Forced Perspective

Dad had a scowl on his face. I think he wanted to say something but said nothing, Greg for the first time in his life, he couldn't say anything to me. "It's only a little bit of money coming in now, however over the next couple of years, I think I could be worth quite a bit, and I get to travel to interesting places to do research." I had left my parents speechless for the first time, and my family had nothing to say. It wasn't praised as I got from Jack, but neither was it insults and berating like normal.

That week I went back to work and study happy, and you couldn't wipe the smile off my face. Each month I would head back to lunch with my parents, and it was different. Of course, I wasn't entirely included, Joan, Greg, and Dad never had any more time for me than they ever did, but mum and a few of the family friends appeared to be interested in what I was doing.

Then one Sunday, I turned up, and mum appeared nervous. I hugged her, acknowledged without too much warmth my siblings and father, and went to say hello to the day's guests. As I mentioned before, mum and dad always had different people on Sundays, and today was no exception. I mingled for a bit; I grabbed a plate of food and went and sat down in my usual spot out of the way to enjoy my BBQ cooked sausages, potato salad, crusty bread rolls, and people watch for a while. While I was not as socially awkward as I used to be, I still didn't interact that well with this crowd of people, especially those my parents hung around.

"Hi, mind if I sit here?"

It was as if I had heard the voice of an angel, I repositioned my gaze, and there she stood. If I appreciated my mustang's colour, forms, and curves, then the vision before me made my car pale in comparison. She was tall and thin, looking like just a bit under 6". She had long soft brown hair that was almost down to her waist, her breasts were small, around 32 A's, but they fit her frame perfectly, her waist was tight, and she looked like she had an amazing ass under the jeans she was wearing.

Her face was cute, big brown eyes, a button nose and soft lips, she wore big thick-rimmed glasses, but they added to the look of her face. I think she had spoken to me a moment ago.

"Ah, sorry?"

She giggled; I think she knew I was caught staring.

"Do you mind if I sit here? I wanted to sit and eat."

"Sure"

"I'm Harry."

"Dianna"

Over the next hour, we talked about everything we could think of, from current movies and tastes in music to some of my chemistry work and cars like my mustang. Dianna was at college learning counselling to become an abuse counsellor, loved dogs, not cats, was a fan of sci-fi movies and was into console gaming. She lived about half an hour out of town, surprisingly on my way back to my unit, and I must say by the time I had to go, I was smitten. We were still chatting when mum came out looking for me.

"Harry?"

"Yes, mum?"

Locating me and walking over to where Dianna and I were sitting, she saw Dianna and hesitated. "Dianna, how are you, sweetie". They exchanged pleasantries; apparently, Dianna had worked for dad recently, which is how she got invited.

"Harry, I was wondering if you could do me a favour, Dianna's lift had to leave early because of a family situation, and as you're going by her house on the way home, I was wondering if you could drop her off for me?"

"Sure, mum, that's if Dianna doesn't mind riding with me?"

She put a hand on my arm, "I'd love to, Harry."

Mum looked relieved; I suppose she wouldn't need to ask someone to go out of their way to drop Dianna off. Twenty minutes later, I was ready to leave, and Dianna was happy to leave with me. I hugged mum, and as I walked out, waved to dad. For the first time, he smiled at me and waved back. Weird.

Dianna was suitably impressed with the ride in my mustang, and we continued to talk back to her place. Finally, she directed me to a small unit complex similar to the one I lived in my first days away from my parents.

"It's not much; two girls and I share a three-bedroom flat, we all chip in and get by"

"I would be the last to judge until recently. I lived in something similar, but just one bedroom and no flatmates."

She looked over at me, and I could see she wanted to say something as we were sitting in my car. "I had a nice time this afternoon; for the most part, your family don't hold you in a favourable light, but this afternoon I saw someone who cared enough about his family that despite the gap between you, you came anyway."

"Dianna, that's one of the nicest things that anyone has ever said to me."

There was an awkward silence as the conversation tapered off for the first time in hours, we both knew that Dianna needed to head inside, but she was hesitant.

"Dianna"

"Yes"

"Ummm" I wanted to ask her out, but I had no idea how. I'd never been attracted to a girl before, and I suppose that no girl had ever paid attention to me,

"Next Friday", she said

"Next Friday?"

