“Just friends for now,” she insisted.
“Whatever,” I said, laughing. Leave it to Marissa to keep insisting on setting me up with one guy or another. Never mind that Travis was actually someone that I could be interested in. We worked together, so that pretty much made it out of the question for me, and as I told Marissa, I hardly knew him. In fact, he probably had tons of girls chasing after him already. A guy as good looking and easygoing as Travis? There was no way that he could stay single for long. Still, there was something about his eyes, his smile, that captured my attention. I thought over the morning that we had spent together and how easy he was to talk to. I wouldn’t mind getting to know him better, but I was pretty sure that he just considered me a friend.
Marissa started telling me about her morning skiing with Mike and how they had already made plans to do something together tomorrow afternoon. I was halfheartedly listening to her debate whether they should see a movie or do something more active, like walking around DC to do a little sight-seeing, because as the afternoon wore on and our conversation turned to different topics, I noticed that I still couldn’t get Travis out of my mind.
Chapter 3
The next morning, I climbed out of bed and immediately felt my muscles ache. I’d figured that I’d be sore, and the stiffness as I moved confirmed my suspicions. We’d gotten back late last night, pulling into the parking lot at Marissa’s apartment around 10:00 p.m. By the time I’d gotten back to my apartment, I’d taken a hot shower and immediately collapsed into bed, falling into a deep sleep. I glanced over at my clock as I stretched and saw that it was already 9:00 a.m. I was so used to getting up early for work that it was unusual for me to sleep this late, even on a weekend. I pulled on a warm robe over my soft flannel pajamas and padded down the hallway to my kitchen. I put on a pot of coffee and grabbed a bagel from the bag on my counter. Neglecting the table in my dining room, I carried my bagel and mug of steaming coffee to the more comfortable couch in my living room. I picked up the remote to turn on Today Weekend when the sound of the phone ringing startled me. I reached over to the end table to pick it up.
“Hello?” I said sleepily, wondering why anyone would call so early in the morning.
“Hi, Sweetie!” came my mom’s voice from the other end of the line. My mom sounded as bubbly as always, and I wondered how long she’d been up. My parents were both retired and lived about an hour outside of the city. They were happy to wake up at the crack of dawn and spend the morning relaxing with coffee and the paper. In the summers my mom spent most of her time gardening and my father doing various landscaping projects around their yard. I wasn’t sure how they spent their days in January, but they seemed content.
“Hi Mom,” I said, turning down the TV. “Why are you calling so early?”
“Sorry Sweetie, I figured you’d be up by now. How was your day yesterday? I tried calling you in the afternoon, but you weren’t home.”
“I went skiing with Marissa and some other people from the office. Did you try my cell?” My parents had met Marissa several times, taking us out to dinner once when they were visiting me, or inviting us both out to their house for dinner on a couple of weekends.
“Oh, I didn’t think to call your cell phone. You went skiing? When did you learn to ski?”
“Yesterday,” I said with a small laugh. “It was harder than I expected, but I didn’t fall down too much.”
“Did you take any lessons?”
“Yeah, I took a beginner’s class. It was only an hour though. I think I’d have to ski for several days in a row to actually get the hang of it.”
“Your father and I used to ski all the time before you kids were born,” my mom mused.
“Well, you should have skied after I was born, too—then I’d know how to ski.”
My mom laughed. “That would have been expensive with two kiddos. Besides, we did things that you kids wanted to do. Neither of you ever seemed interested in skiing.”
“No, I guess not,” I agreed.
“Did Marissa or any of the others know how to ski?”
“Yeah, they all could ski. I was definitely the odd man out.”
“Oh my,” she said, sounding worried. “I hope they didn’t take you out on all the advanced runs with them—or leave you alone on the beginner slopes!”
“No, no. One of my coworkers skied with me. He showed me how to ride the chairlift, ski down the bunny slopes, etc. He was actually a big help—and very patient.”
“He?” My mom asked, picking up on that one little word out of my entire description of skiing.
“Yes, he. But we’re just friends, and we work together, so don’t get any ideas.”
