Page 14 of Undefeated

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

As he spoke, he pulled his hood over his head. He was wearing the same black hoodie he had on at the Red Box when I saw him three or four months ago. It seemed odd he was wearing a hoodie now, because it was over a hundred degrees outside.

“Nervous,” I said.

Thank God. Only one fell out.

He rubbed the hood onto the sides of his face, concealing most of his features. It was unzipped, and he wore a ribbed tank top underneath. From what I could see, he was built like an athlete. I admired his eyes, stared at his body, and tried not to speak.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you or make you nervous. Do you remember me?”

My head bobbed up and down like one of those little dogs in the back window of some old person’s car. Nervously, I rubbed the wrinkles from my skirt. Perspiration formed on my palms like cold can of beer on a hot Austin day.

Kace, you look like an idiot, say something.

“Eyes, grey. Grey. Like your eyes. Your eyes,” I took a breath, raised my eyebrows and pointed at my mouth as I pursed my lips.

I took another deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“I’m nervous too, if it helps,” he said as he leaned onto the upper portion of my reception station.

I raised my eyebrows and kept my mouth closed.

“I am. You can kind of tell when I’m nervous or I don’t want to talk about something. I pull the hood over my head. My name is Shane. Shane Dekkar,” he said as he pulled the hood from his face.

Holy book fucking boyfriend. This guy is perfect.

I grabbed a sticky note and scribbled on it with my pen.

When I get nervous or really excited the words don’t come out in order. It’s embarrassing. I’m sorry.

I handed him the note.

He looked down, read it, and smiled as he looked back up. He turned the note over face down, reached down onto my lower desk, and grabbed a pen from my jar of pens. He scribbled on the back side of the note and handed it to me.

When I get nervous I hide under my hood. What’s your name?

I set the note aside and grabbed a new one. I wrote on it and handed it back to him.

My name is spelled Kace. It’s pronounced Casey, but spelled weird. My friends call me Kace without the “Y” pronounced. I go by either. I like your eyes.

He read the note, turned it over, and chuckled. He looked up at the ceiling as if he were thinking, and then wrote on the back side of the note. As he handed it to me, he stared into my eyes. I reached for the note and smiled as he released it to me.

I have so much to say I would like one of the big sheets from your legal pad on your left. For now, I will say this.

I like your face. You’re beautiful. And, if you ever get confused and can’t talk, tap your hand once for yes, and twice for no.

I may have peed a little bit more when I read the note. This was so exciting.

I ripped a sheet from the legal pad and handed it to him. The anticipation of what he might write on the sheet was killing me. Hopefully he would write a lot of things on the sheet. I pushed the two yellow sticky notes aside and set my water bottle back upright. I looked up at him as he thought and wrote slowly. He folded the sheet in half and handed it to me.

I unfolded it and was pleased to see that he had filled almost the entire page with hand written questions. His penmanship was perfect.

Kace,

I’m Shane Dekkar. We met at the drug store parking lot. I walked by here a month or so ago and noticed you for a second time. Your hair was really shiny. I think everything happens for a reason. I feel that I really need to find out who you are. I found it increasingly difficult to know you were here and not come see you, so I came in today to see my insurance agent and say hello to you. I have some questions. Here they are.

Was that guy at the drugstore your boyfriend?