Charmed Encounter

Lauren was a 45-year-old single woman. She was single by choice and not by lack of attention. There were suitors but, she just hadn't found that one, that special person that she had in mind. Sometimes, she wondered if perhaps her standards and expectations were too high. Maybe, although, she doubted that strongly. Her person was out there. She would know it, when they met. Until then, there was no need to get involved with someone for the sake of not being alone. What good could come of that? If she did that, she would not be honest with her lover or herself.

She considered herself to be modestly pretty. Lauren had never been the type to go on about her looks, although she was attractive. She had a nice curvaceous form that managed to catch a pair of observant eyes even now. Her presence and overall charisma allowed her a ten- year-leeway, when it came to her age. Very few people perceived her to be her factual age. There might even have been a few who had thought that our dear Lauren had stumbled upon the fountain of youth by the bounce that she could have in her step on any given day.

She stood quietly inside a bookstore in the openly gay part of town, doing her best to choose from the books before her. Lauren raked her fingers through her long black hair, brushing the full curls from her eyes. She ignored the faint rustle of her blue jacket, taking more interest in the woman, who had just entered the bookstore. Her brown eyes tried not to stare but, the beautiful smile that the young woman greeted the employees at the front entrance with was hard to look away from. She shyly dipped her head as the woman came closer. Her hands slipped within the pockets of her jeans while she inwardly commanded her thoughts to focus once more on the task of selecting a book to read.

When Lauren's peripheral vision captured the petite young woman, she allowed her mind to take inventory. If she didn't say hello, she might as well have fodder for fantasy while within her bed tonight.

Lauren noticed that the woman was shorter than she was. She guessed that the woman was around 5'3. Of course, that was her true height without those black heeled boots that were adding a nice little touch to those faded jeans which fitted much too nicely to the woman legs.

"And more importantly," Lauren thought, "her ass."

The feeling of her lips upturned at the site of those jeans filled so wonderfully made Lauren begin blushing just a bit. She continued her surreptitious gaze, despite it.

The slope of the young woman's backside met a strong back, rising upward still, to delicate shoulders and a long neck which held a patient oval face. Shoulder-length mahogany hair bordered, dangerously close to black. Only the light reflecting from the lighting above revealed its true color by glinting off the reddish hue hidden at first glance.

Lauren held her breath as the caramel-skinned woman shrugged out of her black leather jacket, then crouched down to look at the lower shelves. It was then that she too felt a bit warm in this store. Her gaze feasted on the full breasts being housed upon that petite form. The gray turtle-necked sweater that had been hidden beneath the jacket molded perfectly to this young woman's upper body. If she were to guess, Lauren would say that this woman was in her mid- twenties.

With a sudden jerk, the young woman stood up. She scooped her jacket from where she had rested it on the floor then began walking toward Lauren.

Lauren tensed as the woman came closer. She debated saying a quick, greeting but, found herself worrying about other things as a bookstore employee came up the aisle from the other side. She was about to be surrounded within a few moments. With this guy coming, she doubted very much that she would have the opportunity to speak with this intriguing young woman.

"Ma'am," the young man said with a smile. "Is there anything that I can help you find?"

"Um, Actually," Lauren stammered. "I want— "

"Excuse me," the young woman smirked. She gently eased her way through the crowded aisle brushing seductively against Lauren in passing.

Lauren swallowed the arousal rising within her throat at the brush and more importantly the knowing smile, that accompanied it. Her eyes followed the woman down the aisle and around to the other side. The aisles were all short enough for her to clearly see over. She wondered if the woman had stopped directly in front of her on purpose, granting her the chance to study her once more only this time from behind.

The young man chuckled softly under his breath. "I'd say, you know what you are looking for, today. Let us know if we can um... help."

Laughing at herself for being caught in her admiration, Lauren promised to find him if she needed help with... a book. For several minutes after he left, she did try very hard to ignore the woman standing in front of her view. When she witnessed the woman bending over in a way that showcased her heart-shaped behind, she finally gave up all attempts at ignoring what clearly did not want to be ignored.

Leaning forward, Lauren crossed her arms, resting them along the top of the book while using them as a pillow for her chin. "So are you doing that on purpose?" she asked with a genuine smile.

