Chapter 8 - Accidental meet
Dex
The sunrise came with sweltering heat today and I'm cursing myself for choosing another full black suit to work in.
Not that I have many other colors in my wardrobe.
I make a mental note to go shopping for something lighter, then snort at imagining myself in a cream suit.
Macy would have a field day and ask something ridiculous like "Is the dark lord currently on vacation? "
As I make my way in line, I see a tall, wide man with golden hair and immediately think of Leon.
He's wearing a navy Polo shirt with tight tan chinos that display a muscular butt and thick thighs.
I can see a hint of a tattoo on his bicep, but cannot make out what it is from the angle.
He's standing with his back to me, slightly hunched while looking at the sandwich display to the side of the coffee line.
Goddamn it, I managed a whole day yesterday without thinking of him and am severely annoyed that once again my imagination is conjuring unicorns every time I see a big, blond guy.
But as I make way to the front, the imagination morphs slowly more into reality and I try to calm my speeding heart when I realize that it might just be him.
I have to know, so I step out of line and tap him lightly on the shoulder.
Leon turns and for a second has the same stunned expression as I do.
My inhale is sharp and my exhale gets stuck in my lungs while he looks at me with equally wide eyes.
My mind is scrambling for what to say and, before I even manage to get a "Hello" out, I'm engulfed in big arms and the human equivalent of a bear hug that almost lifts me clean off my feet.
I hear Leon murmur softly, "I can't believe it," before he shifts suddenly and puts me back on my feet, while I sway, slightly dizzy on my feet.
Leon now looks as embarrassed as the first time we met and I guess his reaction was as much of a surprise to him as it was to me.
Desperate to pull him out of his thoughts, I clear my throat and exclaim confidently,
"Wow, you sure know how to say hello."
Leon's face turns bright tomato and I enjoy the effect I have on him. I sit there with a smirk on my face while I wait for him to gather his words.
"Sorry, got a bit excited there." He says with a nervous laugh.
"Yeah, got that impression." I keep my smirk on my face to employ much-needed confidence, but am not sure how to follow up.
Leon has no such problem as he launches into a barrage of questions.
"How are you? Are you getting coffee? Do you work nearby? Or do you live around here? What do you do for work?" He asks rapid-fire questions and takes a quick breath, which serves to stop the rambling.
I chuckle low in my throat at how cute he is and start to tangle through his questions.
"I am here for coffee indeed, hence the coffee shop.
" His cheeks pink up again and I decide to forego any more duh comments.
"My office is not too far and I also live relatively close, in Chelsea.
" Why did I tell him that? "I'm in finance and manage a small team for premier clients. Uhm, you?" I finish weakly.
"Yep, also here for coffee. I work up the street but live in Brooklyn, near the Botanical Garden. Plants are awesome, don't you think? Anyway, I'm with the New York Hunters, so you can find me easily enough." Another nervous chuckle follows this.
I unpack the sentences again while I cock my head to the side and settle on "Ah, you mentioned hockey last time. Are you a player?"
"No." He says quickly. "Nothing like that. I'm a PR assistant for the team. I played in college, but wasn't good enough to get picked up in the draft." A flash of disappointment spreads through his bright features, but is gone just as quickly as it appeared.
"Right." I say and silence blankets the conversation for a few long seconds.
"Well, I should get on with it, my team is waiting for their coffees.
It was nice to see you again, Leon." I will my feet to move from where they were nailed to the floor and go to join the line again, when his big hand blankets my wrist suddenly, similar to the night we met.
I turn to face him again while he lets go of my hand quickly.
"Wait, uhm... would you like to have coffee together before you go?" he asks, hopeful. He also takes a step towards me and is so close I can see a dusting of freckles on his nose, long curly lashes and a slight cupid's bow on his lips. Stop looking at his lips.
"No, sorry, I really need to get back." Why am I saying this? Oh right, self-preservation. I've been thinking about the guy for almost a month straight and that was after a ten-minute chat and the firm knowledge that I will never see him again.
"Oh," Leon's face falls and I instantly feel bad. "Maybe we can meet another time, then. Want to take my number?" He gets the hopeful puppy look again and I curse at myself for not putting a firmer boundary in place after his previous question.
"Uhm, I don't think that's a good idea, Leon." There, self-preservation. Go me!
"Ok. It was nice seeing you too, Dexter." Leon steps out before I can overthink my decision.
This is for the best, nothing good can come of me crushing on a straight guy, even if he is giving me mixed signals.