“I met your father at work,” my mom reminded me.
“Yeah, I know,” I said with a sigh. She and Marissa could start a matchmaking service to occupy their spare time with all their dating ideas. I changed the subject, asking her about her weekend instead and what my dad’s latest home improvement project was. Before long, my mom was saying she had to finish getting ready to meet some friends for brunch. I said goodbye and promised that next time I’d let her know before I went away on any skiing adventures.
***
“That was a fun weekend,” I heard a deep voice say behind me on Monday morning as I stepped into the elevator. I glanced back over my shoulder and smiled when I spotted Travis. He was wearing a black leather jacket, dark shirt, and charcoal grey pants—a bit more dressed down than when I’d seen him sporting a suit one week ago but still incredibly handsome. His dark hair was tousled with gel, so that it looked slightly damp, and I noticed him clutching a pair of black sunglasses in his hand.
“It was, but I was exhausted after all that skiing. It felt so great to sleep in yesterday.” I pushed the button for the seventh floor as Travis stepped into the elevator next to me, smelling faintly of soap and aftershave, and standing a little closer than he needed to since we were the only two people on it.
“Yeah? I slept in, too. I probably should have been unpacking on Saturday, but skiing was a lot more fun.” He smiled down at me, and I noticed the tiny little crinkles around his eyes.
“That’s probably true,” I said with a laugh. “Moving is never any fun.”
“I hope no one minded my tagging along,” he continued.
“Of course we didn’t mind. Besides, how would I have learned to ski without you there?”
“Good point. At least this way I made myself useful.”
The elevator doors opened, and we walked toward the entrance of our reception area. Travis pulled open the door for me, and as I walked in, I found it hard to believe that it had been only one week ago that I’d seen him standing here. I hadn’t even known who he was as he’d spoken with the receptionist then. How quickly things had changed.
“Wow, I’ve been here a week already,” Travis mused, his mind obviously on the same thing.
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” I joked.
“Right,” Travis said with a laugh. “I always have fun at work.”
“You must be crazy then,” Marissa’s laughing voice called out from behind. I turned to see her walking toward us in brown tweed pants, a cream turtleneck sweater, and red wool coat.
“Hey!” I called out. “I didn’t see you.”
“I took the stairs.”
“Cute jacket,” I said, reaching out to touch the fabric.
“I’m not awake enough yet to take the stairs,” Travis joked.
“Oh, neither am I,” Marissa said. “It was painful.” She turned to me. “We should definitely go grab coffee this morning.”
“Sure, let me just drop my stuff off first.”
The three of us walked down the hall together until we reached Marissa’s and my office. Travis declined our invitation to go out for coffee because he was new and didn’t want to run out first thing in the morning.
“That’s very dedicated of you,” I said seriously, nodding in agreement with him, a smile tugging on the ed
ge of my mouth. Travis seemed surprised that I was teasing him, as it was usually the other way around, and he had a little smile on his face as he looked at me, as if he were pleased by this turn of events.
“Really, no one will mind,” Marissa insisted.
“No, I better get to work. I’ll go with you guys next time,” Travis said.
“Okay, if you insist,” Marissa said with a shrug. “We’ll see you later.”
I waved goodbye to Travis and followed Marissa into our office. Marissa’s phone was ringing when we got inside, so while she answered the call, I turned on my computer and opened my email. I clicked through a few messages and saw that my friend Emily had sent a note to Marissa and me.
Hi Girls,
Happy Monday! Drinks tonight at 6:00?
Em
I smiled as I emailed her back, asking how her weekend had been. Emily and I had been roommates in college, and after I’d introduced her to Marissa, the three of us had started going out together. She’d even come to our office happy hours a couple of times, but tonight it would just be the three of us. It had been a couple of weeks since we had gotten together, so it would be fun to meet up for drinks. I finished my reply and scrolled through the rest of my emails, selecting those from my friends first before getting to the work-related messages.
A few minutes later Marissa asked if I was ready to head down to the coffee shop. We took the elevator back downstairs and hurried down the block in the cold. “I’m dying for a latte,” Marissa said.
