Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm down but my heart still pounded. I hadn't been this nervous since my first date in high school. I had just gotten my license and had asked out this girl I knew to go ice skating. Corny I know but I was young. It went about as one would expect. We were both nervous and awkward and after a night of painful small talk we mangled our first kiss, a quick awkward thing that was more embarrassing then enjoyable. We never went out again. I have of course gotten a lot better at first dates since then and while not all have turned into relationships, they have all at least been enjoyable for all parties involved.
This afternoon however it's like all my experience has gone out the window and I felt like a nervous teenager again as I pulled into the back parking lot of the shopping center. It's late on a Saturday afternoon and the sun is that perfect balance between warmth and not too hot. There won't be any deliveries taking place behind this department store because today is a holiday. We planned it that way. An out of the way place to meet up that wouldn't be obvious and we hopefully would not be disturbed.
Pulling into a spot near the loading dock I turn off the engine and find that I can actually hear my own nervous breathing. "Get a grip" I tell myself as I once again try to calm down. She might not even show up, I think to myself. If she is half as nervous as I am she probably turned around a block away from her house, wherever that might be. I shake my head, finally calming my breathing a bit and marvel once again of the odds of this meet up even being possible. I sure as hell never thought it could happen.
I have been a part of a particular forum for many years now and have made a hand full of friends in that time. Some I just chat with from time to time and some I have gone a bit further with. I have even had a few people I have known for years believe it or not. But to actually meet a person from the forum in reality, that I had never expected. I started messaging her about six months ago and we really hit it off. Of course we both had the same interests, we where on the forum after all, but more than that we liked the same aspects of that interest. Plus we both had an imaginative mind and our messages had gotten very steamy for both of us. First we had used the site but eventually we found an IM app that let us chat more easily and not long after, purely by accident, we discovered that we lived in the same state. Even then I never would have guessed that the idea a meeting in person would have come up but somehow not only did we talk about it, we became rather allured by the idea. It started as a flirtatious joke of course, we should meet up one day. Ha Ha, very funny that would be crazy but it could never happen. But somehow we never dropped the subject and began making plans, just for fun of course. Where would we meet? What time and date would be best? What would we do together? Oh that one got a lot of playful discussions for sure. But one day she asked me flat out. "So, are we doing this or what?" It took me a good two minutes to reply to her IM. "You think we should?" I finally wrote. "No." she replied and I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding, but then another message popped up. "But I really want to." "I do too" I replied, my heart pounding and before I knew it we had set up this meeting.
I sighed, relaxing back in my chair as I look at my watch. Fifteen after, she was late. No, she had changed her mind and wasn't coming. I let out another sigh as feelings of disappointment mingled with relief washed over me. This had been a bad idea anyway, I shouldn't be trying to meet someone from the forum, that was just asking for problems, it....
My thoughts cut off as a car pulled in to the back parking lot and slowly approached. For some reason I quickly looked down at my phone like I had just stopped to answer a text I received while driving or something. The car pulled into a spot three over from mine on the left. Glancing up I could tell the driver was female but that was about all from that distance. She seemed to be looking at her phone too. Suddenly mine vibrated in my hand and I nearly jumped.
"Is that you?"
"You drive a blue ford?"
"Yes"
"Then, yeah that's me."
Taking one last breath to calm my once again pounding heart I tucked my phone in my pocket and got out of my car. She did the same and walked around to stand on the side of her car that was facing me. Neither of us spoke. I took that moment to take in her appearance. We had talked and messaged but never exchanged pictures. In a word, she was beautiful. Shorter than me by maybe six inches she was just a touch slimmer than average but still had a curve to her hips that suggested she might have some Hispanic in her bloodline. She wore a light summer dress that fit the shape of her body in a very flattering way, and emphasized her breast just enough to be noticeable without blatantly showing them off. Her neckline had found the same prefect balance, showing just the tops of her breast but not in an overdone way. The dress itself was white with large pink flowers over its entirety giving it an almost painting like quality. Her brown hair was long and curly, held back over one ear with a subtle but cute hair clip.
"So...uh....hi." she said, instantly pulling my attention to her face. She had very expressive eyes of a bright green. One look told me she was just as nervous as I was.
"Hi." I answered with the best reassuring smile I could manage. "I thought you might have changed your mind."
"I almost did." she said not showing the slights hint of relaxing "I still can't believe we are actually doing this."
"If I'm honest, neither can I." I said.
"Well, we're here." she said "So now what?"
"I'm not sure." I said honestly "I've never done this before."
"Me neither." she said then after a pause added "What should I call you?"
"That's a good question." I admitted. We had agreed not to tell each other our real names.
"I'm guessing calling you Flowergirl86 would just be silly."
She laughed and seemed to relax just slightly.
"Yeah, calling you Cloud7 wouldn't really work either."
"Yeah, I meant to changed that username to something better but I never did get around to it."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being inspired. And I quite enjoyed that game."
she said offering a bright smile.
"Hmmm, maybe a name from one of our role plays." she said after a moment. "Call me...Triss? Yeah, I like that. Triss. And you could be, Jake."
"I suppose that would work....Triss." I said "So one problem solved. And actually maybe another as well."
"What do you mean?" she said then grinning added "Jake."
It was odd to hear myself being referred to by a different name but the playful glint in her eye made me quickly forget the oddity.
"Maybe our role plays can help guide us." I said
"How so?" she asked.
"We could always play out one of our scenarios."
"Yeah, I don't know. They get pretty hot and I'm not sure we should really go that
far."
"Yeah, come to think of it your probably right. Well, how about a walk for starters then? There's a nice park with some walking trails behind the shopping center. Just through those trees. With everyone home celebrating the holiday we should have it all to ourselves."