Al Farley was sitting in the little cafeteria in the basement of his office building during his lunch hour. It was a quaint place with six 4 seat tables and they served cold sandwiches and some hot entrees.

His company took up 4 of the 8 floors in the building and had its own lunchroom on the 5th floor. He never ate in there if he brought his own lunch. He would rather eat alone sitting in his car listening to his rotation of podcasts.

He ate in the cafe at least once a week, just to break up the monotony of bringing his own boring lunches every day. He always ate there on Tuesday because he liked their baked chicken special.

Al was a loner. He had friends, but generally kept to himself since he didn’t completely fit in with the group in his mind. He was a member of several dating apps and would get a hit a couple of times a month leading to some unexceptional dates.

He very rarely got to 2nd dates because he had particular tastes in women and worse, he had trouble keeping conversations going. Women he contacted for dates on the apps generally ignored him, but he got some interest when he popped up for the ladies on the apps. He was clean-cut and normal looking, so he wasn’t ignored by potential dates on the app.

He wasn’t an ugly guy, but he couldn’t connect with people because of his lack of confidence. He didn’t think he was good looking enough. He didn’t think he was smart enough. He didn’t think he was witty enough. Worst of all he had a misconception that all women wanted huge dicks.

That was born over years of watching porn and reading erotic stories. He built an unrealistic view of what women wanted and didn’t even bother to investigate if it were actually true.

He wasn’t exactly small. He was a short and skinny guy, whose package was proportional. His penis was of average length and girth. His few sexual experiences never appeared to give his partner earth-shattering orgasms, but again that was driven by his perceptions created by porn and erotica. In real life did women really shake with orgasmic aftershocks and pass out from the carnal pleasure of magic ten-inch dicks as thick as coke bottles? He thought so.

At work, he had the same issues. He never thought he was good enough to go for promotions. He was good at what he did and his boss took advantage of that and his meek nature by piling on extra work to carry his peers. It was a regular occurrence for something to get dumped on him at the end of the day or for the weekend and he took it in stride. He would never rock the boat by saying no.

That day Al was eating his baked chicken and admiring a lady from the 7th floor. She met all of his particular tastes. She was tall, always wore high heels and stockings, and she was thin. She even hit his checkboxes for having red hair and blue eyes, like Nicole Kidman his celebrity crush. He never talked to her, even though they worked for the same company.

Gina Downs was eating her favorite lunch in the cafe, completely oblivious to the attention she was getting from the nondescript man sitting at the table on the other side of the small room.

Gina loved the baked chicken and ate it every Tuesday. She, like Al, kept to herself. She was very self-conscious about her height, her unruly mop of red curls, and her skinny frame.

She was picked on throughout all of her youth for her build and was called Olive Oyl by the other kids. She was tall, flat-chested, and had a small butt; she found out that kids can be mean.

She grew into adulthood with major self-esteem issues. Her one effort to rebel against all of the people that made fun of her was to always wear high heels. She was 5’11” in her bare feet and the heels made her taller than most men. She wasn’t aware that once she got out into the real world, people weren’t as catty and mean as the boys and girls she knew in school.

She was a 25-year-old virgin and didn’t even bother to try to date. As she aged, her thin face filled out to be pretty, but she never saw that and she never allowed herself to open up and talk to people. She would avoid conversations and she never accepted invitations to lunch or after-work drinks with other women from the office. Her only friends were her cats Rey and Kylo and she was very close with her mother and sister. She had dinner with her sister and her sister’s family every Sunday.

The following Tuesday, an elderly couple was having coffee in the basement cafe. They observed Al and Gina eating alone and made their decision.

The lady said to the gentleman, “So it’s agreed? They are the ones?”

“Yes, they meet all of our rules. Strong character, morals, loners, inner beauty; yes, I think they are the ones. They will be fun to watch.”

“Yes, they are deserving of the gift.”

She took a cloth bag tied with a drawstring out of her pocket and handed it to him.

“You take him and I’ll take her.”

“Okay, I’m really excited about these two. I think they will be the best we’ve done in years.”

She smiled and nodded as Gina stood to leave. “Ooh, here we go!” She said with glee rubbing her hands together in delight.

