Brianna Meets Jack

I waited at the airport terminal, not really sure what to expect. We had been chatting for several months when she said she'd have a five-hour layover in Chicago from her trip. I'd only seen one picture of Brianna and, well, as the saying goes, "How do you know it's really a picture of them?"

I held a sign that said "NetBabe" on it, a personal joke between us. I knew she was about 4 inches shorter than me and blonde. Lots of blonde babes came through the gate from this and other flights. I stood there, waiting while people chatted, hugged and greeted around me. Finally, the crowd thinned out and no one had come up to me.

I guess she had a change of heart! I thought to myself. I put the sign down and turned, almost running into a woman standing behind me in a thick coat, sunglasses and a pink, knit winter cap.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I apologized. I began to move around the woman when she said, "No problem, Jacko!" in that Upstate New York accent that I'd come to know so well from talking on the phone.

"Brianna?"

She grinned, took off her glasses and then laughed heartily at the expression on my face. I was stunned. She had sent me pictures that made her look gorgeous, but this was like coming face-to-face with a model. I was definitely out of my league.

"The look on your face is priceless, love!" The woman I had known as "Fawn" on the net told me, ruffling my hair. "My God, your eyes… they're so… blue!" Her finger lightly touched my nose, giving it a slight push before she wrapped her arms around me in a hug. Having nothing better to do in my dazed state, I hugged back… feeling a lithe, sensuous body underneath.

"I've got some good news and bad news," she announced as we broke our embrace. "The good news is that all the east coast airports are snowed in, so my flights been cancelled."

"Oh?" I said, laughing, "If that's the good news, what's the bad?"

"The bad news is that they don't have any hotels near here where I can be put up! Do you know where the Palmer House is?"

"Yes," I said, "It's not the best hotel, but it's one of the old, glitzy ones from times past."

"Does it have a bed and a hot shower?" Brianna asked.

"Sure does!"

"Well," she quipped, linking her arm in mine, "Let's get my bags and go!"

* * * * *

We drove down the Kennedy Expressway, chatting amiably. She had me turn the heat up so that she could unbutton her coat. I was shocked to see that, underneath, all she had on was a thin, white cotton tank top. In the dim light, I could almost see the dark circles of her nipples. It made it a bit hard to concentrate on the traffic and her conversation. I shook my head as she leaned against the door, opening her coat even more.

Out of your league, buster! Out of your league!

"What do you mean by that?" she asked me quietly.

"Huh? Mean by what?"

"You just said something about me being out of your league. Why did you say that?"

I laughed. I must have been thinking out loud in my daze.

"Brianna, you are gorgeous."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Well," I replied, "Let's just say I've not had good luck with really hot babes, OK?"

A frown formed on her face, making me hurry to clarify.

"I mean, I've been out with a few really good looking women in my past and they've… well, they've not been my best dates, OK?"

Brianna laughed. "I'm a date now?"

"No," I replied, getting flustered as I always did around women like her, "No, not like that…"

"What am I then?" she teased, "Your lover?"

I laughed heartily with her on that one.

"No, Brianna. You are what you are, an internet friend here for a short visit."

"Not really so short," she said softly while twisting a strand of her hair around her fingers. I played with the stereo while noticing that she was looking at me intently. I was glad it was dark in the car because I knew I was blushing heavily. I concentrated on the road as the traffic was getting heavier, as was the snowfall.

"Um," she began, breaking the silence. "Yes?" I inquired, glancing sideways at her.

"Did you say your wife was out of town?"

"Yes," I replied, conversationally, "She's off visiting her mother in San Francisco. Why?"

Brianna pointed at the snow. "I may be here for awhile."

* * * * *

We parked in the hotel garage and checked her in. I offered to wait in the lobby bar while she changed.

"No, come with me, silly!" she laughed, tugging at my sleeve.

We took the elevator up to her room and I tipped the bellhop generously. He gave me a knowing grin and a wink as he sized up the beautiful blonde that shed her coat in the warmth of the room. As he left, I turned to see her stretching like a cat, the dark circles of her areola's clearly outlined through the soft white cotton of her shirt. Her eyes opened and she smiled at me mischievously.

"Like what you see?"

I gulped. More than you'll ever know! I thought. I smiled and decided to be witty.

"I always enjoy the scenery!"

