She undid the towel wrapped around her modest frame and placed on the hook next to her shower. Sliding the curtain aside, she gingerly dipped her right foot into the bathtub, and she was instantly greeted with the warmth of the water as it enveloped around her.
Letting out a long breath, she placed her left foot inside and nestled down into the bath. She could feel the intensity of heat as the water brushed up against her shivering body.
The weather outside was always unpredictable and today was no different. It was supposed to be warm outside, but instead she had worn so many layers of clothing to school she thought it was ridiculous. Why do those weathermen get paid if they can't tell us what I have to wear?
Ah well, that was the worries of earlier today, and those thoughts slipped easily into the background of her mind.
To the forefront emerged a lone figure, and he was not at all a stranger to her. Not a stranger to occupying her thoughts that is.
While she had never technically crossed paths with him, she felt a closeness she could not put into words.
And trust in the fact she had tried to do so on many an occasion. He had fallen into her lap through the circuits and static of the information superhighway. And she has not let him stray from her ever since, though that has been quite the challenge.
She chuckled at that thought, as her right thigh emerged from underneath the water and her hands absently ran soap across her smooth skin.
As she continued to wash her legs, she could not help but notice the uneasy feeling in her gut. Her abdomen was completely tied in knots, and she felt as if someone had unleashed a bevy of butterflies within her.
Hardly could she really complain at the fluttering that occupied her tummy, as she has long since had this sort of feeling for anyone, let alone someone she had not physically met.
Someone she could touch.
Look into his eyes.
Someone she could hold.
Place his hand within her own.
Someone she could simply see.
Inhale the rarity of his presence.
She had waited for so long, playing an extended game of cat and mouse with her quarry. Though at this stage, truth be known, she was uncertain if she was not in fact the one being hunted.
The thrill of the chase. Of the hunt.
And it was nearing its end.
The final stanza.
Climax.
She turned her attention to her shoulders, and then spreading the suds across the length of her arms.
What will he be like?
Will he be all that she has hoped for?
All that he has seemed to be?
This wasn't something she really did often. Yeah, sure, she had met people online and even ventured out to meet them before. A couple here and there. However, when it comes right down to it, those encounters have never lived up to her expectations.
For the most part, each episode has been one she would rather forget than hold on to for even the length of time it takes to brush her teeth. Oh, she thought, I need to make sure to do that before I go.
It was unusual for her to think the first time they would meet would be at night and she very well may spend the entirety of it with him.
She considered that for a moment. Doesn't that sound awful?
Who in their right mind meets someone for the first time and stays the night? What does that say to him about her? What does it speak of about her in general?
She buried her face in her hands, and after a few moments she just started laughing at herself.
It turned out to be quite the chuckle, and while she attempted to recover by closing her eyes and resting her head on the back of her bathtub, a loud shrill echoed throughout the bathroom startling her.
Her phone.
She reached out of the tub, grabbed the towel, and as she dried her hand she flipped open her cell phone. As she went to place the phone to her ear while still clutching into it with her towel, the phone slipped from her grasp. As it fell softly on the mat, she scooped it up and realized it was him.
"Sorry! I dropped you."
Oh, jeesh. What a klutz she was.
"I hope you don't mean for tonight?" was his reply.
He always was like that. So in control. He came across so cool, calm, and collected.
It only heightened her already intense fascination with him.
"No! Definitely not! I mean, of course we're still on for tonight, right?"
She stammered out her reply, the cool air leaking in through the bathroom door she had carelessly left slightly ajar.
"I can think of no better way to spend my evening than with your company, sweetheart. So I hope today went well? How was class?"
He was using that voice.
God, he always got to her with it. He was doing it on purpose, this she knew, and it was already starting to drive her wild.
It was so low and soothing. Almost hypnotic with the way he spoke. He had gotten her to say and do quite a few things she never thought she would using this voice. Grrrr!
"What's with the voice," she inquired playfully, hoping to provoke him, "you know what it does to me."
She could have sworn she heard him laugh, but if she did it was so abbreviated that she left it alone.
"I'm just trying to find out how your day went, dear, I thought that was something you liked about me?"
What a tease. He always did this, playing her own words back on her. Daring her to a battle of wits, a game in which he adored engaging in, but above all else one he absolutely loved winning.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was okay. I had to teach again today, and I really enjoyed the outcome of the lesson plan I made. I think it was well-received."