As Gina reached the elevator she saw the old woman walk up next to her.

“Hello, young lady.”

Gina smiled a fake smile and said, “Hi.”

The old lady smiled as the door opened and Gina motioned for her to get on first and held the door.

The old lady, standing behind Gina, opened her bag of powder, grabbed a pinch, and flicked it at Gina’s back. Gina didn’t have any inkling of what was happening behind her, as the elevator reached her floor and she made her exit.

The elevator returned to the basement and its doors opened for Al and the old man. Al too held the door and let the old man on first.

The old man had more fun when he delivered the powder and pretended to sneeze on Al’s back. Al stepped to the side and said, “Bless you.”

“Thank you, son. You have a blessed day.”

Later that evening, Al was surfing the web and decided on seeing what Pornhub had to offer. He typed in his usual search parameters: redhead, nylons, and amateur. Finding nothing but the usual results he switched to searching through Faye Reagan scenes and rubbed one out to his favorite porn star.

Before going to bed he looked in the mirror and said his personal mantra, “Tomorrow is a new day.”

At the same time, Gina was folding her laundry. Kylo was sitting in the basket of warm clothes fresh from the dryer, and she was pulling her garments out carefully from around him, letting him bask in his kitty comfort.

Once finished, she put her clothes away and got ready for bed. She too looked in the mirror and frowned. She still saw herself as the awkward, gawky teenager that was so uncool, she was bullied by the kids the popular crowd bullied.

She ran her hands through her tangled locks and said, “Someday can’t come until I let it.”

Al woke up the next morning and stretched his back. He scratched his balls and shouted, “Holy shit!”

He pulled off the blanket and looked at his morning wood in astonishment. “Oh my god, my dick grew!”

He jumped out of bed pulled off his shorts and looked in the full-length mirror on his bedroom door.

“Wow, what the fuck happened?” He thought as he looked at his hard cock. It appeared to be at least 3 inches longer and an inch larger in diameter.

He shook his head and touched it. It felt real to him. He swayed his hips side to side, watching his new prodigious member swing along with his hips.

“This is fucking awesome,” he said to himself. “I have to try it out!”

He ran into his other bedroom where his computer was set up and pulled up a Faye scene. As he stroked his larger shaft he laughed and said, “I can’t fucking believe it.”

He stroked for 20 minutes and still wasn’t close to cumming. “Jesus, I even last longer,” he thought. Finally, he blew his load and sat amazed.

At Gina’s apartment, she awoke to the soft meows of her hungry cats. “Better than an alarm clock, you two,” she said to her Star Wars named companions.

She rose, fed the cats, and made her peanut butter and banana on toast sandwich.

Once finished, she padded into the bathroom to shower. After she turned the water on, she turned towards the mirror and screamed at her reflection.

She appraised her reflection in the mirror and thought that her cheekbones were higher and more pronounced. Her eyes were slightly wider and more almond-shaped. She was amazed to see that her nose was thinner and her lips were fuller and had a slight pout to them.

“Oh my God, I’m beautiful,” she said to herself. She touched her cheek, then her nose, and started crying. “I can’t believe it. I didn’t even make a wish,” she said aloud.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She grabbed her phone off of the nightstand and took a selfie. “Wow, it’s really me,” she thought.

She used her phone to google whether there were any reported instances of faces spontaneously changing and found nothing to help. She thought through her actions over the previous few days and came up with nothing that would have done it. “Amazing!” She thought looking in the mirror.

Al pulled into the parking lot and saw Gina walking into the building. “Today’s the day,” he said to himself and rushed into the building to catch up to her. Lucky for him she was waiting for the elevator when he caught up. He lifted his chin, pulled his shoulders back, and with his most confident voice said, “Hi, you work on seven right?”

She looked over at him and said, “Yes I do.” And in a moment that the day before she could never see herself doing, she continued the conversation. “I’m in auditing. How about you?”

“I’m Al Farley. I work in the analysis department on 4.”

“She smiled and said, I’m Gina Downs. Nice to meet you.”

“I’ve seen you around the cafe on Tuesdays haven’t I?”

She couldn’t believe he recognized her with her new face. She said, “Yes, I love the chicken special.”

