Rain comes down hard, perfect setting for a sad winter day. Too much pain, too many jerks. Stuck in traffic.
She turns her head to the right, and sees people in a coffee shop, playing chess.
A cute boy moves, and pushes his clock.
Yeah, that's what I need... an escape, and adventure, a game of chess...
* * * * * * *
Wow, who is that?! She is short, but she walks like a Queen.
OMG, she is going to play chess! Don seems to know her, that's interesting. There is hope for the nerds after all.
...
She walks up to the table, looks hard the position of the pieces. Her scent is heavy in my awareness, her closeness like electricity. Afraid to disturb the lotus, I keep my gaze fixed on my ailing pawn structure.
"Can I play the loser?"
I look up, our eyes meet.
"Of course," I manage to blurt out.
"Great," she says as she spins a chair around.
I look across at my opponent, he returns my look, clearly unhappy with the advantageous position of his knight.
The end cannot come too soon, but I must not look eager to lose. But they way she leans far back in chair, her supreme confidence, I could not pay enough attention to the game to win, even if I had an advantage.
Finally, the end comes.
"Hi, I'm Lisa."
"I'm Paris."
"I know, Don told me."
...
"May I have a rematch," I ask hopefully.
"Of course," she smiles.
"Do you always play e4?"
"`Best by test,'" she announces, fearless of being cliche.
I like to think I won a game or two, but I'm not sure of anything, other than her sparkling green eyes, and that my heart quit being mine that day.
"I better go, I was supposed to be somewhere hours ago."
"Thank you very much for the games," I reply, much too formally.
"So, do you come here often?" she cooed slyly.