The cafe.

The cafe by the plaza was a nest for co-eds and young white collar ladies to gather in their sphere of privilege sipping crushed beans from a cup and ignoring interested eyes. When Josh got out the car, he stroked his phone through his jeans. Almost like a worry stone. Self-consciously, he looked around. The joint was an optimal spot.

"So, basically," he half-hid behind a tree, and scrunched his collar, "with this app... I changed the entire world's perspective on feet. The majority now view a woman's stompers as the sexiest, or at least one of the sexiest, parts of a woman's body. By replacing 'breasts' with feet, though, I also inadvertently switched their roles; breasts are no longer a symbol of sex, or explicit... at least not as much as they used to be. Showing 'em live on TV was treated as harmlessly as feet would've been just a, a day ago, damn."

He paused, a realization suddenly dawning on him as his eyes darted to the ground.

"But... that also means that, technically, compared to the previous status quo, feet would be even less exposed now, wouldn't it? Because, at least then, people didn't actually mind freeing their feet to get comfy or some air. Now, because it's considered 'erotic'..." Josh cleared his throat as a young girl pulled her father down the pathway before him. Steady now, he reminded himself once they were a yard or two away, returning to his ruminations.

Josh's wrist pulsed. It was so weird saying these things. It was like some crazy sci-fi novella. But in this case, happening right in front of him.

But not quite enough, yet, either.

He flicked a dollop of lint off his shoulder. Enough monologuing.

With a careful lean, Josh slid his gaze past the bark, onto the front of the cafe he'd parked down the block from. Another casual morning. Another litter of people. Through the casual scene, he spotted her.

A brunette, pretty and fit. She had her legs stretched, feet situated on an opposite chair, as a laptop rested on her jeans-clad thighs on which her fingers clacked away. Her casual white v-neck sweater covered her body normally this time around. Her table was empty, a lone mug in front of her.

Josh observed her from a distance.

"Right." He remembered. Taking out a clipboard from his car, he looked at the packet he'd clipped onto it. It was just a bunch of random printouts he'd made of online deal surveys. Now, they would actually be put to good use. Prepping himself, he blinked hard at his reflection off the van window, slicking back a stray strand. "You can do this Josh. Just... sound normal. Act normal. Then pop the questions."

One step forward was followed by another until finally, he maneuvered his way onto the walkway leading to the cafe entrance and slipped under the outdoor patio. A sparse number of patrons occupied the tables, some wearing backpacks, others adorned in sleek, mid-brand suits. Josh kept walking. If this were any ordinary day, he'd probably be one of them. But this wasn't. And technically, neither was he.

Cautiously, he approached the back of the young woman, whose attention was still fixed on the computer screen before her. When suddenly, a nearby conversation caught his ear.

"Damn. Look at that chick."

"Hey. Now that's your type, ain't it Mark? The attention-seeking slut kind?"

"Shut up man. More like yours."

"Oh, yeah, maybe... if it wasn't for the fact that I'm already with Janine, shitface."

"She's hot, she got nice lickers. All I'm saying. Not that I wanna make it serious or anything.."

Two guys in an adjacent table, probably no older than the girl he was definitely not creeping up on, and no doubt still in college, were observing another girl across the street. Josh followed their line of sight, and wrinkled his brow. Then scanned the immediate horizon.

His eyes returned forward. It must have been her. There was no one else around, no one noteworthy anyway.

At the opposite sidewalk, by the intersection, stood a black-haired standout of a woman, waiting to cross. In her sleek black skirt and vivid-green jacket, she could be passed off as a classily dressed young woman. But then it hit him. Josh's eyes gravitated downward, and sure enough...

"...those sandals are showing a hell of a lot of toe."

"AND she's got 'em painted. Damn, that's hot."

"Those flip-flops are somethin' else, damn. Gotta admit, she got a fuckable pair."

The man, his undercut swept to the side of his scalp, set his vape down, wincing through the daylight. "So would you do her?"

"Yea I'd do her, son," his casually dressed friend sat forward. "I'd be on those soles like mm, mm, mmm! Downtown in groovy-town!"

Josh gulped, half-grunted, then tuned them out. He was equal parts weirded, awkwardly turned on, and halfway tickled at the implications of these guys' conversation. To be talking so openly about a woman's feet like this in any other world would be rare, even among foot fetishists; and now here were a couple of coffee-sipping joe's, discussing it like it was natural.

Josh's pelvic tent became even more visible than before.

Why was it so arousing?

"Um... hello, do you need anything?" Suddenly, the co-ed took notice of the figure looming over her. The woman brushed her hair to the side, typing paused, as he looked down at her initial target, who now ironically had her targets on him.

Crap! Caught, Josh instinctively prepared an explanation, eyes moving from her properly covered chest to her sneakered bottoms, then back.

"Uh, yes, I..!" Sliding a chair from under the table, he took a seat and set his clipboard against the table ledge -- in viewing distance of the pretty brunette, but not enough to be readable. Sly enough. "I was just... doing a survey, for my research group! Wouldn't take more than 5 minutes. If you would be interested in, er, providing some... data, considering you have the time, then... I'd be grateful. Plus my peers won't kill me."

This elicited a scant chuckle from his new 'surveyee'. She seemed to buy it. Josh mentally breathed a sigh of relief as she thought, took a sip out of her mug, then shrugged, "Sure, I have a couple minutes. What do you need to know?"