Amanda tried to shake off the creepy encounter as she walked back to her cubicle. She sent a text to Sam, I see what you mean about Randy.
Yeah, try to steer clear, he replied.
You don’t have to tell me twice. lol, she responded with a grin as she unlocked her computer and looked over the new service requests that had come in. She picked the next ticket in line and called the customer to try and solve their issue.
She had just finished her third support call when Sam came by.
“Time for lunch,” he announced.
“Already?” she looked at the clock on her screen and saw it was 12:30 already.
“You coming?”
“Yeah.” Amanda locked her screen and walked with Sam to the lunch room.
She warmed her soup in the microwave before taking a seat at the table. Sam was already seated and part way into his sandwich. A few other employees were already eating and some were finishing up. Randy walked in just then and Amanda quickly pretended to be too preoccupied with her lunch to notice his arrival. He sat down across from her with a glass of water and two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
She didn’t readily look up to greet him, choosing rather to focus on her meal. 20 awkward seconds later though, when Randy hadn’t made a single move toward his food she felt compelled to see what he was doing.
It was an unfortunate decision because when she looked up she saw that what he was doing was staring at her. She nervously said hi and he gave her that odd smirk again before then turning his attention to his food. Amanda felt completely weirded out by his behavior and she gave Sam a look. Sam just shrugged as if to say, “I told you so.”
As if the situation couldn’t have gotten any stranger, Randy began folding and dipping his sandwiches into his water before taking bites. Amanda could hardly believe what was happening across from her. She wanted to stare in amazement or ask why he was doing that but was afraid to engage him so she simply pretended not to notice the peculiar eating habits of her new wacky coworker while occasionally exchanging glances with Sam when Randy wasn’t looking.
Another man she didn’t recognize came in the lunchroom as Randy was finishing his first sandwich. He looked about mid-twenties or early-thirties. He was tall with short, dark brown hair and green eyes.
“Derek, have you met Amanda?” said Sam.
“I haven’t had the pleasure.” He sat down next to Randy and extended his hand across the table to shake hands. “I’m Derek.”
“Nice to meet you,” Amanda replied, feeling refreshed by the normalcy of the exchange.
“I hear you were in Europe?” Derek said as he opened his lunchbox and took out half a sub and a bag of chips.
“Yeah. Ireland, Scotland, Spain, France and Italy.”
“Sounds like an amazing trip!” Derek said.
“It really was,” she agreed.
“Do you have a favorite country?”
“Boy …” Amanda thought for a few seconds. “That’s a tough call. But if I could only return to one of them, I think I would want to go to Scotland.”
“Yeah? Not Italy or France?” Derek asked, curious about the reason for her choice.
“Too many people in Italy and France. I don’t care for the city. I love being in nature and Scotland was just …” She released a contented sigh as she reflected on her time there. “... amazing nature.”
Derek nodded in agreement. “I can understand that.”
Feeling awkward that Randy was just sitting and staring at them as they ate and conversed, Sam decided to ask him, “Randy, you ever been outside the country?”
Randy let out an odd almost condescending chortle. “Me? No. Too many things can go wrong.”
Amanda could tell from their expressions that both Derek and Sam were thinking the same thing as her. Randy was an odd duck. She decided now might be a good time to make an exit before things got even weirder.
“Well …” She stood up. “I better get back to my mountain of work.”
“Yeah, me too.” Sam chimed in as he stood to leave also.
Seeming to fear being left alone with Randy, Derek also said he should get back to work and took his lunch with him to his desk.
The rest of the day was typical, filled with understandably impatient and frustrated clients with annoying and sometimes obscure IT issues. Amanda was glad to finally be on her way home. She texted Viktor and let him know she was heading out.
Amanda’s phone rang as she was exiting the elevator on her floor. Her heart fluttered seeing it was Viktor.
“Hey stranger,” she cheerfully greeted him. “You must be tired.”
“A little,” he acknowledged. “But I’m happy to hear your voice. How was your day?”
“Very interesting,” she replied as she unlocked the door to her apartment and went inside. “They hired some new employees while I was out and one of them … let’s just say … he’s a little out there.”
“What does that mean?”
Amanda went on to relate her strange experiences with Randy during the day.
“It sounds like maybe he likes you.”
“Why? Because he stares?”
“You don’t think so?”
“I don’t know. It’s weird. The way he looks at me I don’t know if he’s thinking, ‘Boy that color looks nice on her’ or ‘I wonder if I left the stove on’ or if maybe he’s imagining what my head would look like in a jar.”
“Well that doesn’t sound good. Do you have to work alone with this guy?”
“No. And Sam’s aware. So if I have trouble, I can talk to him. I’m sure he’s probably harmless, just socially awkward.”
“Try to keep your distance.”
“Don’t worry. I will.”
“How is everything else?” he asked.
“Good. I would like to host a dinner with my mom and friends on the weekend when you come. As soon as I know which weekend, I can start sending invites.”
“Well, I won’t make it this weekend. It’s possible I will be freed up by next weekend but
