A Surprise

I wink at a beautiful girl as she walks by me. I roll my eyes when she doesn't acknowledge me, girls have gotten so rude. She has no idea how stupendous I am, if she did she obviously wouldn't have passed me by like that. I sit back down at my desk after getting coffee in the break room. I smile softly to myself as I dial the next number. "Hello, is this, Emma Smith?" I ask, when the woman picks up. "This is she," she answers. "I'm Marcus, from Home Safety and-" I'm cut off when she so rudely hangs up before I can even finish. I finish my coffee in one swig and get up. That was the last name on my list for today. I turn my sales sheet into my boss, and head home.

On my way home, an uncivil and quite frankly rude woman bumps into me, dropping all of the paper she was carrying. I bend down to help her pick it up. "Thank you. I'm so sorry," she says when I help her. I resist the urge to roll my eyes, of course, she only apologies when I help her. Typical woman. I stand up once all papers are off the ground and hand her the ones I'd picked up. I better at least get her number. "A briefcase may do you well," I remark. She smiles softly. "I'm Geneviève. I'm sorry again for bumping into you." I smile back, I might get to take this one home. "Marcus. It's alright, don't worry about it." Geneviève nods her cute little head. "Hey, do you want to go get drinks?" I ask. "I can't today, maybe tomorrow." Of course, she's "busy". "That's alright. I'll give you my number and you can text me, ok?" Geneviève nods and I give her my number. "Thank you again for helping. I'm sorry I have to get going. I wish I could talk longer." I smile. "That's alright. Text me." We go our separate ways.

I take a shower once I get home and change into a button-up and jeans for my date tonight. I shave and smile at myself in the mirror. Dashing as always with my short auburn hair, button nose, sharp jaw and cheekbones, green piercing eyes, perfect ears for my square face, and full lips. I just might be the most attractive man on the planet. Whoever I'm meeting tonight better be at least as good looking as I am or I'm ordering the most expensive meal on the menu and leaving before the check comes. It would serve her right for catfishing me and wasting my time. I look at myself once more before walking into my huge kitchen and grabbing the keys to my yellow Porsha. I walk out my door and lock it as I have many valuables. I get in my car and drive to the agreed-upon restaurant.

I walk in the door and wait for my date. She's a late, typical woman. An average looking woman walks in the door. I watch her, "Marcus?" she asks me. I look at her repulsed. "Yes, that's me." She smiles and I don't return it. "I'm Ava, it's so good to meet you! I look forward to getting to know you better." I will definitely be leaving early. "You as well," I say shortly. The host shows us to our table. "I prefer a booth," I say, he should have known. My phone goes off in my pocket. I pull it out and see Geneviève has texted. I smile down at my phone and reply. The host is saying something but I don't hear him as I'm doing something much more interesting. "Sir?" he says pulling my attention away from what I'm doing. Rude. "Yes?" I ask annoyed. "Would you like to wait?" he asks politely. "For what?" I question, glancing down at my phone. "A booth." He expects me to wait for something I am entitled to?! "Can't you just have someone a little less... important move to a table?" The host looks at me blankly and I resist an eye roll. Untrained and uncivil. "No, sir. I'm sorry, sir, you'll either have to sit at the table or wait for a booth." I scoff and before I can respond and give him a piece of my mind Ava says, "We'll take the table, thank you." The host nods. "A waiter will be with you shortly," he says and walks away.

We sit down. I scowl at her while texting Geneviève. Ava asks me a question but I don't bother answering. I put my phone away because Geneviève's "busy". Ava starts to tell me about her job as a firefighter. I am forced to listen to her stories about "saving lives". She tells her stories like she's special and there aren't thousands of other firemen. Which by the way is a job for a man. It has man in the title! Women are just too... weak and emotional. Saving people should be left to men, women are there to cook and clean. Men are there to protect and provide. She literally only talks about herself as if I'm not even here. The waiter finally comes to our table. At this point, my back is killing me because of the stupid wooden chairs and Ava has just about talked me to sleep. "Hi, I'm George, I'll be your waiter for tonight, What would you two like to drink?" he asks. I miss his name. "Just water for me," Ava says. How basic. "A whiskey on the rocks," I say, I'm going to need a lot of alcohol to get me through tonight. "Alright, I'll be back with your drinks shortly," the waiter says before walking away.

"So, Marcus, what do you do for a living?" Ava asks as if she has any right to know. "I'm a telemarketer," I say shortly. She smiles softly. "That's cool, what company do you work for?" I grit my teeth. "Home Safety and Protection," I answer through my teeth. "Really?! I have their security system! That's so cool!" Does she think I'd just lie? "Yes," I say stiffly. "What's it like?" I roll my eyes. "Does it matter?" I snap. "I guess not. I just think it would be interesting to talk to so many different people every day."