"Yes, Harry, you were trying to ask me out next Friday to go and see the new marvel movie weren't you?" she was looking at the dashboard of my car, just a little demurely, blushing and giving me the opportunity that I wanted and felt had been growing all evening

"Yes, Friday!" we exchanged numbers, emails and the usual things. And I wanted to kiss her goodnight, but I settled for an awkward hug.

I drove home, and though I didn't sleep a wink, I was floating on air at my lecture in the morning and work in the afternoon. Finally, after a couple of hours, Norman pulled me aside, "Harry would I be right in assuming that you have met someone?"

Blushing, it just all came out of me. "Yeah, Norman, she's beautiful; I met her at my parents, her name is Dianna, she's studying at college and lives not too far away; Friday night, we're going to go and see a movie." Norman thought it was cute, 'puppy love' he kept mentioning for the rest of the week. He kept me focused, though; mistakes in the lab could cost a lot of money, but my process could have explosive consequences if done incorrectly.

Dianna and I spoke on the phone a couple of times that week, and when Friday afternoon came, I was nervous, so I called Jack. He had talked to Norman, so he had an idea of what I was going through. For the first ten minutes, I gave him Dianna's rundown and my conversation and told him I was worried I'd screw up my first ever date.

He laughed, "It's ok, Harry, some nerves show that you like the girl, but you're going to a movie, so it's not going to be too awkward, for most of the time you will be focused on the movie. So wear your really good dark blue jeans, that white shirt and white sneakers we bought you a while ago, don't forget to brush your teeth and wear deodorant. Just be your usual charming self. You'll do fine."

"But I'm not charming!"

"Harry, I don't think you see it, but the girls check you out all the time; you don't see it. Just yesterday, a couple of the lab tech girls kept their eyes on you as you walked up and down the lab. between your evolving dress sense, being a young guy driving a mustang and the confidence you have in your work, trust me, they notice you; it sounds like this Dianna has noticed and wants to stake a claim before someone else does."

That just made me more nervous.

That night as promised, I picked Dianna up at seven, we drove straight to the moves for the seven-thirty session. We both loved the movie. Marvel always do well with the story, how the film connects, their special effects. This one also had quite a bit of humour, so we laughed a lot. In one hilarious scene where the main character got caught literally with his pants down by his love interest before he could turn invisible, Dianna reached over and grabbed my hand; she was laughing so hard. When the scene was over, she left her hand in mine. I really couldn't complain. However, I think we might need to see the movie again as my attention ended up being split between the screen and my handheld by Dianna.

After the movie, still holding hands, we walked to a café just outside the cinema, Dianna dragged me over, and we sat down and ordered Italian hot chocolates. If you have never had one, you need to, and they are divine. Think of a thick chocolate shake only made out of hot chocolate. It's warm and so thick you can stand a spoon in it. We started talking about the movie we just watched, the potential sequels, then we moved more into personal territory, speaking about what we wanted in the future from our jobs, we talked about my car. I went out on a nervous first date lib and complimented her on how beautiful she looked, dressed in dark jeans with a light blue blouse and navy pumps, her hair was brushed to a sheen and tied back, and she had a pair of thin-framed glasses as opposed to the thicker ones that just fit like her larger ones. However, what made my evening was that we discovered that we had a shared passion, people watching.

Have you ever just sat and watched the people around you, how they walk, what actions they take as they react to the objects and people around them? We found we loved to people watch and make up silly stories as we watched people walk around. One couple, we pretended that they were Russian spies trying to gain intelligence about our little town. Another older couple were hurrying back before the curfew at the retirement home, or the head warden would put them on rations. Another young couple walked hand in hand, kissing every few meters, and they were Romeo and Juliet from opposing houses but finding love! We laughed and smirked, and I thought we had a great evening.

After such a great evening, I didn't want to head home, but it was getting late, so we drove back to her place. Again, I got out, came around and opened her door. She got out and hugged me, but she then surprised me and gave me and gave me a light and quick kiss on the lips, but the effect was instantaneous. Dianna giggled and stood away. "Harry next Friday."

"Yes?"

