"Hi, did you get the flyer yet?" An older woman in her fifties intercepts Rae and Marina when they walk to a tent, "Here, take one."
"Thanks," Marina says. But after they walk away from the tent, she says, "Rae, I hate you. There are no one under thirty years old. And what is this? Soup competition next month? Only old people like soup."
"That's not true," Rae pulls Marina's arm, "Don't say that. I enjoy soup. And I'm 30. I'm not under 30 either."
"You are too much, Rae. You need to snap out of your old age," Marina pushes Rae's head, and then she quickly gasps, "Shut up! Shut up shut up!"
"What? I didn't say anything!" Rae frowns.
"No. Holy shit. It's Zach Evans." Marina shakes Rae's shoulders.
"What?" Rae looks on, "What is he doing here?"
Zach Evans looks a little dressed up today. His darker-washed jeans have a nice cut that fits him well, making his legs look long. He wears black sports jacket. He has a striped button-down shirt on, and a tie. He's looking around.
"You should talk to him, Marina," Rae encourages.
"You think so? He looks so nice today," Marina then glides over to Zach and they are out of Rae's earshot.
Rae can see that Zach and Marina start talking and then his eyes find Rae in the backdrop. Rae quickly looks away. After a few more minutes, she turns her head back, and can't see her friend nor Zach anymore.
"Are you looking for somebody?"
Rae turns around, "Zach?"
Zach smiles, "Didn't think you'd be here."
"I didn't expect you to be here either. What are you doing here? And where's Marina?"
"Which one do you want me to answer first?" Zach chuckles, "Marina says she's going to go check out the fire engines over there," Zach points, "I'm sure she found a firefighter to talk to. I guess I bored her with why I was here."
"Why are you here then?"
"Um, I'm here for work, kind of. I've designed an A.I. robot to test fire alarm system for the local fire department here, for free. They are now raising money to buy an A.I. system for better fire risk analysis."
"What," Rae is surprised, "Are you saying we are raising money to give to you? Well, I'm not giving you money. You are probably richer than most of us here."
"No, I'm not making a profit. The money is only for the necessary equipment and computer. The rest is free. I'll provide my service and my software free." Zach seems to panic a little that Rae misunderstands him. He adjusts his tie a little as Rae looks at him.
"OK. That's cool then."
"What are you doing here?"
"I grew up here actually. Just trying to check out my hometown. Why are you so dressed up today?" Rae then reaches her hand out to touch Zach's hair, "Did you gel your hair? Oh my god, you styled your hair. Wow."
"Hellooooo," here comes a girl, putting her hands on Zach's shoulders. Rae backs away. Rae thinks she may have seen this girl somewhere. On the internet maybe. Oh. It's that Nikki.
"What is my favorite guy doing here?" Nikki grabs on Zach's tie and kisses him on his cheek.
"Ah. I see. You're on a date."
"Who is this?" Nikki asks, checking Rae out.
"This is my college friend and one of the very first robot trial user." Zach says.
Rae nods, thinking to herself: That's what Zach thinks of me. That's nice. That's adequate. She can't say it better than that.
"Hey, I'll see you guys around. I'm going to go find Marina." Rae smiles and waves as she walks away.
She walks over to one of the fire trucks, and she immediately sees Marina as she's the youngest female over there. She's talking to a man in uniform for sure. Rae smiles and walks towards Marina. She then stops herself to give Marina just enough distance. Rae doesn't want to interrupt whatever chitchat they are having.
"Excuse me," a male voice says.
Rae turns around, and there stands a firefighter. Tall, muscular, tanned, good smile, and hot as f.
"Are you Rae Novak? Or you have a different last name now?"
"I'm still Rae Novak," Rae tries to think who this firefighter guy is. Anyone knows to just call her Rae Novak should be someone from this town.
"I'm Dan. You don't remember me?"
"Dan Schneider? No way!" Rae is so shocked that she covers her mouth with her hand after she says his name out loud.
Dan Schneider was the hottest guy in high school. In fact, Rae went to her first high school football game to watch him play. He invited her.
Rae wouldn't have crossed paths with Dan if it weren't for the fact that they both chose Latin as their foreign language in their sophomore year.
The teacher drew popsicle sticks to pair up students to be partners. Dan and Rae happened to be drawn together. They would have to practice speaking and reading together in class whenever there was such activity given.
The Latin teacher was very enthusiastic and insisted on only speaking Latin for the most part. Dan and Rae felt like they had to help each other out to get through the difficult foreign words throwing at them constantly.
One time when the teacher was helping a few students, and they were just waiting around, Dan suddenly said, he got hurt at practice last night.
"Oh no. Does that mean you couldn't play anymore?"
"Do you even know what sports I play?"
Rae was caught off guard. Her heart was pounding so fast as Dan looked straight at her.
Although they were partners, he didn't have to always look at her directly in the eyes. Rae knew he was attractive but now that she looked at him like this, she felt like she was going to faint. His brown cowlicks, masculine eyebrows and brown eyes were so close to her, if she moved a few more inches, she could probably touch his body.
"Um, I think, you play football?" Rae sounded very unsure.
"Seriously? You had to guess?"
"Or track and field?"
"Just stop. You're teasing me, aren't you?" Dan moved closer to Rae, like he was interrogating her. He finally said, "Yes, football."
"I knew that." Rae tried to laugh.
"Well, come to my game tomorrow night. It's a home game."
"OK." Rae tried to sound as cool as she could. But really, she was so shocked and ecstatic that he just invited him to something. Even though it wasn't a date or anything.
But Dan thought she hesitated because she didn't want to go, "Oh. You are busy tomorrow night?"
"What? I said I'll go." Rae acted cool again. "But I thought you just said you were hurt."
"Yeah, but I'm going to rest today and ice my shin some more. Then I can play."
And she went. Even though it meant she had to pay for the ticket to get in, and even though she was trying to save every dollar she could. She still went. She had no idea what position he played but she could spot him on the field. And, the announcer did say his name very frequently. He was a star.
After actually going to his game, Dan seemed to try to chat with her more in class and not just for practice. He even made up a sentence in Latin to tell her his leg feels better now. Although, the Latin teacher later picked that sentence apart because it had a number of grammatical error.
Rae couldn't believe her luck. This super cool, popular, good-looking, athletic guy was interacting with her like they were friends. But the second year, the school actually canceled the Latin class because there weren't enough people taking it. They both transitioned to some other languages in their junior year. They had one other class together but they were not partners anymore. He sat with his friends in that class. Rae didn't believe they ever spoke again. She saw that he had a couple of girlfriends in junior year and in senior year. She also never went to a football game ever again.
But more than a decade later, their paths have crossed again. He seems to got even taller after high school. He's as tall as Zach Evans now. And he's even more muscular than before. The lines of his body are angular and purely man. His firefighter shit fits him perfectly and shows off his firm chest.
Oh, is it just her or the weather just got warmer. Her cheeks are so red she think she might be sweating. Someone better call 911— he is too hot.