An Old Trope with a Different Twist

When he was ready to leave, we shared a wonderful kiss, and he asked if I'd like to do something next weekend, too. Of course, I said yes, and he said he'd plan something and let me know what we'd be doing, how to dress, and all the other details. I walked him to his car, we kissed again, and he drove away. Walking back to my place, I wondered if there was any way I could get a bottle of wine and some cheese. I was sure that Alex could help with that, but I didn't call him.

~~~

Alex

My last semester had begun, and I was looking forward to getting started in the real estate business with my father. I had a lot to learn but was looking forward to learning something besides stuff for school. Some things had changed since last semester, though.

Lark and I didn't have a class together any longer, and her schedule was such that we weren't even able to get together for coffee. She had her classes and also field experience that took up most of her time. I'd enjoyed having coffee with her, and I think she'd enjoyed it too, but life had moved on since we'd broken up. Both sets of parents had been upset when we'd told them, but Lark's were pleased when she began dating Mick almost right away. Mine were still reminding me that I needed to find a good woman.

While we were still having coffee, she'd periodically ask me for help or advice, particularly with regard to Mick. I suggested some cheese that they could have with wine, even though I wasn't an expert in that area. I often had Havarti cheese with my wine, so that was my suggestion. Whether it was the proper choice, I wasn't sure. I just knew it was good cheese, and I enjoyed it. She asked me about things they could do together, etc., and I made suggestions, even though I wondered why she'd be asking such things.

As the last semester progressed, I saw her less and less, but I wondered how things were going with Mick. I had her phone number, of course, but I hated to bother her when it might seem that I was just being nosey. We'd been good friends, but despite our jaunt into imaginary dating, I hadn't, at the time, considered us close friends. I don't know how many times, though, I'd begun to lean over to say something to her, only to find that she wasn't there. It was a funny feeling, for sure. She hadn't actually been my girlfriend, but sometimes it seemed like she had. A strange feeling for sure.

I'd gone to the cottage a couple of times and remembered the fun the four of us had had together. I considered calling Caroline, as I was sure she'd seen Lark since she was dating Caroline's brother, and they had gotten to be good friends during their time at the lake. I didn't do that, though, maybe because I didn't want to hear about her and Mick. I laughed at myself since it almost seemed that I was jealous. Weird.

Finally, I sent a text just asking how things were going. No response. That bothered me some ... quite a bit, actually. I guess I resented that she appeared to have removed me totally from her life. Not that it wasn't her right to do just that. I might see her this summer if Mick brought her to the lake when I was there. I wondered how awkward that would be since she'd ignored my text.

Graduation came, and I knew that Lark had to be among the several thousand who received their diplomas, but I didn't see her. The thought that she was there kind of spurred me to text her again that evening. Once more, no reply.

I took a couple of days to celebrate the end of seventeen years of school, but Dad was anxious for me to get started in the business. On the first day as an official employee, I received several notebooks to study -- I still had to get my real estate license. Ugh, I thought my serious study was over, but after the lecture from Dad, I realized that was far from the case.

As I studied the notebooks ... by myself, I wished I could take a little time off and have coffee with Lark. I missed that, the coffee, and ... shit, I missed Lark. We'd become good friends despite my doubting it, and I missed her. I'd never missed a girl before, and it seemed strange. But missing her was silly since she was with Mick. I wondered if that was working out. I was severely tempted again to call Caroline, but that would be kind of admitting that Lark was somehow special, and I didn't have a special girl. I didn't have any girl.

Back to my studying. At least since I'd graduated and was starting with the company, I wasn't getting badgered about finding a good woman. Still, I missed her.

~~~

Lark

I needed to talk with someone. I was confused, and what I thought would be a wonderful time had turned into a nightmare. It was the complete opposite from what I'd expected, and Mick was the cause of it.

Alex had sent me two texts that I hadn't answered because I was afraid. But at least he remembered me. He was someone I'd been able to talk to those months ago, and now I wondered. He seemed to be understanding, and his teasing had always made me smile. I could answer his texts, but I wanted more. Texting wasn't talking, and talking was what I wanted. Maybe even teasing as well. Guh, I was confused.

