"Dr.
"Hey, I see you here all the time. Do you mind if I buy you a drink?"
"The womanhood spoken sat down on the bar stool next to me. She was classically pretty, with blonde hair, soft hazel eyes, and a mischievous smile. I'd seen her here at Al's bar a few times before. But I had never spoken to her before tonight. I gave her a small smile. If she was trying to pick me up, I wanted to let her down gently. I told her that I appreciated the offer, but after I finished my beer, I was going home to my wife and kid. It was a white lie. Annabelle had taken her son Jacob to her sisters for the weekend, and technically, I had the whole apartment to myself.
Rather than taking the hint, the woman leaned in closer. "Not many people know about this place." She said, looking into my eyes. "You must be from the neighborhood, huh?" "We just moved in. I replied, dotlessly. You know that big brick apartment building at the end of the block?" The woman nodded, as though my answer was exactly what she'd expected all along. When she asked exactly what unit I lived in, though, I started to get uncomfortable. I never should have let the conversation get this far, I realized.
“I should have turned away, paid my bill, and left. But instead, I stayed right where I was, enjoying the attention. After all, how long had it been since someone had flirted with me?”
How long had it been since I'd had a fun conversation with a stranger? Just chatting about something other than work, finances, or childcare?
The woman introduced herself as melody. She explained that she used to live in the building that I just moved into, and she was curious whether the place had changed much. "Did the kitchens still have that awful yellow and allium on the floor?" She asked, rolling her eyes. I laughed. Annabelle and I'd had a hell of a time pulling the stuff up after we'd bought the place four months ago. Underneath we found layers of old glue, rotten wood, and a nest of hideous gray sentipedes. While I regaled melody with tales of our renovation nightmare, she ordered another cocktail, and I ordered another beer.
Why not? I figured. There was still about another half hour until closing time, and the storm outside showed no signs of letting up anytime soon.
“When our drinks arrived, we both fell silent, like we'd just been caught sharing a secret.”
And we were, in a way, when I told Annabelle what I had been up to over the weekend, I doubted I was going to mention how attractive melody was, or how she kept letting her arm accidentally brush against mine. Once the bartender had left, melody cleared her throat and asked another question. One that made me wish I'd walked away when I'd had the chance.
“Other than the bugs, has anything weird ever happened in your apartment, like the bad kind of weird?”
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