The waiter returns with our drinks. I slam my shot and order another one. "Are you two ready to order?" the waiter asks. I nod. "I'd like a well-done tenderloin," I order. "Chicken alfredo pasta for me. Thank you, George." George, that was his name. She probably only remembers because she was checking him out. As if the most perfect man isn't sitting in front of her. George nods. "Alright," he says and reads back our order. "Is that it?" "Yes," I answer like he's the idiot he is. George walks away.

Ava continues to talk about herself. I guess she got bored of hearing about someone else. George returns with our food. I eat and as soon as I'm done I clutch my stomach. "The food made me sick. I have to run home," I lie and leave before Ava can say something. I drive home.

Once home, I shower again and go to bed. 

I wake up and check my phone, I have eight messages from Ava asking if I'm ok and telling me not to worry about the bill. I roll my eyes and get ready for work. I walk to work, and sit down at my desk. I pull out my phone and start texting Geneviève. She tells me about how she works as a teacher. It's very interesting, well as interesting as it can be. I tell her all about my very cool and hard to get job. I tell her about my parents tragic death and how I, their only relative, got everything. I reluctantly put my phone away. I call the first number on my list for today.

On my break I call and talk to Geneviève. We set up a date for tomorrow. I smile to myself as I talk to her. We talk about what seems like everything under the sun. From work to hobbies to nature. I think I might actually like this one. She tells me she likes to cook, which is what I'm looking for in a woman. I don't know if she likes to clean, but that is necessary if she's going to make it past dinner. Geneviève tells me she likes to knit, cook, teach, and sew. She's the perfect woman. Unfortunately my break is almost over and I still haven't eaten. "Sadly, I have to go but I'll call you again as soon as I can," I say softly. "Ok, I'll talk to you later, bye," she says before hanging up.

I walk into the break room and get my turkey sandwich from the fridge. I eat the sandwich before returning to work. Some how, Geneviève is on my list. I call her. "Hello, pretty, lady. Do you live in a rough neighbourhood? My name's Marcus, and I have a solution for you." She laughs. "Oh, really? And what's that?" I smile. "Home Safety and Protection. It's a five star security system." I can't finish my speech because she says, "I'll take one." I laugh softly. "Alright, I'll put you down for one. Thank you so much for doing business with us. I'll see you tomorrow." "I'm looking forward to it," Geneviève says. "Me too," I say before hanging up.

After work I shower, change, and put a ski mask in my pocket. It's a shame I have to keep my identity a secret as my face is so beautiful. But it's better than going to jail. I open my secret gun safe and select a little 22 handgun. I tuck it into my waistband. I smile to myself. I'd missed this. I walk into my garage and push a button that opens a secret compartment with another car. I get into my car and drive out of the neighborhood. I drive down the road for a while. When I've driven long enough that the road becomes a little one lane road I get out of the car and ditch the license plates in a good looking hiding place. I drive to the nearest bank and put on my ski mask.

I walk into the bank with my gun drawn. I pull out the bag in my pocket. "Listen and no one has to get hurt." Everyone is shaking and taking out their money and valuables. I take everything. Next I walk up to the teller. "Open the vault." She blinks at me. "Do it now or I'll kill you." She finally seems to wake up, the idiot, and does as I've asked. I walk into the vault, there's not much money but there's enough. I take everything. I bleach everything and then walk back out to the lobby. I find a man on the phone with the police. I walk over to him and point the gun at his head. "Lie," I mouth. He shakes his head. I notice a little girl clutching his leg. I grab the girl and point my gun at her head. "Lie," I mouth again. This time he doesn't even think about it. People really get attached to each other, it's so odd. "It's a prank! Haha, got you," he says and hangs up. "Next time, don't call," I growl. I walk away and the man lets out a shaky breath and hugs his daughter. I walk about ten more feet before turning around and shooting her. "Anyone else want to try calling the police?" I ask in a mocking tone. I hear the man scream and then break down into sobs. Everyone else is horrified. I smile and take my exit. "Thank you for your cooperation."

I drive away and drive right back to the spot where I left the license plates. I put the license plates on.

Once home, I shower and then burn my clothes just in case. I stash the money in a safe and put my gun back. I call and talk to Geneviève for a while before going to bed.

