She was nervous beyond belief; she wasn't the type to do this kind of thing. Hell, if she hadn't decided to ask her best friend about it, she wouldn't be here right now.
She checked behind her as she kept walking.
"It's too damn cold for this...I should've picked a warmer day."
A few joggers ran past her down the sidewalk, under the metro station; people were carrying briefcases filled with work back to their houses, locking their bikes against the railings...
And I'm here doing this...this...oh god.
She caught his eye as he got out of the train, suddenly flushing with heat; she was looking everywhere but at him now. He walked closer and closer, taking off his watch and stuffing it in his jacket. She was standing completely still, sure that everyone around her knew exactly what she was doing. Her hands smoothed her skirt, removing the creases that seemed to exist only in her mind.
"You Jessica?"
She'd forgotten how to talk; she was sure she'd never be able to speak again for the rest of her life.
"Y-yeah, I'm, I mean,...yeah. Tom?"
He grinned at her, a crooked thing that formed lines around his eyes and made him look like a wolf staring down his dinner. Without another word, he put his hand against the small of her back, leading her to his car. He opened her door for her, though he could see she was still obviously nervous as she fumbled with her seatbelt. He turned on the heating, the warm air creating the only noise inside the car. He looked over at her, staring until she finally looked over at him; he grinned again and put the car in gear.
And put his hand on her thigh.
She tensed as soon as she felt it, and could only look out the window while he drove to where they'd agreed upon a few days before. As the trees became a green blur and houses passed them by, she couldn't think of anything.
So she began to toy with her ring.
She turned it over and over around her finger, looking down at it, at what was engraved on the inside:
*One. Two. Three.*
Three squeezes, her way of letting him know she loved him when they were out in public; he was always so shy about that kind of stuff around others, so instead of kissing and telling him she loved him, she would squeeze his hand three times, and he would do the same right back.
She looked over at Tom now, looking at his bare hand, no ring on his finger, and looked back at his face. Just as he was about to say something, he spoke up.
"We're here."
She glanced out the windshield, and realized that the place was closer than she thought; she'd have liked more time, to be honest. He stepped out of the car and walked over to her side, opening the door and holding out a hand for her. She gave a quick, nervous smile to him and grabbed it, again smoothing out her dark blue business skirt as soon as she got out. He stood there in the middle of the park in front of her, watching with an amused grin as she kept picking at her clothes, looking down at herself and not once up at him.
"What's the matter, never done this before?"
She gave him an annoyed look, but at least it was a look; he chuckled, turning around and walking away from her. After a few seconds, when she realized he wasn't even going to look back to see if she was following him, she trotted after him as quickly as she could in her heels.
Nice going,
Jessica
, wearing heels to a fucking park.
They followed the paved trail from the parking lot to the forest, walking for a few minutes in complete silence. Even though the afternoon sun shone through the trees around the two, the air was chilly, and she no longer had the car to warm her up.
"You're not much of a talker, are you Jessica?"
"Uh, I'm not sure what you want me to say right now...Tom; I mean, what're the conversation rules for what we're doing right now?"
"Hell if I know...I'm good with the quiet, if you want me to be."
They kept walking until they got to where they needed, a part of the forest completely covered by thick bushes, hiding everything from whoever walked through. He stepped up to the thick brush and pushed at it until he made an impromptu clearing, letting her duck under it before following behind. Passing that first layer left a large space inside, a sort of bubble formed by the bushes and trees around them.
The perfect spot. Just what they needed.
She turned to him, even less sure of doing this as she was when she was in the car. She kept remembering what her friend had told her, hoping it'd make her feel less nervous right now.
Trust me, just do it once, and you'll see how much it'll change things; you'll feel so much better once you do it.