by R L Stephens
***
So far so good, Harry thought to himself as he settled down in a booth in the nearest pub to where the interview had taken place, with a cold pit of lager sitting invitingly on the table in front of him. He then took a long drink from the glass and winched a little at the taste of it was there something about it that he had never been able to quite get used to. Despite this he had found that he had been able to drink four to six pints of it in a night and while this wasn’t a huge amount by most men’s standards Harry had found that it was just enough to keep up appearances.
Where he was sitting just nicely out of the way so that he could maintain a certain level of anonymity, but that he could still watch the goings on in the bar, which at this time of day wasn’t much. It was almost 3pm and the lunchtime rush had long since passed, but people hadn’t started to filter in after work and Harry thought he would have at least an hour before things started to get busy. And that would be more than enough for him get a couple of pints in before he headed back to his hotel for the night.
Harry had been looking for work for almost 18 months now, since he had been made redundant from his last employer, through no real fault of his own. The money he had received, along some savings he’d manage to build up over the years, had been enough to keep him going so far, but he was starting to run low on funds. As such he had stepped up his job applications over the last three months or and had even bought a couple of new suits for job interviews.
“If you're tired of the same old results,” he’d once heard some motivational speaking eulogize, “stop doing the same old things.” That was one motivation for buying a new suit at the time, but that didn’t help him getting to the interview stage, so he then tweaked his resume here and there and eventually about a week ago heard that he’d been selected for interview for a an office manager job at bank, the only problem was that it was based in London and he was living in Manchester. In principle that didn’t really both Harry, except that he would have fund the move himself. That may be a problem, but Harry had always been one of those people who were able to not worry about things until absolutely necessary.
And so Harry managed to budget in enough money for a train ticket to London and a couple of nights in a hotel so that he could prepare for the interview properly and not have to worry about getting there. That was how he now found himself in a bar, in London having just had his first job interview in who knew how long and feeling fairly confident.
I’ll cross that bridge if I get to it, Harry then thought to himself sternly as the thought of the cost of moving crept its way stealthily into his mind once more and he then gulped down the lager of the lager in the glass. He then looked around the pub and seeing that it still wasn’t all that busy decided that he would have another pint and made his way to the bar.
“A bit early isn’t?” A brunette in her mid-twenties, who Harry hadn’t seen sitting at the bar, said.
“Pardon?” Harry replied politely as the waited for the barman to come over and serve him.
“To be drinking,” she said looking at his empty glass. “Shouldn’t you be at work or something?” She then asked having looked up and down the full length of Harry’s body. Harry had always been naturally slim and was on reasonable shape. Under the dark jacket she could see the matching waistcoat that fitted just about perfectly around his flat stomach and the dark trousers that was obviously part of the same suit. His face was smoother than most men these days, who seemed to almost universally have a permanent five o’clock shadow or something that went further than designer stubble.
“Oh I've just been for a job interview,” Harry said keeping his focus firmly straight ahead and not even turning to look at her once.
“Yeah same here,” the woman said and now Harry turned and could see that she was just as formally dressed in a skirt suit, white blouse and a jacket that matched her skirt. He momentarily glanced down at her shoes, for some reason that eluded at the time, and could see that there were a shiny black that made him think that they were either new or hadn’t been worn much. The heels were more than your typical women’s workaday shoe, but were just high enough that would give her that sexy walk that came with high heels, but not high enough so she would have difficulty in walking in them.
“I hope it's not for the same job,” she said smiling with a genuine pleasantness that Harry felt himself smiling back.
“Even if it is,” he said as the barman took his order and started to fill his glass, “good luck anyway.” There was an easy kindness in his voice that made the woman feel at ease and her smile broadened obviously in response to his kind and honest words.
“Thank you,” she said warmly and emptied her wineglass after raising it in a toast to Harry and their mutual good fortune.
“Will there be anything else?” The barman said gruffly as he handed the now full pint glass to Harry.
“Oh yes and whatever,” he started to say and then realized that he hadn’t caught her name. “Oh I'm sorry but what was your name again?” He asked the woman and wondering if she had ever even mentioned it.
“Susan,” she replied handing her glass over.
“And whatever Susan would like,” he then added to the barman.
“Do you mind if I join you?” Susan said being more forward than Harry had expected her to be. “I don’t normally drink with strange men, but you seem nice and I hate drinking alone,” she added and Harry wondered whether he had actually seen her tongue rub across her bright red lips.
“Ok I guess,” Harry said and feeling as nervous as he always had done in such situations. In the workplace and in general socially, he had no problem talking to and being around women. It was just that when things got into these more intimate situations he always got a case of the nerves and never knew quite how to act.
A few minutes later they were sitting in Harry’s booth, just out of the way, and Harry listened attentively as Susan told him all about her recently failed relationships with men and her efforts to further her career. These hadn’t always been as successful as she had expected them to be and she mentioned a few times that she felt she had gone as far with her current employer as she could go, and that was why she was looking to move on.
“It does make a change for a guy to be able to listened and not bang on about himself,” Susan said a couple of hours, and a few drinks, later.
“Well there's not much to tell, “Harry said as he smiled shyly.
“Oh I'm sure there's more to you than you let on,” Susan said smiling at Harry seductively. More than you could guess, Harry thought to himself and Harry was beginning to wonder how he could manoeuver himself out of this without being rude.
“Well I was made redundant almost a couple of years ago and I've been looking ever since,” he said trying to think of something interesting to say about himself.
“Mmmmm firm, but not overly muscular,” she said and then he felt himself almost jump out of his seat as he felt her hand squeeze his right thigh. “Oh sorry I didn’t mean to make you jump,” Susan said her voice more normal sounding now. “It's just that I can get a little forward when I've had a few to drink,” she then added by way of apology.
“No, no it's ok,” Harry said wondering whether he should apologize for flinching away like that and hoped that it he hadn’t offended her.
“You're not married or anything?” Susan then asked looking down at Harry’s hand to see if there was any sign of a wedding ring. “I mean I don’t mind if you are and were looking for a one off,” Susan then added.
“No, I was in a relationship but it ended about the same time as I was made redundant,” he said smiling halfheartedly.
“Oh I'm sorry to hear that,” Susan said with what sounded like genuine compassion. “Losing a job can be hard on any relationship,” she added, even though she had never been in exactly the same situation herself.
“These things happen,” Harry said taking a sip from his glass and tr
ying to think how he could change the subject quickly.
“So do you live locally?” Susan asked.
“No, I'm from Manchester, but staying close by overnight,” Harry replied between mouthfuls of lager.
“So you don’t need to be up early in the morning?” Susan asked closing any remaining gap between them.
“No not especially,” Harry replied without thinking.
“Good, me either,” Susan said taking his head in her hands and kissing him deeply on the lips.