C is for Caroline

5 | find a nice, fulfulling job inside shrek's asshole

That morning, I asked my boss if I could get off of work early. I knew it was going to ruffle some feathers since I essentially chose my own hours, so the fact that I wanted to leave early was understandably questionable, but I still needed to do it.

I was hoping I could catch Caroline again somewhere around her apartment complex and woo her with my irresistible charm (that for some reason has yet to show itself in a single one of our interactions, but trust me, I'm usually a catch).

...Is that kind of stalker-ish? Me waiting outside her complex looking for her? I swear my intentions are all good (since, you know, sex is inherently good). And it's not like I'm going so that I can force her to want me, I just feel like I wasn't really given a fair chance.

I told AJ (AJ's my boss) that I needed to leave early because of "personal matters". A vague enough reason that it wasn't a lie, yet it sounded personal enough that they didn't want to know any more on the matter. It was the perfect reason since I already knew AJ was a little uncomfortable hearing about their employees' personal lives. When they were at work, they liked to focus on solely that, and so our conversation was relatively short:

Me: "Hey...what's up, boss?"

AJ: *sigh* "Yes, Brooks?"

Me: "Umm...do you think I could maybe...have the afternoon...off today...?"

AJ: *another sigh* "And is there a reason you need the afternoon off?"

Me: "I'll make up the hours? You know I'm good for it."

AJ: "While you very well may be 'good for it', I'd rather you just make up the hours now. Makes my job a hell of a lot easier."

Me: "But...I have to deal with some personal matters."

AJ: *tight sigh* "Alright, Brooks. Just—go...go do that, I guess."

Me: *obnoxiously large grin* "Thanks boss. I appreciate it!"

AJ: *another sigh, this time with a tasteful eye-roll*

And so after getting AJ's 'go-ahead', at around lunch time, I backed my forklift, Betsy, into her resting spot, picked my phone up from my locker and began to head home.

As I passed the infamous Starbucks, I stopped and looked inside for good measure. Who knew, maybe Caroline had a routine of going there in the early afternoon.

She didn't. And when I realized she wasn't there, I kept on walking till I reached my destination.

I stopped on the block of 393 West End Ave and sort of just wandered around a bit. I tried to look like I had an objective to all my pointless meandering, but I'm sure it was not at all convincing since I was literally just walking back-and-forth on the same on block.

I ended up pacing that one block for hours, and it was such a rich part of the city that I was surprised nobody called the police to report 'suspicious behavior.'

Well, actually...not that surprised, because knowing New York, the reason nobody called was probably just because I'm white (yeah, I'm calling people out. Sue me).

Regardless, it was extremely hot, because, again, April, but I was still wearing the thick, dark blue jumpsuit from work, so at this point it was either I go home and change, or strip.

And I was not about to miss Caroline.

So yes, I walked over to the front of 393 West End Ave, taking shelter in the shade from their little veranda, and I stripped my clothing.

Obviously I didn't get naked, but I still pulled off my jumpsuit down to my waist and took off the vest I was wearing underneath it, tucking it into one of the jumpsuit's belt loops. I guess you could say I was half naked. Nothing illegal, but I got lots of stares (and 2 phone numbers! Told you I had game).