My Turn - Achieving the American Dream

by Jonathan Williams

  Chapter 8

  “Encounter with Debbie”

  While Chris is researching Debbie’s moves, he starts to wonder what the CEO is up to. He knows that the CEO would be careful about his web surfing at the office. But when it comes to personal emails, people are usually more carefree as to what they write. Maybe they think that personal emails and chats can’t be tracked at a corporation. And because people believe this, this kind of information always prove to be a treasure trove.

  Chris believes that politicians, CEO’s and board members of companies make a fortune by sharing information. It’s the unspoken word between suits. He knows if he checks the CEO’s personal email that he may be able to zone in on some investment tips as well. He’ll also be able to see which companies the CEO is investing in by logging into one of his financial institutions. At the time, he doesn’t execute this thought but later it resurfaces, and the results are more than he bargains for. Currently though, he just wants to focus on Debbie.

  Friday rolls around, and he’s getting ready to head up to the city and “coincidently” run into her. By what Debbie chatted on Instant Messenger (IM) that day, he confirms that she’s still going to meet her girlfriend and that they’re both looking for guys to hook up with. Apparently, Debbie hasn’t met any new guys for two weeks. When it comes to sex, men and women are not that different. In fact, from what Chris has seen through estaking, women have as large an appetite for sex as men. He thinks that men and women are all animals.

  He locates Debbie’s friend on Facebook to know what she looks like. Her account is private. Using Debbie’s Facebook password, he logs into her account to view her friends photos.

  Chris arrives at the bar about thirty minutes prior to when Debbie is supposed to get there. He takes a seat and orders a glass of wine. Knowing Debbie’s favorite grape, he orders a Pinot Noir. He feels well-prepared for his first “out of the office” encounter with her.

  He sees her walk in. She scans the bar, and they make eye contact. He does a double-take, acting surprised. She looks beautiful, as always. Some girls just have it, he thinks to himself. She walks over with a captivating smile on her face.

  She says “Hi Chris” as he stands up. She exudes confidence.

  “Hi Debbie. How are you?” They hug each other. He’s glad they don’t shake hands as his palms are a bit sweaty. He’s a little excited and is not sure if it’s because he’s meeting her outside of work or if it’s because of all the inside information he has on her. The fact that she has no idea makes it all the more thrilling.

  “I’m good. I’m supposed to be meeting a friend here.” She looks around the bar again but doesn’t see anyone she recognizes. Chris also scanned the bar for her friend earlier and didn’t see her either.

  “Oh cool. Have you been here before? Would you like a seat?” Chris offers the bar stool next to his.

  “Sure. Yeah, but I don’t come that often,” she replies as she sits down. “Thank you.” He knows she’s lying. In fact, she’s been here several times. That’s one of the problems of knowing everything. You start thinking more, like what constitutes “often?” You question more people’s responses based off what you learned about them while estaking.

  “Can I get you anything?” Chris asks.

  “What are you having?” She looks at his glass.

  “A glass of Pinot.”

  “Oh yeah? I’ll take one. I like Pinot.”

  “Very well. Yeah, I like the grape, always have.” Things are going as planned. Chris orders her a glass.

  “Oh, here comes my friend.” Chris looks around and sees her. She’s another attractive girl and looks better in person than in her pictures. She smiles as Debbie waves and starts to walk over.

  “Hi honey,” Debbie says, giving her a hug and an air kiss on both cheeks.

  “Hi babe.”

  “Chris, this is my friend Julie. Julie… Chris.”

  “Nice to meet you.” Chris is still standing and shakes her hand. He had wiped his hand on his pants so that it was dry. “Can I get you anything? A glass of wine?” he says.

  “Sure, I’ll have what you’re having.” Another confident woman.

  The bar stools are all taken so he offers her his seat.

  Debbie asks, “Chris, I don’t mean to intrude on you. But are you expecting anyone?” Here we are taking over your area. We don’t want to mess up your game.” She smiles and rolls her eyes.

  “No, not at all. My playing days are over. I’m just going to have a glass of wine and an appetizer and then head home.” Another lie. A man’s playing days are never over. As Chris’s ex-girlfriend’s father once said, a man could be on his death bed and a hot nurse with big tits would still put a smile on his face.

  He turns to the bartender and orders a glass of wine for Julie. She takes his seat, and he stands back between the two.

