There

Let's Go Out?

It was cold, rain was pouring pretty hard, and I was checking if we could fit into my quite large umbrella on our return trip. So yeah, it was a pretty exciting dinner break for us that day.

"What do you want to drink Parker?" Watson asked, her hair quite damp as she was about to enter the convenience store. 

Why out of the office you ask? Simply because we can. No, kidding, we just didn't like the office rumors to circulate. That we would be identified as an item since we were still friends then, and we really despised large crowds of people, we thought that the office pantry at six in the evening was a place to stay away from. And with three simple words on our Skype chat we thought, we decided to do so. 

So, we finally found refuge at the convenience store of a nearby gas station (it even had a mini bakery!) and it's wooden tables and wide two-seater chairs were a nice spot for the two of us.

"I'll just have some water I guess, is your pasta spicy?" She offered to buy our drinks as I was on umbrella duty (she always forgot to bring one) and I eyed the pasta in her clear microwavable container. It looked like it had a lot of tomato sauce, and by then I had known that Watson was a big fan for spicy meals.

"Just a wee bit." She did a small pinching gesture with her thumb and index finger. A playful smile once again behind it as she waited for me to react. "Well, for me. I dunno for you." She half sang as she had entered the convenience store. 

I shook my head as I laughed a little, amused by how different she was in these moments. When we were at the office, focused with work, not a lot of people would even notice her smile. She'd walk quickly by, her head faced down as she avoided anyone's gaze, this did constitute some popularity as in the very rare moments that she would smile and be seen, she would be unforgettable. 

And here I was, a pretty fortunate and blessed guy waiting for Watson's unlikely smile, honestly I had always seen her smile, but I never really did put much weight on it, well after a while. But there are those moments where you would never forget that smile, this was probably one of them.

"Water my good sir." Two plastic bottles of mineral water appeared before my eyes as I was in deep thought staring at the puddles the rain continued to form. Watson sat in front of me, folding up the sleeves of her brown and cream stripped wool sweater. 

"Thank you fair maiden." I replied as I bowed my head a bit, as I could hear her giggling. I finally took my lunch box out of the small light yellow bag I had sometimes put it in. 

"What are you having for dinner?" She asked, as she had raised her eyebrows and focused the dark brown eyes onto the dark blue cover of my lunch box.

"The usual Watson, a lot of rice and...."

"A simple fried or sauteed dish yes?" She had cut me off as she had known quite well how I had my packed dinners.

I nodded as I had opened my lunch box, revealing some slices of ham, bacon, and a few sliced tomatoes, all over a bed of cooked rice. It was an appetizing sight to me but Watson just laughed. One very peculiar thing about her was, her laugh was definitely loud, I mean like, megaphone loud, this all coming from a really petite woman was amusing to me, as were her other quirks and qualities.

"We both have red things for dinner Parker! Matching dinners!" Her excited tone was hardly masked by the hands that covered her mouth, and it was very very funny to me that this was what she noticed instead of the quality of my dinner. (She'd nag me that processed meats were too unhealthy, hence the tomatoes).

"Oh yeah they are! Wanna eat now though? I can hear my hunger calling me." I said shamelessly as I looked her straight in the eye.

"Sure, say grace first Parker." She adamantly replied as she closed her eyes. I did, and it may have taken a while, but I was thankful for the moment, the food, and those three words I had asked in our chat: "Let's go out".