I wake up excited to see Geneviève again. We're meeting at the same place I met Ava at. I like it there. My best and only friend Ronald calls for some reason. I can't exactly ignore him so I pick up the phone. "Hello?" I say, trying to keep the annoyance out of my tone. "Hi, Marcus, have you seen the news?" My eyebrows knit in confusion. "No," I answer. "There was a bank robbery yesterday and a little girl was shot and killed. Can you believe that? On a Friday evening." "Really?" I ask with mock surprise. "Yes. You should turn on the news. I think Fox is covering it right now." I roll my eyes. "Thank you. I'll do that." "Yup," Ronald says before hanging up. I rub my face, of course, it was already on the news. I better watch it to see what they know. I turn on Fox and watch it while I get ready for my date with Geneviève. I put a little more effort into my appearance than normal. I head out, taking my yellow Porsha.

Geneviève and I get there at the same time. I get the door for her. "Thank you," she says. "Of course," I respond. We walk in and the hostess seats us at a booth. George is our waiter again. He takes our drink order. He's nice enough to pretend to not recognize me. I mean, come on, who could ever forget a face like mine? "Did you hear about the bank robbery?" Oh boy, was everyone going to talk about this? "Yes, so sad." She nods. "That poor little girl and her family." I nod. "It's very tragic," I say, very done with this topic. "On a more positive note, how was your Friday evening?" Geneviève asks. "It was good. I didn't do much. How about yours?" Geneviève smiles. "Mine was good. I mostly just graded papers." I smile. "I never asked, what subject do you teach and to what grade?" "I'm a middle school science teacher," she says, smiling fondly.

George comes back with our coffee and we order breakfast. "That's so interesting. I bet it gets frustrating sometimes though." Geneviève nods. "It does but I love it." "Do you like to read?" I ask. She nods. "I love reading." I smile. "What's your favorite genre?" Her eyes light up. "I love reading action with a romantic side plot." Geneviève goes into a long-winded summary of her favorite book series, The Hunger Games. I can't help but laugh softly at that. This sweet girl likes a quite violent book, how ironic. I tell her about my favorite book, Oliver Twist. She of course has read it before. We start discussing it.

George comes in with our food. We eat. After eating, I get a call from Ronald. He invites me to go golfing with him. I agree to go and ask if I can invite Geneviève. Ronald of course says I can. Geneviève agrees to go and we leave separately to go to the golf course after I pay. I park and wait for Geneviève. Once she gets there I rent us both clubs and balls. We walk out to try and find Ronald.

A fight breaks out on the course, two teenage boys are hitting each other with their clubs. I can practically feel Geneviève's horror. In an attempt to impress her I run out to go interfere. I'm unsure what to do so I yell, "Hey! What do you two think you're doing?!" They of course ignore me and continue fighting. I grab one of the clubs. "Play correctly or leave. You're disrupting everyone else." The teen jerks his club out of my hand. An employee comes up and escorts them away. I walk back to Geneviève. We finally find Ronald.

"Geneviève, this is my best friend Ronald. Ronald, this is my date Geneviève," I introduce. "Nice to meet you," Geneviève says. "You as well." They smile at each other. "Are you two ready to lose?" I ask mockingly. "Ha! Come on, Mark, your all bark and no bite," Ronald says knowing I hate being called Mark. I scoff and roll my eyes. "We'll see about that." Geneviève smiles smugly. "I'm gonna give you boys a run for your money." I laugh softly. "Always the optimist." She laughs as well. We start but end up not even keeping score because none of us are very good.

After the last hole, we return our clubs. Geneviève invites us over for drinks but Ronald turns her down. I on the other hand accept her offer. She drives to her house and I follow her. Geneviève leads me inside. "I got this new almond brandy, what do you think about cracking it open?" she asks once we're inside. "That sounds cool," I answer. She smiles and gets out two shot glasses. She takes out a new bottle of brandy and pours us both a glass. She hands me mine and I take a cautious sip. It tastes quite good and I drink the rest in one swing. "Mm, that's good," I say. Geneviève smiles. "I agree." She sits down next to me at the counter. I lean in and kiss her.

She kisses me back and it leads to a heated make-out session. Before it can go any further she pulls back. "Do you want another shot?" Geneviève asks, panting. I nod. She pours us both another shot and hands me mine. I smile at her and gulp it all down. Something feels off with this one. I start to get a headache and feel nauseous. I grip the counter as it feels like the life drains out of me. "Somethings not right," I mumble. "I know," Geneviève says softly. She smiles at me. I start sweating. I feel cold and hot at the same time. It gets hard to keep my eyes open. I fight to look at Geneviève but she's blurry. I wonder why she hasn't called the police. Then it hits me, cyanide... It's supposed to taste like almonds... But why... That's the last thing that I think before everything goes black and I feel something pulling me away. The last thing I feel is extreme heat.

The neighbors call the police because Marcus's house is on fire. The police find a body but nothing else. When the autopsy results come back it shows Mark died before the fire. The police again search the house looking for any evidence of the murder but find nothing. They interview everyone who knew him but nothing turns up. It seems the murderer has just disappeared into the night.