The clock hits 19:00 in the evening, my shift ends and my team together with me have finished the ten apartments in the building we started on painting two weeks ago. Stella my best buddy is still at the job site with me and we are putting out the welcoming baskets in the apartments which have not gotten them yet. As she brushes past me to pick up the last basket she brushes my hand and winks at me which she does sometimes as a inside joke. A laughter rumbles through my throat and Stella flashes me a smile before she to starts laughing, we hug each other and I could have sworn that she held our eye contact two seconds longer than normally as we part ways again. We smile warmly at each other and talk about our plans for the rest of this week are and as we are talking about it I get a message from my father.

                                                                                     Message; 

Hello Gabriel, I have a job for you.

That is the whole message, my dad is not good with words but effective which leads us to have a phone call where he explains the details and I start to wrap up my stuff at the construction site. on my way out I wave at Stella, she gives me a confused frown and I mouth that Michael is on the phone. She understands and goes to her car and drives away into the night. My dad explains that a good business associate to him needs a constructor to help him out with his restaurant and fix it up a little bit. the payment is questionable but I accept it. 

I am booked for tomorrow by a five star restaurant to paint their walls and to rebuild a smal part of the kitchen. The owner has made a deal with my father, the deal is that I get paid half of the money my work is worth and get the rest in a three course meal for two people. Outside of the construction site of the apartment building I start walking towards the hardware store a few blocks down the road. The old buildings faceing upwards to the clouds and the street being dark makes a wonderful picture to walk down on. The wind picks up, the rain starts to slightly driple down on the pavement and it looks beatifull, a fairytale building up infront of my eyes. 

As my shoes clack against the pavement for about 20 minutes and the rain has started to pour down I arrive outside the hardware store which is the only one open so late in the evening. I look at my phone and realise that the clock has hit 20:30 in the evening and I look up at the door consisting of hard wood and a plate stating their opening and closing times. 

                                                                      -Monday - Friday; 07:00 - 22:00-

                                                                     -Saturday - Sunday; 08:30 - 21:00- 

I open the door and the ding ding sound of it makes possible workers know that i have stepped foot into their enviroment and by the sound of my shoes I am drenched in rain water. Looking around I can see that children have hade their fingers in the decorations around the rooms, it makes a chuckle rise from my throat as I see butterflies painted on the walls with finger prints. Starting to walk around the splash sound of my shoes makes it especially easy to hear where i am and that would right now be at the colour materials. I put paint brushes and rolls into my smal shopping cart together with some sponges to keep clean. 

Another pair of footsteps echoe through the room and as I turn around to the sweet "Hello" that echoes towards me through the air there stands a worker, more specifikly a woman. Not any woman, she is beatifull and meets me with a bright smile that perfeclyt aligns with her smiling light blue eyes which mic beatifully with the wait long ginger hair. A quiet gasp leaves my body and I blink a few times before I answear her "Hello mam" with a warm smile. She giggles "No need for any mam here, what can I help you with sir?" she asks as she puts her hands on her hips. My gaze lingers on them a little longer than i would have liked a stranger to do to me and as I look back up our eyes lock and electricity chimes through the air. 

"Sir? What may I help you with?" she asks again and I brake the lock she got on me. "Sorry mam, my fault. My name is Gabriel Oliver and I would need some help with finding your paint" I say courtessing in front of her and take her hand to kiss the back of it, she giggles and looks confused for a second before she leads me further into the store. "So Mr.Oliver, what kind of paint do you need?" she questions me and I answear a couple of them so that she can help me easier. it confuses me that she knows so much about paint, the questions she asks are specifik and it is no secret that she knows her stuff. After I have answeared all questions she points out a specifik green paint bucket and says "So this is what you are searching for but considering the walls you need to paint are in a kitchen you need a good primer and some different brushes and rolls than the ones you have there" she points at my shopping cart. "Is that really so, mam?" I pin her with a questioning look and her cheeks tint with a rosy colour. "Yes that is so Mr.Oliver, are you questioning my knowledge?" she says as more of a statement than a question. "No mam, I am questioning how you know so much though, it intrigues me", I reply and chuckle as her expression changes from irritated to interested. She nods and gives me the right tools and primer and more of the colour. A few minutes later she rings me up and I feel bold. "Would you like to uhm... exchange phone numbers, mam?" I ask and she looks at me intrigued before she accepts my offer and we exchange numbers. 

I start walking towards the exit but if I was not feeling bold enough I turn back to her before walking out and say "I will text you the details but we are going out on friday in the evening together, no buts or no's..." I pin her with my eyes and she locks them with hers and answears with a "Yes sir" as sweet as honey. This time I walk out of the store completly and as the wind and rain breezes against me a sigh of relief leaves my body and nervousnes comes over me at the same time as my anxiety. I had not realised it before but now I realise that my anxiety was gone since I walked into the store and came back the second I stepped outside. A few deep breaths search their way down into my lungs and out again, it calms me down slightly and the walk home helps to keep my mind of of things to. 

Did I just ask out that beatifull woman from the store? Yes. Am I happy about it? Yes. Did I wish I had planned it more? Yes. 

My phone burns in my pocket and I pick it up, her number is staring at me and her name is as beatifull as her; Angela. As i get home the first thing I do instead of eating is taking my gym bag and going back outside to the gym. 

After two hours I get home and hhit the shower directly. It feels good to have the water caress my pumped up muscles. For once in a while I feel good looking and still bold so I text her; 

Me: Hello, Angela it is mam?

Angela: Hi, yes Mr.Oliver. 

Me: Mr.Oliver is my father mam, please call me Gabriel. 

Angela: Sure gabriel it is then, please call me my name too. 

Me: I can do that Angela. 

Angela: Good 

Me: I wanted to tell you that you are beatifull Angela. 

Angela: Thank you Gabriel, right back at you. 

Me: Thank you Angela, see you friday. 

Angela: See you friday :). 

After I have texted her I feel even better and once again it feels like my anxiety has eased even more although I get nervous at the thought of us going on a date and realise that I need a new suit, one that fits the restaurant. I log into my prada account and send away an email to my good business associate there and ask him to fix me up quickly considering there are only 4 days left. 

My business associate is quick to reply and that I will have the suit by the day after tomorrow. I happy sigh leaves my body and relief together with a pleased feeling go through me before I eat my midnight snack.