The Trade by JT Kalnay

effort of his intensity. He
instinctively backed off, even though he had meant nothing by his
questioning. Bill waited.
    "There seem to be some minor flaws here and
there, but I haven't come across any fundamental design problems
yet. I figure it'll take me about a week to ten days to get all the
way through this stuff once,” Jay said more calmly.
    "That long?" Bill said noncommittally, trying
to keep the conversation moving.
    "Yep. 40,000 programmer hours in about week.
That’s about right. I can do it fast, or I can do it right. I think
this thing needs doing right,” Jay finished. Bill shook his head in
agreement. "And speaking of doing, I've got a date,” Jay leered,
happy with his pun. The two men left the office together.

    Jay sat himself at a table where he could
face the door. He was mildly surprised that Maria wasn't already
there as he was five minutes late himself. Maybe she had already
come and left, he thought. No-one would leave after just five
minutes, he realized. Jay ordered a soda and some chips and settled
in to wait. His mind drifted back to the incredible weekend of sex
and he felt the recently familiar heat growing inside him. The
waitress brought his drink and snack and asked if he was ready to
order. He said he'd wait because he was meeting his date. The
waitress gave him the once over and wondered if it was a guy date
or a girl date.
    While he waited, Ted Spencer appeared,
spotted him, and joined him.
    “ Revisiting the scene of
the crime?” Ted leered.
    “ What crime?” Jay
said.
    “ Alright, revisiting the
scene of the conquest.”
    “ What are you talking
about?” Jay said.
    “ Don’t even pretend you
didn’t nail that chick from Friday,” Ted said. “How was
she?”
    Jay tried to keep a straight face, couldn’t,
and broke out into the conquest grin known to so many lonely twenty
somethings hanging out in bars with other lonely twenty
somethings.
    “ She was hot.”
    “ You waiting for
her?”
    “ Yep.”
    “ Good luck with that. This
is New York baby. You’re never going to see her again.”
    “ You think?”
    “ She probably crossed this
bar off her list just so she wouldn’t run into you
again.”
    “ Really?”
    “ Yep. Lots of bars. Lots of
guys just like you. A little fun, no attachment, head on home to
the husband or boyfriend or whatever.”
    “ That’s kinda
cold.”
    “ Like I said, this is New
York. But, if by some miracle she does show you can use my ‘snake
pit’ uptown, anytime.”
    “ Thanks Ted.”
    Twenty minutes later the waitress worked back
to his table to find Jay looking at his watch and anxiously
scanning the arriving faces. His drink was gone, so was his snack,
and so was Ted, who had already hooked up with a flirty middle-aged
woman.
    "Gimme a beer,” he ordered. "Say, did you see
a pretty Latin girl before I got here? Maybe she was looking for
me?" he asked.
    "No,” she answered. Girl date, the waitress
said to herself. She hurried with the beer and flashed him a smile
and leaned over so he could see her tits as she set down the beer.
‘You never know’, she thought.
    One hour and two beers later it became clear
to Jay that Maria wasn't coming. Then he realized he knew neither
her last name, nor her phone number, nor her address. Almost
like Tonia, he realized. These New Yorkers just use you up
and spit you out , he thought. Disappointed, but not willing to
give up on her, he ordered a pizza for dinner and another beer and
ate by himself. The waitress kept coming over, and by the time he
was done, she'd arranged to finish her shift early. There was
little business on a Monday night anyway.
    "I'm off work now,” she announced. "Do you
want me to give you a lift somewhere?" she asked.
    "What?" he asked.
    "You look a little down, I thought you might
want a lift or something,” she said with demure sleaziness. Jay
couldn't believe it.
    I must be the last straight, single,
employed guy in New York City or something , he thought.
    "Thanks.