“That’s not how to do it.”
Liam looked up from his drink and saw a stunning young woman. Her shoulder length wavy brunette hair and red lipstick caught his attention immediately, before his eyes flowed downward to hug her curves. And boy was her dress hugging her curves.
Exasperated, she stuck out her hand at his friend down the table. “Give me the marker.”
Liam was sitting with friends in the Poor Man’s Tap House, a bar very near campus. I wonder if she’s a student, he mused. His group had been meeting in this bar frequently since college days, but they had all moved on to the work world. What was great about the bar was that the booths were made for studying. To divide the booths were glass panes designed for drawing or working on.
“Well, if it isn’t a sight for sore eyes. Fine then, show me my mistakes.” Tim, Liam’s friend who had moved into a research position at the university, said.
The woman snatched the marker and leaned over the table. Liam almost averted his eyes but didn’t, as her short, tight skirt rode up just a little more, revealing her incredible legs. Then he looked to what she was doing.
Methodically, she corrected through the entire theorem that Tim had been failing to prove, and wrote a much more elegant solution. Suddenly, another girl, dressed up just as much as the first girl, tugged at her elbow. “Come on! You aren’t here to talk to nerds. Let’s find a more fun place for you to relax.”
The first girl sighed, then turned to Tim and handed him the marker. She drew a card out of her purse and tossed it at him. “There you go. I guess you’ll feel free to take credit for my solution, just like high school.” She winked at him. “The card’s for if you forget how I solved it when you’re sober.”
Liam just watched her as she walked away.
“Who was that, Tim?”
Tim was just sitting in his seat, staring at the card. “Just some chick I went to high school with. Her name’s Melissa.” Liam walked over to Tim’s seat and snapped a photo of the card with his phone.
“Melissa, huh? What can you tell me about her?”
“Liam, I don’t want to talk about it. This is pretty embarrassing, man! I’m a professor. She’s just some software developer.” Tim took out his phone and took a picture of the solution. “She’s right though. It’s such an elegant solution that I can’t not use it. She knew that.”
Liam sat back down and started searching for information about her on his phone. Melissa Overstreet. A software developer looking for a job. Her public social media was revealing that she had traveled to California for an interview and didn’t even live near here. He kept reading back through her public social media to see what kind of a person she was. He stopped when he saw an obituary. Recently widowed. That’s why she is trying to move across the country. Too recently for her to be interested in something serious. Liam sighed and turned off his phone.
“Ok guys, I’m heading out to get some real fun for tonight,” Liam said. “Any of you want to join me and have some fun?” The others shook their heads, they were still enjoying the place.
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