Whirlwind In The Alleyway

Jennifer Cardinal casually carried the bag with… the clothes? His clothes? He had already said he was going to accept her gift, hadn’t he?

Aiden blushed again and, yet again, told himself it was done. With a pleased smile, Jennifer was leading him through the middle section of the alleyway market. Handmade jewelry, curios, and boutique clothing stalls began to give way to artist booths. The large art galleries located the next street over had started this market, Aiden knew, and a couple of dozen local artists were on hand to sell their paintings, ceramics, and so on. Aiden cooed over an older gentleman’s table full of tiny, handcrafted figurines, listening as the man launched into his standard salesman patter explaining how he carved and painted them all himself.

The detail was exquisite, and Aiden was thrilled at how varied the colours and styles were. After a minute of looking, it slowly dawned on him that a good portion of the most detailed and expensive carvings were of young men, roughly his age, in various levels of artful undress.

With a suppressed giggle, Aiden smiled at the older man and put down an especially risqué miniature of a half-naked nymph of a young man, a wisp of painted wood clinging to his torso in such a way as to make him look almost more naked than simple nudity would.

“Oh, this is a bit out of my budget,” Aiden said politely, but the man was already turning to a more likely sale to begin his sales pitch again. As he turned, he noticed Jennifer carefully hiding a smirk of her own as they took a step away.

Feeling a bit bold, Aiden leaned closer to her and mock whispered, “Now that is the kind of art you would never see back where I grew up in Estelle, the town mothers would run you out!”

Jennifer let out a surprised guffaw, which pleased Aiden deeply, and nodded, “Oh, my hometown too! Just looking at those pieces I could almost hear my grandmother yelling about loose morals and how this stuff never happened when boys didn’t go to school past grade 8!”

They both laughed, walking together a bit more closely now, and Jennifer glanced at him, “But it was excellent, wasn’t it? I mean, some people think it would be, you know, somehow immoral or sinful even, but I personally appreciate it simply as amazing art… sure I’ll be totally honest and say very cute young men are pleasing to look at but that’s not at all what I get out of that kind of thing.”

For a moment Aiden paused, recognizing something in the delicate, off-handed way that Jennifer said it that she was gauging his reaction to some, frankly, sexualized art. He knew what he was supposed to say, he knew what his Father would insist he say, but his bitter old dad wasn’t here, was he?

So, what did Aiden think?

“I… I think I agree!” He had intended to say it casually, or softly, but ended up blurting it a bit more forcefully. “Uhm, I mean, yeah, it’s… cute? Exciting? I think the more, er, bold stuff wasn’t what I’d have in my apartment, but I don’t think it’s, you know, dirty?”

As they took another step, Jennifer moved over to gently bump his shoulder with hers. “I get it Aiden, and I completely agree.” For a moment she looked like she wanted to say more, but stopped herself. Instead, she brushed her long black hair past her shoulders again and pointed, “Are you hungry? I’ve eaten there before, it’s a very chic new gastropub that’s connected to the microbrewery just down the street, but their menu is phenomenal. They have some tables set out, we can grab something and have a seat maybe?”

Food did sound very appealing to the young man, who didn’t quite feel as ashamed as he normally would have that the word ‘gastropub’ was totally foreign to him.

The cobbled alley was wider here, but that just meant that more vendors tried to cram in. Aiden could see one of the larger buildings had signs indicating it was the loading dock for the Three Rivers Brewery. A half dozen small tables were roped off from the people walking by, and a few smartly dressed boys were rapidly walking in and out of the brewery, bringing food and large mugs of beer to the happy customers.

A woman in a crisp white shirt stood at attention as Jennifer walked up. “Do you have a table for two?”

She gave Aiden a bland appraisal and replied, “We’re quite full, but one of the smaller tables is being cleared, it’s something of a squeeze.”

Aiden could see one small table with two chairs next to it. It was pushed up next to a tarp partition that separated the seating area from the bustling incense and healing crystal vendor next to it, and it was barely enough space to put the table and chairs, much less for people to sit at it. But the whole place was packed and all the other tables were full and the food smelled fantastic.

“We’ll take it,” Jennifer said smoothly, and Aiden saw her very subtly place something on the stack of rustic shipping crates the woman was using to hold menu cards.

She made it disappear just as easily and smiled at Jennifer. “It will just be a moment if you’d like to order now our craft beers are listed here, and our drink menu is here. We have a limited menu but our special for the event is our chef’s favourite, her signature Exchange Burger. It’s two brisket and chuck smashed patties, cheddar, melted onions, and our house dill aioli on a potato roll. Everyone loves it.”

