A Distraction

It was about two hours into the meeting, just me and Natalie from the legal department. She was going on and on about how legally a method is not a manufactured product, so technically it has some repercussions and I just zoned out.

”That’s it!” she said, snapping me out of a reverie, “Let’s write that down."

"Okay,” I said, and repeated the last idea she had. Thank God for this weird brain thing, where even though you are not listening, you can still repeat the last idea.

”What were the other two?” she said.

”What two?"

"I just said three things,” she was not angry, she was just trying to retrieve some good ideas she had just lost.

”Sorry,” I said, and since it was obvious to both of us I was not paying attention, I made a joke, “I was not listening, I was just staring into your beautiful eyes.”

We both knew that was ridiculous and she moved on trying to recover the ideas, but I saw her blush. I thought about an article I had read. It said blushing is a defensive reaction and I thought now it indicates she does not want to be in this situation, even though I think it is fine. Kind of like when you walk up to a girl at a club and throw out some cheesy line while she is trying to have fun with her friends. You think it is flattering to her to be pursued when all she really wants is to be left alone. And you think she is in on the joke, that you are not really interested in doing anything, just want to make fun of guys who use pickup lines. You could say it is ironic seduction.

”Hey,” said Natalie, “Are you listening to me?”

Posted by: Paweł Kowaluk