WEIRD MEETING PLACES
Felicity Smoak is a very busy woman. She doesn't have time for things that take unnecessary time….things as trivial as doing laundry. Laundry is on the bottom of her list, right there with visiting a zoo to see kangaroos. Laundry is already a schlep when you need to do it in the comfort of your own home but when her washing machine just decides to break it couldn't have come at a worst time. She has nothing in her cupboard to wear but an old MIT t-shirt and sweats, since she usually waits till the absolute last minute to do this dreaded chore. After spending at least an hour trying to figure out what was wrong with the washing machine she realises it was a mechanical fault and the closest mechanic would only reach her in two days. Felicity has no other alternative, other than to take a few sick days to live in her only remaining clean clothes, but to go to a very public Laundromat.
It's crowded, just as she expected, so she takes a seat close to the row of industrial machines, ready to jump as soon as one becomes available. She decides to get some work done while she waits. Multitasking, she keeps one eye on the machines and the other on her tablet. Finally after what feels like an eternity a machine close to her opens up and she rushes towards it, just to be met by a tall, blue eyed man having exactly the same idea.
Their washing baskets land on the top of the machine at exactly the same time and then the battle of the washing machine starts…..
"I'm sorry, I was here first." she immediately makes it very clear to the man staring back.
"I beg to differ, my basket is…" he takes a closer look at the position of his basket and measures it with his hand. "…this much over the half mark of this machine, so I guess the machine is mine."
Felicity looks at him completely dumbfounded by the audacity of this man and wants to give him the 'didn't your mother ever teach you the ladies first rule', but decides to guilt trip him into giving her the machine instead.
"Look, I have a deadline at work and I've been sitting here waiting for the machines to open up, please, I need to use this machine now otherwise I won't get done with my work in time and then I will miss the deadline and then most probably lose my job and then I won't even be able to pay to do my laundry anymore because I wouldn't have any money…." she stopped in the middle of a babble realising she might be blowing this up a tad too much.
The man stares back at her with an amused grin on his face, but he doesn't seem to be in any frame of mind to budge.
"I'll tell you what. Since you're not the only one who desperately wants to get home, why don't we just share a machine?"
Felicity wants to tell him that he's totally crazy, but before her mouth shoots away with a detailed answer as to why this is a terrible idea, she takes a look around and it seems that her wait might last at least for another hour if she lets the machine go now.
She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath and bites out a short "fine" at the guy standing in front of her looking rather too excited as he awaits her answer.
"So how are we going to do this sharing thing?"
"I think like everyone normally does laundry? We have to separate the dark colours form the light colours I guess?"
"I cannot wash my 'delicates' with your shirts though. They are lace and will get torn if they get hooked on something."
"Okay then, we'll have three piles?"
They start sorting and by accident one of Felicity's lace panties come flying out of her basket straight into the man's face. He catches it just in time before it can attach itself to his head. Felicity doesn't know what to do in the situation and a bright red blush immediately situates itself all over her face covering her ears right to the top.
"I'm so sorry." she gasps out in embarrassment.
The man gives a breathy laugh as he still holds the lacy material in his hands.
Felicity moves forward grabbing it out of his hands and throws it into the pile next to her with the rest of her 'delicates'. She wants to die of embarrassment, but tries to remind her of why she's in this terrible situation and the sooner she gets this over with the sooner she can go home.
"Girls usually tell me their names first before throwing their panties at me…." He smiles softly continuing with the task at hand. "…..or at least let me buy them dinner first…." he continues without making eye contact.
"What about you just call me 'washing machine girl' for now?"
She doesn't miss the huge smile on his face and the way his bright blue eyes sparkle the bigger his smile becomes. She cannot remember the last time she had a conversation with someone this beautiful, except for that time when Benjamin Olsen made her think that he was interested in her and then it all went to hell when she found out he was using her to get information on class assignments. Nerds like her never moved in the same circles as guys like him. He was so out of her league she couldn't even see the name of his league.
She catches herself staring and forces her thoughts back to sorting her clothes.
They continue their laundry in a surprisingly comfortable silence, and before she knows it, she puts in her last laundry pile, silently watching the man neatly fold his clothes and puts them in his washing basket.
"Well, I guess I'm done…thank you for agreeing to share. I hope you get your work done in time."
"Thank you, I hope so too." she says and smiles.
"It's a shame we never got to go to that dinner I was talking about earlier."
"Yeah, a real shame, but I'm sure girls are just lining up to throw their panties at you." she bites back realising too late that she was acting really rude.
He smiles at her uncomfortably and nods taking the hint of her last comment. He doesn't say goodbye and she feels like an idiot as she watches him leave without making it right.
She doesn't know how Caitlin managed to talk her into speed dating, but after treating 'laundromat guy' so terribly she realised she'd been under so much stress that she can't even remember the last time she did something for herself. She knows the time is right to put herself out there, but with all the jerks she's met tonight she was seriously considering getting up and walking out, ticking this off as another 'crash and burn' evening.
The bell rings indicating the start of the next rotation and she takes a deep breath hoping for an improvement after the last six partners that passed by her table.
"Well, if it isn't 'washing machine girl'." She instantly recognizes the voice approaching her and inwardly groans as she sees the hopefulness fly away giving her a wave and a wink goodbye.
'Laundromat guy' takes a seat in front of her and gives her a somewhat guarded look, before he starts spilling his pedigree as the speed dating rules stipulate.
"Felicity, I see…." pointing to her name tag pinned on her blouse. "…my name is Oliver and I am newly single. My interests are picking up random women at Laundromats, catching underwear and playing baseball."
She picks up the sarcasm right away and smirks at him sitting with a stupid grin on his face, looking like he just achieved a medal for that brilliant piece of acting.
"Quite happy to hear stalking said Laundromat women wasn't included on that list." she bites back, waiting to see how this tennis match is going to end.
"You know what, I think I'll leave…I've clearly said or done something to offend you and even though that wasn't my intention it took a lot for me to come out here tonight, so I'll rather just go and leave you in peace."
He gets ready to stand up when she places her hand over his still on the table.
"No, I'm sorry, I was rude. Please don't go."
She smiles gently at him relaxing Oliver almost immediately and he sits back down.
"So…Oliver…..newly single huh? Divorced, relationship that didn't work, girl dumped you at the Laundromat?" she winks at him making sure he knows she's only joking.
"Widower." he says looking down at his clasped hands on the table.
"Oh, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, it's already been three years, but getting back into the dating scene has been a real journey and I know it doesn't seem like it, but I'm struggling." he tried to compose himself by still looking at his hands.
"Yeah, I get that….not that I know exactly how you feel, cause I don't and I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to tell you how you must feel, because I don't…..I'll just keep quiet now." She can feel the blush creep up from her neck but she holds his gaze.
"You have beautiful eyes." She says softly without thinking.
He smiles at the comment and his blue eyes sparkle again in the same way she remembers that night in the Laundromat.
"What do you say we get out of here and I buy you that dinner we never got to?"
She nods in agreement and bends down to get her purse.
"Just so you know, I won't be throwing my panties at you afterward though."
"Ah man! That was the part I was looking forward to the most."
He joked back making her laugh for the first time in forever.