The young woman reached out for a book and then stopped with the question given to her. Long, delicate fingers rested along the spine of the book as she answered. "Doing what, Love?"

Lauren laughed. "Tormenting me."

"Is that what I'm doing?"

"Something tells me that you know exactly what you are doing."

Turning to face Lauren, the young woman smiled. She placed her hands above her head, simulating a halo.

"Yeah, right!" Lauren giggled. "I don't believe that for a minute!" Those deep brown eyes were much too mischievous to belong to any angel.

Full lips allowed a feigned gasp of shock to fill the air. "Lovely, you have offended my Spanish honor," she teased.

"We can't have that," Lauren chuckled. "Can we?"

"No, we cannot."

"So what do you want to do about it?"

The young woman smiled devilishly. Just as she was about to speak, another employee approached.

The twenty-something blonde smiled happily. "How are you, today, ladies? Is there anything that I could help you with?"

Lauren would have liked to tell her that she could really help her by notifying the entire staff to leave her alone with this woman so that she could possibly see where this bit of chemistry might lead but, opted to let her new friend handle it.

"Actually, I think we are doing pretty well on our own," the caramel-skinned woman said. She exchanged glances with Lauren which seemed to be asking, "Aren't we?"

Nodding, Lauren said, "Yes, we're doing just fine."

The blonde looked from one woman to the other wondering what she was missing. She stared at the women for a long moment, wondering if they were really looking for a book at all. When they began looking through the sections in front of them, she sighed. Then, she left the women to continue whatever she had obviously interrupted.

Lauren closed the book that she had been absently thumbing through while waiting for the curious blonde to leave. She looked up to see her new friend standing once again with her back to her. There was this slight fear that whatever they had been working toward was lost with the sudden interruption. This silence now was certainly a bit awkward. Her brown eyes studied the slight fidgeting from the younger woman on the other aisle.

Lauren smiled happily as the woman turned around and said, "Um, that shelf is kind of high. . . I would ask one of the salespeople but, they seem. . . kind of busy."

The salespeople were all bored witless. If this woman had, even, looked their' direction, one might have come running. Lauren decided to play along with this little ruse, if it meant that she would learn more about this woman. She walked around to the next aisle. Moving to stand directly behind the petite woman, she pressed herself subtly against her. She reached upward, taking down the book that the young woman had pointed to.

"What's your name?" Lauren whispered into a delicate ear. As the woman beside her turned through the pages, she looked over her shoulder, pretending to take interest in the book as a few bookstore employees glanced their way.

"My name's Deanna. What's yours?"

Lauren let the name sink into her every fiber before answering. "I'm Lauren."

"Lauren?"

"Yes?" Lauren felt her heart racing within her breast.

Leaning closer, Deanna asked, "Why are we whispering?"

Lauren smiled against Deanna's ear. "Would you believe it is because we are inside a bookstore and should be quiet?" she joked.

"Nope. Besides, that rule is for the library."

"No, I think that one goes for bookstores, too."

Deanna laughed softly. She was enjoying her playful banter with Lauren. In a show of affection, she gently nudged the woman beside her. "So how's the coffee in this place?" she asked, trying to keep her voice low but, not quite a whisper.

"Oh, it's great if you enjoy drinking crude oil." Lauren felt her heart swell with the sound of Deanna's laughter.

"That bad, huh?"

"Oh, it's awful. I once saw this poor woman wheeled out of here after eating a muffin which had been in their display for a month."

Deanna arched her eyebrow with a smirk. "You're tweaking my nips."

Lauren sighed as her imagination thought of her reenacting those words. She would love to do anything for this woman especially playing or teasing at her nipples. "Ok, so maybe it wasn't quite a month," she admitted.

"Mm-hmm."

"It was more like two weeks but, still— "

Once again Deanna's laughter warmed her soul. Lauren smiled broadly. "There is a nice little coffee shop a few stores down."

Deanna smirked. She pointed over her shoulder to the area which Lauren had been struggling to select a book. "Ok, I'll grab us, a table, while you decide on a book."

Nodding Lauren hurried to return to the books which had been holding her interest. She stopped in mid-stride. "Hey, what about you? Didn't you want to get a book?"

Beginning to walk away, Deanna shook her head. "No."

"Then what are you doing, here?"

