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Not One Of Those Creepy Girls before/after The not-so-cute desk girl at the gym finally caught up to me. "Hey, amanda. How are you doing?" I asked. I wasn't really curious, but hell, I listen to anybody. Besides, there was no avoiding her. I had ridden to the gym, thinking I would see the lovely elizabeth. As I approached, I found myself hoping she wasn't there, simply because I had nothing good to talk about. Nothing positive. Its been a suck-ass week, and really, who wants to hear about that? So my wish was fulfilled. "Great, now," she said, batting her eyes. I had thought she had gotten fired. I know the management, liz, did not like her, and amanda had told me as much. I had concocted all sorts of scenarios in which she had gotten fired, and I wouldn't have to deal with a situation like this. It came to a creshendo with her breaking down into tears infront of liz, thinking it was client complaints that did her in, mentioning me by name and saying something about how I had listened to her one night as she laid out her problems, and maybe it was me that complained about her asking me out. Liz, hearing the story, of course, would be surprised and won over by my compassion. Thus explaining why we made contact last week. And solving the problem of how to let amanda down easy. Sadly, no. No time for love, dr. jones. "Really," I said. I say 'really' a lot, I find, especially when the conversation isn't stimulating. She was tanned for a change, and had this strange look in her eye. A wistful look. "Let me just tell you, I have had the most fabulous past 24 hours." she said. "Guess what happened." Oh please. Please tell me. "You won a million dollars." I said. "Close. I got a new job." she said triumphantly. Then she meandered for awhile into the details. I know the gist of it, like she's working for an attorney in a nearby town for more money, benefits and such as an executive assistant, but really my mind started wandering somewhere in the middle of her schpeil. I started wondering how disinterested and hollow my 'really's' were starting to sound. I also found it a little disappointing that she never asked how I was doing. Not that I would have told her. But its nice to be asked. "OH! And I still have to take you out to dinner! To pay you back!" Of course, she remembered. They never forget. Not after she laid a trap like that. It was beautiful in its brutal simplicity. The sob story. And what the hell, she was on a roll, apparently. I looked her in the eye, "Don't worry about it." She looked crestfallen. But still she soldiered on. "Don't worry about it." I said again. "Well," she said, "I'm not gonna' push, but the offer stands, if you ever want to take me up on that, we'll go out to dinner." No, I don't think so. "Okay," I said, walking away. There was a pause. I drank some water, sized up a machine. "I'M NOT ONE OF THOSE CREEPY GIRLS, ARGENTUM!" she called after me. "Suurrre." I said. And left it at that.
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