Girl Gets Her Man Ch. 18

Dan looked up from his work to see Joanne enter his part of the office he shared with Padha. She smiled at him which caught him off guard. They'd been nothing but civil since they had agreed they would keep things quiet until after finals. He wasn't sure why he complied with that stupid idea, right now. It was a rough road leaving her alone all day long. At least, when they were alone at night, he could feel her and anticipate the next step. He would follow Mrs. Croix's orders to the letter, if it killed him. The closest they'd come in so many weeks was this morning. He didn't wake up before Joanne and take care of his morning wood. He'd been dreaming of her warm body on top of him in his bed when she'd touched it. 'God, it felt so good to have her hand wrapped around it.' He'd managed to dislodge her and get to the bathroom before he erupted all over the bed. It had been so long since he'd felt anyone else touch him there. He'd been so ashamed, he'd dressed as quickly as he could and said a quick good bye.

Dan wasn't sure why she was there in the office right then, because he'd called and told her he was going over to her apartment in approximately twelve minutes. She dropped her pack heavily on the floor and unzipped it. Without even a hello, she pulled out a bag and set it on his desk.

"Happy Easter," she whispered and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

He looked at the white bag with little ducks and flowers on it and protested, "Easter? That's not for another couple..."

"Just open it," she frowned playfully at him. He did like the way she did that. 'Just one more month, beautiful. One more month until I corrupt you.'

He opened the bag to find a bunch of fake grass. He fished around to find a little card, a bottle, and a box. The bottle and box were wedged firmly at the bottom, so he pulled out the card.

"I'll see you later," she said quickly as she hefted her backpack and was gone before he could read the card. He stared after her. 'She's up to something. What is it? Did she feel bad about this morning? I'm the one that should be embarrassed.'

"Wow, Dan. If my husband saw how you look at me, he'd have to kill you." Daniel hadn't even noticed Padha standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, Paddy. I was just spacing off a bit," Dan said as he wiped at his eyes for emphasis.

"It's so cute the way that you do that. Does she know?"

"Does who know what?"

Padha tssked, "Daniel Langier. I saw Joanne leave this room. I see you in lecture boring a hole in the back of her head. I thought you'd die when you found out she'd switched her times with me. If you haven't said something to her yet, you're pathetic."

"She knows, okay? I'm trying to keep it quiet..."

She let out this loud high pitched giggle, "Hee, hee, hee. Everybody knows. You get all soft and not Danny when she's around. Dr. S has a pool on when we'll see your first PDA. Why don't you just ask her out, already, so I can get some money."

"Because, I don't want to date her," he grumbled. "It would be awkward." 'And, I sure don't want to show you people what we have.'

"Then, marry her and get it over with," she laughed as she focused on some papers at the top of the pile on her desk.

"If it was up to me, we'd have had three kids by now," he joked right back at her and opened the flower covered card.

The message was in her small precise letters, "After careful consideration, I think we should be having sex. Bring this stuff and we will."

Dan's jaw dropped open. He read it again.

"I think we should be having sex," jumped out at him, though she didn't write it any differently than the rest of the message.

She hadn't signed it. He leaned back so far in his chair that he nearly fell over. Joanne hadn't acted any differently than she had this morning. He thought they'd gone over this, before. They were going to wait.

Padha caught his attention, "You okay, over there, Dan?"

"Uh," he couldn't think.

"You're so flushed, all of a sudden. Are you having a stroke?"

He shook his head no and stood up. "I'm gonna go." He took a step and remembered that there were other things in the bag, and he should probably take them with him. He snatched up the bag, shoved the card in, and ran for the elevator.

'I gotta talk her down. Me, too. Fuck! My jacket! She takes the stairs. She's still in the building. She'll still be in the building.'

When the doors opened on the first floor, he scanned the crowd for her. She wasn't there. He ran out to the steps and she was at the bottom with one foot on the sidewalk.

"Jo!"

She turned and looked at him.

"What's this supposed to mean?" He gripped the bag out toward her.

"It's pretty simple. I didn't write a bunch," she flatly said and turned back around.

"Hold on there, miss," he took her arm and moved her onto the small patch of grass that was left from the last rain. "You don't just do something like this on the spur of the moment."

"No, I don't. I didn't think I'd ever have to," she sighed as she looked up at him with those sparkling brown eyes, "but I did."

She looked away from him and blushed. 'She wants to. But, we talked about this! And her mom said... I want to, so bad. And, she wants to. She wants to. I'm not getting the wrong signals, am I?' He pulled her close and smelled her hair. She moved to brush her cheek against his ear as her soft breath danced over his neck. 'Okay. That is a definite response.' "Well, I guess I missed a few signals, huh," he let go of her. "What do I say to that? How about tonight? Seven? My place?"

"Uh, okay. What should I bring?"

"I'd say absolutely nothing," he smirked to hide nervousness as he backed toward the building, "but it'd probably be a bit chilly."

*

'What the hell have I done?' Joanne rolled her shoulders in against the wind as she walked toward her car. 'Oh, god. What have I done? I didn't think he'd agree so easily. He was all resolved and everything this morning.'

Joanne had been slowly going crazy. There was this sensation in her tummy that made her want to get close to him. When she did try to make a move, she couldn't cross the line he'd put up. She knew he felt the same way because she'd seen his erections. She wasn't sure why he wasn't interested in doing something about them. When he did get hard, he would move away and pretend it wasn't there or apologize. For the last few mornings, she'd been building up the courage to touch his penis. It had been more to satisfy her curiosity than to wake him up. But, the moment her fingers closed around it, he'd jumped up and ran to the bathroom. She wanted to see it. She had to, or Jesse would be right. 'We're not hopeless.' She wanted to take the relationship somewhere. 'Maybe this is the stupidest idea ever, but at least I'll see if it's more than curiosity.'

She looked around the lot. 'Why am I still doing this? Mom said he's in New York.' She looked up toward the building. She wanted to know which window was Daniel's, but they all looked the same. She put the key in the lock.

"So, how's it going," a voice made her jump three feet off of the ground. Gary smiled at her as he moved in. "Thought you'd be tired a him by now. I heard from Jesse, you've been at his place most nights."

"Well," she gripped her keys in her palm and looked toward the closest door on the building, "I'm taking things slow." She hadn't really taken a good look at the oak across the street.

"Slow, huh. Why isn't he walking you out to your car?"

'He's been watching us?' "He can see me from his window," she tried to make it sound like he was doing it now, though she knew he wouldn't be back up there by then.

"Relax, girl. I'm not gonna hurt you. We weren't like that. I get that I didn't pay that much attention to what you were wantin. I thought I'd tell you that I know I was wrong to get mad at ya." He seemed to slouch and look away from her. "You should have kept your distance, because I wasn't just with you. When I left, I kinda got into a little trouble with a girl. She's havin my baby close to Christmas. When I came back, I was kinda trying to deny the fact. You didn't let me forget about it. Even though you didn't know what was happening, you held me accountable, and that made me mad. When I saw you'd moved on with Dan, I took it out on you, instead of letting it go. I'm sorry."

He moved closer and put his hands on her arms. "I'm glad we didn't do anything, because I'd hate to stop you from going for your goals. You've got this lightning fast mind, girl. Use it." He pressed a kiss to her cheek and backed away. "I'll be seeing you around."

She smiled at him and said, "Yeah, Gary. We'll see each other again."

As a parting shot, Gary said over his shoulder, "And, tell that man he needs to hold your hand."

"What?"

"I go by Langier's. It's stupid how you stand so close, but you don't hold hands. You're together. Be together," he nodded at her as he stepped onto the sidewalk.

All she could do was wave back.