“Do you mind if I sit here?” the man in the rumpled suit asked.
Barbara looked up at him in surprise.
“Or were you expecting someone to join you?”
“Oh! No, you’re fine. My husband is asleep in our room.” She gestured to the available chair. “Please have a seat.”
He fidgeted at the word “husband”. “Oh, so you’re already taken, huh?”
“Yep!” Barbara thought about Ambrose and smiled softly. “So very gladly taken.”
“Newlyweds?”
She giggled. “Is it that obvious?”
“Yeah.” He hesitated a moment before sitting in the chair. “Look.” He set his plate on the table. “I’m not normally this upfront. I tend to be a whole lot smoother than this, but you’re pretty and I’m bored. What would you say about you and I having a small fling?”
Barbara stared at him, aghast. “A….what?”
“A small fling. A one-day stand.”
“I’m sorry, but—”
He held up his index finger in a shushing gesture. “Don’t worry about your husband. If he’s asleep like you said he is, he’ll never even—”
“NO.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t you want to have a little fun?”
She frowned. “That is not my idea of fun. I love my husband.”
The man shrugged. “But you’re still sitting here, talking at me.”
“Because I want to eat my breakfast. I could take my plate to my room, but I don’t want to get syrup all over the blanket. So, I’m going to stay here.”
He smiled at her.
“And I would appreciate it if you sat somewhere else.”
His smile fell.
“Please.”
“And if I decide to stay put?”
“I’ll smash my waffles in your face.” It was the first thing that came to mind and she said it without any hesitation.
He laughed, a harsh, unpleasant laugh. “As if you would. You’re just a bit of pleasant fluff. You may make threats, but you don’t have the backbone to follow through.”
Well. There’s asking for it and then there’s REALLY asking for it. He’s clearly REALLY asking for it. Barbara opened both of the syrup packets and poured them all over her waffles. She rose from her seat, picked up both waffles, centered them carefully in her hands, and approached his seat.
He stood quickly. “Look! I was just—”
“This is going to be an awful waste of good food. It will probably ruin your suit too.”
He backed away from her. “I was just kidding. I wasn’t really serious. Really. Just put the waffles down.”
“I will. If you leave me alone.”
“Fine. Fine. I’ll leave you alone.” He snatched his plate off the table and retreated to a table at the furthest point from her.
Barbara let out a sigh of relief and returned to her seat. She put the waffles back on the plate.
The syrup tackied up her hands and drooled down to her wrists. It was all so sticky. She had no idea how she was going to eat anything.
I could just go over to the public restroom to wash my hands, but…She looked over at him. He might try to follow me in there. Her knees trembled as she imagined what would happen if he caught her alone in such an enclosed space.
That imagining led to all of the thoughts about what could have happened. Those thoughts made her feel shaky all over.
And she just wanted to run back to Ambrose.
Even with her hands still all sticky, she wanted to run to him.
So, she calmly picked up her plate, grabbed an orange juice from the cooler, and walked to the elevator.
ambroseandelsie 