After a 4 day 'weekend', Trisha was ready for her second week of work at Wachovia. It was a hot first week of June in the Atlanta metro area and she was not happy about having to wear hose and pumps to work. Whenever Trisha thought that Mrs. Hudson was not around, she was dipping those pumps whenever she could. Sometimes she'd take one foot out of a shoe and flex her toes on the carpet to get some relief. In the file room she began to use the stepladder even when it was not really necessary so she could use the excuse to kick her pumps off for a few moments of comfort.
Don suddenly began to leave his office open more often. Before he had been perceived as being a behind closed door kind of guy. Some of the staff began to notice his door being open more frequently but they had no idea why. He was happy to see Trisha come into his office or to go to the Records Room to retrieve or replace files. He certainly thought she was attractive - nice shoulder length dark brown hair; cute face, nice smile, decent body shape but her legs drove him wild. The hose made her shapely legs look even more so, almost like those on a statue. The high heels made her calves look very chiseled and the curve of her lower leg as it tapered toward her ankles was just about perfect.
Kelli who also had a crush on Don but had not admitted it wanted to test Don again and see if he'd treat her like Trisha. She put out the "Next Teller Please" sign over her station and went back to Don's office and pretended to have a customer out in the lobby who had asked a loan question. Don was very professional with her and added no conversation and certainly no complement. This is despite the fact that she had decided to dress extra special that morning. She had on a nice print dress and strappy pumps. Her blonde hair was curled nicely and her makeup was impeccable. She was at least Trisha's equal in looks if not exceeding on any given day but today it was over the top. But Don still seemed not to notice. Kelli got the information she did not really need and left in defeat to return to a lobby full of customers.
During the week, several others tried to entice Don to notice them by doing similar things. None were successful. Don kept his professional almost aloof stature as these ladies flirted with him. One thing they all had in common was a lack of shoeplay at which was what Trisha was a star.
This lack of attention caused the other tellers, except Kelli, to begin to dislike Trisha. They watched her closely to see if she made any advances toward Don. She didn't. They also looked for Don to flirt with her, which he did not when the others could see him. Trisha began to sense a bit of coldness from the tellers and Sally and she privately wondered what she could have done to offend them all.
On Friday, the branch closed from 2-3PM except for the drive through so it was during this time that they had staff meetings and other related activities. At the end of the second week, The branch had a little private celebratory gathering to celebrate their 5th anniversary. Everyone except one drive-through teller was part of this party and 4 tellers rotated on drive-through during this hour. It was the first opportunity for the tellers to see Don and Trisha together for any length of time in a relaxed environment.
Trisha got in the short food line behind Kelli and dipped all along the way in her uncomfortable pumps. Don was gentlemanly at the end of the line where he took full advantage of the shoeplay show up ahead as he made small talk with Mrs. Hudson who he respected immensely. Everyone headed into the conference room with their food and Don was the last one to enter the room. Some of the tellers had left empty seats next to them hoping that Don would sit next to one of them. Instead, he decided to take the seat next to Trisha on his left and across from Mrs. Hudson. This silently angered several of the smitten tellers. They continued their meaningless conversation while they kept a close eye on Trisha and Don.
Trisha, as expected, crossed her legs and dangled one pump precariously under the table. Don sat a few inches from the edge of the table so he could have a good view as he began to engage her and Mrs. Hudson in some conversation about how things had changes around Kennesaw over the last 10 years and how that branch would possibly need to expand into a larger building eventually, stuff like that. During this time he became a little unaware of where his legs were under the table and without knowing it, he knocked Trisha's dangling shoe off and about 4 feet across the table in between Mrs. Hudson and the empty seat next to her. Shortly afterwards, Don took another peek under the table and saw her nylon foot crossed and without the pump that was dangling. He took a second glance to see the stray pump practically on the other side of the table not far from the vacant chair. Trisha sat back and peeked under the table and realized the shoe was too far away to stretch out with her leg to grab it. This made her nervous as how to remedy this situation. To her surprise, Don leaned over and whispered in her ear, "You having a problem?" Trisha at first denied it and shrugged it off. Don asked the same question again and finally she reluctantly admitted, "I guess you knocked my shoe off under the table and I can't reach it." Don replied back, "I'll take care of it."
After that, Don made up a phony need to talk privately with Mrs. Hudson about something. He got up and walked over to the other side of the table and sat in the vacant seat. He began to talk with Mrs. Hudson and nothing happened for 5 minutes. Trisha got a little anxious and wondered if he was just pulling something over on her. But soon enough after that, she heard something slide across the carpet. She looked under the table and Don had finally kicked her free pump back over to her side of the table so she could retrieve it. Everything was all right again, but the close conversation the two of them had and all the whispering really increased the ire and jealousy among the other tellers.
That evening, Trisha got home and checked her email, something she only did on Tuesday and Friday. To her surprise, she had the following message:
To: cobbtrish@uga.edu
From ocalatim@uga.edu
Date: 06/08/2000
Hello Trisha,
It's been a couple of weeks since we split and went our own ways for the summer. I just thought I'd drop you a note and let you know what's been going on down here in Ocala. I'm spending most every day working with the youth group. If I'm not doing something directly related to an activity or preparing a Bible lesson, I'm spending time with some of the guys just hanging out, talking about life, etc... One thing I do miss is getting to spend much time with friends my own age. Most of the friends I grew up with here are not home for the summer. Several got work in Orlando or Jacksonville. Others have just not been interested. I miss everyone from back in Athens at school and at church.
One person I particularly miss is YOU. I know we only got together a few times last semester but they were particularly meaningful. You are so easy to talk with and you lift my day. I would love to see you this summer, but I don't know if there's any way. I would love to hear from you when you get a chance.
Sincerely,
Tim
Go Dawgs!
Trisha was surprised to receive this message from Tim. She had certainly enjoyed their three dates but did not consider them as very serious. "But he did kiss me," she remembered. Now she had to think about Chuck after their wonderful date on Saturday. This was going to be an interesting summer, she thought.
NOTE: This story can also be found at Dangling.Com.
