash before my eyes. In second grade I had pushed Emily down and denied the whole thing, I still feel bad about that. In third grade I.....
Instinct cut in as the blaring horn of the taxi cut through my whirling mind; and, my muscles went into involuntary overdrive. Somehow, someway, I propelled my body into a lunge forward, narrowly avoiding becoming road kill. I looked up and around the busy city corner, but no one returned my glance. Just another day in the city.
I crawled up from the ground; and, as the adrenaline from my near miss began to wane, I realized that I had landed, if only partially, in a puddle of icy slush. I made a chide remark about how the icy puddle and the freezing wind did nothing but improve my mood. Brushing myself off the best I could, I made my way down the street and into my office building. I didn't wave to the door man today, nor did I stop to chat with the janitor. Instead I stormed into the elevator and went straight to the 15th floor.
I slammed the office door, walked into the small lobby entrance of my firm, and then slammed into the small door in front of me as I attempted to open and walk through it in one quick motion, only to be foiled by the lock.
"Oh! Sorry sir, you're early sir!" The girl sitting at the desk behind the glass tellers' window buzzed the door open; but, I didn't move for the door. Instead I hung my head, put my hand against the door and took a deep breath. I turned toward the girl behind the desk and played a quick mental game of guess who. Sally? No, Sally has red hair. Jen? No, no... Jen had more weight to her. Think, Brandon, think. Ah!
"Cher!" I exclaimed out loud in my 'aha' moment as I involuntarily pointed at her.
She shied back away from the window, looking at me like I was about to come through it at her. I threw my hands up and shook my head at the misunderstanding.
"Sorry, I wasn't yelling at you. I just couldn't remember your name. Then when it came to me, it kinda jumped out of my mouth. It's no big deal."
"My name is Claire." She said timidly from the other side of the window. I couldn't help but chuckle at how absolutely horrible everything was going, and now here I was, making a complete fool of myself.
"I'm sorry Claire, it's been a rough day, and it's only seven. Plus we have like, six interns in the office that all started two weeks ago, and as you may have gathered, I don't spend much time out of my office."
"It's ok, really, I'm sorry about the door." The poor girl still looked like she was terrified of me. I guess my foul mood wasn't very welcoming. "Um, you're all wet, Sir."
I looked down at my coat and suit, dripping wet on my left side, and covered in a murky stain. Good thing I wasn't going anywhere important today.
"So I am. I tried to jump over a taxi this morning, and things didn't work out quite the way I was hoping." I fiddled in my pocket trying to find my bathroom key as she puzzled that out. Sighing in dismay, I realized I left my office keys back at the condo. "Claire, would you happen to have a spare key to the men's bathroom handy? I'd like to try and clean up the best I can, and I seem to have misplaced mine."
"Let me see if it's in here somewhere." She took to opening and closing the drawers and fiddling around inside of them. "I'm sorry sir, I don't really work the front desk, I'm just covering for Amy this morning. I can't find any keys."
"Please, don't call me Sir. My name is Brandon, but you can call me a mess. I'll just make do."
"One second." She reached into something under the desk near her feet - it must have been a purse or bag of some sort, and came up with a couple keys. "I have the keys to the women's room. You could use it really fast. No one really gets here before 8."
"I think I'll pass." She was right, most people didn't start til 9, and precious few arrived before 8:30; but, with my luck so far this morning, I wasn't about to take any chances. "I don't want to risk making an even bigger fool of myself today."
"I could stand outside the door and watch the hallway for you." She offered.
"Well, I really do need to wipe some of this off of me, and I don't have any other options. So if you stand guard, then I'll give it a go."
She smiled, hopped up off her chair and came around into the lobby as I ventured off toward the bathrooms. Once inside the ladies room, with Claire posted outside to keep lookout for actual ladies, I took off my jacket and began to use the paper towels by the sink to pat myself down and wipe away some of the muck. Once I was fairly cleaned up, I threw some water on my face and looked into the light brown eyes in the mirror. My brown hair had an ashy tint to it that I was terrified would turn grey at an early age. I was only 24 but the last few years hadn't been nice to me. I worked out at the gym to keep my body in some sort of shape and to burn off some steam. I spent decent money on good clothes, and tried to look kept. Try as I might though, no matter what I did, I still had that tired, over worked, over stressed look that made people add at least five years to my age.
I had been successful early on. I got a lucky break and was managing my own department at the R&D firm. I only had a 2 year degree; but, I knew someone at the firm and got a temp job that turned into a permanent position. It helped that I lacked a personal life. I immersed myself in my work and rode a slew of promotions until I was handling our biggest client all within 3 years. It came at a price. I lost a lot of friends who moved away from the city; and, the girl I dated in college left me when she went to continue her own education, partly because of the distance, but mostly because I didn't have as much time for her as she wanted. So now I worked during the week, researched when I got home at night, and went to conferences and expos during the weekend. My company loved me for it; and, both their pocket book and mine benefited. But I doubt running that myself into the ground was doing me any good. I tore away from my reflection and went out into the hallway where Claire was waiting.
"How do I look?" I asked, holding out my arms.
"Give me a twirl." She made a loop in the air with her finger that looked condescending; but, she sounded completely serious.
"What?"
"You had some on the back of your jacket. I want to make sure it didn't soak through."
I tried to look at my own back and turned at the same time. I probably looked like a dog chasing its tail. What a fantastic start to my morning, indeed. When I finished 'twirling' once, she gave me the thumbs up sign.
"Thanks for all this by the way. Here's your key."
"No problem." She smiled warmly, took the key and started off toward the office. I took the opportunity of being behind her to give her the mandatory once (over. I am but a man, for I am weak. Her blonde hair came down just past her shoulders atop her thin frame. She had on a small suit jacket, and her white blouse poked out the back just underneath. I scoured mental images and didn't recall seeing any cleavage this morning. I ,therefore, assumed she was either conservative, or didn't have appropriate work attire that looked decent but also managed to show off what were either a pair of large A cups or small B cups. She had on what looked to be a pencil skirt that was probably a size to big, as it didn't really hug her hips and legs the way I thought it was meant to. Then again, I am a guy and my knowledge on women's clothing or fashion of any kind is near non-existent. It could also be that her petite frame just wasn't built for form fitting skirt suits. My eyes slipped off her cute and round, if small, butt to her legs that complimented the rest of the body they carried. I made a mental note to take her to lunch a few times to see if I could stuff a few pounds into her. Girl needs a sandwich.
We reached the lobby, where I was able to walk about 4 feet before I ran into Claire. We both cursed out loud as I grabbed her hips to keep her from toppling and almost fell forward into her. She threw her hands up and caught the door to break our fall. We regained our balanced and got a grip on the ground. I silently thanked my stars that no one else was there to see us, with my hands on her hips, my body pressing into her as she held herself up with the door; it was a compromising position to say the least and I was immediately embarrassed. She swore again as she smoother her clothes out.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were stopping an-" She cut me off.
"No, not you. The door. Amy works the front, so she gave me the key for this morning. But I didn't put it on my ring with the rest of my office keys."
I looked at her, at the empty desk, then back to the door, and finally at my watch. 7:15. I had entirely too much work to do to wait for someone else with a key to show up.
"I have an idea." She went to the window that looks out into the lobby from the front desk and slid it open. "I already unlocked the window!"
"Oh good! Can you reach the key?"
"No." She looked back at me and shook her head. "It's in my purse under the desk. But I think I can fit through the window, if you help me up."
