Author's note: Hello everyone! Thanks for reading. This story is based on a strip in At Least This Place Sells T-Shirts where Andy tells Paige about how she and Roger first met. More chapters to come after this! Enjoy please!
Roger opened and shut the door, then leaned against it and sighed. He had just seen her again, that perfect and mind-numbingly beautiful woman who lived downstairs.
He had seen her three times in the past month, each time trying to suck every particle of information he could from her appearance and her mannerisms. She had absolutely no idea who he was or that he even existed, but one day he had seen which apartment was hers and looked her up in the building directory. Her name was Andrea, and for the moment that was Roger's favorite compilation of letters.
She was Andrea, and she lived in apartment 8040, one floor below him.
Roger knew that this was pathetic, and that the only practical thing to do would be to ask her out, but that would mean talking to her, and how on earth was he supposed to do that? Roger Fox was not a shy person, even when it came to women. He had had plenty of girlfriends in college, but none of them had really worked out, and besides, Andrea was so much different than those girls. She made him feel a lot more in love than all of them. He knew that he was sort of a dork, although through his school days he loved to believe he was a complete chick magnet.
He went over to the mirror and flexed his muscles, grinning and thinking, "I do have a studly appearance, though." As attractive as he might have been, Roger knew deep down that that would not be enough for a woman like Andrea. Suddenly, he got an idea.
He ran to his desk and sat down, getting a blank sheet of paper and a pen. Roger would write her an unsigned love letter, then slip it under her door.
As he put pen to paper, it was obvious to him that he wasn't much of a writer, but he didn't care. Movies and novels told him that as long as he spoke from the heart, the entire letter would sound perfect.
To Andrea,
Where do I begin the words? I do not know how to tell you what I feel when I see you, your golden hair, your greenbrownblue amazing and clear eyes. Your smile could light the darkest cave. Oh Andrea, how I long to know you better! Perhaps soon I shall find the courage to take off my mask.
-A Secret Love
"It's perfect," thought Roger. "It just needs one finishing touch." He went to the store and purchased one red rose, then got a roll of scotch tape and the note and went down to her apartment.
First, he slid the note under the door, then he fastened the rose with one piece of tape to the center of it. As he walked away, he heard the flower fall to the ground with a tiff. He ran back, this time putting two pieces of tape on it, only to see it fall again. Soon, Roger was being showered in tape, it was all over his shoes, pants, shirt, and fingers, but the rose was in place. With all confidence, he rang the doorbell and ran away, ducking behind the hallway corner. The second he was within full hiding, there she was, the image of all beauty in Roger's eyes.
As she opened the door, he noticed that the note was in her hand, and she reached and pulled off the rose from the door. Roger watched as she read the note, her eyes opening wide and her brow furrowing. She lowered the letter and leaned out the door, looking both ways and saying, "Hello?"
Roger took a minute to indulge in her voice before seeing her go back inside. Satisfied, he turned around and went back home.