Ah, to risk or not to be

Today’s aprés work amusements include a downpour and a lovely young woman in a navy pants suit. Sadly, today, I am not to be.

All Wet

After work today I resolved to journey to the Virginia Square Metro stop and from there, several blocks to my old, but temporary, apartment. My reason for such a trip was a simple piece of paper with the dates and cost of my stay. But that is all rather besides the point and decidedly boring.

Thankfully, when I reached Virginia Square it was pouring. Not just any old rain storm, mind you, but such a volume of water that one could hardly get wetter by swimming across the Potomac. Furthermore, lightning was putting on quite a show as it danced on the nearby rooftops and cracked it heels in deep reverberations between the towers. I, of course, rather enjoy a walk through such tremendous downpours with lightning crashing down around me. So, I pulled a thin windbreaker from my bag, to retain some appearance of sanity, and set off for some entertainment.

After two blocks I was completely soaked through. A block from my destination, I was blinded by the water in my eyes that threatened to float away my contacts. Needless to say, I walked into the lobby with a huge grin on my face and dripping wet.

I, along with those who chose to wait in the station, thought the storm to be but a passing cloudburst. Sure enough, when I left with my receipt, the sun had returned and it left me merely very throughly damp by the time I returned to the station.

Lovely Impatience

On my way back I was waiting for a train at Rosslyn and it was delayed, which happens often on the orange and blue lines. I tend now to make the best of these delays by admiring the finer women of the DC area. I find myself in appreciation of the possibilities. Today I was even less subtle than I normally am, and was astonished and pleased to have my attentions returned.

The young woman in question caught my eye as a slim frame of above average height with a pretty face and fair skin. Her youth was tempered by her stunning, professional, presentation in a navy pants suit. The navy complimented the slight reddish tint of her light hair, short and pulled back. Her ears sported silver rectangular earrings with a subtle scallop that caught the light. She animated her lithe limbs in displeasure at the lateness of the train, clicking her toes and heels as she paced and turned about in a small meandering way.

She seemed to me to be the personification of youthful energy and ambition, but with a kindness in her deep blue eyes.

It was at this point that I realized that I had been staring into her eyes, and she into mine, for some time now.

We regarded each other for a moment more, I with a calm frank gaze and a small smile and she from the corners of her eyes with an open mouth pondering me.

I dropped my eyes and turned my head, but turned back as she moved. As my eyes rose I noted her right leg propped on a thick black heel to her side, and her right arm supporting the elbow of her left as she buried her head in her left hand and watched me still. Caught, I dropped my eyes again but watched from the corner of my eye as she walk nearer and stood beside me.

I, a fool, held my peace, even as she and I traded glances and she walked around me. And when the train came, there was little space. I reasoned that a wet person, such as myself, would be rather unwelcome and turned back. As the doors slid shut, her eyes flashed deep blue as they darted in panic, searching for me, finding me, still on the platform. Two sets of sad blue eyes regarded each other as the train pulled away.

This sort of thing is not supposed to happen. Who the hell picks someone up in the Metro? Whatever the social bounds, one of these times I will risk and be. But tonight was not the night.

I should have said something, anything, perhaps, “You make a lovely picture of impatience.”