Maybe even someone who instructs others how to spin?
“Oh no,” I whisper. "Oh no. I think the spin instructor just walked in."
My little sister snickers behind her hand.
1 I know I'll never take it to the dry cleaner, but my mom still seems to think that's a possibility too.
13
PIPER
“Penny. I cannot believe you were serious.”
She outright laughs at me.
“Pen, oh no, what am I going to do?”
She shrugs.
“Hi. I’m Alex.” The tall stranger holds out his hand for me to shake. "You're Piper, right?"
Crap. Across the room my Mom smiles widely and gives me the largest thumbs-up possible. Now I know exactly why she wanted me to ‘look my best’.
"I think I need another cup of decaf." Penny grins, shoving herself to her feet.
"Penny!" I protest through gritted teeth, Alex is already slipping into her vacant seat. "Hi." I briefly consider leaving, but that would be rude to Alex, annoy my mother, and worst of all, upset the orange tabby who’s settled in my lap.
"Your Mom says you’re a programmer?" Alex asks. Mom does know how to pick them. He's undeniably handsome, in a slightly odd way, with a nose that is slightly too large for his face, striking light brown eyes, but no fur at all around his neck.Nothing I could really sink my fingers into. And he obviously can't fly.
"Yeah, I run a small company that focuses on technological accessibility. We’re non-profit so there’s not a lot of money, but we’ve gotten a lot of really good press lately. Do you work in tech?" I ask, trying to ignore the strange physical standards I seem to be comparing a potential date too.
He shrugs. “No.”
“Do you game?” I ask, awkwardly trying to find some common ground. The topic of video games tend to get people talking, then I can relax and pretend to listen. “We’ve consulted with some really cool big developers!”
"Not really." He leans against the wall and then there are no more words in his part of the conversation.
“No board games, or video games, or tabletop? Maybe roleplaying?”
He shakes his head.
“I actually watched a really interesting documentary about Scream Queens and women in horror recently.”
A blank stare in return.
“Seen any good TV recently? Or movies?” This is like pulling teeth.
“I don’t have time to watch much.”
I wait a moment longer. He doesn’t provide any other information. Across the room Mom is boring holes in my head with her stare. I’m not out of the water yet.
“What kinds of hobbiesdoyou have, Alex?” I make another attempt to pull more than one sentence from the man.
"I love working out. Obviously,” he says with a straight face.
“Obviously,” I repeat with a full-throated laugh, thinking he’s making a joke. I wait for him to continue. He is silent in response. I close my mouth. “Anything else?”
“I'm a personal trainer.” He flexes his arms, I don’t think he can help himself.
