9-The Bold Approach

Charley wasted no time pursuing the girl, who worked at Sports Authority. Even though he had no idea what this store manager looked like, he believed the odds were in his favor that she would be hot. It was logic, in Charley’s mind. The girlfriend who gave him the phone number was hot, therefore, her girlfriend had to be hot too. Hot girls hang out in packs, he always said. Still, he had to hedge his bets and make sure this woman was worth his effort and within his league before he asked her out.

Before Charley asked for the store manager, Lyndsay, he scoped out the Sports Authority. He noticed a cute blonde wearing a Sports Authority nametag, working near the tennis rackets, but he needed to get closer to see if this was the same person.

The woman wore a short tennis skirt, a tight polo shirt, white ankle socks and tennis shoes. Before Charley approached her, he grabbed two cans of tennis balls and meandered up her aisle. When he got close enough to read her nametag, he walked straight towards her with purpose.

“Oh my gosh, Lyndsay, Hi,” Charley said warmly.

“I’m sorry,” she said, smiling. “Do we know each other?”

“I’m Charley. I met your girlfriend, Julie, at the gym. She said I should come to you for a good pair of running shoes,” he said, pointing at his feet.

Lyndsay put her hands on her hips. She was chewing bubble gum.

“Oh yeah, she told me about you. She said you desperately needed new shoes,” Lyndsay said.

“And she was right about that,” Charley said, flashing his infectious smile. “So tell me, any chance you can help me find shoes that will make me look athletic?”

“If anyone can, I can.” Lyndsay looked down at Charley’s feet. “Let’s see, you are a size ten.”

“You’re good.” Charley put his hand on Lyndsay’s shoulder. She leaned in with his touch.

“I’ve been doing this since high school. You have to know what you’re doing to last this long. Follow me.”

Lyndsay led Charley to the shoe section, saying hello to every customer she passed in the store. When they got to the shoe section, two employees were sitting on a bench, talking. They quickly got up and started restocking shoes when they saw Lyndsay walking up.

“Okay, answer a question for me Charley,” Lyndsay said. “Are you going to wear these for running, cross-training, hiking.”

Charley cut her off.

“More like walking. Walking really slowly,” he said.

“And how often will you be wearing these shoes?”

“Whenever I get around to it.”

“Got it. I know just the shoe for you.”

Lyndsay started guiding Charley to the expensive section of tennis shoes. Charley noticed the clearance rack, and grabbed a box of shoes off that table.

“What about these? These look comfortable.” Charley held a pair of tennis shoes that had a red price tag of $19.99.

“Oh, those aren’t good on your feet,” Lyndsay said. “You only have two feet. You need to take care of them. Trust me, the investment will pay off.”

Lyndsay grabbed the shoes from Charley’s hand and put them back on the clearance rack. She walked over to a special shoe display in the corner that had its own special neon lighting. Charley swallowed when he saw the $175 price tag on display.

“This is very good for support. It’s one of our best sellers.” Lyndsay stuck out her chest. She brought the shoe to Charley and put it in his hand. “And since you’re a friend of Jules, I can give you my employee discount of 45 percent off.”

Charley felt the texture of the shoe and put his hand inside of it.

“Okay, I’ll try them on.”

After Lyndsay left to retrieve the shoes, Charley did the math in his head, only he said it outloud.

“Ten percent off of $180 would be $18 dollars. 18 times four would be,” he counted his fingers. “20 times four would be 80 minus, 2, 4, 6, 8. Oh, they’re $72 dollars. That’s not bad,” he said to himself.

When Lyndsay returned, she sat in front of Charley and took off his shoes without asking. He had a hole in his socks.

“My mom always told me to wear clean boxers in case I ended up in the E-R. She never said anything about clean socks.”

Lyndsay tickled the bottom of his feet.

“No worries,” she said. “I’m unjudgmental.”

Charley tried on the shoes, and walked around the store. He pranced around, like he was walking on a bed of feathers.

“These shoes are really comfortable,” he said, picking up the box, and staring at the price tag again. “I’ll take them.”

“Would you like them gift wrapped?” Lyndsay was still chewing gum.

“No, you can put them in the box.”

Lyndsay shook her head, no, and stepped on her tiptoes.

“I was joking,” she blew a bubble in his face.

“Oh, I get it. You’re too quick for me,” Charley said. “Thank you for the discount. How can I repay you?”

“Diamonds.” Lyndsay said.

She reached out and showed him the palm of her left hand.

Charley winked at her.

“I’m catching on to your humor now.”

“I’m serious.”

“Will cubic zirconium do?” Charley asked.

Lyndsay scratched her head and looked at the ceiling like she was contemplating the offer.

“Are they good quality zirconium?” She asked, still scratching her head.

“Only the best for my closest friends.”

“And they look like real diamonds? They’re not those fake diamonds from the shopping channel.”

“Only the professional appraisers could tell the difference,” Charley said.

“Then I’ll take them.” Lyndsay poked Charley’s chest with her finger.

Charley pulled out a pen from his back pocket and ripped off a piece of cardboard paper from his shoe box.

“Now please tell me how I can reach you later, so I can deliver these diamonds. I’d prefer a cell number, but a work number will be okay.” Charley handed her the pen.

Lyndsay grabbed the pen and wrote down her work, cell, home phone number, email address, and Myspace account name.

She put a little smiley face next to her name.

“I can’t wait to see what they look like,” she said.