Beauty and the Beholder

"Charlie?" She was doing everything she could to keep the tears out of her eyes but she could tell the minute she spoke she couldn't keep them out of her voice.

"Hmm?" He looked down at her. She wasn't terribly short but with his height it was a bit awkward. Looking into her eyes, his heart sank with sympathy. He hurt for her, it was a difficult situation however you looked at it.

"Can we take a walk?"

"Sure. Wait right here... 30 seconds." He never left her sight and she watched him the way a toddler eyes a cookie. The party was a horrible idea. She had talked it over with everyone she knew and they all said she had to make an appearance. From the minute she walked in she knew everyone of them were wrong. Yes, it was an important client. Yes, she had spent a lot of time on the pitch. But all that time, every minute of it she had spent in the office, she had been there to be with him.

He had been so much fun. He took her to lunch, he took her to dinner. They spent late nights sitting in conference rooms running through data and building cardboard models. He had touched her hand. His leg had brushed hers and she had brushed back. She can clearly remember looking up at him at that moment and seeing him smile.

And then the email went out. How many people it had gotten around to she didn't know. The project was looking good and he was putting together a team to run with it. Someone had brought up her name. He had responded simply... "A couple of months are okay but there is no way I can have a love sick cow on my heels permanently."

So here she was. Everyone she worked with, everyone she counted as friends, and she couldn't stand to be with any of them. She just had to leave. Charlie was back, a bottle of red wine and plastic cups in his hand. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!" She didn't want to, but she had to smile at him.

Walking along the pathway through the resort she didn't say anything. He was nice, and walked in silence with her. Passing first the pool and then the darkened tennis courts the pathway opened onto the boardwalk and the bay beyond.

"You warned me." The truth was, he had. Long before her crush had gotten out of control he had warned her. Sitting in the Starbucks across the street she was munching on a muffin telling him how much she loved her current project and hinting heavily it had more to do with the project manager than the work at hand.

"Well, some guys just aren't worth the trouble." He set the bottle on the railing and slipped up behind her. Puzzled ,and a little shocked, he took her by the waist and in a quick smooth motion lifted her up till she was sitting on the railing, her feet dangling over the quiet lapping of the water on the rocks below. She was quiet again and so was he.

They sipped at the wine and watched the lights across the water. There was a sense of movement hard to place. Whether it was the night air, the water, perhaps the wine, she was feeling better. She looked over at Charlie. He was tall, with long hair and sweet eyes. He wasn't heavy but he wasn't thin. He looked different tonight and she had been too caught up in her own thoughts to place it. Looking at him now, feeling the alcohol warm her from inside, she found herself noticing for the first time his lips. She was thinking about his lips. "You shaved!"

He chuckled back at her. "Yeah, like a week ago!"

"Oh my god! I am such a sucky friend!"

"No you're not Terry. That's the problem; you are too good a friend." He smiled at her and she wondered if the sadness she saw in his eyes was his own or was he just reflecting what she had been thinking all night.

The comfortable silence came back. She wanted to say something but wasn't sure what she wanted to say. She never had a problem saying what was on her mind, at this moment, the only thing on her mind was how nice it was not to have to say anything. He topped off her glass with the end of the bottle and wandered away the few yards to a trash can. She watched him walk away but turned back to the ocean before he could catch her.

Before he said anything she felt him back at her side again. She was feeling things she was used to feeling but she felt them in an entirely new way. Where was the tightness that was supposed to grip her? Where was the nervousness? He sat back down beside her. She wanted to lay her head on his shoulder. Even more, she wanted him to touch her.

"Charlie?"

"Hm?"

"Charlie, do you think I'm a cow?"

"Oh, good lord."

"It's okay, I know you do! It's okay. I know what I look like."

"Terri, you are crazy."

"No, I know. I could use a trip to the gym."

"Terri... I... Just stop it, okay?"

"What."

"Come on, My ass is falling asleep."

They reached the pool again. He didn't want to take her back to the company shindig, that didn't seem the way to go. He really didn't want her to go anywhere. He really, really just wanted to be right here with her right now. Subconsciously, he came to a stop. She had gone on a pace or two before realizing and turning around.

She stood in front of him half lit by the glowing blue of the pool off to her left. Her hair was red, it was an artificial red of course but he couldn't imagine it any other color. Her skin was pale and had the softness of cream. Not one day since he had met her had he not wondered what it would be like to taste her moist lips or to lay his hand on her smooth, warm, pale, skin. He had held this back for two years. This couldn't possibly be the night to let it out. He couldn't. She was still reeling from the last week. He was still her friend.

"Ask me that question again." If she could just ask the wrong question he was off the hook.

"Which?" she said, taking a step forward. He held steady. He didn't say a word. She took another step towards him and was close enough now he could smell her. Cocoabutter and flowers. "Oh." And she took the last step separating them. She was looking straight up into his eyes. "Do you... do you think I am pretty?"

"That wasn't how your phrased it the first time." And he raised his hand and laid it to her cheek. She felt exactly as he had always hoped. She felt soft. She felt warm. She felt... electric. "Terri, I think you are beautiful."

She kissed his hand first and then he bent down towards her. Magnetically their lips sought each other out until they met. She tasted as sweet as he had imagined. She was seduced instantly by the softness of his mouth as he kissed her. She parted her lips and took in his breath as she pushed her body against his.

It was no more than a moment or two but it felt like an eternity before the embrace broke and they stood alone in the dark. He felt as though he was trembling and she pressed herself to him. She laid her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around him. He felt so big pressed against her. She had never been with a man like him, never even dated anyone so tall. Standing in the night holding him she thought for the first time of them being together. She thought of his weight atop her. Her heart quickened at the idea. She broke away and led him now, back up the path toward the lobby. Her car waited. Beyond that lay her apartment and a life together. She stopped herself. A night together was enough for now.