Romance Rewind: Falling For a Fantasy Writer
‘I have to write’ had been Ted’s excuse to get out of most invites from co-workers
Ted rolled out of bed at the sound of his cat crying in the hallway. He staggered towards the steps and held the railing as the old stairs of his townhouse creaked. He smiled as his cat followed him into the kitchen.
“I’m doing it,” said Ted. “Look,” Ted opened the bag of dry food on the counter, “I’ve got your food right here.” He filled his cat’s bowl on the floor and trudged back up the steps. “Now, give me five more minutes.”
Ted listened to talk radio on the way to work. Today’s topic would be revealed after a commercial break. He always hated how they bated him, giving vague details about an apparent scandalous story. It wasn’t consistent either, some days he’d hear the big story the moment he got in the car, and others he’d have to wait until he was almost to work. He turned the station to classical music and stopped paying attention as he went through the motions of the drive he’d taken countless times over the past decade.
When he pulled into the parking garage someone had taken his spot. It didn’t have his name on it, but he’d been parking there every day for years. He pulled into a different spot, then out, and then in again to make sure he was lined up correctly.
The coffee was stale as Ted sat at his desk and deleted emails. His eyes kept wanting to close, his head kept wanting to rest on his keyboard so he could dream a while longer.
“Hey, Ted!” said an obnoxious voice from outside his cubical. Ted turned around to see Adam, a seemingly nice guy who enjoyed small talk far too much. “You look a little warn out. It’s time to rise and shine, pal. What’d you get up to last night?”
“I was writing,” replied Ted, “almost done with the first draft of my fantasy novel.”
“Wish I had time to write a novel,” said Adam. The words crawled down Ted’s spine. “I have kickball on Tuesday’s.”
“I gave up kickball after high school,” said Ted. “Sounds fun, though. Glad you got some sun.”
“You should join the team. It’d be great. We — could — hang — out — after — work…”
Time seemed to stop as the words fell out of Adam’s mouth. The thought of playing kickball instead of writing felt wrong. ‘I have to write’ had been Ted’s excuse to get out of most invites from co-workers since he started working at the office at age twenty-four. For whatever reason Adam was the only one to remain persistent, after hearing the excuse more than a dozen times.
“I have to write,” said Ted.
“You can write whenever,” replied Adam. “Come out with us. It’ll be fun.”
“My hands are tied.” Ted shrugged his shoulders. “I get the feeling you’ll have just as much fun without me.”
“Suit yourself,” said Adam. He shot Ted a couple finger guns before walking away.
Ted returned to his task of deleting emails. As the day rolled on the coffee didn’t get any better. By day’s end the bags under Ted’s eyes were packed for a three week vacation to Antarctica. He pushed his palms into his desk to aid in getting up from the chair he’d been hunched over in since after lunch. He walked out into the parking lot and to his usual spot, only to roll his eyes and go searching for wherever he ended up. He pressed the button on his key fob and listened for his horn as he meandered through the parking garage. He spotted a woman waving her arms in the air and noticed she was in front of his car.
“Sorry about that,” said Ted during a slow jog-walk over to his car. “I didn’t mean to coerce you into being a valet.”
“Not a problem,” replied the woman. “I’m parked next to you and heard you sounding the distress signal. Is it your first day too?”
“Think I saw an email about that,” said Ted. “Three new people joined the team today.” He shook his fists in the air. “One of which took my spot. I should’ve actually read it so I could track down who it was.”
“So, you’re not new?”
“Sorry, no, no I’m not. I’m a hardened veteran who doesn’t like change.” He looked out over the side wall of the parking garage. “Although this spot has a decent view.”
“You mean of the graveyard?”
“I guess it could be better. I’m Ted, by the way.”
“Abigail,” she smiled and stuck out her hand. “How long have you been working here?”
Ted shook her hand and then raised both in the air at chest level. “One more and I’ll be out of fingers.”
“You’ll have to learn to count without them,” replied Abigail. “I thought this job required a college degree, and yet you managed to get hired with what, a second grade education?” She cracked a smile and laughed.
Ted joined in her laughter. “Promise not to turn me in?”
“Well it was nice meeting you, Ted. Maybe we’ll bump into each other again tomorrow.” She looked over to her car. “I call dibs on this spot, though. So don’t even think about it.”
“It’s all yours.”
Abigail hung up her coat and kicked off her shoes in her two-bedroom apartment that overlooked the city skyline. She walked into the kitchen and pulled out a bottle of water before tip-toeing around the apartment in search of her dog.
