Chapter 2: The Second Week

Something was different the next Monday. I kept looking about me whenever I walked the corridors at work. I kept listening, my office door now open.

People of other departments, other floors, had stopped being just a crowd. They were haystacks, and I was looking for that one precious needle.

What was her name? Which department did she work for? And where was her office? I kept walking. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

I can't say I spent every waking moment thinking about her, but whenever I had to leave my desk, I had at least one eye out - constantly searching. And she visited my daydreams again and again.

Finally, on Friday afternoon, my efforts were rewarded. I had stopped at a coffee machine that I had never used before, one which was placed near the corrdior where I had met her last week.

I pushed the button, and listened to the coffee beans being ground, and hoped that the brewing would take long, so that I might just catch a glimpse of her.

It did take long, and I got more than a glimpse. Suddenly she came walking around the corner, and I amost jumped with released tension. She smiled at me, and I made a grimace in return, trying hard not to look like a fool.

"Oh no, it's a line," she said, without looking too disappointed. "Hello again!"

"Hi," I answered, my eyes wavering a bit under her frank glare. Why did this encounter send such shivers down my spine? What did I want to do now? My fantasies seemed so far away, so absurd, now that I had the real thing in front of me. I couldn't think of anything to say, choosing to rest my gaze on the coffee now filling up the styrofoam cup, conscious of her skirt and her legs on the edge of my vision.

I reached out and grabbed the cup, and then an inspiration struck me. "No line. This is for you," I said and offered her the coffee. "I can make another one."

She smiled and shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, but I need two cups. My friend also wants one."

"Then I will brew a cup for your friend as well," I said, and held the cup out. "Please?"

She laughed and accepted the cup, while I pushed the button once more. "Thank you! Opening doors and making coffee, you are quite the gentleman!"

"Of course I am," I replied, trying to smile back at her, despite my nervousness.

"Oh really? Very few men are, these days."

"Well, I am," I replied hurriedly, then feeling stupid.

She laughed again, and said that they needed coffee to fall asleep working in accounting (now I knew her department!), and I replied that we working in sales required caffeine to calm our nerves, and then we talked about work while her friend's coffee, and mine, were being brewed.

Then she said it was nice talking to me, and I replied that it was nice talking to her as well. She gave me a final smile, wished me a good weekend, and walked away.

I did have a good weekend, but I also made a lot of coffee in my dreams. I brewed a thousand cups for her, and she thanked me in every way imaginable.