"You're taking me out next Friday!"

"Oh yes, you've got it; undomesticated equines could not keep me away!"

She laughed, getting the reference instantly.

The next few months saw together almost every weekend and even a few evenings a week. We spent a lot of time talking, holding hands and quite a few chaste kisses. I got to meet her flatmate, Cindy, a slightly older lady. She was blonde and well endowed but dressed conserved, and Dawn, a small and mousy brunette, pretty much kept to herself. I got the opportunity to introduce Dianna to Norman, show her around the office, and met a few of the lab team. I noticed a few of the girls started a little longer than was polite as I introduced Dianna around; perhaps Norman was right, and Dianna was staking a claim. We tended to travel together a lot; she had a little old Datsun, so we often went everywhere together in my mustang. I bought us both pairs of aviators, with hers being prescription. Dianna was a little perplexed and felt guilty because the cost was close to three hundred dollars; however, I think I was falling hard for her and wanted to pamper her a little.

"Dianna, let me buy these for you. What very few people know is that I have quite a bit of money between my patent royalties and the business that Norman and I have; buying you some sunglasses so you can ride with me is not going to affect my bank balance." And we did look good in our matches aviators getting out of the mustang if I say so myself.

I would say we had been hanging out almost two months, really enjoying each other's companies, when the dynamic between us changed again. It was a Sunday as opposed to Saturday family lunch at my parents' house. We both sitting in our usual spot, just out of the way of everyone, and we were engaging in our favourite pastime of people watching. At the same time, we ate a little food when Greg came over to us, waving a newspaper in front of our faces trying to get everyone's attention because he thought he had something that might embarrass me.

"Hey mistake, what's this", he said waving the paper in front of me, "It must be wrong because you are a.... Mistake". He laughed at his poor joke, but what he thought was funny made Dianna's day. She grabbed the page and frowned while she read it a moment, then smiled like a sunrise, looking over at me and winking. This could be interesting!

"Greg, this newspaper article you're referring to thinking to embarrass your brother", she swatted the page with her hand. "Is a feeder article to a much larger piece that New Business magazine is doing on an innovative young entrepreneur getting attention all around the world!"

"So why would the mistake be mentioned. Did he screw up, so the paper put his photo in as a way to highlight his stupidity!" He was laughing at his joke; however, everyone else wasn't laughing. I think they may have sensed that this was not going to go Greg's way. I sat saying nothing, but a big grin was growing on my face moment by moment.

"Actually", she paused for effect, "Harry is the focus of not only the newspaper but the full article; I was there when they came to his office and interviewed him. Although the amount of time that they referred to him as the hottest young entrepreneur on the planet was a little embarrassing," she was proud. "And what I find cool is that Harry, my BOYFRIEND!" She almost yelled the name. "Is being honoured not only for his discoveries in the scientific realm, but the cleverness putting worth over ten million dollars in under a year!"

Everyone stopped; pretty much everyone's jaws dropped. Greg wasn't sure what had just happened. My mother had a combined look of shock and pride; my father just stared, the family friends around were doing double takes and were looking at me, trying to reassess everything they had heard about me. Dianna had a big shit-eating grin looking like the cat the swallowed the canary. Me, I was shocked. My big grin from seeing Greg embarrassed was replaced quickly with a look of total shock. I had just been called someone's boyfriend.

It took everyone more than a moment as we all absorbed different information. Then, in the centre of it all, Dianna looked at me and smiled, pushing her glasses up on her nose, looking like the most intelligent person in the room, to me at that moment she was!

Then I was the focus of everyone's attention as everyone wanted to know everything about the article. Finally, someone took the newspaper and read it out loud, and the questions started. I explained that my patent around the creation and recycling of plastic, and the business that Norman and I had begun to create the compounds using a formula based around the patent, was getting international attention. Big business was buying our product as fast as possible to test it and see if it held up to claims. I knew that when it worked, then we would need to expand capabilities in several countries drastically. The interrogation was relentless that afternoon. Everyone wanted to know how much I was making, was going to be famous, was an opportunity for them to be a part of my business.