Deanna chuckled. "My friend works up here. I was just wondering if she was working. She isn't so I was just— " She bit playfully at her bottom lip. "Uh, browsing." She winked with a flirtatious wave. "See ya, soon."

Lauren stood staring after Deanna with a smile on her face. "Browsing, huh," she thought.

It didn't take long at all for Lauren to leave the bookstore and walk down to the coffee shop on the corner. Before she had even arrived at the shop, the scent of freshly brewed coffee tempted those walking by. She entered the warmth of the shop, feeling it vanquish the slight autumn chill. The woman sitting patiently at the corner table caught her eye.

Lauren approached with a smile as she observed the way that the sun filtered in on those nearby the floor to ceiling windows. It seemed to give all those people a warm glow. Deanna looking away from the window to greet her with a warm smile sent her heart skipping just a bit.

"Hey," she said, taking a seat opposite the young woman.

"Hi, love." Deanna looked down at the bag which Lauren was setting near her feet. "What did you wind up getting?"

Lauren smiled shyly. "I couldn't decide and wanted to hurry and meet you here so I just bought them both."

Deanna laughed as Lauren continued.

"Hey, I know better than to keep a beautiful woman waiting. It's bad manners."

Nodding, Deanna tried to keep a straight face but, her mischievous smirk seeped through. "We can't have that. Can we?"

"No, we can't." Lauren rested her chin in her hand, curling her fingers just under her lips. Her smile showed through her delicate fingers. She tilted her head just slightly while her brown eyes studied the woman looking out the windows once again.

There was a lengthy silence but, Lauren found that despite it, she was not awkward in the least. It was nice to simply be in each other's presence. In fact, it was quite nice. The soft sound of Deanna's voice broke that silence gently.

"Someone wishes to get your attention, lovely."

"Hmm," Lauren asked as if waking from a daze. She frowned then looked curiously around the coffee shop.

Janet, the woman behind the counter had been trying to wave her attention since she had joined Deanna at her table. She sighed in obvious relief that Lauren had finally noticed her. Silently, she mouthed the words, "Who's she?"

Lauren smiled, then shrugged which tormented her friend to no end before looking back to Deanna. "How did you know?"

"Eyes in the back of my head," Deanna joked. Her finger pointed to the reflective surface of the windows which allowed her to see everything taking place behind her. Even the sandy- blonde making her way to their table.

Lauren turned her head to see, Janet making her way to their table. She frowned in wonder. It was not the shop's policy to wait on customers like this. You ordered up front. So why, she wondered, was Janet asking them what they would like today?

Deanna smiled as she faced the woman waiting expectantly to hear her answer. "Bottled water, I guess."

Janet placed her hand on her hips. "Aw, come on. This is a coffee shop. What's your fix? Cappuccino, Café Latté, Frappuccino. . . I could keep going, you know?"

Laughing, Deanna nodded. "I'm sure you could, love. I just don't drink coffee."

Lauren and Janet looked at Deanna as though she had just spoken in a foreign language.

Janet motioned for Deanna to keep it down. "What are ya trying to do? Put us out of business." She smiled warmly. "How about hot chocolate then?"

Deanna nodded. "That I can do."

"Alright, one hot chocolate and the usual coming up," Janet announced happily.

"She has a usual?" Deanna asked with a smirk.

"Yep." Janet looked to her friend. "She's gotten the same thing for as long as I've been working here. Lauren always has a café au lait. " She patted Lauren's shoulder lightly. "I'll be right back with your drinks."

Deanna nodded before looking away to the windows.

Lauren blushed hotly as Janet made the "ok" sign with her hand and silently mouthed the word, "Nice." She was certain that Deanna could see Janet's every move. This theory was proven correct by the fact that she saw the corners of Deanna's mouth curl upward shortly after Janet's little declaration of approval.

Once they were alone, Lauren leaned forward. "Sorry about that, babe."

Deanna turned back to Lauren, who was looking at her with such genuine affection in her eyes. "Oh, that's okay. She's just being protective of you."

"She was being nosey not protective."

"She just wanted to know who you were with. It speaks very highly of you."

"How so?"

"That she cares about whom you are spending your time with, means she thinks a great deal about you and wants her friend happy. Which in turn, gives me reason to believe that there is a lot to think highly of."