“Me too. I try to have it every week.”

He took a deep breath and said, “Would you like to go out for lunch today? We could hit the new sushi bar down the street.”

She was shocked. She had never been asked out before by a man. “Sure,” she answered. “I like sushi.”

The elevator doors opened and they got on. He said, “I’ll come to your desk and get you at 12 then, okay?”

“Sounds good.”

“Well this is my floor,” he said, “See you soon.”

“Nice to meet you.”

She watched him while the doors closed. “Wow,” she thought. “This new face is great, I have a lunch date.”

Al walked through the cubicle farm on the way to his desk. People said hello as they normally did, but they noticed he had more of a spring in his step than normal. They didn’t see anything different, but he seemed happier.

Gina was excited for her lunch with Al and time felt like it was dragging on as slow as ever. She looked him up on Facebook to see what she could find out.

She saw that he posted about watching The Mandalorian. “He’s a Star Wars fan too. This is great!” she thought.

She clicked ‘add friend’ and hoped she wasn’t being too clingy. “It’s only lunch,” she said aloud.

“What honey?” Carol said from the desk behind her.

“Huh? Oh nothing. I’m excited for my lunch date.”

Carol was shocked. She couldn’t believe that the ice queen had a date. She didn’t talk to anyone long enough for someone to ask her out. She wondered who it was.

“Hey, Gina, ready to go?”

She looked up and smiled, “Yeah, Al. Let me save my work.”

Carol looked up and to see who the man was and laughed to herself. They were as mismatched as any pair she had ever seen. He was 5’6” and she was over 6’ in her heels. “She better stop wearing heels,” she thought and laughed out loud.

As they walked he asked her, “How long have you been with the company?”

“Three years. I was hired right out of college.”

“Oh, nice. Me too. I’ve been here for 5 years.”

“Do you live in the area, I’m in Bartlett.”

“Oh, nice. I’m in Carol Stream. We’re practically neighbors.”

He walked her to his car and opened the door for her. “Thank you, kind sir. Chivalry isn’t dead after all.” He nodded and closed the door as she adjusted the seatback.

When he started the car his Bluetooth connection started the podcast he was listening to on his way into work.

The Star Wars podcast played and he rushed to turn it off. “Sorry about that. I like to geek out sometimes.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I love Star Wars.”

“Really?” He said. “That’s great! I just rewatched The Mandalorian last week.”

“I saw that.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, um I sent you a friend request on Facebook. I saw it was a recent post,” she said red-faced from embarrassment.

“Oh, okay. I haven’t been on Facebook yet today. I’ll accept it right away.”

She smiled and said, “I’m glad you’re not freaked out by it. I was worried you would think I was stalking or something.”

He laughed and said, “You can stalk me anytime. It’s not every day I get beautiful women friending me.”

She couldn’t remember anyone other than her mother ever calling her beautiful. She remembered her new looks at that point and thought that she had better get used to it.

They were able to get seated right away and ordered their lunch. “Have you been here before?” Al asked.

“No. I usually bring my lunch.”

“Yeah, me too. Except for Tuesday. I like that chicken too much.”

“Yeah, I normally eat at my desk. I tend to stay to myself at work,” she said. Then she thought, “and everywhere else.”

“I’ve always been kind of a lone wolf myself. This is the first time I’ve had lunch with someone in a long time.”

“Me too. I usually turn down the girls on my floor when they ask. I kind of just like to be by myself.”

“Well, I hope that we can do this again. I mean, it’s not every day I meet pretty Star Wars fans.”

She laughed and said, “I’ll never get used to being called pretty or beautiful.”

“What? You’re crazy. You must be told that all of the time.”

“Nope. Not until you did a few minutes ago. It’s funny, but until this morning I always thought I was rather plain.”

“Really? If I can be completely honest, I’ve been noticing you for quite a while. I just didn’t have the courage to ask you out.”

“You don’t think I look different today?” She said thinking that he’s just feeding her lines.

“Actually when I saw you walk into the building you did strike me as different. I would say that you walked more confidently. Like you owned the sidewalk. It didn’t matter though. Like I said, I’ve liked you from afar for a while.”