Brianna blushed this time, but ran her hands down her body before crossing her arms and shivering.

"Why'd you wear such a skimpy outfit in cold weather like this?" I asked her.

"Well, duh!" she replied, "I'm COMING from Aruba!"

She dug into the closet and pulled out one of the thick terry robes in there, putting it around her arms and plopping down onto the bed, propping her head up on one arm.

"Want to go down and have a drink or two?" I asked. I was vaguely uncomfortable and couldn't "read" her because I was trying not to be taken in by her looks. She was hot and she knew it. If I let her, I'd be wrapped around her finger in two seconds. I wasn't going to give in to that and then misread everything, making a fool of myself.

"No," she said, yawning and breathing the words in that dreamy way of hers, "I'd rather just lay right here."

"Well," I said, trying to read her signals, "I guess you're tired."

"Don't you EVEN think of leaving, Mister!" she told me, smiling. She turned and picked up the phone, ordering us both a meal and two bottles of wine. "I haven't repaid you for taking me here!"

I had held my breath at her first words. Now I exhaled at the last part. OK, she wasn't sending either signal I had feared or hoped for. She patted the bed next to her.

"Come lay down beside me and talk.

We chatted for hours. Room service arrived and we ate, drinking the wine and laughing. She told me stories of her little charges where she was a teacher, and a story of a particular little boy that seemed to have a huge crush on her. We spoke of the friends we knew on the net and then she jumped up.

Digging in her luggage, she pulled out her laptop computer. Plugging it into the wall and then into the phone, she turned it on and smiled at me as she got online. I moved a more comfortable chair over and sat next to her, but she got up and had me scoot the chair over. Brianna sat on my lap as she navigated to the chatroom where we had met. She logged us in as "FawnMeetsPyro" and began to announce to the room where she was and whom she was with. I held her around that tiny waist and looked over her shoulder as she typed. I could smell the intoxicating scent of her hair and the light, sensuous aroma of her perfume. WAYYY outta my league!

"You type now," she told me, pulling the machine into her lap and leaning back against me. I tucked my chin on her shoulder and began to type. One of the guys asked me what she was really like.

Fucking gorgeous, man! I typed, Waaaay outta my league!

He laughed and asked where she was.

Wiggling her tight, cute ass in my lap!

"Oh, fuck!" came the reply. Brianna giggled and hugged me with a nod of her head.

She's absolutely stunning! I wrote, Don't have a freakin' clue as to why she wanted to meet an old fart like me!

"You aren't an old fart," Brianna whispered in my ear.

"Shhh!" I hushed, chuckling softly. "Look what he's saying…"

"She's always saying she's gorgeous… so she REALLY is?"

"Oh man, you don't know the half of it!" I replied onscreen. Brianna giggled wonderfully in my lap. I hoped she wouldn't feel the problem that was developing under her as she did so. She laid back and leaned her head against me as I typed.

"Where are you guys at?" asked the chatter I was talking to.

"In her hotel room."

"WOW. Are you two naked?" Brianna lurched forward, laughing hysterically. I laughed as well, but typed, "Of course!"

Brianna was now laughing so hard that the computer almost fell out of her lap. I grabbed it and grabbed her to keep her from falling. Instead of getting her waist, though, I ended up with a handful of her breast. I quickly moved my hand down and began to blush furiously, my manhood now a very stiff and uncomfortable lump in my pants. Brianna turned toward me while laughing and noticed my redness as I stammered my apologies.

"I don't believe it!" she chided, "The great and mighty Pyro is blushing!"

I blushed even more as she took my hand and apologized herself. "Hey, look, it was an accident, OK."

I gave her my goofy, lopsided smile, "OK, sure."

"I'm not offended. Really."

"OK."

"In fact," she hesitated, now blushing herself, "I rather liked it."

An uncomfortable silence followed as we looked at one another, the chatroom on the computer now forgotten. I thought furiously for a way around this because one of the conditions of our meeting was that we were friends. There was to be none of this "love" crap. She was so stunning, so beautiful, so nice and sweet, though, it was hard not to fall for her. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.

"I know," she said, "Let's go dancing!" She got up and grabbed the city guide that comes with the room. "Do you know any good clubs?"

I glanced at the clock. 10:45 pm.

