Give me a Sign

Chapter One

Of Fluoro Socks and Grannypants

Anna had always had many questions about courier guys. Like, did they always have to wear those fluoro socks? Or did she only ever deal with the weird ones?

So it was a good thing that on that fateful Saturday morning at the office that Anna had her back turned and was almost being eaten by the filing cabinet when Tyrell the courier walked inside the office. He was wearing fluoro socks. If Anna had seen them she may have interrogated him.

"Hello," Tyrell said smoothly. He had his hair spiked up a little goofily and was awkwardly balancing a large box.

Melissa was the girl behind the office desk. "Hi," she said, cueing her sexy smile.

Tyrell passed the box over the counter to Melissa, along with an electronic sign pad. "Just sign there, thanks."

And then he spotted Anna. "Hey," he said to Melissa. "Is she single?"

Melissa's mouth fell into a little 'o'. She turned to look at Anna (or rather, Anna's rear end). Instead of a silky g-string hanging out of her pants (as would have been appropriate) her grannypants were showing. Her horrible, floppy, pink grannypants.

"Of course Anna's single!" Melissa snapped, immediately losing her charm and sexy smile. Tyrell was asking after plain, so-not-Melissa, Dutch girl Annamika?

"So she's single?" Tyrell checked. "Is she going on lunch soon?"

Melissa glared up at the wall clock. "Right about now," she grimly answered. "Anna!"

Anna flung her head up, having a near miss with an open filing cabinet draw, and spun ungracefully around. Almost everything Anna did was ungraceful, in Melissa's opinion.

"Yes?" she asked breathlessly, not even registering Tyrell.

Melissa glanced at Tyrell. "He wants to go out with you."

Tyrell smiled meekly.

Anna internally checked her appearance. She was wearing her old sports jersey. She'd forgotten to put her contacts in today, as well as putting on make up. She'd only haphazardly tied her caramel blonde hair up in a messy ponytail and … he … wanted to … go out with her?

Anna smiled meekly back at Tyrell. Now all she had to do was spot the candid camera …

"Ugh!" Melissa said dramatically. "This is so painful for me! Anna, he's serious. This isn't like that other time."

"Oh!" Anna said. "Can I take my lunch break?"

"Sure," Melissa said. "Just go out the back for a moment."

Anna obediently went out the back to the staffroom, where Melissa followed briskly behind her, leaving Tyrell stranded at the front desk.

"Okay Anna, this guy is really hot, and why he chose you over me I have no idea, but the point is, do not stuff this up!" Melissa said. "Can you see without these?" she asked, holding up Anna's glasses.

"Um, no," Anna said, snatching her glasses back and fixing them onto her face.

"Right," Melissa said. "Now this hair … and that shirt … and those grannypants …"

"Excuse me?" Anna said.

"Your underwear," Melissa said. "It's embarrassing."

"Okay I think that's enough," Anna said. "I'm just going to go now."

"Oh! If you do stuff it up," Melissa said, "give him my number!"

"Sure," Anna said. She hurriedly put her coat on and walked back out to the front, where Tyrell was lounging casually against the counter.

"Hi," she said uncertainly. "I'm Anna."

Tyrell reached out a hand and shook hers. "Tyrell Banks," he said.

"Oh, sounds just like that supermodel, Tyra Banks," Anna said seriously, nodding her head.

"Only I'm not female," Tyrell said, equally serious.

"Of course," Anna said.

"So I was wondering if you wanted to grab a coffee or something." Tyrell asked shyly.

"Yeah," Anna said. "That sounds nice."

Nice? Ugh, she internally cursed herself. This was like her first 'date' since getting out of high school. Could she be any less sexy right now? She didn't think so.

Tyrell kindly opened the office door for her and they stepped outside into the bitter weather.

There was an extremely uncomfortable and awkward silence as the two of them walked briskly up the street to the nearest coffee shop.

Tyrell finally broke it. "You're cute," he said.

"Oh, err, thanks," Anna mumbled. "You too."

Tyrell chuckled. "So you're a secretary, right?"

"Yeah," Anna said. "Are you?" she paused. "I mean … um … what do you do?"

"Are you subtly hinting that you think I'm gay?" Tyrell joked. "I swear I'm not."

"No, nothing like that –"

"I was kidding, Anna," Tyrell said. "I'm a courier," he said, pointing at himself, which made Anna blush. "But on days off I'm a real estate agent."

"Oh! That's cool," Anna said. "How old are you?" she blurted out.

"Do I look old?" Tyrell asked. "I'm twenty two. And you're –"

"Nineteen," Anna said. "I'm going to uni next year. I want to be an accountant."

"Numbers," Tyrell said, "not my thing."

"I thought you were a real estate agent?"

"Yes," Tyrell said, pushing open the door of Cool Bean, the coffee shop. "Numbers aren't really involved. Mm, it's nice and warm in here."

Tyrell and Anna got a comfortable seat at the back of the coffee store.

"Are you a big coffee drinker?" Tyrell asked, looking over the menu.

"Yeah, I love it," Anna said, "but I think it stunted my growth."

Tyrell looked over her quickly. "Yeah, you're pretty short," he said with a smile. "So tell me about you," he said after they'd placed their orders.

"Why did you ask me out?" Anna asked.

"You sure don't beat about the bush," Tyrell said. "It was an impulsive thing," he said. "I don't regret it."

Anna blushed. "Thanks," she said, accidentally spilling a drop of her mocha on her jeans. She hurriedly swatted at it, praying Tyrell hadn't noticed.

"Hey, can I see you again?" Tyrell asked, draining his coffee cup. "Tomorrow?"

"I'd like that," Anna said.

"Well then, I'll be seeing you, Anna," Tyrell said as he got up suavely and winked at Anna, leaving her paranoid, thinking … when?

Author Note: Well this is the start of my Christmas short story project. I'm deviating a little from my preferred first person format =) As always; really no idea where this is headed!