We had been talking for months online, and despite a relationship that had grown extraordinarily intense, we had so far managed to remain relatively anonymous to each other. We knew a few details of each other's everyday lives, but we hadn't even exchanged our real names, still calling each other by the names we had given ourselves in the role-play environment in which we had met. It was a fantasy world, with dark overtones, inhabited by people with very ordinary 'real' lives, but who chose to immerse themselves in this highly sexual virtual reality where boundaries were few. Some of these people I had got to know very well over the several years I had played there, and these I would consider to be close friends despite the slightly unconventional way in which we had met, and the unusual intimacies we had shared.
And then there was him. I'll call him Indigo, though that isn't even his character's name, but it sounds right. When we first 'met' I was attracted to him immediately, just by the words he had used to describe himself. Beautiful, poetic, erotic words. Words that made me want to touch him. Words that made me want to wind myself around him and just soak in his heat.
Then one day I mentioned that I was distracted and couldn't spend much time talking with him because I had a business trip to prepare for the following week. "Oh, where to?" The question was asked so casually that I didn't even think to be secretive about it.
"Washington D.C. Just for a couple of days, but I need to get some notes together for the meeting." I knew he lived in a big city somewhere, he often talked of thinking about me and our daily encounters while on his commute home on the train. We would make up stories about that journey. I don't know why train sex has always seemed so appealing to me, but in the midst of our work days we were able to weave endless erotic fantasies about strangers meeting on that short commute--stories that left us both breathless and wanting. My trip was on the following Monday and for some reason, after months of talking and never having shared this information, I asked where he worked.
"Washington D.C." Obviously he couldn't see my mouth gape, but the pause in my response to this revelation must have been obvious. I could imagine him sitting there, smiling in the way I knew he did though I'd never even seen the sensual curves of his mouth, waiting for me to reply.
"Oh. Well then, we'll have to meet for coffee!" I said it, but of course it was a joke. We talked some more, I even mentioned whereabouts I was staying, and although I can't say that the thought of an illicit liaison didn't cross my mind, it was too absurd to entertain for long and in any case I was busy and distracted by work and so it remained in the realm of occasional, though very torrid fantasy.
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The coffee shop was full--packed to the doors with people needing their fix of expensive coffee with foam and flavorings. It was a chilly day, so no one seemed in a particular hurry to get back outside, and that was just as well as the servers were slow and the lines were long, a hot crush of bodies. I stood in one of the lines, prepared for a long wait, but it was warm, there were people to watch, and there was the delicious smell of freshly brewed coffee. I was in no hurry. The buzz of conversation was loud, the hissing and frothing of machines louder still, but over it all, there was no mistaking the sound of the voice so close to my ear.
"Morning, lovely." He had greeted me that way every day for so long, though I'd never actually heard it, only imagined how those words would sound. Now they sounded to me like warm flowing caramel and already I felt a rush of heat flood through my body. He was standing so close behind me, I could feel his body against mine, the warmth, and even though my feet felt suddenly fixed to the spot, I tried to turn to look at him. Strong hands gripped me firmly but gently by my upper arms, holding me steady and even if I could have wriggled out of their grasp there was no way I was going to try.
"It's ok. Don't look around. Just take your coat off."