I had gotten so I tried to avoid Mick, creating reasons to postpone a date and just hanging out together. I'd started a job as a social worker, much to his chagrin, but I was beginning to love it and the people I was working with. He was right in that I didn't make a lot of money, but it was enough for a single girl, and I hadn't moved from my apartment yet. I still needed to talk to someone, and Caroline didn't seem to be the right one this time. I debated and decided.

I took a chance and went to his apartment. I'd never been there, but I had the address. Standing there and looking, I knew it was just a front door, but somehow it looked very foreboding. There was no bell, so knocking was my only option. I did, and the door swung open.

"Lark?"

"I'm glad you remember me."

He chuckled. "Since I've texted you a couple of times, I do remember you."

"Yes, and about that," I said quietly, looking away from him.

"Hey."

"What?"

"Look at me."

I turned my head slowly.

"You've been crying."

"Crap, I thought I'd washed my face enough to get rid of the signs." I didn't like to cry and usually avoided it at all costs. I hadn't been able to today.

"You can't wash away the redness ... and the look. And you can't wash away what's inside you that made you cry."

Why did he have to be so sweet, kind, and understanding? But that's why I came to see him.

"Listen, I can see you're working. I just wanted to say hi." I was panicking after what he'd said, and thinking about sharing my baggage with Alex suddenly seemed like a silly idea.

"Bull shit. You didn't come here after crying just to say hi."

I looked at him and let out my breath in a big sigh but didn't respond. I could feel myself trembling.

"I can do this studying anytime, but now I have all the time in the world for you after you've come here out of the blue ... and been crying. Now, I'm going to give you a hug, and then we can talk, okay?"

"Are you sure?" I wasn't sure what effect his hugging might have on me.

"About the hug or the talking?"

I snorted. "Thank the Lord you haven't changed." I'd hoped he'd tease, and he had. I held out my arms, and we hugged. My body warmed significantly, and the trembling stopped.

"Now, what's going on?" He was holding onto my hand, I think, afraid I might run away.

"I ... I can't stand being around Mick any longer. And that's why I didn't answer your text messages. I was afraid that if I did, I'd run here to see you, and I didn't think that was fair to Mick. But then ... "

The tears began rolling down my cheeks, surprising me, and there was nothing to do but hug him again. The look on his face told me he was uncomfortable with me crying like I was, uncomfortable that he might not be able to do anything to comfort me, and that there was something that was causing me to cry.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He didn't seem to want to push too hard, but I could tell he was anxious to hear.

With a final pair of sobs, I nodded.

He led me to the couch, and we sat down. I took some deep breaths to hopefully settle myself a little. I hadn't realized how being with Alex would affect me. I looked at him, and he was smiling ever so gently, and it soothed me more than I could have hoped for. What was there about Alex that caused these feelings? I knew I wanted to find out.

"I promise not to tease you while you're talking," he said.

"Thank you, Alex, and, in the future, I'll deny saying this, but I enjoy your teasing."

"I'll forget you said that," he replied, squeezing the hand that he was still holding.

"You remember, at the lake, how well Mick and I got along. I mean, he was attractive from the very first, and I was interested, but he was so considerate and seemed totally focused on me that I was completely taken by the time we left. And he asked me for a date, too. When we went home, I was anxious for the date.

"Something seemed a touch different about him on that first date. Mick decided where we'd go, which was fine since he'd asked me for the date. I wouldn't have chosen the restaurant he did, but I figured I could survive. He made a suggestion about what to order, and when I said that I'd probably enjoy something else a little more, he insisted that I be bold and daring and order what he'd suggested. I finally agreed and, in the end, was sorry I had."

I shifted my position a little so I could look more directly at him. I was kind of hoping that he'd hug me again. I needed to go on.

"He just seemed a little different, you know, from the way he was at the cottage, but I brushed it aside. He still seemed like a super guy. When we were together, he'd ask me to take my glasses off and then leave them off. Before long, he was asking why I didn't get contact lenses. I don't have anything against contacts, but he got very insistent, even offering to pay for them. I wasn't going to let him start paying for things for me -- we weren't that far along in the relationship. But he wouldn't drop it and kept hinting and suggesting that nearly every time we were together.