“So if you liked me before today, what about me was so attractive?”

“To start, I’m a redhead lover. Your curls are lovely. Not to mention your blue eyes are amazing.”

“But I’m too tall.”

“No way. Tall is sexy, and I love that you accentuate that with high heels. That shows that you’re hot and you know it.”

“Wow, before today you thought I was sexy and hot?” She asked with stunned amazement.

“Yeah, why do you keep mentioning today? What happened today that’s so different for you?”

She couldn’t tell him that her face magically transformed overnight, so she said, “You chose today to ask me out.”

He smiled and said, “It just felt like the right time.”

He walked her to her cube after lunch and said, “Could I take you out for dinner this week? Friday?”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” she said.

“Awesome, we’ll talk later and set up details. See you soon, Gina.”

“Have a great day!”

He walked back to his desk floating on air. He couldn’t believe she was going to go out with him again and he couldn’t believe how easily they talked at lunch.

He opened his Facebook app and accepted her friend request. He looked through her timeline and saw that her posts were all about her cats and her nephews.

He made a post that said, “Had a great lunch today with an even greater lady!” He tagged her and hit post.

Her phone buzzed with the notification of being tagged. “I have to ask him how he turned off notifications,” she thought.

She looked and saw he tagged her in his post about their lunch. She remembered that she had to get used to being beautiful now. Someone was happy to share her company.

It took only ten minutes for her sister to see the post and call her.

“Gina, a lunch date?”

“Yes Ann, a man from work asked me to lunch and I accepted.”

“I’m surprised. You never mention dating, I figured you were a closet lesbian.”

“That’s not funny. I’m not a lesbian. Until today I’ve never been beautiful. No ones ever asked me out before.”

“What do you mean until today? You’re pretty. You just have no self-esteem. No confidence. There are plenty of men that would date you.”

“Ha, Olive Oyl pretty? Please spare me the platitudes.”

“Mom and I tell you all the time that you have to get over all of that. You’re nothing like you were when you were a kid. There’s no reason to doubt that. Shit, I’d kill to have legs like yours.”

“Yeah well, all of that is over now. I woke up different today and I can’t explain it. My face is completely different.”

“What? I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Hold on. I’ll text you a picture I took this morning. You’ll see. I’m a different person.”

She hung up and texted her sister the selfie she took that morning. Her sister opened the text and looked at the picture and laughed. The only difference she saw was that she was smiling. She called Gina back.

“That’s a great picture, Gina. You’re smiling. I can’t remember the last time I saw you smile.”

“Yeah, but you see my face right? It’s completely different.”

“Gina dear, it’s great to see a smile on your face. Tell me about this guy. Is it serious?”

“No, not yet. It was our first date. He did ask me out again though. We’re going to go out for dinner.”

“That’s. awesome. I’m really happy for you. Why don’t you bring him with when you come over on Sunday. We’d love to meet him.”

“Maybe. I’ll think about it.”

“Good. Usual time. I’ll have Jerry cook some steaks. Make your potato salad. You know how Jerry loves it.”

“I’ll make it, but I’m not promising I’ll bring Al. I have to get back to work. I’ll call you tonight.”

“Okay, sis. Love you and I’m really happy for you.”

“Thanks. Bye.”

Ann looked at the picture again and still could not see any difference in her sister’s face. She shrugged it off, happy for her sister coming out of her self imposed shell.

Al was finishing up for the day when his boss walked over. “Al, I need your help. Jan didn’t finish this file and I need it done.”

Al didn’t consider it at all and said, “Sorry. I can’t stay late tonight.”

His boss was shocked and said, “Oh, okay.” As he walked away, he was still shocked at Al refusing to help.

The elevator doors opened and he saw Gina standing in the back of the crowded space. She lit up when she saw him and said, “Hi, stranger. Long time no see.”

She didn’t notice the shocked expressions from the others. Al said, “Hi, I’m glad to see you. I forgot to ask you for your number at lunch.”

She said, “Here, hand me your phone I’ll put it in for you.” He cookies and she called her own phone.

“There, now I’ve got yours.”

They walked and talked out to their cars and he said, “I really enjoyed lunch today. I’m looking forward to Friday.”

