Two days. It's been two days since she last saw him. Alex still remembers the way the sun illuminated the sharp edges of his face, casting shadows in all the right places. His jawline slipped its way into her dreams, right along with dreams of marriage and long lasting love. Every day she chided herself for having such naïve and childish thoughts, but she couldn't help herself. For the third time since she first caught a glimpse of this unknown man at the corner of her building, she was at her door, wondering if she would ever see him again.
As she was fumbling for her key, she heard a voice say, "Hey." As she turned toward the source of the voice, her heart turned into a nuclear generator, each part whirring and shaking, independently creating so much energy at one time that when put together, she felt the total product electrifying her entire body.
"Sorry to bother you," he continued casually, "but I saw you yesterday, and I've been meaning to catch up to you next time I saw you, and today I happened to see you, but I didn't want to..." his voice trailed off in her mind. "He was here," she told herself, "He was actually, physically here."
As she drifted back into reality, she heard him finish, "...and judging by your expression then and your current expression here, we have the same feeling. Would you like to go get a cup of coffee sometime?"
"I... um... well, I mean...," Alex struggled to string together words, a problem that had never occurred to the level-headed girl. She paused, gathered herself, and managed to cohesively state, "Yes, I would love that."
"Great!" he said with a tone of relief, "Is tomorrow at eight okay for you?"
Determined to seem more confident, she tried to add a note of strength to her reply. Her mental preparation came out as an "Um... yeah... that's cool, I guess, if you want to."
"Well, I guess I'll see you then -" he started, "CRAP! I forgot to exchange names! eHow didn't prepare me for this situation..." He stopped, realizing that he was speaking out loud, and changed his panicked expression to a more cool and mature one. "Hello, I'm Shawn," this young man said to her. "And you are...?"
"In awe," she replied. "Wait, my name? Oh, sorry, um, well...." She stopped, inhaled, and managed to reply with surprising confidence, "Alex. My name is Alex."
"Well Alex, I'm sure that you've never been followed to your apartment by a strange man, and asked out on a date in such an awkward manner, and I personally have never followed someone who I saw three days prior to their apartment just to ask them out on a date using eHow tips, so this will be a learning experience for the both of us," he said jokingly. "But in all seriousness, I feel like we're off to a great start."
