lonely people came in to get large stacks of books for the long weekend,
they were all out by five-thirty.
Everyone even came by to chat
with her. As if trying extra hard to make it known that they weren't
bigoted. Even knowing them all pretty well, having read up on each of them over
time, it was a bit surprising. A year before half of them would have been
secretly plotting to have her ousted. Politely, but no one even seemed to be
heading in that direction. Even Glenda was pretty much good with the whole
thing by the time they all left.
Feeling pleased, she climbed into
her little yellow car, and drove off into the night. The weather was even nice
now. The road had dried during the day, and while there were clouds, she
thought, the air was just chilly, not freezing. The only thing that was a
little off was that Wally had lingered to talk to Tamara. She wasn't the best
looking girl in the world, but she was cute in the right light, and was clearly
being influenced by what Cin had said earlier about the man. Better than that,
Wallace Clarkson caught the thread, and was running with it. No one really wanted
to be alone over the holidays, so it might just work out.
That was good. She didn't care
that much, but if they were both happy, that would mean they weren't focused on
her for the next week. It couldn't have gone better if she'd planned it that
way. Considering she'd really just been trying to make the other women feel bad
for dissing her work buddy, that was a great outcome.
She dressed in her one remaining
nice skirt, since it was a date night, and made a point of shaving her legs,
and everything else, that night. Not that she was planning to have sex with
Proxy, but she had to admit, it was a great way to get a guy to like her. Not
having a relationship she wasn't on the pill, so that could limit things, as
far as what they could do later.
At six she looked up Brian's
data, feeling surprised when it actually swung into place in front of her. He
didn't know if he was supposed to get in touch with her or not. It made sense,
but that hadn't been worked out, so she got his cell number from the screen
looking thing in front of her, and called him directly.
It surprised her a bit when he
picked up on the first ring.
"Brian Yi. What's the
situation?" It was cold, efficient sounding and very adult. He was at
least no older than she was. A year younger, she realized, looking up his birth
date. Sixteen months. She didn't have to figure that out, it was just there,
written in his info. In green. That was strange, but showed up instantly.
"Cin here. About the date?
We didn't make plans to get together, so I decided to call."
There was an inhalation, then a
soft chuckle.
"Right. This is my secure
IPB line. Only about twenty people have it, and when they call it isn't
normally as pleasant. I have reservations at Del Casa Taco? You're good with
that, right?" He was joking. The tone gave him away.
So she nodded, and smiled before
speaking.
"Sounds great. Should I meet
you there? I'll drive. I know where you're staying. Call it fifteen
minutes?"
"Oh? Um, great! See you
then." There was an obvious pause, as if he didn't know if he was really
supposed to get off the phone or not. It was the kind of thing that people got
caught up in. A social rule that wasn't spoken or even written down anywhere,
but no one wanted to risk being rude by hanging up first.
"See you in a few. On my way
now." Cindy tabbed off, walking already.
Standing there with the phone to
her ear wasn't going to get the job done, she knew. That was a bit of a danger
for her in all of this. To her this whole thing, being around Brian at all, was
just to get inside the investigation into her own killings. So far that hadn't
come up, even inside of his own story, but that was fine. The thing there was
that she couldn't treat a date like a job. Not if she didn't want him to pick
up on the fact that she had an alternative motive in being there.
She considered the
they were all out by five-thirty.
Everyone even came by to chat
with her. As if trying extra hard to make it known that they weren't
bigoted. Even knowing them all pretty well, having read up on each of them over
time, it was a bit surprising. A year before half of them would have been
secretly plotting to have her ousted. Politely, but no one even seemed to be
heading in that direction. Even Glenda was pretty much good with the whole
thing by the time they all left.
Feeling pleased, she climbed into
her little yellow car, and drove off into the night. The weather was even nice
now. The road had dried during the day, and while there were clouds, she
thought, the air was just chilly, not freezing. The only thing that was a
little off was that Wally had lingered to talk to Tamara. She wasn't the best
looking girl in the world, but she was cute in the right light, and was clearly
being influenced by what Cin had said earlier about the man. Better than that,
Wallace Clarkson caught the thread, and was running with it. No one really wanted
to be alone over the holidays, so it might just work out.
That was good. She didn't care
that much, but if they were both happy, that would mean they weren't focused on
her for the next week. It couldn't have gone better if she'd planned it that
way. Considering she'd really just been trying to make the other women feel bad
for dissing her work buddy, that was a great outcome.
She dressed in her one remaining
nice skirt, since it was a date night, and made a point of shaving her legs,
and everything else, that night. Not that she was planning to have sex with
Proxy, but she had to admit, it was a great way to get a guy to like her. Not
having a relationship she wasn't on the pill, so that could limit things, as
far as what they could do later.
At six she looked up Brian's
data, feeling surprised when it actually swung into place in front of her. He
didn't know if he was supposed to get in touch with her or not. It made sense,
but that hadn't been worked out, so she got his cell number from the screen
looking thing in front of her, and called him directly.
It surprised her a bit when he
picked up on the first ring.
"Brian Yi. What's the
situation?" It was cold, efficient sounding and very adult. He was at
least no older than she was. A year younger, she realized, looking up his birth
date. Sixteen months. She didn't have to figure that out, it was just there,
written in his info. In green. That was strange, but showed up instantly.
"Cin here. About the date?
We didn't make plans to get together, so I decided to call."
There was an inhalation, then a
soft chuckle.
"Right. This is my secure
IPB line. Only about twenty people have it, and when they call it isn't
normally as pleasant. I have reservations at Del Casa Taco? You're good with
that, right?" He was joking. The tone gave him away.
So she nodded, and smiled before
speaking.
"Sounds great. Should I meet
you there? I'll drive. I know where you're staying. Call it fifteen
minutes?"
"Oh? Um, great! See you
then." There was an obvious pause, as if he didn't know if he was really
supposed to get off the phone or not. It was the kind of thing that people got
caught up in. A social rule that wasn't spoken or even written down anywhere,
but no one wanted to risk being rude by hanging up first.
"See you in a few. On my way
now." Cindy tabbed off, walking already.
Standing there with the phone to
her ear wasn't going to get the job done, she knew. That was a bit of a danger
for her in all of this. To her this whole thing, being around Brian at all, was
just to get inside the investigation into her own killings. So far that hadn't
come up, even inside of his own story, but that was fine. The thing there was
that she couldn't treat a date like a job. Not if she didn't want him to pick
up on the fact that she had an alternative motive in being there.
She considered the
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