“Me too. Actually, any form of caffeine will do.”
“My legs are killing me,” Marissa muttered as we hurried along.
“Why did you walk up seven flights of stairs?” I asked with a laugh.
“Because I always do on Monday morning. It helps to justify the vanilla lattes that I buy.”
“But you don’t go skiing every weekend,” I pointed out. “That’s gotta count for something.”
“No, I sure don’t,” Marissa grumbled, wincing slightly in pain as she pulled open the door. A long line snaked from the counter to the back of the store. We joined the back of the line and slowly inched forward.
“You’re coming out with Emily and me tonight, right?” I asked.
“Tonight?”
“Yeah, didn’t you see her email?”
“I haven’t even turned on my computer. I was on the phone with Mike, remember?”
“He calls you first thing in the morning?” I asked as Marissa pulled out a tube of pink lip gloss and swiped it across her lips.
“Crazy, right?” she asked, pursing her lips slightly.
“Crazy that he’s into you?” I joked.
“Ha, ha,” she said, elbowing me playfully in the arm. “Crazy because we just started dating. Oh, but let me tell you what we ended up doing yesterday afternoon.” She launched into her story of their date as the line moved forward again. I glanced down at my watch, seeing that it was only 9:15 a.m. It felt like 6:00 p.m. would never get here.
***
That evening, Marissa and I walked into a crowded bar in Arlington. I scanned the room for Emily, taking in the loud rock music playing from the speakers and groups of twenty- and thirty-somethings enjoying a drink or two after work. The bar was packed tonight with other happy hour revelers, and I looked around again, still not seeing her.
“Maddy! Marissa!” Emily called out from one of the tall tables near the bar, waving her arms in the air to get our attention. She was wearing a trendy black top and miniskirt, her light brown hair pulled back into a chic ponytail, and I noticed a few guys watching her as we made our way through the crowd. As we got closer, I saw the black platform heels she was wearing, which were currently perched on the rung of the barstool.
“Hey!” I said, rushing over to give her a hug. “Did you go home and change?”
“Of course! I can’t wear this to work.”
“Now I could not have walked up seven flights in those,” Marissa said, gesturing toward the heels and leaning over to give Emily a hug.
“Ha, ha,” Emily joked. “It was only slightly uncomfortable walking down the block from the metro. Ah, the price we pay for beauty….”
“Those things are crazy,” I said. “I could never wear shoes that high.”
“The platform makes them more comfortable.”
“They don’t look comfortable, but they are cute.”
A waitress came over to take our drink order. “I’ll have another margarita,” Emily said, gesturing toward her empty glass.
“Dirty martini,” said Marissa.
“I’ll have a margarita, too,” I said. “On the rocks with salt.”
“All right ladies, I’ll be right back with your drinks,” the waitress said and walked away.
I turned toward Emily. She was jiggling the ice cubes around in her glass, glancing around casually to check out the people nearby. “When did you get here?” I asked.
“Twenty minutes ago. I wanted to come early to snag a table.”
“Good call,” Marissa said, looking around the packed bar area. Her eyes happened to fall on a group of twentysomething guys near us, who started not so subtly jabbing each other in the ribs when they saw her looking in their direction. They appeared to be arguing about which one of them should come over and talk to us. I turned back to Marissa and Emily and rolled my eyes while they snickered, trying not to let the guys see them laugh. A few moments later, a guy from the group, dressed in a plaid button-down dress shirt and khakis, walked up to our table holding a beer. He looked like he’d already had a few; his red hair was slightly messy, and his eyes had a bit of a glazed-over look to them.
“Hi,” he said, directing his attention to me. “My friends said that I should come over and talk to you,” he slurred. Marissa and Emily looked at each other and giggled, while I sat there dumbfounded, watching him sway slightly from side to side.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked.
“No, thank you,” I replied firmly.
“Oh, okay,” he said, looking confused. Apparently he hadn’t planned on what to do next after being shot down.
“She has a boyfriend,” Marissa interjected when the red-headed guy continued to stand at our table. “His name is Travis.”
