They were acquaintances.

They met at a class he'd gone to in the city.  He watched her from a few rows behind her, her straight back, her hand shooting in the air to ask a question, the decided line her mouth took when the answer displeased her. DESCRIBE WHAT SHE LOOKS LIKE AND HOW HE REACTS. He was impressed by her flame for justice, her sharp analyses and distinctions. Almost against his will, he found himself wondering about the turn of her mind, her response to various issues.

After the class he approached her and BUILD NICE SCENE HERE. GET TO KNOW HER PROFESSION.

She gladly shared her views BE DETAILED MAKE DIALOGUE, pouring forth her passion with a ferocity that seemed to seep into his calm bones and fill them with warmth. USE MORE PRETTY POETIC WORDS

It wasn't long before he thought to ask. He'd known for years that he wanted a relationship with someone who was passionate, someone who cared about the state of human affairs and sought to improve them. He himself was an accountant and spent long hours behind a computer screen, poring over columns of figures and formulas. He did it because he was good at it and he liked to do what he was good at. In his sophomore year at college, he wondered whether to major in anthropology,  or sociology. He'd agonized about it long months, but in the end, a failed anthropology class made up his mind. And in the end, years later, he thought he had inadvertently come to the right decision.

After his long hours at the office, he spent the night reading news reports, textbooks, research journals. He watched interviews with people from all over the world, studied native cultures. He researched political climates, real climates, economic systems. He gathered data in copious amounts, and watched Netflix when his mind needed a break. 

He had tried volunteering at a homeless shelter several times. He found that he couldn't communicate with the people there. They didn't understand his talk and he was awkward around them. So he just donated the money he didn't need, after his expenses and savings were taken care of, to organizations whose missions he supported, and went back to his books.

But he was lonely. Books were his world, but he wanted people to talk to about the things on his mind. So he looked for classes where he could meet people, and signed up. There were lectures on the economy, on politics, on policy. And that was where he met her. And after several weeks of watching her ramrod back grow tense, and her polka dotted skirt swivel, he took his chance.

He walked her out of the class. They walked onto the gray sidewalks speckled with blackened circles of old gum, past metal lampposts taped over with concert posters and stickers advertising musicians. INSERT MORE POETIC SENSORIAL DESCRIPTIONS She began discussing the class's contents immediately.

"I don't believe it!" She exclaimed. "I just don't believe it!"

"Lea," he said suddenly. "I want to ask you something."

"What is it?" She paused in her walking and turned to view him suspiciously.

"I-" He opened his mouth and closed it. He opened it again.

"I really admire the way you- your desire to do good, and to help people. How you work all day with underprivileged people and still have the energy to come out and learn in classes. And how you're so- engaged and smart. And ask good questions and-" he continued in a rush as he saw her narrowed eyes. "I wondered if you wanted to go out with me." WORK ON DIALOUGE. MAKE THEM EACH HAVE A DISTINCT WAY OF TALKING. MAKE THEIR WORDS FIT THEIR CHARACTER.

They stood, a solitary pair lit by a yellow streetlight, surrounded by aging brick buildings with fine friezes and cornices (WHATEVER).

"Aaron," she said slowly, her strong dark brows furrowed in a perfectly tweezed line. "Aaron, you're really nice. And smart. And I like talking to you. And I'm flattered that you ask. But-" his heart plummeted. "I've never seen you in that way. I just can't-"

"See yourself with someone like me? An accountant? A plebeian? One of them? 





NOTES: I deliberately make him a boring profession to show that someone can be in a boring job but still be interesting and interested in issues outside his purview.

Also, an additional reason she may not be interested in him is because she views him as boring and not in her social group. She's used to hanging with the cool kids, and he's original and different and he throws her off.