My family was mixed; when I described the money and opportunity, they all lit up. However, when I told everyone that investment comes later and that jobs were only for people trained in the industry, they all looked crestfallen. Dad, in particular, had gone from the shook bad to his usual scowl when it came to me. I suppose he thought he was entitled to my discoveries and money just because he was my father. The one funny one was that Joan suddenly started to pay me attention. I guess she thought I was worth something or could give her money for nothing because she was my sister. Honestly, though, while I wasn't above helping out family, I didn't want to provide them with anything. They had treated me as a second-class citizen growing up. They weren't poor with dad's construction business, so in my mind, they could keep their money, and I would keep mine.

There were a couple of other things of note that afternoon. The first one was that when the excitement died down, Dianna came and sat on my lap and planted the biggest kiss I have had in my entire life on me, this wasn't the little pecks on the lips that we had been giving each other, but a full lip lock, I felt a thrill when her lounge danced with mine. After she pulled back, keeping an arm around my neck and looked into my eyes, with a look that I could only describe as sultry.

I was only nineteen, and Dianna was not even six months behind me. Never having been with a girl before, now I was taken.

"I'm your boyfriend, eh?"

"Yes, silly, she said, looking back at me. You are my boyfriend, and I'm your girlfriend."

I smiled up at those big brown searching eyes and pulled her in for another kiss. It was only my second serious kiss, and dammm, I think I loved kissing! While we had been holding hands a lot, from that moment, any time that Dianna and I were in the same room together, you could look at us and see there was always a part of us touching.

It didn't make sense to me at the time; however, something else significant that happened that afternoon followed not long before Dianna and I left. Everyone pitched in, helping to clean up. Usually, that meant the guys cleared dishes away, put rubbish in the bins, and straightened up. Usually, I wiped down the tables and took the garbage collected over to the bins, and today was no exception. Dianna had gone in to help rinse and stack the dishwasher, and when I came in it, it looked like mum, dad and Greg were all talking to her. She seemed slightly flushed and caught my eye but said nothing more of it. When I walked over, mum and Dianna glanced at me, then dad and Greg just walked away. I lead Dianna over to the other side of the room, away from everyone else,

"What's wrong Di?"

For a moment, she hesitated, then looked deep in my eyes,

"Nothing that you need to worry about now."

"But you're worried. Did my parents say something to upset you?"

Again, she slightly hesitated then nodded. For a moment, she thought, then looking down at her hands, she again spoke to me.

"Yes, at the core of it was that they didn't like that I announced your success and that I shamed Greg in front of everyone. They don't think of you the same way I do; to them, you're a failure, but if you were going to be successful, they want it to be on their terms, and I think your Roger thinks he should be in charge; of your money."

I frowned, "Well, Greg did that to himself, and he should have thought about it before opening his mouth. However, he's always been that way. He calls me the mistake because mum and dad were not expecting to have me, he and Joan were planned, I wasn't. He's never liked it anytime that I was put in the spotlight, and not only did you announce the articles and how successful the business that Norman and I are creating is, but you also announced yourself as my girlfriend." She blushed at that. I drew her hand in and kissed it. "As for dad thinking that I should acknowledge him as the reason for my success and let him run my money, that is never going to happen. Outside of Jack and Norman, no one has shown an interest in me or my success until you. But now I also have the challenge to look after someone I am quite taken with, so I'm going to work hard to be the boyfriend that you need."

"Oh Harry", she fell into my lap then while pushing me down on the couch. Mum watched from over in the kitchen but didn't say anything. Sitting in my lap, Dianna put her arms around me and put her head to my chest. She may have cried a little. I don't know.

The next few months, we're like a dream. Dianna and I spent as much time together as possible, she was starting to come to my place a whole lot more, and we had some tremendous make-out sessions. I even got to feel her up a little, and she especially liked it when I would slide my hands up from her waist to brush the sides of her breasts and then down again. I found that she sometimes didn't wear a bra, and while I was tempted to do more than brush the side of her breasts with my hand, I didn't. It was some of the most challenging resistance training that I had done in my life. When we made out, her kisses were passionate, and she had put her thigh against my hard cock more than a few times. I could sense that we were approaching a line. We were getting more and more physical with each other. However, I don't think we were ready; sex was likely in our future, perhaps even our near future, but not just yet.