THE MOMENT
Justin surveyed the vast, empty parking lot. He guessed he was at the local mall; it was his first time in this city. He didn't know why a mall would be closed at one on a Tuesday afternoon, but he knew he'd have time later to figure it out. Once he got settled he planned to take a proper tour of the city. But, at the moment he had more pressing matters.
"This definitely ain't her apartment building," Justin mumbled as pulled his phone out. He met the most wonderful woman through an app. This was supposed to be their first meeting but Justin was starting to guess his GPS let him down. He briefly entertained the possibility that she wanted to meet at the mall but it was closed. He also blamed himself for not getting more details. He was so ecstatic she wanted to meet at all that he just accepted the GPS pin and assumed that was that. He found Susan in his contacts and was about to text her when a stray sunbeam caught his eye.
Justin turned in time to see a large black SUV come up behind his passenger side. It parked at an angle in front of Justin's truck. He couldn't see in through the windshield and the windows along the side were as black as the vehicle. Before his panicked imagination could run away with scenarios, the back door of the SUV opened.
Susan stepped out. She immediately locked eyes with Justin through the windshield and waved as she approached the driver's side. She wore a bright yellow sundress with a large matching hat pulled down to her eyebrows. Justin lowered the window.
"Hi! Justin, right?" she asked. She needed the step to rise to his window. When she looked in, Justin couldn't believe his eyes; or hers.
After they hit it off on the app they moved to a messaging app that let them play with stickers and filters. That's when they started messaging and sending pictures; but, Justin noticed something. She always took the time to turn her eye color pink in every picture she sent. Even the ones that barely showed her eyes at all. Now that she was standing at his window Justin could see her eyes were actually pink. They were too clear and the color was too bright that Justin doubted they were contacts.
"Right?" She asked. Her smile dimmed slightly and she took her eyes off his to glance at the SUV. Justin had been so captivated by her perfect eyes that he stared at her in silence. He immediately felt distressed at even accidentally hurting her feelings.
"I'm Justin," he said with a quick nod. "And, I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to be so breathtaking." Susan's tan cheeks filled with a soft blush.
"So? Where to?" Justin asked and motioned for her to get in.
"Ummm. One sec," she said. She bit her lip, then seemed to affirm something to herself. "Let me just...," she reached up and removed the wide sunhat to shake her short chestnut curls. When she did, an eye caught Justin's eye.
A third pink eye in the center of Susan's forehead focused down on the empty seat as Susan made a show of tying back her hair. It wasn't the first time Justin had seen it; but, this was when he realized it wasn't a sticker. As Justin watched her take too long to fiddle with her hair bathed in golden sunlight, he realized two things.
She was the most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen, full stop. And, he realized that she was waiting for him to say something. That's why her ride was still there; she was waiting on rejection. Justin smiled; there was no way that was going to happen. He wanted to put her at ease and hoped some friendly teasing would do the trick.
"Just like a woman," he smiled at her. "You're already here, and you're still making me wait. You can do that while I'm driving, you know; I'm starving here." Susan beamed a wide grin at him and hopped off the step to open the door and climb in. Once she was seated, she waved at the SUV. Justin assumed someone waved back before they drove off; but, he couldn't see.
"You're from around here, right? What's good?" Justin asked. Susan shook her head.
"No, I'm from Texas," she said. Justin laughed; he loved dry humor.
"We're in Texas, honey," Justin said with his best southern drawl.
"Oh, yeah..," Susan said. Her voice seemed to hint that she didn't actually know that, but Justin wasn't going to make an effort to look for problems. He decided then and there that he'd never ask any questions that might make her uncomfortable if he didn't have to. "Just find a Whataburger."