The clothes store was practically empty, and Adam strolled between the rows of sweaters, trying to find one for his little brother on New Year’s Eve. He didn’t immediately notice that a girl, clearly younger than him, was following him. She looked about twenty-five, maybe twenty-seven, and he had recently turned forty. Convinced that she was a store employee or, like him, choosing a gift for someone in the men’s department, he was surprised when she suddenly jumped up to him and took him under her arm.
– Could you help me, please? – she whispered. – My ex is over there, picking out shoes with his new girlfriend, and I’m here all alone. Will you pretend we’re together, please?
Adam was confused, but nodded accordingly, somewhat enchanted by the beauty and youthfulness of the stranger. Together with her he obediently walked through the store, winding two laps, she also helped him choose a sweater for his brother, and spoke to him “you”, as if they were very close. But her ex didn’t care one bit.
– I hate to break it to you,” Adam whispered, feeling her hand on his forearm, “but the guy doesn’t seem to care a bit.
– Yeah?” she laughed out loud and then laughed awkwardly. – Then shall we go to the checkout already? It would be nice to have coffee.
After the store they did go to the coffee shop and chatted for a long time, and then Adam politely walked Julia, who was thirty-two, but looked much younger, to the bus stop. He asked for her number himself, very interested in the girl, and she gladly gave it to him.
Only after a few dates, when they officially started dating, after a couple of glasses of wine, Julia remembered the day they had met and confessed that the man wasn’t her ex-boyfriend at all. She didn’t know him, and she was attracted to Adam, but she was embarrassed to meet him that way, so she came up with this ruse. The man laughed at that, not offended in the least. If she was too shy to meet him, he certainly would never approach her, too afraid of rejection. What luck that Julia turned out to be more cunning and enterprising, otherwise they wouldn’t have had such wonderful evenings together.