“Lucy?” she called out. “Lucy, are you in the sky again? You dazzle like a dozen diamonds glistening from above.” She walked into the spare room to find Lucy at odds with a stuffed animal. Abigail watched as the dachshund struggled with a stuffed giraffe twice her size. “You’re such a goof. I’m going out for a run, okay? When I get back we’ll have dinner.”
Abigail sat at the kitchen table, her hair wrapped up in a towel, as Lucy devoured her bowl of apparent porterhouse steak in the form of brown mush.
“Do you like it, girl?” asked Abigail. Lucy looked up and acknowledged her for a moment before returning to the ‘Hearty and Healthy’ meal. “Glad to hear it. Did you get into any trouble today? No? Guess I’ll have to ask the giraffe his side of the story.”
With the dishes full of soap-water in the sink Abigail sank into the couch and turned on the TV. Lucy joined her, finding her spot at Abigail’s side for optimal belly scratches.
Abigail began to drift off to sleep as the sky turned pink out the window. She got up and set an alarm on her phone, brushed her teeth, then crawled into bed and left one leg outside of the sheets as the fan whirred white noise. She watched with one eye open as Lucy climbed up the small set of stairs at the edge of the bed and found her spot atop the second pillow.
Abigail woke up to Lucy licking the side of her face. She rolled over and silenced the alarm a minute before it was about to go off.
On the way to work the playlist carried on from where it left off the day before. Abigail kept her eyes on the road as she fished her right hand around in the bag on the passenger seat. She pulled out a bagel and tore a bite off with her teeth before putting it back into the bag.
When she pulled into the parking garage she tried to remember where she parked the day before. Third floor? She remembered the view and kept driving until things looked familiar. She found her spot from the day before and parked next to the same car, Ted’s car, and noticed he was still sitting in the driver’s seat. She got out, tucked her bag under one arm, and held her coffee in her left hand. She walked over to Ted’s car and tried to get his attention through the windshield. He had his head buried in the steering wheel and looked to be sleeping.
“Ted!”
He sprung up and popped the door open.
“Thanks,” said Ted. “Guess I picked a good spot.” He got out of the car, the same bag in his hand that Abigail had tucked under her arm.
“What’d you get from Bendy’s Bagels?” she asked.
“Everything bagel, cream cheese on the side. If I ask them to do it they practically make a birthday cake.”
“Same.” She shrugged her shoulder to show off the bag. “Now that you’re awake do you plan on going to work?”
“I guess,” he replied. “I’ve got nothing else planned.”
“Late night?”
“Yeah, I’ve been working on something. It’s silly, though. Suppose I should get more hobbies.”
“What’s the silly project?”
She kept glancing over to him as they walked towards the elevator.
“I’ve been working on a fantasy novel. It’s been almost a year now.”
“That’s great! I’ve never met a writer before. Have you written anything else?”
“Four other novels, but they never saw any traction. It’s been my dream ever since I was a kid.” He pressed the down button. “It’s either noble or sad that I haven’t given up yet.”
“It’s certainly not sad.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Oh, oh, bad choice.”
“Heh,” he smirked, “their coffee is good but I think the secret ingredient is lava. Still better than the stuff at the office. Anyway, telling people I have to write is at least a good way of getting out of things I don’t want to do. What’s your thing?”
“Running,” she replied. “I do a couple marathons a year and seek out any local races I can. I’m even sponsored, which is nice. Saves me from having to buy my own gear and gels.”
“That’s impressive. I used to run track in high school.”
“I tried indoor,” she replied. “but I got dizzy. Cross-country was for the real ones.”
They stepped into the elevator and Ted pushed the button for the ground floor. At level two the doors opened and someone else stepped on.
“Ted,” said the stranger. “Busy night again? You missed it last night. We went bowling and I hit one-hundred!”
“Isn’t that not, never mind,” said Ted. “Good job. Adam, meet Abigail. She’s one of the new employees.”
“Hey, Abby,” said Adam. “Are you up for kickball next week?”
“Afraid not,” she replied. “I have to write.”
She turned to Ted and caught his smile.
“Another one?” said Adam.
Ted finished deleting the day’s emails and sighed of relief. He closed his eyes for a moment but was jolted awake as someone shook his chair. He turned to see Adam standing beside him, a toothy grin pasted across his face.
“That new girl is pretty cute,” said Adam. “Gabby, was it? I’m thinking of asking her out. Do you think she’s a cocktails or coffee kind of girl for a first date?”