Lauren felt this wonderful sense of comfort for the duration of their conversation. It was odd, to her, how easily, she seemed to just be at ease with Deanna. She did take notice of the fact that this had all happened in such a short time, where it usually might have taken several dates to reach the comfort level which she was at as she left the coffee shop with a smile. She and Deanna had exchanged numbers much to her delight. Things just seemed to have this charmed feel to them.

Entering her home, Lauren tried to go about this as usual but, her thoughts would drift to Deanna and what the young woman might be doing at any given moment. She often laughed at herself, knowing that she hadn't behaved this way since she was a teenager. So many times throughout the day, she wondered, just how long the proper dating etiquette required her to wait before calling Deanna. To distract herself from those thoughts, she ventured outside to the backyard with her dog, Jude.

A game of soccer between the two, found Lauren sitting down wearily on the porch. Her yellow Labrador rested her chin on Lauren's knee with a bit of a pout. Lauren huffed a laugh at the sad eyes.

"Jude, be merciful here," she joked rubbing her dog's ears. "Not all of us are still considered puppies." Lauren smiled affectionately at her dog before kicking the ball back out into the backyard.

Jude raced after the ball then, soon found contentment in her solitary game of soccer.

The phone ringing caused both, Lauren and Jude to look in the direction of the house.

"Play," Lauren said. She motioned for Jude to go on. "The machine will get it."

Jude barked then stared at Lauren before barking again.

Lauren sighed, waving off the ringing phone. "I'm tired. I'm not running in there just to talk to some telemarketer."

Again, Jude's bark filled the air.

Lauren stretched while smirking at her dog. "What is it, girl? Timmy is lost in the well?" She laughed as her dog began barking with more urgency. "I'm up. I'm up. Sheesh!" She entered the kitchen through the sliding door and reached for the phone on counter as she immediately recognized the voice telling her goodbye on the answering machine.

"Hello," she said unconsciously crossing her fingers.

"Hello, am I speaking with Lauren?"

"Yes, well that all depends on who is asking. I mean, I could tell you but, then I might have to kill you, " Lauren joked, trying to conceal her excitement, when she recognized Deanna's voice.

Deanna laughed in a way which wrapped itself around Lauren. "Oh, well, if that's the way you want to play it. I'll just have to find someone else to go out with."

Lauren thought she might have heard her heart thundering inside her ears. She tried to make a joke to take away from the tension building within herself. "So why didn't you call me sooner?"

A chuckle heard over the phone answered her question.

"Actually," Deanna responded. "I've been busy since I saw you."

"Really?"

"Yes. My family has a cabin that I like to go to sometimes, when I want to get away. I know that it is Sunday so the weekend is basically over but, I was thinking about taking the next two days off. Would you like to come to the cabin with me?"

Lauren held her breath. Her inner voice was screaming, "Of course, I'd love to go!" but, her more practical side was reminding her that she had only just met this woman. "Don't you think it is a little soon for you to be waltzing me off somewhere? I mean, we did just meet. Do you whisk away all the women that you meet in bookstores?"

"No."

Lauren flinched. She had meant that last question as a joke but, the even tone in Deanna's answer suggested that it might not have been taken as such.

Deanna's smile could be easily detected in her voice. "I don't know why but, I just get this really good feeling about you, I guess."

"A feeling," Lauren gasped with the sarcasm clearly heard in her voice. "But, we just met, Deanna."

"Geez, you're such a smartass," Deanna chuckled.

"Aw, you get used to it after a while."

"I'll get the chance to get used to it in the next few days, if you come with me."

Lauren laughed as she nodded her head. "Okay," she sighed happily. She did have the same wonderfully good feeling about this trip and Deanna. "What the hell, you only live once, right?"

"Is that a yes, lovely?"

"Yes, I'll go with you."

"Great! I'll pick you up tomorrow."

The excitement was proving to be contagious as Lauren found herself unable to wait until tomorrow. "Just call me in the morning and we will work out the details."

"Alright, love. Talk to you then. Bye."

"Bye," Lauren said softly.

That entire night Lauren had been brimming with excitement. She had finally forced herself to bed after reading for a bit. When she awoke the next morning, she went about packing for her trip after calling in to work and taking a few personal days. It felt nice to enjoy her morning without having to worry about being somewhere at a certain time for a certain reason. All she had to do was relax.