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I snort. “Didn’t figure Jonah for a Long Island Iced Tea kind of guy.”
“He’s not. But he’s still a booze kind of guy.”
Some things really don’t change.
Unknown guy clicks some more and then turns the screen to me.“Is this your missing chapter?”
I look at the screen and there it is. All my hard work, back from the dead. I might squeal a little.
“That’s it! Thank you!” I grab the laptop again and save the chapter again. “What happened?”
“Seems like you somehow have overwritten your file while it got filed away somewhere on your cloud that’s not a regular place to save it,” Unknown guy says while he looks at me with those big, deep brown eyes that stand out in his kind face with a three-day stubble.
“Huh, now how about that. I didn’t even know I could do that. To be quite honest, I don't really understand what you just said, but I'm inclined to just believe you.”
“Real question is: how do you make sure you don’t do it again?” O asks as he sits down on one of the barstools. A shiver runs down my spine when I imagine losing a chapter again. That shit ain’t funny.
“Don’t say stuff like that. It’s like manifesting it to happen again!”
Both men start laughing but before they can comment, the doorbell rings and O leaves the kitchen to get the door.
“That’ll be the pizzas,” Unknown Guy says while sliding a hand over his dark buzzcut. “If it’s not one of the other neighbors having a freak out over a laptop, that is.”
“I think you’re safe. Mister Betrichson from next door probably only has a desktop and it’ll be too heavy for him to bring over. I’d also bet good money on him not knowing how to turn the damn thing on.”
We look at each other in silence for a while and I study his face. He’s handsome, balancing on the edge of rough and pretty. He’d make a good rock star is my conclusion.
“So thanks again, I guess I’ll be going then,” I wrap up the short conversation while I try to grab the laptop.
“Don’t you want to have pizza?”
“I don’t want to overstay my welcome,” I answer while chewing on my bottom lip. Now that my laptop is fixed, I’m slightly embarrassed about barging over like I did.
He shrugs. “O will be fine with it. There was a time he wouldn’t shut up about his neighbor Morgan, so I think it’s only fair I get to know you now that I’ve met you.”
I file away that morsel of knowledge to mull over later. Some part of me is embarrassed that this guy knows who I am, but I have no idea who he is.
“So, now that you know who I am, do I get to know who you are? Besides the knight in shining armor of my characters of course.”
I stick out my hand, which he grabs and shakes and then doesn’t let go.
“Gilbert, but everyone calls me Gil.”
“Gilbert, what is that? French? German?”
“Originally, yes. But in my case, totally American. I’m named after the city in Louisiana.”
He cringes while he tells me. Meanwhile we’re still holding hands, which is absolutely fine with me. He’s very easy on the eyes, and I don’t mind touching him one bit. I’m starting to find out that being single for the first time in ten years, also means I’m missing physical contact for the first time in just that long. Apparently I’m now at the stage that holding hands will fulfill that need.
“Why would you be named after a city? Are your parents from there?” I manage to ask.
“My parents have this thing for naming their kids after the city they were conceived in. I got lucky. I’ve a kid sister called Tallahassee and a little brother called Washington.”
“Ouch, that’s rough.”
O walks back into the kitchen with two humongous pizza boxes that smell divine. Then again, melted cheese is literal heaven on earth. It was scientifically proven; I’m damn sure about that.
“Morgan’s staying for pizza,” Gil says as he pulls one of the bar stools from the bar so I can take a seat. I take O’s lack of comment as approval.