“Me too. Well, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, Gina,” he said as he watched her walk away.

Later that night Gina parked in her spot at her apartment building and she saw the maintenance man changing a lightbulb at the main door.

“Hi there, let me get out of the way for you,” he said and climbed down from the ladder.

“Thanks,” Gina said with a smile. “Another one that does something for me because of my new face,” she thought.

She was oblivious to the fact that he was actually blocking the door and she couldn’t get past him.

“I can’t let my new beauty change me,” she thought. “I have to be careful.”

After feeding her cats, she stared in the mirror looking at every difference in her face. She cried softly, happy that the pain she endured for so many years is over.

Al, at the same time, was stroking himself to porn thinking thoughts of Gina. He suddenly stopped and ran to his kitchen utility drawer. He found the ruler he was looking for and measured his new penis.

“Eight and a half inches. Wow!” He said to himself. His thoughts circled back to Gina and he went into the bathroom to finish his task focusing on her rather than the porn.

Thursday night, Gina sat on her bed and lamented that she got no other extra attention from anyone. She thought that she would’ve been the talk of the office with her new look.

She sighed and surmised that she was so invisible at work, no one would have noticed right away. “Maybe tomorrow,” she thought and fell asleep.

Al, on the other hand, did receive some attention. People were noticing his change in attitude and him turning down additional work a second day in a row.

His boss admonished him to be a team player and Al responded, “For five years, I’ve been cleaning up other people’s messes and doing far more than my share. If you want me to keep doing what I have been doing, I want a raise.

“A raise?”

“Yes, I think 3% would be fair.”

“Al, I can’t give you a raise simply because you want one.”

“Well, then find someone else to be the office whipping boy. I’ll start helping others again, when I get that raise.”

Al, walked away from that conversation smiling and feeling good about finally standing up for himself.

Friday morning, Al was walking in at the same time Gina was and they talked about their date for that night.

“Where are we going for dinner,” Gina asked.

“I was thinking about 1913. They’ve got great food and it’s a cool room.”

“Sounds good. I’ve never been there.”

“It’s very good. I figured after that we could go see something with good guys in tights fighting aliens.”

“Sounds like my kind of night.”

“I’m sure you brought your lunch, but would you like to eat together? There’s a park up the street that has some picnic tables and shade.”

“Okay. See you at noon then?” She asked.

“You bet. Have a good morning,” he said as he got off the elevator on his floor.

“This is a nice little spot. Do you come here a lot?” She asked as she put her lunch container back in her bag.

“Sometimes. I usually eat in the car listening to podcasts. I like the alone time, although eating with you is much better.”

She smiled at his compliment and said, “I listen to some podcasts, too. Have you heard of Radio Free Skaro or Pod of Thunder?”

“Holy crap, you’re a KISS fan?” He said with genuine shock.

“Yeah. It’s like a guilty pleasure for me. I’ve always thought they are kind of like me, under-appreciated and driven down by critics for no real reason.”

“Wow, you’re more surprising every time I learn something about you,” he said as she finished her Diet Coke. “Here take a look.”

He pulled out his iPhone and opened up his podcast library. “Check out what I listen to, because you wouldn’t believe it if I told you. You’d think I was just saying it because of what you like.”

She looked and saw that he listened to both podcasts that she liked. He also listened to several others that she wanted to check out but hadn’t gotten around to yet.

“That’s amazing. We really have a lot in common. Have you ever gone to the Rock’n Pod convention in Nashville?” She asked.

“No, I’ve wanted to but never have. I’d love to meet some of these hosts, and having tons of podcasts in the same room would be awesome. Especially Chris L. and the Jones brothers from Pod of Thunder. Not to mention Julian from the KISSFAQ podcast.”

“Are you on the message board?”

“KISSFAQ? Yeah.”

“What’s your name there? I’m ‘OliveLuvsCatman.’ I’ve not very active nowadays.”

“Hmm, I can’t say I’ve seen any of your posts. I go by ‘BruceisGod95.’ I’m an 80’s fan.”

“Me too. Unreal. I see you do listen to Radio Free Skaro. I haven’t met many other Doctor Who fans outside of the internet groups. Who’s your Doctor?”

