I’m sitting in a coffee shop, earbuds in, and this guy sits down at the table in front of me. Right away I can tell that this is not his normal habitat. He seems jumpy, unsure of what to do, even though he has iced tea, a bag with (I’m guessing) a pastry in it, and a lap top. He’s dressed in a button down shirt and blue dress shorts and leather sandals, and is so clearly an executive who is trying to do summer casual. Eventually he opens his laptop and does a few things with it, although as far as I can tell (the screen is facing me) he’s just opening and closing programs and staring at his desk top for long periods of time.

After about an hour of this, he gets out is phone and makes a call. He’s sitting less than 6 feet from me, but I assume he assumes I can’t hear him because I have my earbuds in. But the music is low, I can hear everything. And eventually I turn the music lower so I can hear better.

The conversation starts out with small talk, and then he makes reference to when he should come over. I think he’s going to some kind of dinner party or BBQ. I decide he’s from out of town, here on business and a colleague has taken pity on him and invited him over on a friday night. He says “well, I don’t want to come over before you’re ready, I don’t want to impose,” which supports my story. Then the person on the other end says something and he laughs and says “That’s ok – I’m not sure if you’ve picked up on this yet but I can be pretty weird at times too.” And suddenly I realize – he’s not going to a co-worker’s house – he’s going on a date! (This is when I turned the music lower). Now I consider his agitation and dis-ease  in a completely different light and decide that this is maybe a third date, and he’s not entirely sure where he stands with this girl (or guy I suppose).

He says “So 30 minutes then? That will give you enough time?….Oh that’s ok, we can wait until we get there. In Fairfax County I prefer to drive completely sober anyway.” So I’ve decided that he’s going to pick her up and go to Wolftrap – hence the nice but casual outfit.

He hangs up the phone and sets it down and then looks at me and says “will you make sure no one walks off with my phone?” Which surprises me b/c I was sure he assumed I couldn’t hear him, and at first I feel obligated to pretend that I didn’t hear what he said, so he wouldn’t know i was shamelessly listening to his conversation. After a second I glance up with a confused/surprised look to indicate that I hadn’t immediately realized he was talking to me, and he repeats his request and I smile and nod.

He comes back with another drink and picks up his phone and proceeds to fiddle with it for the next 25 minutes. Then he stands I realize its now time for him to head out for his date. He looks at me and says “See you,” and I respond “Yup. Good luck!” because I’ve spent so much time thinking about this date that I’ve decided he’s going on, that I forgot that a) i don’t know him, b) I’ve invented the scenario anyway. He gives me a strange look but then says “thanks,” and walks out.

And once again, I’m left to wonder how the story ends…