Spotting a Famous CEO (Short Story)

I was scrolling aimlessly on my iPad, pretending to do something worthwhile, getting bothered more by the noise inside my head than the noise in the cafe, when from the corner of my eye I noticed a celebrated founder and ceo sitting a few tables diagonally across from me, chatting casually with someone twice his age.

Exactly what my brain needed. A distraction. Now it wanted to confirm my side-sighting. Did I recognise the man correctly from the side view, with only his left sideburn and 30% of left cheek visible?

I had to confirm. Curiosity killed the cat and I don’t like cats. So I got up and decided to walk across them from the front. Of course an easier way might’ve been to just walk up to them and interject their conversation like a wannabe and congratulating him for his new product that he launched recently with much fanfare.

But somehow I’ve got an ego like a cat. I don’t walk to you, you walk to me. Or I walk across you sheepishly making sure you are you.

That’s exactly what I did. I wanted to be so overt that it’s covert. But it didn’t work. I looked at him for more than the standard split second that one should use for such visual experiences. Our eyes locked. I felt like a tourist trying to photograph a lion in between his meal with my disturbing gaze.

The mental conversation went like this:

“Who the fuck are you? A wannabe paparazzi?”

“No. I know who the fuck you are”

“I know you know so get the fuck off now and let me talk”

“Roger that, asshole … and congrats for the new product, it was so cool.”

That split second of talking with our eyes felt like an eternity. I gathered myself and walked back to my seat like a defeated warrior.

Suddenly I felt so focused. I sat down with a vengeance, ordered a dark roast pour over and locked my eyes onto the screen of the iPad determined to finish my task for the day. And I did!

I came back home to my wife who asked me how was my day at work.

“Extremely productive”, I said with a smile.

She hugged me. I hugged her back while hiding the yearning in my eyes.