"Yeah, sure. We can take a taxi or even walk to Excalibur from here." I told her. Actually, it was pretty much the ONLY club I knew of downtown for dancing. I'd not been up here in quite a while, being the more sedate type and living in the boonies for far to many years. Brianna seemed satisfied with my idea, because she squealed with delight.

"Great, let me go and get ready then!"

I sighed wistfully, admiring the view as she got up and walked away from me. "You look great just the way you are!"

"Oh," she cried, turning to look at me as she rummaged through her suitcase, "You are such a sweet dear! But I'm a wreck! Give me five minutes!"

She pulled out several items from the case and raced into the bath. It was more like twenty-five minutes before she emerged… but when she did! Oh. My. God! She was a goddess!! She stood before me in a clinging black dress that revealed more than it covered. I suddenly felt so very VERY underdressed and told her so.

"Oh, don't be foolish! You look wonderful!" she told me, giving me a peck on the cheek.

Somehow, in the storm, we managed to flag down a cab and ride to the club. Brianna chatted amiably and excitedly with me, laughing at the fact that I seem to have been struck dumb in my awe of her. As we crept along for the eight blocks to the club I finally recovered my wits and we chatted about things we enjoyed. I told her how much I missed dancing but that I'd pretty much cut back on my drinking days.

"I'll have you out on that dancefloor so much, you won't have time for a drink!" she laughed.

We arrived, paid the door fee and she literally pulled me inside. I checked in our coats and then followed her into the main room where the music blared. She shouted in my ear that this looked like an old church.

"It is!" I explained, causing her to laugh delightfully. We went up the stairs to the choir loft area to check things out. Walking in her wake, I was amused at the lustful looks she got from the guys as they turned to watch the poetry in motion that was Brianna. What was more amusing, though, were the looks that the women gave her… awe, contempt, amazement… three or four actually slapped their boyfriends and I could hear them telling the boys to roll their tongues back into their heads.

Bri and I scoped things out, got some drinks and then went down to dance. We both worked up quite a sweat in the thick crowd. More and more people crammed onto the floor so that we were left with the choice of either dancing close and dirty or risk banging into people around us. We chose close and dirty.

When the DJ finally slowed things down, I told her I needed a drink. I didn't want her to feel my hard-on pressing into her belly as we danced. Before I even walked away, another guy came up and asked her. She raised an eyebrow and I shrugged a "go for it." He was tall and good looking… and closer to her age, so she took his arms. The crowd again pressed them close. When I finally got some drinks, they were nowhere to be found.

I walked around the building for about a half hour, sipping at both the glasses. I finally found Brianna in a crowd of about 7 guys, all of them a head taller than me, young and muscular. They were all vying for the attention of this lovely vision. I moved into them and listened with amusement as they all flirted with her. She was obviously enjoying the attention and flirted back. I also noticed she had a drink in her hand. One guy in particular was laying on some heavy lines and literally pushed me out of the way, causing me to spill one of my drinks. He didn't even turn to apologize and, in fact, blocked her from me. Looking at him, I noticed it was the same guy that had asked her to slow dance. I heard her giggle at something he said and her hand touch his arm in a very suggestive manner.

I smiled to myself and shrugged. I had no hold on her, other than us being friends, so I gave the empty glass to a waitress walking by and went down to play pinball. I had just finished up my second game when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Where'd you go off to?" It was Brianna.

"Went to find some drinks and then couldn't find you." I told her, letting the ball fall through so I could talk to her. "When I did find you, you seemed rather… occupied." I laughed to cover up my disappointment as the group of guys she was flirting with came up behind her.

"I was waiting for you to come back!"

"The bar was horrendous." I explained. Took me almost 15 minutes to get a drink!" Actually, I'd forgotten about the other bars in the place.

"Hey Brianna," said tall and handsome, putting his arm around her possessively and nuzzling her, "Let's ditch daddio here and go to another place I know of. There's a good party happening there!" He was pulling on her arm, obviously trying to get her away from me.

She looked at me, trying to shrug him off and asked, "Do you want to go?"

I shook my head "no" but said in her ear, "Go ahead if you want though."

She turned and smiled at the guy, pulling his head down, "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm staying here with Jack."

"You're choosing this old loser over me?" he snapped, rudely. "He's old enough to be your father! Hell, he probably IS your father!" he laughed, visciously.

