The Moose Encounter

What the actual fuck? My jaw was hanging open for a few seconds when Anna physically shut it closed. “Sorry,” I embarrassingly said as they began to laugh. “But this is crazy, right?”

Jessica shrugged. “I mean, you said he never made a move right?”

“Right,” I slowly responded while nodding. “I guess I just thought he was being polite. We had real conversations and I figured it was because he was interested in me.”

“Well, he could still be interested in you,” Darlene began. “But right now he likes you as a person. Maybe that’ll turn into something more!”

I rolled my eyes at Darlene. Was she looking at the same picture I was? This couple was obviously into each other. Thinking over our conversations, I guess he never actually made any reference to being single. I just kind of assumed since I never saw a girlfriend out with him. People need to start wearing tags or something. Are all the nice guys seriously taken? By the time I left Jessica’s house that night I had sent Evan off to “Forgotten Guy Island” with the rest of the losers who have rejected me in the past.

Friday night at Nostalgic, I arrived with a slight buzz thanks to the wine my mom supplied me with dinner. All my friends were at the bar that night, including Moose. He’s over six feet tall, so I noticed him as soon as I walked in. I decided to try and patch things up with him. I don’t know if it was my wine buzz or the fact that I felt rejected after seeing Evan's Facebook, but I felt like I didn’t want to burn too many bridges with the remaining men in my life.

“Hey Moose!” I said with too much enthusiasm when I walked over.

His eyebrows went up. “Hey, Caroline,” he responded as he scratched his head. Ugh, why did he have to be so awkward?

“So, are we doing shots?” I asked. Shots were clearly the intelligent way to break the ice. Moose let out a nervous laugh and nodded.

“Sounds good,” he said before turning to the rest of the guys. A few of them followed us over to the bar and since we couldn’t decide between tequila and Jack Daniels, we all took one of each. Oh, boy.

I tried to catch up with Moose for a while near the bar. He has been studying for the CPA exam and has a job offer in the Fall as long as he passes. “I just want to move out,” he said as he grabbed his fourth beer. “I can’t take my mom anymore.”

“Oh, she can’t be that bad,” I responded. His mom was a little overbearing, if you will, but completely tolerable.

Moose began shaking his head. “Nope, she keeps bugging me about getting serious with a girl. What am I supposed to say back to that? ‘Sorry, mom, I actually can’t get a girlfriend.’”

This was the point in the night where I could tell Moose was getting too drunk. He never opened up unless he was schwasted. I was more than buzzed myself, but knew enough to realize that I needed to escape this situation.

“Moose, you’re going to find someone,” I reassured him as I mentally planned how to gracefully end this conversation and find Darlene.

Moose rolled his eyes at me and then began to laugh. “You know what’s funny? My mom actually asked why you and I never gave it a try.”

My eyes involuntarily widened. “Yeah,” I awkwardly responded. Since I didn’t know what else to say, I made up something about having to go to the bathroom. I guess that worked as a good exit plan.

Moose luckily didn’t drunk text me that night, so it was definitely a step forward for us. I guess now we can stop awkwardly avoiding each other.

I must have had a little too much fun that weekend because when Monday morning rolled around, I overslept. I could barely open my eyes when I realized that my clock read 8:37. I had to leave for work by 8:50.

I don't even know if you can call what I did 'showering' considering I lathered up so quick I don't even know if the soap soaked into my skin, but it was sufficient. I threw my hair in a wet, messy bun before grabbing the first decent shirt to wear with a pair of jeans that were sitting on my floor. Classy, Caroline.

I arrived at work at 9:01 but still arrived before my boss. I turned on all the lights before heading to the small office of the grocery store. I brewed two coffees and was greeted by my boss as I walked out with them.

“Good morning, Caroline,” Todd said with a smile as I handed him his coffee. As I said good morning back, I saw him furrow his eyebrows. “Can I talk to you around lunch time?” he asked.  “Nothing bad,” he followed with as he waved his free hand at me.

“Um, of course,” I replied, forcing a smile. He smiled back and walked into the office. What could Todd want to talk to me about? Did I look that bad today? Until lunch, I tried to stay busy so I wouldn’t think about it. I mean, I knew I wasn’t getting fired. I had worked here since high school and this place was like a family. You had to do something really bad to get fired. But did I do something wrong? I had been distracted lately with thoughts of Mike and stress from school, but I didn’t think that was affecting my work.

At noon, I met Todd in the office. He had me sit down in an empty chair as he perched himself on the ledge of the desk.

“Caroline,” he began rubbing his hands together. “I think this will be good news for you.”