Short Story with no name
Lifting my head up to the sky, I saw a single bird fly by with light fluffy clouds that you could just see through. It was one of those nice summer mornings where you would walk and know that something on this day would happen. Good or bad, something would, happen. I unusually made less of an effort this morning, I woke up and told myself “No make-up, no dress up, just me.”
Walking down the busy London Street I was walking on the other side of the river. There was something unamusing about walking to work next to the river where everyone else walks, to just get trampled on. So me, myself and I stuck to the other side. What I call the boring side.
I must have done this trek well over a thousand times. Back and forth to work ans not once had I ever looked at anybody in the eye on my commute.
I could never get to the gym thanks to being lazy. So the time I spent walking to work was an opportunity for just me and the IPOD to burn some calories.
The wind started to lift a little but it was the kind of warm wind that caught your face and made you sigh in relief, for a split moment I didn’t feel like I was about to melt. I seemed to catch the sun more on this side of the road, which was nice. Except for the watch marks and t-shirt marks. But hey nothing a bit of fake tan couldn’t even out.
I got the smell of it. Again. I couldn’t put my finger on it. It’s only been recently where I could smell it. Sometime during my walk I would get a quick smell of what I could only figure out to be perfume. It was sweet had a feel of femininity but at the same time had an essence of power. It was subtle but strong at the same time. I look forward to smelling it. Some days I could smell it like it was right next to me, other days it was a barely noticeable unless you went out to smell it purposely. I spent countless occasions in the perfume shops trying to find what I could smell. But I’ve given up now. I have tried to find the person wearing it but I don’t pay attention to people in the morning which makes it harder when there are hundreds of people walking by you. Never looking the same twice.
Having got to work it was the same shit, different day scenario. I didn’t like to complain about my job because let’s face it. It pays well, gives me a nice company car (which I barely use) and I get to retire when I’m 45. All in all it’s not too bad. Except one thing. The fact my job won’t let me fall in love. It won’t allow me the time to find that one person to be with. It’s always been a problem. Always been the factor in my relationships. I was getting a bit sick with hearing the usual; “It’s me” or better still “It’s your job”. I can’t leave my job. Without it I wouldn’t have anything. Maybe it’s because I never truly loved anybody I was with. I was with them for the sake of being with them. It’s a sad fact but it’s true. At the end of the day I only got to where I am by putting work before sex. I would rather stay at work then go home to the ‘other half’. I could live quite comfortably without that half in my life, I think that’s where I went wrong.
I do miss the phone calls I would get at lunchtime. I miss going home to the company. Even though I wouldn’t spend much time with whoever was taking camp in my house, but the fact they was staying, the fact there was someone to hold me in the night, I miss that. I have always wanted someone to come to my work during my lunch break to surprise me. The idea of someone spontaneously picking me up when I finished work to hold my hand on the walk home. I never had this. I need to stop dreaming.
I refuse to think about my love life for long, it would put a downer on my job. But in the back of my head I know I am lonely, however, I knew I am incapable of falling in love with anyone. Unless there is such thing as love at first sight I will be lonely for a while.
Today was a slow day, a ‘i really couldn’t be arsed with work day’. I got up not being arsed and evidently that continued all day long. It was just hitting 4:15… Maybe I can finish early. No one had visited me all day. No one had called me, was just one of those days.
That was it, I was out of there. My receptionist doesn’t care, I told her I was going early. This isn’t like me but I think she looked at me from head to toe and knew that today was a different kind of day. I began my walk home, the same way I always take, it was still sunny, which was nice. I didn’t feel ready to go home, to my empty house. So I sat on the bench. The bench I always call my own. Within seconds it starts to rain. But it’s sunny. Really can’t get my head around it sometimes. The rain continued to get heavier, I usually would run and hide under a tree, but I look shit anyway. So I continued to sit, happily letting my joggers soak through, my t-shirt clinging to me in all the wrong places and my hair sticking to my face.
I lean my head back, letting the heavy rain drops hit my face and land on my eyes, tasting it in my mouth. Then I smell it. That smell. The one I couldn’t put my finger on. It reeked of femininity and I could feel the power it had over me. It smelt like it was next to me, behind me, lingering over me. Opening my eyes I was alone, no one around me, I couldn’t hear a sound. My heart was pounding at the thought of seeing the person who it belonged to. I had built the image in my head of who would wear it. A business woman, with brown long hair, wavy but not curly. Wearing casual but smart clothing. Waistcoat maybe. She would be slim but curvy with eyes that could melt my heart. But it was wishful thinking. I would daydream about this figure, this beauty I had in my head. Thinking about it would make my life a little less lonely. So I continued to sit and continued to listen to my iPod.
I got up from the bench, thinking it was time to get out of my wet clothes. They start chafe in all the uncomfortable spots. Walking to my home I had to hold my head down or I couldn’t see where I was going with the rain getting in my eyes. But I saw you, out the corner of my eye, I saw your feet, the start of your legs. It was like I had seen them before… like I knew what I was looking for. Holding my head up I realised you had stopped, I realised you were staring at me. You noticed me looking at you, i didn’t know where to look, do I continue staring into your eyes, like we were telling each other a story without saying words. Do I look away and pretend you didn’t just melt my heart away. My palms were sweating. My heart was racing, are you listening? Can you hear it going? Can you hear it beat? The sound of the rain hitting the floor became louder, with the rain and my heart beating together they were making a song in the back of my head. Your eyes looked like someone had smeared black ink over your cheeks. Like the ink once wrote a story but the rain washed it away. Your hair was pulled back into a pony tail holding it back from the rain. You held your stare. You could hear my thoughts. I felt more for you in 8seconds then I had anyone in my life. It was running at me, I had no control. You smiled at me like you had waited for me to see you. Do I make my way over to you? Do I wait for you to wave me over? Will you walk over to me?
I didn’t even know if you wanted to come near me, to touch me. I looked at you harder, I had seen you before. I’ve met you. I feel like I know you.
Your foot stepped into the road. The street was dead, no cars, the silence was deafening. I stood into the road with you, continued to walk towards you until we both met in the middle. Flesh to flesh, nose to nose. Then I smelt it. That smell. The femininity powering off you. I knew you. We had met before. Just in different senses. I laid my hand on your waist. She smiled at me.
“I didn’t think you would ever catch my eye” Her smile still on her face
“How long have you waited”
“I’ve seen you walk in the mornings for the last year, I’ve spotted you each day. I know which way you walk, I know how you smell, I know the face you pull when a happy song comes on your iPod, I know when you’ve had a bad morning and when you’ve had a good one. I’ve waited long enough to know I know you without ever meeting you”
“Your smell…”
“I know you liked it, every time I would walk past you you would stop and try to see who was wearing it”
“Why didn’t you ever talk to me sooner?”
“I left it to fate” Her eyes burning into mine, making me feel light, making me lose my breath.
She was better than in my dreams. Her body was perfectly shaped to fit close to mine, her eyes already melted my heart. Her voice talking softly in my ear. I lent my forehead against hers. Raindrops dripping from her eyelashes and rain dripping off my nose. I looked ridiculous but so did she, however she still looked beautifully perfect.
I span her round to hold her from behind, with my arms around her I kissed her neck, she span back round and smiled.
“You don’t know my name do you?”
“No but you don’t know mine either, you’ll have to kiss me first to find out”
