Shifters of Grrr 2 (13 page)

She made her way over to the couch and sat down, staring mindlessly off into space. Then the tears began, just water in her eyes at first, then a trickle down her cheek. When the first one fell onto her bare arm, she burst into sobs that wracked her body. This was just too much to take, so much going on all at once.

At the start of the previous week, she had been let go from the job that she had held for the past four years. No real reason had been given, simply that she wasn't doing a good enough job and needed to leave, immediately. They had given her ten minutes to pack up her meager belongings in a box, and then she had been escorted from the building, not even allowed to say farewell to her coworkers.

A very torn up Keri had come home looking for the support of her fiancé Michael. As she sat on the couch alone now, she remembered how he had reacted to that. For several days, he had barely talked to her, not providing comfort at all. Then he had called off their marriage, claiming he had found someone else, the true love of his life. All around her the pieces of her life seemed to be crashing down at once. It had almost been too much to handle when the landlord just now told her that the building was being condemned, and that tenants only had sixty days to move somewhere new.
 

Her shoulders heaved with sobs, letting her emotions flow out of her. It was a long time before she looked up from her own misery. When she did, it was simply to text her best friend Lizzie. It was a simple plea for help, and it wasn't too long after that that her door buzzed. She answered it, eyes still red, to see her friend standing there with some chocolate and a bottle of wine. She broke down in tears again, so thankful for such a good friend, someone who would always do what was necessary to help her.

"Lizzie-" she began, her friend still standing in the doorway.
 

"Shutup and let me inside. We need to get this bottle of wine open stat." With a quick kiss in the direction of her cheek, Lizzie brushed past her and made a beeline straight for the kitchen. As Keri closed the door she heard the clinking of glasses and the smooth flow of liquid as Lizzie got them both an extra full glass of wine. Sitting down on the sofa, Lizzie turned to her friend of fifteen years.

"What happened? Did that dick call you back?" Keri smiled faintly at that, though she shook her head. Lizzie refused to call her ex-fiancé by his name now. In fact, the entire time the two of them had been dating, Lizzie had done her best to avoid him. After he had left her, Lizzie confessed that she had gotten a bad vibe from him the entire time, and didn't want to see her friend go down that path. After saying her initial piece at the start, however, she had stepped back and let her friend do as she wished.

"No, he hasn't said a peep thankfully. The landlord told me that the place is condemned, and I have less than two months to find somewhere new!" Her voice had risen at this, and she almost burst out into sobs again. Instead, she raised the glass to her lips and took a long pull, only a small tear falling from each eye as she got herself back under control.

"Oh my god that's horrible!" Lizzie put her glass down and gave Keri a comforting hug. Taking a deep breath as they parted, she tried to find her voice. After working for a few moments, she finally said what was really getting at her.

"What do I do?" It was so plaintive, so filled with uncertainty and concern that she saw her friends eyes glaze over with water a little as well.
 

"I just feel like such a failure right now. I've lost my home, my job, and my fiancé within the span of a week and a half Liz. How can someone manage that? It's so stupid." She wasn't whining anymore, simply trying to understand what had gone so wrong, to turn her life completely on its end and then shake it.

"These things happen to us all Keri, don't forget that. Remember two years ago, I got fired and lost my car the next week to repossession?" She nodded, having been the one doing the consoling back then, very similar to what Lizzie was doing now. "Well it sucked, but I got back on my feet after a bit and now look at me!"
 

Keri smiled at that, for it was true. Her friend was now a section manager at a Fortune 500 company, making a killing, and loving every moment of it. In fact, she had helped Keri get her last job, by telling her about the opening, which she had heard about through her work. She owed Lizzie so much for that because the experience meant she would likely be able to find another job easily, though it would take a bit of time to get her name out there.

"Okay okay, point taken," she said, smiling over at her friend, "though I definitely need to find a new place pronto, and a new job while I'm at it. Then once I've got those two, I'll start looking for a new man. How does that sound for a roadmap?"
 

"Sounds great! You know I'll help however I can. For starters, let's have a drink!" Giggling, the two of them took big gulps of their wine, and then sat back in the couch.

"So listen, Keri, I was going to break this to you tomorrow, but I may as well do it now, even if you just got that terrible news about the building." Keri looked at her suspiciously, wondering just what it was her friend had in mind.

"I think you need to get out and meet some guys. Even if it's just to flirt or something. It would do you some good to get out there and just interact with the other half of our species. Nothing formal, no requirements, just a night out," she rushed on as Keri opened her mouth to object.

"No way! I'm not interested nor am I ready to put myself back out there."

"Oh please, it's just sex Keri! Trust me, as your friend, you need it. A man for the night is just what this doctor ordered." She mimed writing out her prescription on a pad of paper like a doctor would for drugs.

"I don't know Liz," she frowned, thinking over the concept. As a curvy girl, Keri had never felt completely in her element flirting with random men. She was confident enough in herself and her looks, knowing she was good looking. Her long auburn hair was one of her best features, but she received the most compliments about her eyes, a flirtatious green that had captured at least a few men before.

Still, it took a lot of nerves for her to go up to a man and shamelessly flirt. The whole concept of it filled her stomach with butterflies while twisting it into knots at the same time. It was fun when it worked, but it really hurt to be rejected. Being a taller woman with wide hips presented some challenges, but Keri knew she took the time to dress the part. She wondered if after three years of being off the market, could she still turn heads? Lizzie must have picked up on some of that train of thought, because she continued with her plan.