I burst out laughing, and as I told the guy again that I wasn’t interested, I heard Marissa starting to tell Em about our ski weekend. The guy staggered off back toward his friends, who were making a loud ruckus over his failed attempt to buy me a drink. “Dude, fail!” one of the guys shouted, slapping the red-headed guy on the back. I looked back at my friends, shaking my head in disbelief.
“Really Maddy, you are too picky,” Marissa said, grinning. She stirred the olive around in her martini and then elegantly picked up the glass to take a sip.
“I have to draw the line somewhere,” I joked. I reached over and grabbed a chip from the basket the waitress had brought over and then tried my margarita. “Delicious.”
“I know, they have the best margaritas here. I’m already on my second,” Emily said with a giggle. “So, tell me about this new boyfriend. I would’ve thought you’d mention something like that to me,” she hinted, seemingly wanting more details.
“You’re right, I would have. Travis is Marissa’s and my new coworker. He’s the new writer at our office. We haven’t even been on a date, and he definitely isn’t my boyfriend.”
“Oh, so he’s a writer, too?”
“Yeah.”
“And he went skiing with you this weekend?”
“Yeah.”
“And now you like him?”
“Yeah—wait, what?” Emily laughed at my confusion, but Marissa simply looked amused at my slip-up.
“I might have mentioned to Em that Travis is hot and totally available. Oh, and that he spent most of the ski trip with you.”
“He is gorgeous,” I agreed. “But we’re just friends.”
“I don’t know, Maddy, Marissa seems to think he’s interested in you.”
; “Oh, she’s always trying to set me up with random people,” I replied. I looked over at Marissa. “But you are forgetting to mention that I finally met the mysterious Mike.”
“You met Mike?!” Emily squealed. “That means Marissa actually kept someone around for more than a week?”
“Very funny,” Marissa muttered, stirring the olive around in her martini glass again. “I can’t help it if all my first dates are on the road to nowhere.”
“You are correct,” I said, smiling at Emily, while at the same time ignoring Marissa’s comment. “She did keep him around—and we all liked him.”
“That’s great,” Emily said excitedly, turning her attention over to Marissa. “I want to hear all about him.”
“Oh, well you know, there’s not much to tell….”
“Yeah right,” Emily said. “Spill!”
We spent the rest of the night telling Emily about Mike and recounting the details of our ski trip. She wanted to know all about where we’d gone, how I’d liked skiing, and more info about Travis. When we’d thoroughly exhausted that topic, we giggled over the random guys we spotted at the bar that we could potentially set up Emily with. Before long we were walking back to the metro together and promising each other that we’d get together for another girl’s night soon.
Chapter 4
The next couple of weeks passed by in a blur. In a whirl of workdays and weekends, days spent at the office and evenings out with friends, soon it was already mid-February. I got to know Travis better, as he often joined Elizabeth, Marissa, and me for lunch. I suspected that the fact that he and Elizabeth were officemates was the main reason behind that, for they had become friends, but I still found myself looking forward to seeing him each day. Travis had the same easy friendliness that he’d shown when we’d all gone skiing together. He seemed to get along with everyone. I’d walk into the lunchroom and he could just as easily be talking to Elizabeth about her home improvement projects as he could be talking to one of the guys about last night’s Capitals game or to Marissa about the latest DC hotspots.
Marissa and Mike had broken up, but she didn’t seem too upset about it and before long was already talking about some new guy that she’d seen at the gym. In fact, Travis seemed more disappointed about the breakup than Marissa. Mike and Travis had gotten along well on the ski trip, and Travis didn’t know many people in the area yet. Although Elizabeth’s husband, Steve, had been nice, I could see why he and Travis wouldn’t necessarily be good friends. Steve and Elizabeth were more homebodies than the rest of us, and because they were married, they spent their weekends doing couple things. I was certain that was part of the reason Marissa and I had never become especially close with Elizabeth. Travis probably hoped Marissa would keep dating Mike just so that he’d have a male buddy to hang out with whenever we all went out again.
First Sight Page 4