She tried to stay on topic, something he made difficult, as she began to drip dry in her bathroom.
Continuing in his awfully enticing voice, he said, "Well, that's good. Would that be the lesson plan you almost didn't finish?"
At which point he began whistling as if he was innocent of any treachery.
Of course, he was not.
"Oh, right, as if you had nothing to do with that. You know between school, work, and trying to sleep it was hard enough. Add you into the mix and I'm worn out!" she stated firmly but with an excited hint in her tone.
He smiled on the other end.
A smile for none to see.
"So you're saying I have worn you out, are you?"
The smile gone. Now he was grinning widely on the other end of the line.
"Yeah, that was lame. So you mentioned you had a request for me to wear?" she inquired with great consternation and an abundance of trepidation.
"I do."
Hmmmm. What was he up to?
"Okay. Well, what is it?"
He wasted no time in replying.
"What are your measurements. I will have a few gifts for you when you arrive later this evening."
She got very quiet. Unsure how to accept this statement and in what way to process it, she was at a loss for words. What was he up to? She doesn't just tell anyone her size! And what were their plans anyway? He always hinted at a surprise she'd love, and he'd never come off his stance of not sharing any information on what that was.
"So? What are they, sweetheart?"
She gave in.
His voice.
Intoxicated with his smooth delivery and tantalizing personality, she rattled off the figures and asked once more what his plan was.
"You'll see tonight. I'll expect you at not a moment after 8 o'clock, deal?"
"Deal."
"Guess you better hurry up and finish getting ready then, huh? Oh, and I hope you like surprises."
She was about to reply when he cut her off.
"See you soon, dear. Mwah!
Click.
What was she doing?
What has she gotten herself into?
How was he able to make her feel so alive?
So real.
When for so long she felt so alone.
So out of touch.
Was he real?
She could only hope as she glanced down at the time on her phone.
She would find out soon enough.
Only a few hours away now.
There she stood.
Just a short ride away from everything she wanted and feared.
There was a sense of finality to it all.
This born in that of a new beginning.
Her mind had been racing all day, and it seemed rather intent on continuing to do so for a good while longer. He seemed so smug and confident when he spoke with her, and she could hardly say it wasn't an attractive quality. In fact, it was one of the things she liked most about him.
For reasons she could not explain, he simply had this way about him that came across as confident and even a bit conceited while maintaining a shred of modesty. Almost as if he was simply stating a commonly shared idea when he spoke glowingly about himself.
After some thought, he probably was. She found him to be everything he had said and so much more. The leaves of sincerity that tumbled so easily as he spoke were caught up in the winds of their courtship and were swirling about her from head to toe.
She felt like she knew him on so many levels.
It was as if she had known him for years before they spoke, and after conversing he only cemented that feeling. There was a connection between the two that was undeniable to either part, and he often spoke of her, which drove her wild.
All of this when she simply was browsing online and reading about random individual's personal lives to pass the time late one evening.
Now look at where that curious glimpse into his life had seated her.
At the altar of making a change in her life that she did not expect nor entirely desire when they crossed paths.
Never was it her intention to actually coax along a potential personal relationship from her online escapades. Idle chatter was one thing, but to develop such a deep and intimate personal affection for someone through cable wire and telephone lines?
Almost unthinkable.
Almost.
There she stood in tight blue jeans and a form-fitting burgundy shirt as she sneaked a peak in her mirror.
Looking at her reflection, she pondered whether it was too overt for the evening's affairs. While she was presenting a rather casual attitude, she didn't want to come off as attempting to show off her delicate curves.
Truth be told, she was never very secure with her body, and that lack of comfort has taken her years to come to grips with.
It was a double-edged sword for her, really, either someone was only enticed by her physical features or they wrote her off due to those very same traits.
Don't mistake her, though, she was not at all displeased with the way she looked, in fact in recent time she had learned to appreciate her beauty all the more and find ways to accentuate it, but her body would always be a source of both pride and frustration.
She enjoyed some photos of herself, yet others she despised. It had little to do with herself, but more the feeling each picture represented. It became a way of life almost for her to live through these moments.
You are only young once.
Savor those precious seconds before one turns old and gray.
So she straightened the shirt some, and adjusted the way the jeans hugged her hips, and still she was unsatisfied.
She retreated to her closet and began rummaging once more for something a little less provocative.
Buzz.
Thump.
