The Chinese place wasn’t nearly as busy as it was the last time, we were there two weeks ago. No, we weren’t waited on by “Kate” as I call the tall, slender, dark-eyed, dark-haired, somewhat loud waitress, though it didn’t make any difference. She still chatted with me anyway whenever she’d go by. Again, I’d be really surprised if she weren’t gay and attracted to me. You just don’t normally carry on with someone else’s customer as if you’re old buddies after you’ve only seen them twice before, once without ever saying a word to them.

Shortly after we were seated, she stopped to tell me I wanted the kids’ foo young if I wanted to avoid getting too much. Then she asked…wasn’t I the one who ordered it from her and got too much? I said yes, but that this time I was going to order pork fried rice, and then she went about her business, throwing smiles at me from time to time along the way. At one point, she walked past our table, then turned back to smile at me.

As we were leaving, the waitress who waited on us went to take care of us at the register while Kate bussed our table, saying something like, “It was nice seeing you again, hun.” Then she asked how the pork fried rice was. I told her it was fine. Then, as she was walking towards me, I told her we were looking for a duplex to rent and asked if she had any suggestions. She said there was a cute one on 9th Street (I guess downtown the streets are numbered and uptown the streets just have names).

Anyway, she definitely is older. Like late 30s, early 40s. Not the greatest-looking chick, but certainly not the worst. She has a nice body and I do like dark hair and eyes, though I don’t know if her hair is dyed or not. I dig the idea of seeing her and flirting with her. I always thought flirting was fun as long as it doesn’t get out of hand like it did with Teddy Bear. On the other hand, it’s not like I literally “flirt” with her. I know Tom wouldn’t appreciate that. I wish he wouldn’t care since it’s only another woman, but I’m sure he would. He wouldn’t sit on me and stop me, but I know it’d hurt his feelings so I take this into consideration. I wouldn’t want him doing anything to hurt my feelings so I respect his. As it was, he seemed more talkative than usual, as if he was trying to distract me from what was going on around me. Would I go with her if I were single? Definitely. Like I said, she’s no Kate, Gloria or Linda, but she’s not half bad either. She doesn’t have the nicest speaking voice, though. It’s loud enough to be easily audible, but it’s a bit hoarse-sounding, suggesting she may smoke. She always wears her hair in a ponytail which is a little below the middle of her back.

Today’s experience shoots down Tom’s theory that she was only being nice the last time we saw her to get a good tip, because why would you go out of your way to be so nice and kind and chatty with someone you aren’t even waiting on that you barely know?

In other news, Tom got a scratch ticket and won $8. To save money, we’re going to eat in the motel room more often. Since they have a refrigerator and microwave, we figured we might as well use them.

I like this place a lot better than Tina’s, as nice as she was. I met the regular housekeeper today and let her know that due to my being a late sleeper, I’ll go to her when we need something. She assured me that’d be ok.

I can’t believe how nice the weather is here! Maybe it isn’t as bad as Massachusetts, though I still think that at least December - February will be bad.

Later…

I cannot believe how much quieter this motel is, not that I’m complaining, and I know there’s someone next to us. An older couple, I think.

Anyway, I tried to read, but I can’t concentrate. My mind keeps wandering to “Kate” and I wonder – is she thinking of me, too? Just because nothing can ever happen between us doesn’t make me any less curious. Again, she isn’t half bad when you consider how ugly most gay women are.

But what could she possibly see in me? She certainly can’t like me for my body, and since I still don’t yet have much in the way of hair, it must be my face, mainly my eyes. They’re the only asset I’ve got going for me at the moment. Also, just as straights seem to go for those who look like them, women tend to go for opposites. Except for the fact that we both have brown hair, she’s tall, brown-eyed and thin.

I wish we could at least be friends, but I think even that may make Tom uncomfortable. Especially when I remember how jealous he seemed to be over Kim and Kim and I were nothing to each other in that way. Still, it’s frustrating to know I could simply hand her my number and that she’d almost certainly call me, whereas I couldn’t have gotten a woman this easily when I was single if I tried, but see, that’s just it. More often than not, it’s when I don’t try for something or even go out of my way to avoid it that I end up getting it! Here I’ve got this woman I like who seems to like me, even though she may smoke and be a bit moody, maybe even airheaded, and I can’t even have a friendship with her! Oh well. There are worse things in life like being homeless and living in motels with no one in the world who gives a damn about us, including Tom’s own family. Maybe that’s another reason I want a friendship with her; so I could feel like there was one person, just one person, who gave a damn that wasn’t on the other side of the country.

I don’t want to work on my stories until I can do so on my desktop, so Tom suggested I begin another one, perhaps a short story. A very short story. Maybe I’ll do a funny story with Kate and Tina as the main characters.

Speaking of stories, here’s another uncanny case of art imitating life. One of the stories I began in Phoenix starts off with a couple who meet in a restaurant. The FBI customer likes the waitress who likes her back, though what transpires between these characters certainly couldn’t transpire between Kate and me!

I just can’t believe someone who looks like this restaurant chick could like me. Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been notorious for getting women who were so-so-looking, if not downright ugly. Only Anne Marie, Kacey and Teddy Bear were attractive, but look how long they lasted, and of course Teddy Bear and I never did more than flirt. Anyway, If you showed me a picture of everyone who works there (or at least who I know to work there) and asked me to guess which one likes me, I’d probably guess that big fat ugly blond chick that’s been there ever since we started going there. Then if someone had said I was wrong and pointed to the one that really has a crush on me, I’d have been like, “Really? No way!”