At lunch, I ran into Mark at the elevator.
“Would you like to join me for lunch?” he asked after we got into the lift.
“No, thank you,”
“I know this place where they serve the best of everything, it’s also clean and pocket friendly,”
“Like I said, no, thank you,” We got off and went our separate ways. I got to the restaurant where I usually had my lunch and ordered. As I waited, I felt someone tap me on my back.
“I see you found your way here,” Mark said sitting across from me.
“Are you following me?”
“No, this is the place I was telling you about,”
“But I have never seen you here before,”
“I had changed places because of my previous place of employment,”
“What made you come back?”
“It’s closer to my current work place,” My order was brought and the waiter recognized Mark.
“Hey Mark! Where have you been man? We missed you, even the ladies started pestering me for your number,”
“I’m back now,”
“Your usual, right?”
“Yeah, you remember what it was?”
“How can I forget when it was nicknamed after you?”
“Hurry it up please, I’m running late,”
“You got it,” Within minutes his order was brought.
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Have your order brought in in less than five minutes? I have to wait for fifteen to twenty minutes,”
“I was a daily customer,”
“So am I,”
“The difference is I strike a conversation, I get to know the people waiting on me, I am a people person,”
“Then I guess I’ll always wait for my order,”
“Why is that?”
“Because I’m not a people person,”
“That explains it now,”
“Explains what?”
“Why they call you black widow,”
“They call me that?”
“Trust me black widow is better,”
“How’s that better?”
“They call you that because you are a no-nonsense lady and you do not like men,”
“What? I like men, I just haven’t found one that's worth my time,”
“That can’t be true,”
“Believe what you may but I’ve had my fair share of time wasters and came to the realization that I had more valuable things to do than waste time on a man,” which was true. I did try dating at a certain point but I realized I could do bad by myself, I didn't need help with that.
I finished my meal and paid my tab.
“Hey let’s walk back together,” Mark said before I left.
“And spread more rumours about us?”
“What rumours?”
“It’s nothing. I’m not going back to the office right now, I have a personal errand to run,” I was going toy shopping for my son, his birthday was coming up and I didn’t want to go for last minute shopping.