  “So you don’t mind if we sit here for a bit?” She looks around the bar. At this point, lots of people are standing around. “We have reservations but it’s livelier at the bar,” she continues.

  “No, not at all. I’ve been sitting most of the day. But am I interfering with your game?” he asks smiling.

  “No game here, kiddo,” she responds. “That’s very sweet of you. I’ll pick up your next round.”

  “No, don’t sweat it. I have lots of problems but money is not one of them.” It’s a line that Chris picked up from one of his friends. Actually, money has always been a problem for him.

  The conversation is starting to flow just like the wine. They have about three appetizers over the next two hours. It’s fun. But he decides to cut it short. Debbie doesn’t like needy guys. She likes a man with an edge and not clingy, and she definitely doesn’t like drunks. But who does? So it’s best that he leaves now. There’s always that tipping point for Chris. He knows that two drinks is the maximum, three is “hit or miss,” and there’s no such thing as four.

  “Well, I guess it’s time for me to turn in.”

  “Why so early?” Debbie asks.

  “I need to work out tomorrow morning.” But he’s lying. He hasn’t worked out in about six months.

  “Oh that’s great. We’re working out tomorrow, too.”

  He already knows that they go to the gym together and take the same yoga class on the weekends. “What kind of work out?”

  “We’ll do yoga tomorrow,” Julie replies.

  They both have fine, lean bodies. “That’s great. I tried it a couple of times. I think it’s pretty hard. I’m going for a run tomorrow and will do some light weights.”

  “Well this was fun,” Debbie replies. “We’ll have to do it again.”

  “Yeah, definitely. It was fun,” Chris says looking at both girls. He makes eye contact as much as possible. It’s one of the many pointers that his sister gave him about women, seems like they’re much better at it though. Or maybe it’s because he’s insecure around attractive women.

  “Sure.” Debbie stands up, they hug and she gives him a peck on the cheek. “Thanks for the wine and appetizers.”

  “My pleasure.”

  He then turns to Julie who also gives him a hug. “Yeah, thanks for everything, Chris. It was nice meeting you.”

  “You girls have fun.”

  “Oh we’ll try,” Debbie replies laughing.

  Walking to his car, he thinks about all what transpired. What a wonderful night. Most of the time when he goes out, he ends up drinking alone. So being with beautiful girls tonight was extra special. Of course, they had no idea it was orchestrated. Then the thought occurs to him, could he do it again? Absolutely, he thinks! He can do it with anyone. Creating a profile or befriending someone online is easy. This is awesome, he thinks. Why deny yourself the things that make you happy? You get one shot in life so may as well enjoy it.

  Chris’s new work behavior has spilled over into his personal life. He’s not only manipulating responses to those around him but has also been flat-out deceitful and dishonest. Framing has become a
part of him. He finds it challenging yet based off what he just experienced, it was successful and fun, too. Having choreographed a get together like that has added spice to his life. It’s given him another game to play, and it’s good practice for Biokinz as well.

  He runs into Debbie the following Monday morning at the office. From their conversation, it’s obvious that he’s made progress. She’s talking to him on more of a personal level versus business, and she thanks him again for Friday evening. Then, to top it off, she mentions going to lunch one day this week. Not wanting to look desperate, he tells her he’s swamped this week but can go next week, for sure.

  Another dilemma of estaking someone that you’ve become friends with is that you may come across chatter where your name surfaces. So you have to be prepared for both the good and the bad. He’s quite sure that there will be some talk related to his outing with Debbie.

  He logs into her email account but doesn’t see much. She did email a friend, though, where she mentions going to the Americana and having a good time. But she doesn’t say anything about him. As he pages through her other emails, he doesn’t see anything juicy. So he looks at her chat log and there it is. She said that she had fun with him and as he reads further down, her friend asked if it could lead to something more serious. Debbie replied that he’s much shorter than the men she normally dates but that she wouldn’t rule him out. She continued saying that he’s sweet and decent-looking, too.

  Overall, he doesn’t think it’s a bad critique. Being called decent-looking and short are things he can’t really change anyway. The most important thing is that it sounds like it could go further.

  Chris has plenty of time to think what his next move is going to be but hasn’t planned anything yet. He knows so much about her that the possibilities are endless. He can continue infiltrating her life becoming perhaps her best friend or maybe even her boyfriend. He also thinks he has a good chance of just getting laid, too. At this stage in the game, however, he hasn’t figured out which direction he wants to take with her.