“I was, uh,” Ted could feel his face turning red, “actually thinking of asking her to grab a coffee or something.”
“Coffee girl, huh? Oh, you’re thinking of asking her out? Ted, you’re a great guy and all, and I get it, you’ve got the writing thing in common, but this isn’t one of your fantasy stories. Just look at your posture, man. You look like you should be ringing the bell tower.” Adam placed his hand on Ted’s shoulder. “She’s going to want someone who can lift his own body weight, know what I’m saying?”
Ted nudged Adam’s hand off his shoulder. “Go ahead. Ask her out. I have a feeling she already has plans.”
“I knew you’d understand. There’s someone out there for you. I’ll be sure to keep a look out.” Adam shot off his finger guns and took his leave.
At the end of the day Ted pushed away from his desk, cracked his neck side to side, and headed for the parking garage.
“Wait up!”
Ted looked up to seeing Adam running towards him as the elevator doors were closing.
“When is the big coffee date?” asked Ted.
“What? Oh, she’s busy. Said she has a manuscript due to her editor in few months and can’t do anything. You writers are weird.”
“That’s a bummer. You have perfect posture and everything, too.”
“I know, right? Anyway, here’s my floor.”
“Enjoy the sun.”
When the doors opened on the third floor Ted walked out. As he got closer to his car he spotted Abigail waving her arms in the air.
“Keep that up for a few more days and I might remember where I’ve parked,” he said.
“Figured if I started waving right away I could save myself from listening to your horn.”
“It’s much appreciated.”
“Your pal from earlier asked me out. Your excuse works really well.”
“I heard,” he replied, “he told me on the way up. I’m glad you,” he scratched the back of his neck, “told him that. I was actually wondering, if coffee could happen. We could drink it together.”
“You have such a way with words,” she said. “Give me your phone.”
He handed over his phone and watched as she added in her number.
“Text me and we’ll figure something out,” she said.
On the way home Abigail finished her playlist and it looped back to the beginning, staring with grunge from the nineties. She tapped her fingers on the steering wheel and bobbed her head until she pulled into her apartment building’s parking lot.
When she opened the door to her apartment she found Lucy waiting, tongue out and tail wagging.
“Did you and the giraffe sort things out?” asked Abigail as she hung up her coat. “I’m glad. I wasn’t sure if lawyers were going to have to get involved. I met someone at work. He seems nice. Not sure if he’s a dog person. I should ask. Oh, but he’d have to text me first. I should’ve thought this through. I’m thinking about it too much. Am I thinking about it too much?” Lucy had her head cocked to the side. “I thought so. I think a run to clear my head is just what I need.”
After her run, with the sink full of new dishes, she sat on the couch and turned on the TV. Not long into the first episode her phone lit up on the side table to her right. She picked it up and read the message.
“This is Ted,” she said to Lucy. “For a writer this guy doesn’t care for details much, does he, girl?” She saved his number into her phone then texted him back.
“Are you a dog person?” she texted back.
“I suppose,” he replied back right away. “I have a cat. Writers are required to have at least one cat. I don’t make the rules.”
“Fair enough.” She looked over to Lucy for a moment then back to her phone. “Is your cat a dog cat?
“Not sure. I’ll ask.”
Abigail watched as the dots pulsed on the bottom of the screen.
“Ringo refused to comment,” he replied. “I’ll say yes on his behalf.”
“Glad to hear it. When are we going to Bendy’s?”
“I know a better place. Downtown. I go there to write sometimes.”
“You’re already willing to show me your secret writing hideout? This is getting serious. Should we maybe take it slow?”
“I agree. Coffee by the dumpsters after work tomorrow instead?”
“Too romantic. I suppose we can start with your secret hideout if Bendy’s is off the table.”
“I heard the coffee is too hot there.”
“The secret ingredient is lava,” she replied.
“Will Saturday work?”
“Saturday works. I’d better get ready for bed. I think you should do the same. I’ll grab you a coffee from Bendy’s in the morning to help pry you off your steering wheel.”
“Ha! I’d appreciate that. Good night.”
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Dan Leicht is a romance, mystery, and science fiction author living in Upstate New York with his wife Barbara and their mischievous tortie cat. He has a Bachelor's in Creative Writing from SUNY Brockport. His work has appeared in Sci-fi Shorts, 365 Tomorrows, The Kraken Lore, and Ripples in Space. You can find him online at danleicht.com and on Instagram/Threads @danleicht.
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