"Next, he started on my degree. He kept telling me I couldn't make much money as a social worker, and no matter how often I told him that wasn't the most important thing to me, he hammered away that it really was, and I just didn't know it yet. He wanted me to join him at the real estate company and had already cleared it with his dad."

I was shaking my head as I remembered, the memory of each of those things seeming to thrust a knife into my heart.

Alex chuckled. "Do you remember that I told you that Mick and I didn't get along well when we were younger? What you're saying sounds like the Mick I remember from then." Alex was shaking his head as he spoke, and I think he regretted not saying more to me about that when he'd had the chance.

I touched his cheek with my hand. "It probably wouldn't have helped to have warned me. I was determined to have dates with him because he seemed to be such a great guy."

"Still, I should have said more and let you make that decision."

I shook my head, knowing it wouldn't have done any good. But saying that he'd let me make the decision was certainly different from Mick.

"Then he was after me about what I was wearing. I should wear this or that ... it's not the right color, or the right length, or the right style, and he wanted less of it most of the time."

"He's a little controlling, isn't he?"

"Oh, Alex, it was awful once I took the time to think about it. And those were the obvious and the ongoing things. Don't do that. You don't want that. Stay away from that. You wouldn't like him or her. On and on. And it caused me to begin to think."

As I was talking, things were taking shape in my mind. I'd come here to talk with Alex, and I might as well say everything that was on my mind, no matter what. I knew what I was about to say would surprise him because it had surprised me, too. But it had struck me very suddenly, and there was no way to avoid it.

"I was thinking about a time when I was happy and content, when life was good, and I wasn't constantly on the alert. I went to my classes and had coffee with a friend who had the same problem as I had. He was waiting for the right girl to come along, and I was waiting for the right guy."

My body seemed to instinctively scoot up next to him, my hip tight against his. When he squeezed my hand again, my heart began to pound. He was waiting for me to go on.

"Up close, I can see you better with my glasses off," I said, and I tossed them on the table.

Without the lights reflecting on the lenses, I hoped he'd find my eyes as beautiful as Mick always said they were. And his eyes were very close to mine now, and I watched him toss his glasses on the table beside mine. I could see him very clearly from this close, not only his eyes but his very inviting lips that I had kissed in the past. But I had never really kissed them. Plus, we were close enough that I could feel his breath on my face.

"Lark?" he questioned.

"I had found the perfect man and didn't even realize it."

I heard what I had just said, and it was almost as big a surprise to me as I'm sure it was to him. I wasn't sure if it was his breath on my face or the stash of memories that was suddenly filling my thoughts that was causing my blood to heat. And he wasn't moving away from me, thank goodness.

"I know this is a surprise, Alex, but --"

He kissed me.

I'd kissed him before; actually, he'd kissed me, but this time, he kissed me with his eyes closed and his hand behind my head. And this time, I kissed him back. When we parted, the look on his face was different from any I'd seen there before. It was the same Alex, only different. And I liked what I was seeing in the different Alex.

I couldn't keep myself from throwing my arms around his neck even if I'd wanted to. I'd come here with red eyes from crying, and now I felt like I was floating. I squeezed him so hard that he grunted.

"Oh," I said as I released him. Before I could move, his arms were around me.

"Any time you want to squeeze me like that, please feel free to do it."

"Really?"

"Yes, and I've missed you."

"Oh my gosh. I missed you and didn't even know it."

He kissed me again. It was gentle and tender, just what I wanted and needed ... at this moment. But I'd read enough romance novels to know there was more. More to the kissing, and just more. And now, with Alex, maybe?

I watched him gather up the real estate books and stash them in a drawer.

"I can just sit beside you while you study," I volunteered.

"I have a better idea," he said, smiling.