He's probably a friendly guy in general and would lose interest in my gloomy ass as soon as he got to know me.
The way he electrifies my blood simply by being near convinces me it would be a terrible idea to be his friend and I try to stand by my decision, even if my chest feels hollow at the thought.
I grab my coffee sleeve once I manage to order in a daze and leave another twenty in the tip jar.
Stepping out the door like I've forgotten where I am for a moment, I instantly curse out the summer heat again while I power walk to the office before the sweat starts to puddle in my shoes.
I've never wished more that I was a flip-flop kind of guy.
My glutes are on fire by the time I make it to the building and I can't even enjoy the air conditioning while I make my way quickly to the elevators.
I send a thanks to the universe that no one joins me, likely feeling the dark energy that I'm putting off. I make it until the doors close and yell FUCK loud enough to scare the hinges off the elevator doors. After pacing around the spacious, sleek modern steel elevator, I take a deep breath and look at myself in the mirror. My frown covers half my face and my jaw is clenched tighter than a wasp’s asshole.
I will my face to relax, but must do a very poor job at that, since Macy is the first face I see when I step out on the thirty-fifth floor and she immediately asks, "Who pissed in your frappé? "
"I'm pissed." I tell her immediately. "I'm pissed at the fucking universe and I'm pissed at you for making me step out of my comfort zone and I'm pissed at fucking Leon with his stupid handsome face and bear hugs." I turn on my heels and speed-walk towards my office.
"Wait, what?" She yells after me and starts basically running to keep up with my long strides on her tiny legs. "Stop, Dex. What happened and who's Leon?"
I stop abruptly and Macy slams into my side before she gets her bearings. Not that her one hundred and ten pounds would do any kind of damage.
"Leon, the guy from the other night, I told you about him.
I met him at the coffee shop just now and he was so happy to see me that he actually hugged me speechless.
He wanted to have coffee and give me his number and my poor heart couldn't take it, Macy, I swear to fuck, the universe is out to give me a heart attack at twenty-seven.
" I'm heaving and once again think about Leon and his penchant for word vomit.
I'm not normally a ranting kind of person.
I prefer carefully calculated sentences meant to maximise damage in a conversation and prolonged silences that make people squirm.
"Oh," Macy opens and closes her mouth a couple of times. "That's good, right?" Clearly, she didn't hear a word I just fucking said.
"No, Macy, it's most definitely not good. You should have seen his disappointed puppy eyes when I turned him down."
"I don't understand though, do you like this guy? I thought you hated how he reacted the other night." She questions me, sounding genuinely confused.
"I told you, he apologized and explained the reaction.
And yes, I like him, he's like the most perfect Adonis to walk the Earth and he could probably easily pin me to a wall with a body like that.
Plus, he's cute and adorable and goofy and he cannot stop talking when he's nervous and his eyes crinkle a bit when he smiles wide with a set of perfect teeth.
I haven't stopped thinking about him since I met him.
" I surprise myself with the honesty that comes out with that sentence.
"Well, it's perfect then! He wants to meet up with you again so you should get his number!" She exclaims cheerily, missing the whole fucking point once again.
"He's straight." I say through clenched teeth on a hiss.
"So what, maybe he's into you." She wiggles her eyebrows in a ridiculous attempt to get her point across.
"Macy, in my experience, straight men don't turn for a random guy.
He's a friendly guy and probably just wants to chat, while I'll sit there pining and imagining him naked and on top of me.
" I take a slow breath. "I'm already infatuated and I ran the unlikely scenario of maybe in my head for the past weeks, but I can tell you now that this shit doesn't happen in real life.
I've made the best decision for my sanity and now I can move on.
Plus, I don't do relationships, so I would just be gaining a quick fuck in the best-case scenario and leaving a confused Leon along the way. Not worth the hassle."
I'm proud of myself for how I managed to get all that bullshit out. The truth is, I would provide daily offerings of worship to the altar of Leon if he would have me.
"Yeah, because you look very sane right now." She rolls her eyes at me while punctuating every word.
I do my best impression of a death glare and step closer to Macy so I can tower over her in a threatening way.
"Leave it alone, Macy. I don't want to talk about this again and my coffee is fucking melting.
Have a good day!" I turn to leave, but I’m not fast enough as to not hear her murmur, "Yeah, we are definitely talking about this again. "
Guess it's going to be another shit day for Dexter Hayes. Why would I have expected anything different?