He laughed at the most common question any Doctor Who fan asks another when they meet.

“Fourth Doctor from the original run, but 10th Doctor from the new series.”

“Oh, well that won’t do. I’m Fifth and Twelfth Doctor.”

“Capaldi, really? He was too crotchety for me sometimes. I do love his companion Clara though.”

She laughed and said, “Of course you do, she’s beautiful. I think that’s enough geeking out for one afternoon. Let’s get back before they miss us.”

She was amazed at their shared love of sci-fi and music. She didn’t think she’d ever meet someone from the message board and then to be going on dates with them. Of course, she never expected to go on a date period.

He picked her up at her apartment and she was waiting for him outside. He laughed when she saw the face mask she was wearing. It was Doctor Who themed.

“I love your mask, where did you get it?”

“Amazon. I saw it and had to have it,” she answered.

“Awesome. It’s a nice night so I reserved patio seating. I hope it’s okay?”

“That’ll be nice. I still can’t get used to things being open again. To be honest I was a bit nervous about going out.”

“I understand the feeling. I figured taking you to my house and me cooking for you would be a bit forward for a second date.”

“That may be so, but these are strange times,” she said.

“Strange days, indeed.”

She smiled and said, “Most peculiar, Mama.”

“Oh, you’re a Lennon fan too? Just when I think you can’t be more perfect, you uncover another surprise for me.”

“It’s crazy. I can’t understand how we have so much in common. If you had a cat, I would think it was kismet.”

“Well, I do actually. My cat Peri lives with my mom. I didn’t take her when I moved out. I thought mom might need the company more than I do.”

She smiled, happy that he’s a cat lover too and also that he named her after a Doctor Who companion.

When they reached the restaurant, he opened her door for her and to her surprise took her hand in his as they walked.

“I’m not much of a bar scene kind of guy, would you like to walk the park there after dinner? It’s such a great night.”

“Sounds good to me,” she said glad to have chosen to wear flats. She didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable with their height difference. She needn’t have worried. He loved tall women and wouldn’t be self-conscious at all with her.

“Thank you for dinner,” she said as they walked.

“Thank you, for accepting my invite. I may sound over the top, but I really enjoy spending time with you. I’ve never met a woman that I had so much in common with. I can’t believe someone hasn’t snatched you up yet.”

“Me? That’s funny. I don’t date. I had a rough childhood, socially speaking, so I sort of shut myself down from going out, or well from talking to anyone really.”

“Seriously? I’m surprised, I would think someone as beautiful as you would have a line of guys vying for her affection.”

She laughed and said, “I didn’t always look like this. It’s hard to explain without sounding nuts, but let’s just say on Tuesday I was me and on Wednesday I was this.” She pointed to her face.

“Well, that’s crazy. You’re just as pretty as you always were to me. I can relate to a major change overnight though. I had a similar experience, but anyway, do you have ‘KISSology Volume 3?’ It’s mostly Bruce era KISS shows.”

“No, I’ve never picked it up.”

“We should watch it sometime. The concert from the ‘Hot in the Shade’ tour is great.”

She smiled and squeezed his hand, “I’d like that. I’m not busy tomorrow.”

“Then it’s set. Tomorrow we watch KISS concerts.”

“Sounds like a great day to me. I’ll bring the snacks. Listen, I don’t want to seem clingy, but my sister asked about you and we have dinner together, every Sunday. She invited you to come with me.”

“I don’t think that’s clingy. I’ll come with you.”

“Okay, great. I’m making potato salad, so you don’t have to bring anything. It’s also casual, so no dressing up.”

“Okay.” He noticed her shiver in the evening air. “You’re cold, lets head back to the car. I didn’t think it would cool off this quickly.”

“It’s my curse. I’m always cold, being so skinny. I always wear a sweater in the office whether winter or summer.”

He parked in her visitor space and hustled around to her door to open it for her. He took her hand and walked her to her building’s entrance.

“I really had a great time tonight.”

“Me too,” she said looking into his eyes.

There was a bit of awkward silence and finally, he took a small step towards her. She didn’t realize what he was doing at first, then caught on and lowered her head to kiss him, closing her eyes.