post 277: a good day at work

I got a job at the dorms at school if you don't already know. I'm the front desk person, almost like a receptionist. Students call me if they have problems in their rooms, I process packages, and I answer the phone.

There's a guy who is the assistant resident director for the whole building named Jason. He's a student too. Sometimes he hangs around during my shifts either working or studying in the office where I am. He sits at the desk behind me. Lately, he's been there a lot and always asks me when I'm working. When I tell him when, he says, "Oh, cool, I might be in here studying."

The paranoid pessimist in me thinks that he's just there to make sure that I'm doing my job right. That he's just there to keep tabs on me. But I don't know...he talks to me a lot, when I'm not doing anything and just minding the desk.

Yesterday, he was at the desk behind me studying. He asked me something about my pics on MySpace (I added him the night before when he gave me his MySpace address). I turned around to see that he had my MySpace up on the computer. We started talking about MySpace, our families, and other things. He asked, "Are you shy? Because I get this shy vibe..." I think I laughed, blushed, and tried to recover quickly. I said, "Yeah, but I'm trying..." I couldn't finish my sentence. I'm trying not to be so shy, I wanted to say. An RA walked in, and our conversation ended. I went back to studying, and so did he.

After a bit, he asked me if I wanted some Puffins--a cereal. I said sure. He left the office, came back with 2 carton pints of milk from the vending machine, went to his room (which is by his office), and came back with bowls, spoons, and two kinds of cereal: Puffins and Lego waffles. He handed me one of the boxes of milk.

"You bought the milk?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"That's so nice..." I remarked while holding the carton of milk in my hand. There's something so sweet about that little gesture that made me weak and my heart flutter. He bought me a carton of milk. The simple things are the key to my heart.

We sat in our office chairs eating cereal, watching freshmen come in and out of the building. We sat in silence, which was lovely. I love not having to speak when I don't need to. He had a second bowl of cereal, and I drank out of the carton of milk. Then he got a call on his cell--all the directors and RAs have cells for their work. There was a problem on the 6th floor, so he had to go resolve it.

My shift was almost over, so I said, "Thanks for the cereal. I might not see you before you get back--my shift's almost over." He said, while finishing up his cereal, "Hopefully, I'll be back before you leave."

I waited two minutes after my shift, and then I started getting read to leave. I wrote a note on scratch paper: "Jason, Thanks for the cereal! It was nice talking to you. Elaine". I left it on his textbook. While I was gathering stuff, he walks in and goes, "AAH!" pretending to be scared. I said, "Bye" and he said, "Be safe". I didn't mention anything about the note. I like surprising people with notes.

What a beautiful day at work. I probably shouldn't get my hopes up or anything. I mean, we're just friends. But these little things--the cereal, the milk, the comment about me being shy, the questions we ask each other to get to know each other better. They make me happy.