Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, and it was created solely by me as the author. All characters are over the age of 18. Any similarities to characters, real life people, or things are all happenstance, though my appreciation to those who have
inspired
my works is immense. YSI, my friend.
Author's Note:
This is a stand-alone piece. I felt inspired recently, and I went with it since it came together so meaningfully. Though it's a short story, I offer a little explanation about the name(s).
Dulcinea
(dull-cee-NAY-a) means sweetness in Spanish. It's a lovely name that I grew to love when I met a beautiful soul whose amazing mother chose that name for her.
Dulce
(dullse) and
Dulcé
(DULL-say) are her nicknames.
Dylan
(DILL-en) kinda landed in my thoughts when coming up with his name. I try to keep all my characters throughout my stories individually named, but sometimes... well, it's not like we don't have people in our lives with repeat names. Anyway,
Dyl
(DILL) is his nickname.
Questions and comments are welcome. Please take the time to rate this story also. I hope everyone will be kind.
From Online to Lifetime
She stood at his door and tried desperately to calm her nerves. They'd never met. Oh, they'd "spoken" hundreds of times. She loved the sound of his voice. He teased her about her laugh. She was always laughing, so it wasn't difficult to do. And he was always kind about it. He hadn't said it in as many words, but she knew he loved it, too.
She finally rang the doorbell and waited. It was ridiculous, showing up like this, but what did she have to lose? He'd told her he had all day to do anything, and she had the time to go and surprise him. Oh, believe
her
... she knew the risks. She was placing all her eggs in one basket. He didn't know she was coming. They'd often told one another that they couldn't wait to meet in person, but the distance between them made it almost fantasy material.
No, she did know it was risky, and she
had
gone through every scenario in her head dozens of times. What if he didn't really want to meet her? What if he was married and had been leading her on this whole time? What if he wasn't home? What if he, what if he, what if he...? Sophie, her best friend, had pestered her about all of it until she had a safety plan in place for everything and anything. Once that was done, Sophie was supportive. The last-minute hotel room was available and wouldn't be charged thanks to a friendly phone call between Soph and a lovely woman who worked at the hotel who understood the dilemma. Otherwise, she planned to stay with him.
When the door opened, Dylan wore a friendly smile as if she was just a stranger standing there. And then it clicked. "Hi, can I h-" he began and then stopped. "Dulcé? Dulcé? What are you... I mean, wow! What... I don't know what to say! Come here!" He opened his arms and brought her into a hug just as they'd talked about doing whenever they first met in real life. She loved hugs. Meanwhile,
he
hadn't been able to contain his excitement to know what one of her hugs would feel like.
As she stepped forward into his arms, she giggled and nearly cried as she felt his body up against hers. Oh, how long she'd thought about this moment! He simply held her and let her cry into his shoulder. She inhaled his scent. He tried to memorize every curve, every part of her body, even as he tried
not
to notice her breasts pressed against his chest.
As she pulled away, she hoped her face didn't look as blotchy as she imagined it did. She hadn't expected to get so emotional. "I know I didn't let you know I was coming, but I just thought it would be nice to surprise you. You mentioned having no plans today. That's still accurate, right? I mean," she hurried to interject before he could say anything, "I could go check into the hotel and wait until you're free. I hope I..."
"Nope," he answered and cupped her cheek just as she had imagined he would. He continued, "I had no plans. But now that you're here, I
do
have plans. Lots of them. Come on inside. Let me show you around. I can't... I can't believe it. This is amazing, Dulce. I'm so glad you did this. I don't know that I would have had the nerve to do it. But you did. I'm so glad."
"You don't think it was too forward?"
"No! No, I'm... oh my gosh, I'm so glad," he repeated and then shook his head. "Did I mention that? I'm just... I'm surprised. But here," he stated and pointed at the floor, "let's leave your things here. I'll help you with that later." After a tour around his entire place, he stopped in front of the bedroom and pointed at the head of the bed. "That's where we talk most often."
"Yep, I recognize it from our video chats," she answered and giggled. "It's nice to see it in person."
"Remember that day I took you for a photo tour around that zoo park?" She nodded at him and smiled. It had been their first date. He had taken pictures of all the trees, animals, and flowers one Saturday morning all the while both were sending voice messages and texts to relay what things were and sharing what their reactions were to them. They reserved audio chats for nighttime calls, and video chats were for the really special moments. They'd only done that twice. It was the first "in person" interaction for which neither could hardly wait.