A train wreck waiting to happen

As many of you know, I walk to and from work every day, rain or shine. (Ok, I've been known to take the bus in a pinch, but seriously that happens maybe once a month, at most.) I generally walk with a super nice co-worker who lives up the street a block and a half from me and who probably considers me a very close friend. Unfortunately we have somewhat differing perceptions of the passage of time, as well, so often when we agree to meet at the park in 10 minutes, it will really be 20 before she arrives at the corner. I've been late too, certainly, but usually that's me trying to guess how long her 6 minutes is in real minutes.

Anyhoodle, walking the same route at basically the same time everyday, you can't help but come to recognize a bunch of the regular strangers on the sidewalk. There's the grumpalotapus who always scowls as he storms past, there's the make-up queen with her drawn-in eyebrows, there's the old coot who shuffles along delivering papers, the guy with with the too-tight pants. And then there's the really cute tousley-haired gentleman who's eyes meet mine whenever we pass and who returns my smile with a quick grin of his own. Mysteriously, he's been MIA for a while.

Today, however, I happened to be looking out my front window and wondering how much longer I'd need to wait when who should I spy walking past but the guy! That guy! I pondered only briefly before decided to ditch my walking buddy, grabbing my things and sprinting out the door. Curiosity had gotten the best of me - where does he work? What's he doing in front of my apartment when I usually see him downtown? But when I got outside, he'd completely disappeared. It was a flash of inspired logic that led me to my corner coffee shop across the street.

So there he was, sitting down at a table with his coffee, and yes, I ordered a mocha, despite supposedly cutting down on my caffeine. I hadn't really thought this through and couldn't just pop in and dash back out. Sadly, since he was seated already I couldn't exactly bump into him and I'm too much of a wuss to just sit down and say "hey." But I did look over as I walked past and he raised his cup and nodded with a grin.

Which meant that all day I was both giddy and annoyed with myself. I think I may have discovered my inner stalker. And now he's caffeinated.