"Pardon me?" I said, beginning to bristle a bit.

"You heard me, shorty. Bug off!"

"His name is Jack," said Brianna sternly.

"Oh, what, you're telling me that this old guy is your boyfriend?"

Brianna's face began to cloud with anger. "Go away, please." Brianna turned and took my arm. "Let's go back to the hotel, OK?"

Before I could reply, he spun her around. "I thought you were with me now! You gonna hang with this old geezer?"

"I think YOU are the loser, Steve," replied Bri.

"Hey, HE ditched you!"

"No, he just couldn't find me."

"Actually," I interrupted, "I did find you." Brianna turned around at that. "But Mr Muscles here," I pointed at the one named Steve, "Pushed me aside and blocked me out."

"You're full of crap, dude."

"There is where I spilled my drink on you," I said, pointing at the wetness on his trousers leg.

"Let's go, Jack." Brianna gave me that look and I began to follow her out. Steve grabbed at my shoulder.

"Fuck you, asshole! You ain't goin' nowhere with her!"

I ducked as he threw a punch. He was obviously very drunk. Two bouncers moved in quickly and his friends held him back. Bri and I got our coats and got out of there rapidly. We got into a cab and she collapsed against me.

"I'm truly very sorry about all that," she said.

"No problem. I kind of expected it to happen," I replied. "I told you you were out of my league."

She sighed as she rested her head against my shoulder. We got back into "our" room and laid down on the bed. "Hold me, will you?"

I put my arm around Brianna and we lay there in the darkness for quite some time before she broke the silence. "This phrase you keep using… that I'm 'out of your league.' You keep saying that," said Bri while staring off into space, "Why do you say that?"

I chuckled softly into her shoulder. "Because you are, Brianna."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning that," I began, "Meaning that you have these high-fashion, big-money, hot model looks, a tight body that is to die for and you attract guys like flies." I sighed and continued on, "You're a climber. You like joining things so that you can schmooze. You like the chase, the politics, the game. You belong to organizations so that you can eventually run them. You enjoy attention, especially from men, and you flirt incessantly. You need a man that is confident of his position with you, confident of your feelings."

"Well then," she asked, her body still and warm against mine, "What is YOUR league?"

"I'm an average looking guy. Muscles back there was more your type… all pretty boy, tall, athletic and successful. I'm too easy-going… I'm not in that good of shape and I do or join things because I genuinely want to HELP people… to do GOOD. I don't feel the need to be in charge to do those things." I snorted a laugh. "That's why I'll never be a wealthy, successful stockbroker. I like dealing with the mom's and pop's too much."

"But don't you feel you can effect the best change if you run things?" she asked, squirming against me until my hand went from her belly to just below her breasts. I could feel them brush against me every time she breathed.

"Yes and no," I told her. "To get to that position of power, you have to compromise and bend to the will of others in order to consolidate that power. I'm not willing to do that. I'm too damned independent, too damned onery, too damned honest and too stubborn. I am not willing to compromise my principles for advancement."

"I see," she told me. She was silent for a while. "Tell me," she began again, "do you believe that these looks can be a curse as well as an asset?"

I shrugged, "Sure, I guess!"

"They are," she told me flatly. "First, no one takes you seriously when you look like this. If you do achieve something, you either fucked your way there or you're a bitch. I'm neither. Second, yes, I attract guys, but they never see beyond the sexy body, long blonde hair and illusion of beauty. They never get to know the me inside! To see beyond the sexual and physical attraction to find the inner me! They consider me shallow, when it's actually THEM that have the shallowness. If I have passions, I'm flighty, or I'm one-dimensional or I'm a bitch."

Brianna sighed and turned to face me. "When I couldn't find you in there, when you didn't return right away… I was hurt. I'm a kind person, Jack. I don't like to hurt people's feelings. I was also getting a little scared that you'd ditched me because those guys were getting a little too aggressive. The only thing that kept them back was when I called you my 'boyfriend.' But I seriously thought you'd ditched me."

I laughed, "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know. You keep saying you're 'intimidated' by me. I don't know why. Aren't I likeable?"

It was my turn to sigh. "You are very likeable, Brianna. You exude a quality that just makes me want to hold you and protect you. It's that very thing that frightens me because it is what makes you so very attractive. Couple that with your looks and you have guys falling for you left and right."