Shopping Bags and Lunch With Xavier (Part 1)

Shopping Till My Arms Drop

How sweet it is, shopping till you drop or more likely, shopping till your arms drops off. Tonight I had that crazed look of a shopping spree in my eyes, bags within bags, shop after shop. You couldn’t see the dazzle of sales in my eyes or hear it in my croaking low voice but you would have to delve in my mind as you do to deliver such emotion’s knowledge.

Tonight I shopped for two hours without pause and headed home with four to five bags of shopping, all packed within each other. Each one hundred meters I would have to swap hands which after a while they would feel heavy. Nevertheless, now that I have found out that my work has finally built the Gym downstairs I won’t have to dread carrying hordes of shopping home.

I’ll head to the Gym beforehand, pump up those arms and then prepare them by carrying a list of items for nightclubs, for work and for casual but smart looks. You should see what I bought today, amazing shit. Most of it was spur of the moment stuff in which I had seen the items on Saturday, decided to try them on and bought them.

However, in this short space of time that chronology must fill up and with the weekend only going to make it more toilsome, I shall digest chronology with an acidic gut…

Meeting Xavier Out the Front

Reemerging now with Monday and my plan to have lunch with Xavier, let us begin there. The plan was to meet up with Xavier out the front, me the unsuspecting purity that was provoked and puzzled by such forward behavior. Xavier called me three times before we decided to have lunch and his persistency to see me was starting to raise eyebrows amongst Najla and I. “Have a good date” she joked as I headed to the door and down the elevator, the irony would soon conclude such premise.

Making my way down the elevator I looked out the front for Xavier in which I was trying to remember his face. Seeing him standing directly outside of my building we recognized each other, smiled and then shook hands in a friendly manner. Xavier seemed a bit nervous when speaking on the phone for some reason. There would be times when silence would ensue for a couple of seconds and he or I would have to think of something to keep it rolling.

However, it was different in person as I didn’t feel as enclosed as I do at work, my phobia of everyone listening into my conversation. Nope, we were at ease more but still maintained that distance between words, that unease, the anxiety. The reason I was being a touch more quiescent was due to the fact that I was still trying to figure out what Xavier was all about. Fair enough that he wanted to have lunch with me but the persistency almost to the point of naïve badgering had me cluey.

It couldn’t have been just because he was an old man trying to find young friends as he had a wife and two children to keep him company. There was something more finer binding, more sinister, looming beneath the prevalence of such a neat and young looking old man. In the hours to come I was to get a suspicion and in the days to progress I was to gain a clear but obscured answer.

Uncertain as to where we should take our lunch break, he was rather unconcerned as to where we headed. “You pick, I’m not fussy, I’ll follow” he uttered as he tried to keep pace amongst the crowd like I was the shepherd and he, the lamb who would stray and trot forward in a fanciful canter. The first surety of his dark side and my unease was when he would utter “You lead the way” and just place his hand lightly on my shoulder, unnecessarily directing me forward. This did bring the bacon home to my mind as I started to put pieces together about who Xavier really was and what he wanted.

This light touch on my shoulder blade bade me to think that he was gay. Looking at him seconds later I realized, the clean cut look, the tender youthful look of his years and that avaricious smile. He wasn’t like a normal old man in some aspects but I was confused on what to believe as he noted he had a wife and two children. Confused as I was I took the tap on the shoulder lightly but my scrutiny grew as he directed me lightly two or more times.

Food Court Small Talk

Deciding to head down to Centrepoint’s Food Court we made our way to the seafood section where I bought myself a seafood platter. Xavier decided to buy himself hot chips and fish and taking our food Xavier chose the earliest available seating. As he quickly sat down I cruised around the area for a little while spotting what seemed to be better seats in the middle of the Food Court. I didn’t want to sit on those long tables across the escalators so people could watch me eat as they scaled down.

It also felt too close to Xavier for some reason so we decided to sit upon my request. Sitting across from each other, for the next half an hour I tried to eat and in between I chatted with Xavier on a range of subjects. It isn’t until now that I realize we were talking more about me than we were of him. Two reasons for this, I didn’t ask too much questions as I didn’t really care and when the conversation went quiet Xavier would either ask me about my life or I would just start chatting to fill in the gap.

