Lunch Meeting

by

Melissa Flores Anderson

Charles walks in and says, “Is anyone heading to that thing at the student union?” He doesn’t look into my office or direct the question toward me.

Everyone else says no. Only then does he pause in my door frame.

“I’ll go,” I say. “To get pictures for social.”

The sun is out, but the wind is cold as we cross the quad of the university campus. I’ve worn a dress that is too short for the weather, and pull a cardigan around myself. When we arrive at the student resource fair, music is playing and Charles does half a dance move. I laugh and he smiles back at me. I want to dance with him, to cement what I think is happening between us. But I don’t.

We walk through the crowd of students, inches apart. I compare how close Charles stands to me with how close he stands to other colleagues. He teases me about something and I slap the shoulder of his suited arm.

My phone pings. I look down at it.

“Do you have to take a call?”

I shake my head no and text back to my husband.

In a meeting. Can’t talk.

Bio:

Melissa Flores Anderson is a Latinx Californian and an award-winning journalist who lives in her hometown with her young son and husband. A three-time Best of the Net and one-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her creative work has been featured in more than 40 literary venues and anthologies, including swamp pink, HAD and The Write Launch. She is a reader/editor with Roi Fainéant Press. She has co-authored a novelette, “Roadkill,” (ELJ Editions) and a chapbook “A Body in Motion,” (JAKE). Follow her on Twitter and Bluesky @melissacuisine or IG/Threads @theirishmonths. Read her work at melissafloresandersonwrites.com.