“I think you might have scared poorRichardoff.”
Eight sets of magnified eyes pop up to stare right at me.Some are surprised, a few are a tad bit confused, but most of them show nothing but barely contained mirth.
Master manipulators, the lot of them.
4
“Are you Jamaican?Because Jamaican me hot.”
“Actually, I’m Finnish—so Finnished with this conversation.”
Finn
I’m late.But it’s not like this is a real class anyway.Once I made the decision to go back to university, I went out and bought myself a new laptop.The spot-faced salesman promised me the graphics were worth the extra money, and since I’ll be using it mostly for social media, mostly Tumblr, until I can get into classes this summer, it seemed like a fantastic rationalization.
Now, I just need to get the instructor of this little community class to go through the setup on this thing, and I’ll be good to go.I had to beg Aidan to fill in for me this afternoon, but once my laptop is all set up, I’ll drop out and have no need for anyone to cover my Tuesday and Thursday shifts.Instead of having to squint at my tiny phone screen, I’ll have a crystal-clear, high-def, fifteen-inch screen for my Tumblr time.
I check the room number against the confirmation email I got when registering.The instructor is listed as Richard Johnson, but the voice I hear going over the course outline does not belong to a man.I planned on a guy getting the importance of Tumblr in full HDMI, but I can work with this.Maybe I can even get some extra credit out of the experience.
“I know we have a system, but we need to accomplish something this time.Turn your computers on, and…” The sweet voice does not match the vision at the front of the room.
It’s the girl from the pub, Aidan’s computer girl.Instead of being twirled up on top of her head, her hair is twisted into a pink rainbow plait hanging over her shoulder.
This is fantastic.Fan-fucking-tastic.
The last row of seats to the left of the door is empty, so I saunter over, drop my ruck on the desk, and shed my jacket.My zipper is the only sound in the room.I open my ruck and pull my new toy from the bag.The outlet is inconveniently located on the floor under the desk.Down on my knees, I plug in the cord and take a moment to make the necessary adjustments in my jeans.
Had Richard shown up to teach this, there would be no adjustment.But this girl?This girl has me off my game once again.In fact, she’s got me so in my head, I don’t notice the red Converse that have settled next to my desk.
“What are you doing here?”
Startled, I hit my head on the underside of the desk and pray there’s no chewing gum stuck in my hair.I crawl out from my hiding space and look up at this girl.“I thought I’d brush up on my skills.”It’s not lost on me that I am literally on my knees in front of her, and I want to beg for a date, a taste, her name.
She rolls her eyes like it’s an Olympic event and turns to take her place at the front of the room.I slide into my chair and finish setting up my command center.Laptop, phone, “water” bottle.I push my ruck down to the end of the table and lift the lid of my computer before cracking open my beverage.
“Are you ready?”
I look around the room and notice that I am the only guy here.And that all the ladies, other than the pink-haired love of my hour, are over the age of seventy and could give my gran a run for her money.But they’re not giving me that hostile vibe.They look like they’re thinking.Scheming.Up to no good for certain.
“Ready and willing, love.”I swear, I see one of the ladies dabbing at her cleavage with a napkin.They all have napkins, some with half-eaten chocolate chip cookies from the bakery on them.“Erm, did I miss the portion of class where treats were handed out?”
I feel like I’m back in McBride’s with the way she’s rolling her eyes, and the over-seventy crowd is laughing at me.
“If I give you a treat, will you sit nicely and stay quiet?”
“Adelaide,” the cleavage-dabber chides, “that’s no way to speak to the nice young man.”
Right, I knew I’d heard Aidan call her by name in the pub.“Addie, I’ll do whatever you want, if you ask nicely and give me a little something for the effort.”
The collective gasp momentarily wipes the smile from my face.But I didn’t say anything too bad, did I?Plus, at least half of them have to be hard of hearing, right?
“Adelaide.It’s Adelaide,” she says with some bite in her tone, her teeth grinding against each other.“And you obviously aren’t getting any treats.”She stops herself just shy of stomping her foot and flicking me on the nose.
What does she think I am, a naughty dog?
“A word, dear.Stick with her full name, and you’ll do fine.”The lady across the aisle reaches over and pats my arm.“What’s your name, cutie?”
“Finn O’Meara, ma’am.”I shake her hand and use the manners my mum hammered into me.“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
