CATASTROPHE CAREN (Completed) ✔

25: An Assessment

At this point, Caren's mind was all over the place, she could feel the knots in her brain unscrewing themselves... Or so she thought.

"Caren... Oh my gosh, I can't believe this!" Dave smiled.

How did he even remember her after all these years, she thought. Maybe Olivia is right! He's been stalking her. Well, if only things had gone the way she planned, he wouldn't have seen her. Now she had to play it cool and pretend she didn't know who he was.

"Hey... Uhm, do I know you?" She forced a smile.

"Uh oh! I hope I'm not mistaking you for someone else. You're Caren right? Olivia Bell's friend?"

"Olivia Bell? Yes, I am her friend! And who are you if I may ask?"

"I'm Dave Dalton. I am also a friend of Olivia. You may not remember me, but we met years ago."

"Oh wow... Could you please refresh my memory? I really can't remember how we met and I apologize for that." She smiled.

"Oh, no need to apologize, please. It was at Jake's party... Olivia's cousin! I remember you were there with uhm... I think her name was Hailey or something."

"Halle?"

"Oh yes, Halle! Olivia introduced us though."

"Oh I think I remember you now! But you have really changed." She tried to act surprised even though she really didn't remember him. "There's no way I could have known it was you."

"Oh well, you know how it is... The world is changing fast and so are we. But you Caren, you look exactly the same."

"Really? In a good way or a bad way now?" She chuckled.

"In a very pleasant and wonderful way. I can see that you still have that glow on your face and spark in your eyes as you did several years ago. You haven't changed a bit."

"Aw, thank you, Dave... That's really sweet. Would you like to have a seat? It's rude of me to keep you standing."

"Oh my job requires me to sit a lot so I don't mind standing every now and then." He smiled and Caren chuckled. "Let me just grab my stuff from the other table."

"No problem!"

Just then, the waiter arrived with her order.

"Thank you. Please can I place another order for the exact same thing?" She said to the waiter.

"Oh that won't be necessary. I've got my cup of coffee right here." Dave said as he sat down opposite her.

"Oh great!" She nodded then turned to the waiter, "Well I guess that would be all, thank you very much."

"You're welcome!" The waiter replied and left.

"You know, I still can't believe I'm here talking to you after all these years. You can't imagine how many times I asked Olivia about you and if she's heard from you but the answer was always the same. Really great to see you again." He smiled.

"Aw, thank you. It is a bit of a shock to me running into someone I haven't seen in ages really. I was actually running some work-related errands when the taxi I was in, mysteriously broke down. Was walking to the next street to get another cab when I saw this place and decided to stop for a drink."

"The universe truly works in mysterious ways doesn't it?" He smiled.

"It does alright." She chuckled. "So what are you up to today? I hope I'm not taking you away from something really important. I can see you have some books with you."

"Oh, not at all. Actually, today is my day off so I'll just be chilling with these books I got from the local library."

"Oh nice. You must be an avid reader." She smiled.

"Oh I am. I am also an Author and a screenwriter."

"Oh wow! That's really nice. I guess doing all that keeps you very busy."

"Coupled with my regular job, it does keep me very busy. But I like it that way. You know what they say, an idle mind is the devil's workshop." He chuckled.

"True that!" She laughed.

"So tell me, what's going on in your life?"

"Well, nothing unusual. Just constantly trying to find a resolution between my work and personal life." She chuckled.

"Very interesting! So what does Caren do that won't let her concentrate on her personal life in peace?" He smiled.

"Well, I am a Chief Administrative Officer at one of the largest marketing firms in the States."

"Say no more! That alone assures me that you have absolutely no time for anything else in your life." He threw his hands in the air and shook his head.

"You can say that again." She chuckled. "So tell me, what do you do?"

"I'm a software architect."

"Wow! Very nice. Tell me more about what it's like being a software architect." She asked.

"Well, as a software architect, I design and develop software systems and applications such as games, desktop applications etcetera, etcetera."

"Sounds very interesting but time consuming."

"No lies there. The job comes with a lot of responsibilities and it takes a lot of time and effort to handle them all."

"I can imagine! Walk me through some of the things you do as a software architect." She smiled.

"Well, some of my duties include facilitating, planning, tracking and scheduling of software deliverables and making assessments on everything from design to technical standards. I'm also saddled with the responsibility of making sure there's a good working relationship between our company and other marketing managers, product managers and software engineers out there. The list goes on and on but I'm going to spare you the details." He chuckled.

"Wow! That's quite a lot of work for one person to handle." She said in astonishment.

"Well I do have a very brilliant team that I work with and thanks to their timeless effort and reliability, it makes it a lot easier to push the company down the road of success every single day."

"Well said, Dave. There's nothing like a person who acknowledges others for the hard work they put in and give credit where it's due. That's really admirable." Caren smiled.

"Thank you, Caren! That's very sweet of you."

"You're welcome." She replied.

"After all this time, I have to be completely honest with you." He looked into her eyes.

"Oh... Okay," She looked at him with wandering eyes, "What is it?"

"The truth is, there has been a question lingering on my mind since we began talking. It's just that I don't want it to sound like I'm prying into your personal affairs and all that."

"That's okay, you can ask me anything."

"Well, I'd like to know if you are in a relationship or some kind of romantic partnership with anyone. I ordinarily assumed you were not married because I looked at your ring finger and didn't see a band on it. Could be wrong though." He smiled.

"Well you are certainly right about that. I am not married... Yet!" She chuckled. "And as for the relationship part..." She was about to respond when all of a sudden, Dylan crossed her mind. Quite strange she thought. It's not like they've been romantically involved in any way. But then, considering how far they have come in such a short time, it became a little bit clearer as to why she thought about him at this moment. Her lips cracked a smile.

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