This was written sometime in late-2005... I think? For Touru's Project Random Cool Thing, which is now somewhat defunct.
Caitlyn Blair is an accounting manager. She works at a nondescript escrow company in a suburb of a certain major city somewhere in the United States. Caitlyn works with numbers and money and checks and wired funds all day long. But the truth is, she doesn't care much for accounting. Caitlyn's true love is pottery. Most people don't know this about Caitlyn, because she thinks that's pretty embarrassing for someone with a degree in mathematics. Caitlyn is pretty paranoid about other people's opinions of her.
Caitlyn's boss is a man named Mr. Kingston. Mr. Kingston is very friendly, especially to young, good-looking women. Because Caitlyn is very self-conscious about other people's opinions, she never leaves the house unless she's made herself look nice. For important events, like dates and interviews, Caitlyn goes the extra mile to look even nicer. This is part of the reason Caitlyn got a job working for Mr. Kingston.
With the exception of pottery, Caitlyn is better at math than anything else. Most people underestimate Caitlyn's ability to do simple arithmetic. Caitlyn assumes this is because she's a young, good-looking woman. Caitlyn is afraid that if she challenges people who expect her to be bad at math, they'll think she's a bitch. So, Caitlyn often plays dumb as long as it doesn't get in the way of doing her job.
Caitlyn has a co-worker named Greg Livingston. Greg is a senior escrow officer, and his office is right next to Caitlyn's. Greg and Caitlyn are both very busy people, so they don't see each other very much.
Yesterday was the first of November, and it happened to be a pretty slow day in the escrow office, which is quite rare. Normally Caitlyn eats lunch at her desk while working, but yesterday, she took a thirty-minute break and ate in the staff break room.
It was a pretty slow day for Greg, too, and he was also eating in the staff break room when Caitlyn came in.
"Hi, Caitlyn," said Greg.
"Hi, Greg," said Caitlyn.
Caitlyn sat down and started on her lunch. And so it went for about ten minutes: Greg and Caitlyn, sitting across from each other, eating their lunches, glancing at each other occasionally, neither having much to say.
Because Caitlyn is usually so busy, she'd never gotten a good look at Greg before then.
He was pretty good-looking.
Greg noticed that Caitlyn was looking at him with some interest. Because Caitlyn always leaves the house looking very nice, Greg had noticed several months ago that she was good-looking. He didn't mind her looking at him.
Greg smiled. Caitlyn blushed.
Greg winked. Caitlyn giggled.
"So, what do you like to do outside of work, Caitlyn?" Greg was pretty good at taking awkward conversation starters and making them sound charming.
Caitlyn didn't want to tell him about her pottery. "Oh, you know, regular things. Reading... cycling... going to movies..."
"I like going to movies, too," interrupted Greg, in a very charming way. "Maybe we could go see a movie together."
Caitlyn blushed some more, and then she and Greg made plans to see a movie the following evening.
Today is the second of November, and it's not yet lunchtime. At first Caitlyn was excited about her date with Greg, but now she's trying to think up an excuse to get out of it. This is because last night, Caitlyn saw something very strange on the late-night news.
"We're continuing our coverage of this developing story," said the TV reporter. "A man police are calling the East Side Shanker has been breaking into people's homes and attacking them with what forensic analysts have concluded is some sort of crudely-fashioned homemade knife. Right now the entire East Side is on high alert, and police warn that this man is armed and dangerous. We do have a composite drawing of the man as described by witnesses. If you see him, call 911 immediately, and remember, he is ARMED and EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!"
Caitlyn noticed that the drawing looked an awful lot like Greg. Too much to be a coincidence, she decided. Maybe Greg has a twin brother; she didn't know.
That's why Caitlyn feels very awkward today. She doesn't want to tell Greg that she has to cancel their date because she's afraid of being shanked, because if Greg isn't the East Side Shanker, he might get angry and not like her anymore. And, of course, Caitlyn is very self-conscious about that kind of thing.
Finally, Caitlyn comes up with a good excuse. Her (imaginary) sister is flying in from out-of-state and needs to be picked up from the airport. Since traffic will be very bad on this Friday night, it will probably take all evening to get to the airport and back home.
When lunchtime rolls around, Caitlyn works up the guts to walk into the lunch room and talk to Greg. He's sitting at the table, eating his lunch. Caitlyn sits down across from him.
"I'm really excited about tonight," Greg says.
Caitlyn feels butterflies in her stomach from nervousness. "Um, yeah. Well, I wanted to tell you..."
Greg smiles. Caitlyn blushes.
Greg winks. Caitlyn giggles.
"By the way," Greg adds, "I was amazed at how quickly you got all those ledgers balanced this morning. You really are very talented with math."
Caitlyn suddenly forgets what she was going to say. She didn't know just how charming Greg could be. She remembers that the American news media isn't actually all that reliable, and that eyewitness testimony can be of very poor quality.
"Thanks," Caitlyn finally replies. "And I was going to say, I'm really excited for tonight, too."