As she approached him, Kevin set down the magazine and smiled. His mouth was dry and no matter what he did, he couldn’t get a word out.
Tanya smiled back, with her bag of, now clean, laundry slung over her shoulder, the laid back woman walked out the door and onto the crowded, downtown street of Minneapolis.
Kevin mentally hit himself, “Why didn’t you say anything?” he whispered to himself, “Idiot.” He sighed and smiled, thinking of Tanya’s beautiful smile, it brightened up her entire face, like the sun coming out on a rainy day.
“KEV!” A woman’s voice said from across the row of dryers. Kevin blinked twice and looked up, “She’s not Aphrodite, just talk to her!” Donna laughed at Kevin’s high-school like crush.
Kevin laughed back at her. But he knew that one day he’d talk to Tanya. Saturday was the day he’d talk to her. Immediately after he was done washing his clothes, he called his friend AJ.
“J. I need your help.” Kevin said when AJ picked up his cell. “Sounds like a chick problem.” He responded. “Not just a chick, an incredible woman.” Kevin smiled once again thinking of her. “Whatcha need?” AJ questioned. “A VIP pass into the club on Saturday.”
“Dang man, you know it’s hard as hell to get ‘em even if I do work there.” AJ had a reputation of sneaking his buddies into the bar quite a bit.
Kevin sighed deeply. If he didn’t get in there this weekend, he’d never be able to talk to Tanya.
AJ heard his best friend sigh, “I’ll see what I can do. No promises though.”
“Thanks man, I’ll owe ya.” Kevin said happily hanging up the phone.
Saturday quickly came and Kevin was definitely nervous. He recited many time in his head what he’d say to her, but nothing sounded right. AJ was able to get Kevin a VIP pass and dropped it off earlier in the day.
“Bye Sam. Have fun with Uncle Paul.” Tanya waved to her son. She was lucky to have friends like Donna and her husband Paul, they were a middle-aged couple who never had kids of their own, and were always more than happy to spend time with Sam.
As Tanya drove across town to ‘Fifth Edition’ she planned out her own strategy… to avoid having too much conversation with any one in the room.
She pulled up to the lavish club on LaGrande Avenue, handing her keys to the valet; Tanya took a deep breath and walked into the social establishment. She scanned the area looking for an empty bar stool or table. She noticed a man sitting on the far end of the bar alone, with an open space next to him… ‘Just don’t make eye contact and you’ll be fine, he won’t talk to you.’ Tanya told herself.
She quietly sat down next to him and ordered a soda, she didn’t drink. She quickly glanced and noticed the man she sat next to was drinking a Diet Coke as well. She couldn’t resist but glance upwards just a bit and she what he looked like… eye contact was made… crap… she told herself.
“Hi, I’m Kevin.” He said smiling.
She nodded, “Tanya.”
“I know.” Kevin said, inside he was congratulating himself for actually saying something. “We go to the same Laundromat every Sunday.” Not the best opening line, but it worked.
“Oh, Hi.” Tanya smiled.
There was that smiled that Kevin loved to see every time she talked to Donna, only this time she was talking to him. And he felt like a million bucks.
As the night went on, the two continued to drink Diet Cokes and talk. Not only about laundry, about other things. They instantly connected. Tanya was almost ten years older than Kevin, but she didn’t seem to mind it at all.
The next day, Tanya loaded up her clothes and hauled them down to the Laundromat. When Tanya walked in, she said hi to Donna, and hi to her son, Sam, who was sitting behind the counter playing video games.
Tanya loaded her laundry into one of the washers, and went over to sit down, she sat next to Kevin, he handed her a Diet Coke and their conversation from last night resumed.