Xavier sounded fascinated when I told him of all the diverse creativity I hold in these veins. I advised him how I write poetry, how I used to play the piano, how I am apt at Graphic Design, photography and of my memoirs. The only information I really drained from Xavier was of his wife, how she worked in the City and on my same street as well as his two kids who were a couple of years older than me.

When I think of it, our first conversation on the train was innocent enough. He talked of his son studying law and all other shit you would share in a minor conversation. However, ever since that day and his almost compulsive eagerness, I have been much wearier of his utmost intentions and believe me, his mind is not pretty.

Conclusive as the end of our lunch was, we jumped up with a couple of minutes to spare and headed back to my work. On the way Xavier noted how he wanted to see my poetry in which he was very intrigued. I opted to exclaim how when I want to be renowned, I impress the wrong people, Xavier was definitely one of the misfits. Advising me that he had to catch a cab back to some far away place so he could get back to work I asked him again where he worked but the details were still a touch confusing.

From what I heard, Xavier was some guy who overlooks people that are building a new mobile phone network around Australia. He’s from a company I’ve never heard and I gather that if this is all true, there will be a new mobile phone network out there within months. Parting our ways at the front of my work I shook his hand again before walking off and heading back upstairs. Heading up the elevator I was a touch overwrought with his temperament but I shook it off at work.

Another Call From Xavier

For the second half of the day I noted to Najla about my lunch with Xavier and how I felt like something was awkward. When the phone rang a fourth time half an hour after lunch and it was Xavier again, the both of us looked at each other with surprise and smirks on our faces. Pushy Xavier was being somewhat persistent and this was a further straw taken out from the last-straw scenario.

The crunch came with this conversation as he made me feel quite clear on how he was feeling. Sounding excitable and unstrung when I was handed the phone the moments of silence was also part of the parcel. After some drawn out small chat he asked me “What are you doing after work”. Answering his reply with a startled response he then asked me “Would you like it if the both of us got together after work”.

This sounded a bit awkward as I reminded him it would be best for me to get home straight away for my memoirs. When Xavier noted that he had a hotel room for three nights which was supplied to him by his work and when he practically invited me back to that apartment, I knew exactly what was going on.

As per usual, his intentions were clouded as I wasn’t sure exactly what he meant when he wanted to meet with me after work but I knew when he uttered that he was lonely and that he would ‘Really Love’ me to join him, it was time to turn out his hopeful lights. Leaving him hanging in oblivion by noting that I had to head straight home I was a fool to be the sentimental custodian.

“Why don’t you just give me a call tomorrow or something or we’ll meet on the train again” I asked, not trying to make him feel rejected and stupidly, giving him options. Thinking back to when we were having lunch and how people were looking at us weird, I knew it was weird to even suggest hanging around him. They were all probably asking themselves what I was doing with someone so old and then figuring that he was gay by the way he looked, a nice old man. I guess my finding out that he was 58 played a role in biased behavior, it wasn’t to be the end of it.

Delivering a Brief

The rest of Monday afternoon is a vagueness I would not attempt to define but to note that I helped Najla with the outgoing mail. Lately, just like my inability to get to sleep before 11:00 p.m., Najla and I can’t seem to get the mail out on time as we are continually swamped with requests and other work. What I do remember of Monday afternoon is my heading out to deliver a certain brief which I had to complete for the day.

Having a sense of urgency about it I was sent off around 4:30 p.m. to deliver that to Elizabeth Street. As noted, I was continually wondering in the taxi how close I would end up to Lyssa’s work chambers and was totally surprised to find that it was indeed her building. Stepping out and noting that the time was 4:45 p.m. I wondered if Lyssa would still be at work, completely oblivious to the fact that she left a quarter of an hour beforehand.

I was going to head up to Lyssa’s office and consider catching the train home with her but once in the building I realized I was too late. Delivering the brief I jogged towards the station in hopes of finding Lyssa there but to no avail. From here until when Lyssa came over has already been documented so let’s not waste valuable space…