“Ooh, that sounds good,” Jennifer said, “I’ll take one, and one of the Fisherwoman’s Pale Ales, I love those. How about you Aiden?”

Both women turned to him and he froze. He had been wondering if the woman would ask him for his ID as he knew very well he looked barely drinking age - no surprise as he was just past his 20th birthday - and now he was still wondering what a brisket was. Or a smashed patty. Or dill aioli. He’d have to admit he had no clue what they were talking about, he was indeed a country rube with no class or maturity or-

“It’s a very tasty burger, I’ve had it before.” Jennifer spoke with breezy confidence, and no judgment in her expression, “It’s a classic cheeseburger with good ingredients if you want to try one.”

“Oh, uh, yes. I’ll have one too, it sounds very good!” Aiden chirped, relieved. “Uhm, I normally just drink Summit Light,” he said with a self-deprecating smile.

The hostess nodded, “Sure thing, we don’t carry Summit but the Belgium Peach beer has a similar flavour profile, you can try that to start perhaps.” Aiden nodded, and the woman wrote a few words on a slip of paper and handed it to one of the waiters who whisked by in his tight black slacks.

Rather than stand in the way of the people coming and going in this rather crowded temporary outdoor patio, Jennifer drifted over closer to their table while a harried busgirl wiped it with a cloth. Aiden was closest to the alley itself when a loud gust of laughing and hooting had him turning around.

A group of teenage girls rounded the tent wall that made up the divider between the brewery’s eating area and the market stall next to it, a few of them jostling each other carelessly and almost bumping into Aiden as they vulgarly teased each other. He shrank back; these girls were a couple of years younger than him but few things made a young man like Aiden more cautious - if not outright fearful - as a pack of girls full of estro-fueled bravada and teenage overconfidence.

“Ladies,” Jennifer took a step and put her hand gently around Aiden, her voice with a hint of amused detachment. A few of the girls noticed her and paused, and Aiden could see how they instantly took in her expensive clothes and casual tone.

The girl who had almost bumped into Aiden in the arm still had her back turned, loudly saying something about how a guy she knew was super hot for her when one of her mates punched her in the arm and said “Look out Becks! Watch where your dumb ass is lumbering around!”

The rest of the girls quieted down and Jennifer chuckled, “I know what it’s like to get out with your crew and let your hair down, but please do pay some mind. It’s early, and there are families about.” She let her smile take the sting out of her comment, and the girls nodded and mumbled what sounded almost like an apology, although one of the shorter, skinnier girls was openly staring at Aiden with a hot, open hunger that made him very glad Jennifer was there.

As the marginally better-behaved teenagers started filtering out into the crowd Jennifer led Aiden to the table. The table and chairs were bar-height, clearly from inside the pub itself. It was a squeeze between the tarp wall and a parking bollard for the loading dock, but you had a good view of the alley and the people streaming by.

Jennifer politely let Aiden pick his chair, which he had to hop up slightly on before spinning it around. The businesswoman placed the bag of clothes she had purchased on the ground and then sat, smoothly crossing her legs as she turned to face him, resting her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand. “Well, I am having a wonderful time Aiden.”

The table was small enough that Aiden found himself quite close to her as he smiled shyly. They had been walking side by side but now, just inches away, face to face, it felt much more… intimate.

“Me too! It’s all just so… overwhelming, almost, but I love it.” He took a breath then blurted out, “Thank you so much for bringing me here, and for the clothes, and everything, I really can’t thank you-”

Jennifer waved her hand and shook her head, gently interrupting him with a laugh. “No no Aiden, I should be thanking you. I meant it, bringing you here lets me see this all with your eyes, and that has been a genuine treat.”

They looked at each other, and Aiden felt his face growing warm. “In fact,” she said, looking down briefly, “and I hope this isn’t too forward, but I’d love to bring you other places. Get to know you, socially, if you’d like to go on a proper date.”

He had been half hoping, half dreading this exact question. Hoping because Jennifer was truly a gorgeous, successful older-but-not-too-much-older woman, like something out of a romantic comedy.

Dreading, because, deep down, he had to ask himself why on earth would she be asking him? This was the second time he had been asked out at all - heck, this already was more of a date-date than he would have possibly dreamt of even yesterday - and he had no idea why on earth he would be so lucky.

The second time, if you even count the first time he was asked out. And Aiden tried to not think about that as much as possible.

No. No. Aiden's jaw clenched at the effort of forcing his thoughts away from that dark path. He was here now, not there.

"I'd like that Jennifer. I'd like that a lot."