Sunlight on Skin Ch. 01

Chapter 1: Being Asked Out

On an early June day, I was watering plants at the greenhouse where I worked. Something about today seemed different; brighter and more carefree. No customers had bothered me or gotten in my way at all that day. I didn't really know much about plants anyway. I just water the plants, and sweep up.

There were enough plants that it took an entire shift to water them all. I had accidentally sprayed myself a few minutes before so my shorts were all wet. Cute, tight little khaki shorts that hugged my thighs and were definitely too short for our dress code, but no one had said anything yet. I also had on skate shoes and the company's black t-shirt. My dark hair was up in a ponytail.

I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He was walking in my direction, but I really didn't think he was coming to talk to me. I wished it though. I remember my invasive thoughts telling me to spray him with the watering wand and say it was an accident. Caught in my goofy daydream, I almost didn't hear him say hi.

"Hey." he smiled, giving me that little upwards chin nod. (Oh god, I now realize he basically gave me the Joey Tribbiani 'how you doin?'...)

I know I made some kind of odd silly noise. It was a mix of startled and "Oh!" because I really didn't expect him to talk to me.

"Bwuh! HI!" I said way too loud, almost choking on my words. I stood up straight and turned toward him. He had this warm smile on his face. I must have been standing there with my mouth hanging open, dumbfounded, like I was trying to focus on one of those stupid magic eye posters.

His warm smile turned into more of a grin. He KNEW he flustered me and he liked it. Being awkward was finally good for something. Nothing I said could have possibly been any better than just making a goofy noise and staring at him like he was a box full of kittens.

He was one of the delivery drivers; tall with a well kept beard, reddish-brown curly hair, blueish-green eyes, thick black rimmed glasses, and kind of a 'dad bod'. I had seen him every morning for the last few weeks. I would always smile and do a little wave. He would always smile and nod, and I swear I thought he occasionally winked at me but I wasn't sure if I imagined it. I know for certain that he would look at my ass as I walked by because I caught it in the reflections off the glass. He really wasn't slick. He turned his head completely and looked straight at my butt. The first time I caught him doing it I got goosebumps.

I started to wear tighter, shorter shorts to work and made sure I wasn't slouching when he was around. I wish I had had the courage to 'accidentally' drop something and pick it up in front of him, just to see his face. I did turn to catch him looking a few times and he quickly averted his eyes, but I'm pretty sure that he knew that I knew. Somehow in the two dozen random encounters we had with each other, we never spoke. Maybe if I had said hi first, HE would be the one flustered.

"So." he said abruptly and then paused. I kind of expected his next words to be 'let me get this straight' but that wasn't the case. It was actually just his way of jumping into a line that he clearly practiced in his head before walking up to me. "I was wondering if you'd maybe wanna hang out, or go on a date." he said his line quickly. He definitely thought about this. He probably over-thought it, but he was smart. He got the point out quickly and thankfully didn't make any small talk.

"Yup!" I grinned back and then realized my sprayer was still on and I was making a huge muddy puddle on the ground so I let go of the handle, it stopped spraying and I just dropped it right there without breaking eye-contact with him. Mic drop. Sort of. I blurted out "Yes I would definitely yes." Clearly, my brain was also turning to mud at that point.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a sticky note with his phone number already written on it. He then tucked it into the pocket on the front of my t-shirt, winked and said "Text me when you're off work."

I don't know what he practiced in his head, but he executed that flawlessly. Sticking the note in my pocket? Bold, but so goddamn smooth. Fuck! It was dangerously close to groping my breast, but not close enough. A total tease. I knew I was going to have to step my game up.

I crossed my arms and shook my head a little but I couldn't break my grin. I scoffed a little, as if I was trying to say 'you slick motherfucker. I can't believe you just did that.' but he turned and walked away without waiting for my response. He didn't need a response. Of course I was gonna fucking text him. I was literally angry at how well he did that.

I watched him walk away, waiting for him to look back so I could wink back at him. He never turned back. He just got in his truck. Without even planning the date, I knew that he if he was on his game like that then that date was gonna end with me bouncing in his lap. His truck wasn't even out of the parking lot and I had already texted him "I'm off at 4". He must have saw it immediately because six seconds later he honked that loud air horn and I burst into deep, snorting laughter. I almost peed myself. Never in my life has a guy had that much swagger before.

That was it. I was done for. I was completely swooning. I started to wonder what his ego must be like. Did he have infinite confidence or did he just happen to roll a natural 20 on his charisma check? I couldn't wait to find out more about him!

The next three hours of my shift went by so fast because I spent them inside my head. I was imagining so many potential scenarios. I really wasn't very nervous. I knew I wasn't going to match his suave energy, but I had a feeling the silly awkward approach was going to be fine.

I didn't even notice him text back. "Meet me at city park at 5 for a picnic?" I'd heard guys say that a picnic was their 'go-to' first date option. I've seen people picnicking at the park who definitely seemed like they were on first dates. I had, of course, been on picnic dates before, but never as a first date. "oh I'm Mark, btw." he texted about 20 minutes after the other message.

I texted back "Jessica. I'll bring dessert! See you soon!" and then I raced home.