"Look, here's the plan. Two days from now, the Coffee Corner over on 47th is hosting a simple speed dating event. We go, sit at a table. Every five minutes, a new guy rotates to your table. If you like him enough, the two of you can take off to talk some more. If not, you wait five minutes and he's gone."
 

Keri still felt skeptical about the whole thing, but the fact that she wasn't just talking about a bar scene made her feel a little better. This was at least planned, and everyone was there for the same thing. Not having that burden on her shoulders would be nice. If she was honest with herself, she hadn't done much at all to even leave her apartment since Michael had left her.
 

"Perhaps you're right Liz. Tuesday you said it was? I'll be there, though I still can't believe I'm actually agreeing to it. It's probably this damn wine speaking for me." They both laughed over that, feeling the effects of the wine now.

"Promise me something though."

"Sure, anything at all."

"The next guy I find myself falling for, if he's a dick and I don't know it, you need to tell me right away. Don't ever let me waste my time on some asshole again. If you can see something from the start, then there's probably something there. Just don't let me be blind to it anymore, okay?"

"Absolutely Ker!" her friend exclaimed, lifting the glass of wine to toast Keri. She raised her own in reply, feeling oddly relieved despite everything going on in her life. Tuesday was going to come sooner than she thought.

***

Keri took one last look at herself in the mirror before she left. She had opted for subtly sexy, with tight jeans that accentuated her curves, and a looser, flowing shirt that tightened up right across her breasts. It plunged deeply enough to reveal some cleavage, just enough to generate interest, but ensured she didn't come across as desperate or skanky either. Her freshly cut hair was straightened and parted nicely to the side, giving her a bit of that girl-next-door vibe. She gave herself a red lipstick kiss in the mirror and headed down to join Liz in the lobby.

The ride there was nerve wracking for Keri. She was still extremely emotionally torn up over Michael but recognized the logic that her friend had used. She was going to get back on the horse sooner or later, so why not make it sooner? Nonetheless, she was unsure if she could even find herself able to trust any of the men she might meet tonight. Such thoughts were foremost on her brain the entire way there.

When their cab pulled up in front of the coffee shop, the two of them got out and paid the driver. Fixing their clothes, they looked at each other and prepared to enter.

"Liz, will you look at that!" Keri exclaimed in a whisper, eyeing the extremely handsome, tall man in a very fashionable suit who was just opening the door inside. As they looked on, he rolled his shoulders once and then entered. The two girls exchanged a giggle over raised eyebrows.

"Perhaps this is going to be better than you thought, don't you think Ker?" Liz teased her, seeing the way she had reacted to the tall, strong looking stranger who most likely would be part of their dating event.
 

"How does a man like that even come to be at a place like this Liz?" She was curious, he was easily handsome enough to get dates by simply batting his eyes. Why speed dating?

"Who cares, let's go meet him!" Liz grinned, pulling Keri along behind her as they headed for the door.

Inside the coffee shop, there was a partition almost immediately, hiding most of the seating area. One sign pointed to the left and read 'Ladies', while the men were directed to go to the right. The two headed down their side, where after they turned right, it opened up into a large room full of tables. Only women, and one man who looked officious, possibly the coordinator, were occupying the room currently.
 

"Hello, ladies! Glad you could join us." The man walked over, introducing himself as Titus, the host for the evening.

"So, these are the rules. You will each pick a table somewhere in the room. Each table is numbered one through forty. Each man will be given a random ticket with a table number on it. They will go sit at that table for five minutes. Once the buzzer rings, they will move up one number, and so on. If at any point you wish to leave, feel free. Any questions?"

" Great!" He exclaimed as the two of them shook their heads, the concept quite simple and easy to understand. As ladies, all they had to do was sit there. When the start time arrived, the two of them sat at nearby tables and waited to see what would happen.

***

The parade of men who had gone past Keri's table was starting to get depressing. She was resting her chin in the palm of her hand now, tired out over the past hour and a half by uninteresting, weird, and downright creepy men who had done their best to try and seduce her. None of them seemed interested in more than an evening of good times.
 

This last one was particularly bad. He was still droning on about his mother, and how amazing she had been to him growing up. That had been the sole conversation topic the entire five minutes, starting immediately after they had exchanged names. When the buzzer finally rang to relieve her of him, she wondered if perhaps she should just get up and leave. She hadn't made up her mind when the next man sat down in front of her.

"Name, age, occupation and reason for being here," she droned out as he sat down, not even giving him the opportunity to introduce himself. She stared down at the table waiting for his response.

"Hello, my name is Derek, I'm thirty-four and I'm an entrepreneurial businessman I suppose you would call it. May I ask your name, and for the privilege to look at your eyes my lady?" The voice was a deep baritone, easy on the ears and brain. The reverberations of his words echoed throughout her body, stirring something within her she hadn't remembered existed.

She jerked up in surprise as the man in front of her registered upon her senses. His cologne wafted through the air, infusing her nostrils with a sense of hunger.
 
When she met his eyes though, she practically gasped in surprise. The icy-blue orbs stared into her, piercing any walls she tried to build, seeing deep within her soul.
 

There was something about him, some sort of magnetic attraction, as if the very air was infused with an aphrodisiac and she inhaled more with every breath. As she continued to stare into his eyes, the silence drew longer, more profound. Something was happening between the two of them, and she had no control over the runaway train that carried her emotions right now.

"H-Hi," she managed to stumble out, her gaze encompassing the rest of him now. She realized with a start that this was the same man that she and Lizzie had seen entering just before them. She saw now that he had a trimmed beard to accompany his black hair that was pushed off to one side, framing his face wonderfully. He looked like a model from one of her fantasies.