I was ready.

~~~

Alex

I was dreaming. I mean, I had been studying for my real estate license, and now I was breathing hard, my heart was pounding, and the taste of Lark's lip gloss was fresh on my lips. When she'd come through the door and reentered my life, her eyes red from crying, things began to crystallize in my mind and, equally important, in my heart.

I'd given her peck-like kisses when we were fooling everyone, but the kisses today were something entirely different. I'd seen her eyes without the glasses, but I think I'd forgotten how fascinating they were. Plus, I'd seen her in a bathing suit more than once at the cottage. Not spectacular, but very, very nice. So nice that my body was reacting to the pictures my mind was remembering ... and creating. And she was right here in my arms.

"Do you have plans?" I asked and received a wide-eyed look from Lark. "I mean, were you going to be somewhere else tonight?"

She looked relieved. "Are you asking me to stay here tonight? I mean, we haven't even had a first date yet." The smile I was receiving was so beguiling I couldn't take my eyes away from it.

"I think we've had way more than a first date," I replied in almost a whisper.

She chuckled, a sound that I cherished after the earlier tears.

"In that case, okay, I'll stay."

Suddenly reality grabbed hold of me. If this fine, sweet, gentle ... and very desirable lady was spending the night with me, what might be about to happen? I only had one bed. The couch was fine to sit on but not very comfortable to sleep on. When she'd said yes to spending the night, did that automatically mean that we'd be sleeping together? And if we slept together, would there be more than sleeping taking place?

It seemed to me that she had a very knowing look on her face. What was she thinking? And could those thoughts be the same as mine? What would she say if I told her I needed to make a quick trip to the pharmacy or supermarket?

"I can hardly believe this is happening. I came here to dump my load on you, knowing how I felt about you but almost unwilling to admit it to myself. I dumped, and then I shared my feelings, and I expected you to react like I was crazy. But you didn't."

"I think it took you talking to me and telling me I was the perfect guy to see that I really was the perfect guy."

She rolled her eyes. "I thought you weren't going to tease."

With a laugh, I said, "What I meant to say was that we were the perfect couple."

She giggled. "Much better. But you know what? I'm hungry. I had a protein bar for breakfast and nothing else, worrying about what would happen when I saw you." She had a pleading look on her face.

"Perfect," I said. "Lark, will you go out to dinner with me?"

"Our first date," she squealed. "I will, and let's hurry."

We jumped in the car, and she told me that anywhere I wanted to go was fine as long as it didn't involve crawfish. I suggested Chinese, and she approved.

I ate my chicken fried rice and watched her eat hers. with mixed emotions. It was delicious, and I was hungry. But Lark seemed even more delicious, and I was hungry for her. I wasn't an expert in reading body language, but it looked to me like Lark's thoughts were echoing mine. We each ate half, asked for a to-go box, and left.

As I pulled away from our parking spot, Lark pointed out the front window. Without looking at me, she spoke.

"Are you going to stop there?"

I followed her finger, which was pointing to a large supermarket.

I stopped at the supermarket, and then we hurried home. I was nearly panting by the time we were inside. My mind was racing, trying to picture what might be happening next.

~~~

Lark

What had I just set in motion by pointing out the supermarket to Alex? I mean, he was my guy, and I was anticipating spending a lot of time with him, perhaps the rest of my life. When I'd realized that, it had shocked me. I certainly wasn't committed to spinsterhood, but neither had I anticipated this Alex happening.

Now, we were headed to his apartment, and I was sure what thoughts were filling his mind. I'd played doctor when I was little and messed around just a tiny bit with a guy I met during my freshman year, but nothing serious. Nothing like what I'm sure we were both thinking about now.

Of course, typical of myself, I began to worry. What would he think of ... of me? He'd seen me in my bathing suit at the cottage; I knew that. He hadn't seen me in the blue bikini that Caroline said made me look hot. My body wasn't going to change any in the next few minutes, but it still made me nervous.

As we drove, he kept glancing over at me and smiling, and I struggled to smile back. I was intensely excited as the hormones raced through my body and almost as intensely uncertain since all of this was totally new.

We parked and hurried inside, Alex clutching the small bag as we walked. The door closed behind me, and I was immediately engulfed by his arms. The kiss I was getting now was so different from the ones before, little noises coming from both our throats as his tongue forced itself between my lips. My tongue seemed to instinctively know just what to do as it sought his, and they seemed to dance together.