The Stares

"A beer for me please, Edric... thanks." As I gave him my 10-pound note, a guy passing by stopped for a few milliseconds. But that millisecond was as obvious and conspicuous as a boy in a girl's toilet.

He looked at me, top to bottom (No pun intended). He then moved on.

Shrugging it off, I just waited Edric to buy the drinks at the counter.

He must've seen it as well. Groan. It would be another joke time session for the two of us.

You see, I might have been flattered if the guy was some young hot one. Instead, he was of age, wrinkled, and can't seem to put things straight, if you know what I mean.

"I wanna sit, Josh. Go look for a table," Edric said, as he waited for his turn on the drinks.

Scuttling along the tables, I finally found one on the far end.

Alas, I saw something at the corner of my eye. The guy. The old, chubby, dilapidated guy, leaning on the bar counter, his eyes on me.

Maybe during my naive years, I might think that there's a murderer in the midst. But now, it felt more offensive rather than scary.

Thank God Edric's back with my Fosters with lime. Please protect me from the beast that lurks.


After a couple of minutes, the stare finally subsided. He must have dismissed that Edric and I were a couple.

And thank heavens Edric didn't mutter a word, as he was busy with his iPad 3. The last time an old dilapidated guy looked at me from top to bottom (again, no pun), he just laughed all night, with me trying to quip a futile remark about him magnetising bears.

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"Here, Art, I found a socket!" (Oh please guys, enough with the randy thoughts)

We sat on a big rectangular table, as it was the only place in Starbucks that had accessible sockets.

The shuffling and uncabling of the laptop adaptors must've made this guy aware of our presence. He was sitting 2 tables away. He was of middle aged, I guess, but younger. Early 30s, mayhaps. Fairly cute. A tad tall with short blonde hair.

He was staring at our direction... but not at me.

He was staring at Art.

I stared back, trying to read what was on his mind. It's not a gay bar. It's just Starbucks, so it's harder to sense and feel the dynamics of eye contact.

A look longer than 5 seconds is considered staring. I counted 10.... no, maybe longer. It wasn't just a top-to-bottom stare... it was a lingering stare... not too intimidating, yet it showed some sort of interest.

But of course, Art was oblivious. He was busy untangling his laptop cord.

"What apps do you need Josh?" Art caught me staring at this guy who's been staring at him. Talk about weird.


"The games and the user interfaces, thanks," I sighed. I finally gave up reading their thoughts and just focused  on watching the pilot episode of The Borgias.


What might seem to be a couple of minutes after, an Asian guy sat with the cute blonde guy staring at Art earlier.

Oooh, it all made sense. I watched their dynamics for a couple of minutes (what a nosy guy I was).

I think they were sort of together, but not really together. But they're close. I guess I've proven that the guy was a rice queen or something. The Asian guy was fairly attractive, so good choice for him.

And what does it entail? That Art is more attractive than me?!

If Edric attracts kind bears, and Art attracts cute blondes, then...

Josh, you must be facing eternal damnation if that were the case.