Geek Mafia | Page 3

it
out to Paul. "Hi, by the way, I'm Chloe."
"Paul," he said, shaking her hand and looking her in the eyes for the
first time. Deep green. She smiled back at him, full of enthusiasm.
"Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too, Paul. Go ahead and keep the little guys." She
gestured to the figurines. "Think of them as my gift to you. May they
keep you company in whatever your new endeavor might be." She
raised a toast and they clinked glasses and drank.
Paul smiled - his first genuine smile all day if memory served. "I'm
honored. Thanks." The two of them took the awkward moment of
silence that followed to continue sipping. "So," he finally said,
"What're you and your micro-mariachis doing here?"
Chloe put her drink down and said, "Oh, we're just out for a stroll,
taking in the sights. No, actually I'm hoping the restaurant will let me
put 'em on the tables for a day. I'm doing market research for the
company that makes them. See if people think they're cute or
annoying."
"How're they doing so far?"
"So far so good actually." Something over Paul's shoulder caught her
attention as she spoke and her gaze drifted towards the front door.
"This is my last stop before I take a break for lunch. And if I'm not
mistaken, the guy I need to speak with just walked in the door. Will
you excuse me a minute?"

"Sure."
"Watch my drink. Actually, order us another round." Chloe stalked
across the restaurant to intercept the manager. Paul's gaze followed her
as she walked and he decided pretty much right then and there that he
was smitten. She seemed perfect, and he couldn't wait to find out how,
as would undoubtedly be the case, she wasn't actually perfect at all. For
now though, Paul ordered another round of drinks and watched her chat
with the manager. He seemed dubious at first, in a hurry to get ready
for the noonday rush. But she charmed him over quick, and then
handed him a pair of shakers to look at. He smiled a few times and
laughed loud enough for Paul to hear from across the room when she
pointed to some apparently funny idiosyncrasy about the pepper
Mariachi. They chatted a few more minutes before shaking hands and
parting ways with a smile.
She stopped midway between the manager and the bar and pulled a cell
phone from her pocket. She moved it about the room trying to get a
signal and then dialed it. She talked for a few minutes and shut the
phone before coming back over to Paul, dusting her hands in the
universal sign of accomplishment. "Done and done."
"Good work. He seemed to go for it pretty quick," said Paul.
"Oh, the guys are always easy, especially restaurant managers. They
usually don't give a damn. As long as he's not a slave to some corporate
overlord who decides décor or some crazy shit like that, then it's
usually cool." She sat back down next to him again and downed the last
of her drink just as the next round arrived. "Actually, he claimed to
have remembered me from somewhere - although he didn't know where.
Whatever. He said yes, and that's all the matters."
"You are pretty memorable."
"You think so? I dunno, maybe you're right."
"Trust me, you definitely make a memorable first impression."

She raised her glass to toast him. "Yep, that's what your mom said last
night anyway."
"Really," Paul said, feigning indignity, "Wow, I can't believe my mom
said that." He paused for dramatic effect. "After all, she was so tired
after working your mom over, she said she fell right asleep when she
got home."
Chloe laughed, more because Paul had played back at her than because
what he said was funny. She adopted a British accent for a moment.
"Well played old chap, well played." Then, voice back to normal,
"You're all right Paul. Most people wouldn't pull the Mom card that fast.
Especially if they knew me and knew my mom died of breast cancer
last year."
Paul was horror stricken. Was she serious? She couldn't be serious right?
He started to apologize. "Oh, that's...I'm sorry. I..."
"I'm just fuckin' with you, kiddo," she said, laughing. "No worries.
Mom's fine and livin' large in the suburbs."
Paul laughed along with her, although his had a tinge of nervousness
that he tried to conceal. Who the hell was this woman? Still, he'd
decided he officially had a crush on her now, and he wasn't about to let
a bizarre sense of humor dissuade him from a much-needed distraction.
So what if she made jokes about her mom dying of cancer? At least she
was making them