I ambled over and cleared my throat as I got close. "Loose something?" I asked as she looked up. I'm maybe 5'8" so she was actually looking down on me, but I just grinned at her. "If there's any way I can help...?"
She took a moment to come to a decision then held the strap of her purse out to me. "You can hold this while I go through it, OK?" Again I got her professional smile, the one I'd seen her do on the evening news hundreds of times.
I held her purse and she swiftly found her wayward lipstick and a compact. She touched up her makeup and reclaimed her purse. "Thanks!" She said brightly. "It's usually impossible to find anything in my bag without dumping it all out. Whups, that your bus?" She said gesturing at the bus stop.
I turned to look, as if I was checking the number, and when I turned back she had her phone back out and was pulling up a number. "Thanks again for holding the bag." She said and half turned away as she put the phone back in her ear.
I walked back to the bench as the bus pulled away. Part of me, the magically learned part, was chalking it up to experience and thinking about what to try next. The rest of me was upset how easily she'd brushed me off! I didn't really even have much to be upset at--it's not like I'd wished to always score with women, just be better at talking with them.
I toyed with making a wish along those lines, that any woman I wanted would want me just as badly in return, I also wanted make a wish to take Ms Lauren Wu, anchor-woman, down a notch or two, and that magically reasonable part was still working on figuring out what to say to her next.
What to do?