Door To Door

Customer Type #2: The Ones Who Flirt

"Hello, ma'am, I'm Hudson Ellis - I'm a representative of the charity Man's Best Friend. You may have heard of us?"

"Uh, yeah, I think I might have, actually," the girl looks around his age, maybe a little younger. She flashes him a wide smile as she twirls a strand of her blonde hair around one finger.

"Oh, cool, so you know what it's about," Hudson smiles, reaching for the flap of his bag.

"Don't you help...cats? Or something?" 

Hudson purses his lips for a brief second, but immediately returns to his smile, taking out a flyer and handing it to her. "You're close," he tells her, even though she isn't really. "We actually help disabled dogs."

"Oh," she lets out a high pitched laugh that almost grates at Hudson's nerves. "I'm sorry, I must've got them mixed up or something..."

"Easy mistake to make," he assures her, even if though it isn't really. "Anyway, we help disabled dogs, and we have several programmes that you can contribute to - "

"Like sponsoring," the girl taps on the badge pinned to his lapel, and smiles, letting her hand linger on his chest a little too long. 

She looks pleased with herself for noticing, and Hudson doesn't want to rain on her parade. "Exactly," he nods, still smiling even though he feels increasingly uncomfortable. "So you can sign up to sponsor one, adopt one, or just donate some money," he punctuates his last suggestion with a shake of the bucket in his right hand - it's already beginning to fill up and it isn't even midday. 

"Oh, well, in that case," she fishes into her pocket and brings out a few dollar bills as well as some coins, taking Hudson's hand and dropping the change into it. He resists the urge to jerk it away, instead letting his smile widen. "Thank you so much, miss," he tells her, putting the money into the bucket. "Honestly, your contribution is so useful."

"Is that what you say to all the girls?" Hudson doesn't like the look of the smirk on her face; he subconsciously takes a few steps back and forces a laugh.

"Ha, not really...I just moved here, actually..."

"Oh?" It seems that for every step he takes backwards the girl takes around five forwards. Either way, he doesn't really like their close proximity. "Where are you from, then? Is that a Texas accent I catch?"

"Yep," he lets out another stuttering laugh. "I'm from Dallas."

"Hm, a cowboy."

"I should really - go..."

"Alright, cowboy," she rests a hand on his arm, and Hudson shifts uncomfortably. "But I'd check that bucket of yours. You might find something you didn't count on getting."

He thinks she knows what she's talking about.

"Alright," he tries to smile again, but he's pretty sure it looks more like a grimace. "Thank you again!"

"No problem!"

Once he's halfway down the street, Hudson let's out a breath he didn't realise he'd been holding, pausing to glance ruefully down at the bucket in his hand. Sure enough, he can catch sight of a slip of paper among the green bills - closer inspection reveals a series of numbers that Hudson definitely won't be calling scribbled onto it. He marvels at how she even managed to get the number written and on the slip by the time she'd donated. 

☒

"Hi, sir, I'm - "

"Are you gay?"

Hudson blinks, taken aback. "I..."