Waiting

He was leaning against the wall out in
front of the building waiting for every
one else to arrive. That's what happens
when you make it a point of getting
twenty minutes early to every meeting.
The cigarette was almost down to the
filter. He took a final drag and felt the
fire press close to his skin. The butt
flew into the street like so many bodies
forgotten at the morgue. Out of the
corner of his eye he could see a woman
approaching from his right side. She
was carrying what appeared to be small
pieces of luggage in each hand. Each
of her steps felt hurried. She got close
to him and stopped. She set the cases
down and and wiped the sweat from
her brow with her left hand. "Excuse
me" she said, "Do you know where
1421 is?" "This is 1460 where we're
at right now. Maybe if you walk down
the block that way you'll hit it. It can't
be too far from here."he said. "I'm
running late to do make-up for a
video shoot and can't seem to find
the place." "Yeah, I haven't seen any
one else that looks like they're part of
some shoot. It's been pretty quiet
here since I've been waiting." he said.
"Would you happen to have a
cigarette?" she asked. He reached into
his coat pocket and pulled out the
pack. She looked inside and asked
"Are you sure? It's your last one?"
"Of course it is. Go ahead, take it."
She took his last cigarette and pulled
out a neon green lighter from her
right pants pocket. It quickly caught
the spark as she took a long drag.
"I know I'm already late but at this
point I sorta don't care. I got a flat
tire on my way over and now I can't
find the damn place. But thanks for
the smoke." she said. She seemed
to be around his age, young enough
but older than some. "Of course."
he said. "My name is Rand. I'm just
waiting for some friends. They'll be
here in a few minutes unless they're
running late." She was finishing the
cigarette and flicked it out into the
street. "My name is Cathy but you
can call me Cat." She reached into
her pocket and pulled out a card.
"Look me up sometime. If you ever
need a make-up artist or know
someone who does just let me
know. I swear I'll be more punctual
than this gig." "Thanks. I'll look
you up sometime." he said. " I should
get going. Don't want to be later
than I already am." she said. "Well,
good luck finding the place, Cat."
he said. "Thanks. See you around."
She grabbed her two cases and kept
walking down the street. Around
the corner he could swear that Brian's
car had just turned onto the street.
Now it was time to get down to
business.