Jeff:
Jeff didn't finish up in the lab until late that night. His eyes hurt from adjusting and readjusting every microscope in the lab. Professor Williams had made him recalibrate all of the lab equipment.
As a biologist, Jeff spent most of his time outside collecting data from the natural world, so staring at microscope lights for hours on end was a far cry from what he was used to. But Williams was a genius so he felt that arguing with him would be a bad idea.
Jeff wanted to run straight back to Lena's apartment, but he didn't think she would appreciate being woken up in the middle of the night. He needed a plan too, he couldn't just show up, still wearing the same clothes that he had worn the night before and start yammering at her that he was feeling something but he wasn't sure what it was.
"That would go over well, I'll just walk up and tell her that when I'm not with her it feels like I'm going to die and when I am with her I feel warm and fuzzy, that sounds perfectly normal and well balanced, women love when you say stuff like that to them," he muttered to himself.
"Yeah that would probably be a bad move," Jeff's friend Ted said, making Jeff jump as he walked up next to him. "So who is she?" he asked.
"I don't really know yet," Jeff said, thinking that all he really knew was her first name and one class that she took, "She has a really big, fluffy, cat," he added, knowing that Ted would find that interesting.
Ted had been his roommate since freshman year and had tried to convince Jeff to let him have a cat or dog in their dorm (and later their apartment) every couple of months for as long as they lived together.
"Sounds like a keeper. What are you going to do?" Ted replied casually. Ted was happily engaged to a girl back home and considered himself a relationship expert as a result.
"Grand romantic gesture?" Jeff offered, trying to imagine Lena's reaction to him serenading her from outside her window or surprising her with outlandish amounts of red roses.
"What would your gesture be, hire a sky writer to write "Thanks for sleeping with me the other night?" above her house?" Ted asked, "You don't know her well enough for anything grand or romantic, maybe just call her."
"I didn't get her number," Jeff said, "I know where she lives though... do you think sky writers take debit?"
"Just go see her and talk to her, maybe bring food, everyone likes food, speaking of which, I want pizza," Ted veered off the side walk and Jeff followed him into a pizza place.
The next day Jeff had to work in the lab again and on Monday he had a full day of courses to catch up on. He couldn't focus, he wanted to see Lena so badly. On Tuesday he only had one early class so he planned to go see Lena afterwards. He took Teds advice and he decided to go with the "everyone likes food" plan.
He went to the store and bought ice cream, various snacks, and some pancake mix and syrup. He didn't buy any real foods because she had said she was vegetarian; he didn't have a clue how to cook for a vegetarian. As he was walking past the bakery he saw a cheesecake and smiled, thinking of her cat, and decided to buy that as well.
He also went to a couple different coffee shops and bought some fancy coffee beans, knowing that she probably couldn't use grocery store coffee in that big espresso machine of hers.
A few minutes later, his arms full of groceries, he walked up to Lena's building. He didn't have a way into the building but her apartment was on the ground floor so he just knocked on the window. Nothing happened. He knocked again. Nothing.
Just as he was getting ready to give up, the curtain moved. He stood there with his heart hammering in his chest hoping to see her gorgeous eyes peek out the window.
Instead, he found himself looking into the green eyes of Cheesecake who flicked the curtain aside with a fluffy white paw and jumped onto the windowsill. Jeff shouted in frustration and almost threw the groceries.
"Cheesecake, go get Lena!" Jeff yelled through the window, "Go get Lena, Cheesecake! C'mon boy, go get her!" Jeff was pretty sure he looked insane, yelling through a window at a cat.
"You can do it buddy! Go get Lena!"
"He's a cat, not Lassie," a voice said from behind him.
He spun around and saw Lena standing a few yards behind him on the sidewalk. She had her hair up again and had a coffee in her hand and her book bag over her shoulder, she must be coming back from a class.
"Oh Lena, thank god, Cheesecake was refusing to let me in and he was kind of being a jerk about it," Jeff joked, his heart skipped a beat when she smiled.
"I keep telling you, he's a cat, cats can be jerks sometimes," she said. The smile fell off her face as she asked her next question, "What are you doing here Jeff?"
He ignored the little voice in his head that told him that he should just leave and held up the groceries.
"I was hoping we could talk over coffee and snacks," he said cautiously, nervous to see how she would respond. She eyed the groceries then shrugged.
"Anybody with ice cream is welcome in my home," she said, pointing to the the bag with the ice cream containers. He almost laughed in relief. "C'mon in," she added as she unlocked the door.
He put the groceries on the counter and she made quick work of putting away the perishables. She was thrilled with the coffee he bought and she decided to make them lattes with some of the beans.
"I used to be a barista," she explained as she turned on the espresso machine.
Jeff watched her work, she obviously knew exactly what she was doing. The machine hissed and sputtered and her hands were a blur as she made coffee and steamed milk. Before he knew it she was holding two cups with identical white hearts on top made of foam.
"Lets sit on the couch," she suggested, giggling a little bit when he took a sip and groaned because the coffee was so good.
They sat down and she turned towards him, studying his face with a furrowed brow. He started to work up the courage to say something but she didn't give him a chance.
"I missed you," she said, then she set their coffees on the table and before he knew it she was in his arms again. Her soft lips latched onto his desperately, and she grabbed the front of his shirt, holding him to her.
He happily wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her the rest of the way into his lap.
He devoured her mouth, starving for the taste of her, biting at her lips, thrusting his tongue against hers when her mouth opened in a delighted gasp. He wanted her like he had never wanted anyone before.
He reached his hands up and pulled the ties out of her hair, reveling in the smell of her as the dark tresses tumbled through his hands, his heart pounded against hers.
He pulled away slightly, breathing hard.
"Say you'll go out with me," he pleaded, wanting to make sure that he did things differently this time, that neither of them would walk away from this encounter with unanswered questions.
"Lets talk about it later," she replied, trying to kiss him some more. He pulled away again.
"Don't try to distract me," he couldn't help but laugh a little at her cute pout, "I came here specifically to talk to you."
"Ok, fine," she groaned, "We can talk about it."
She sat up with a bit of drama and great deal of eye rolling. As she flopped back against the couch cushions she reminded him of a fussy child about to throw a temper tantrum.
Before he got a chance to tease her about it, she speared him with a predatory glare and said, "But I'm not going to agree to go out with you yet and if we're going to talk I want to ask the questions."
"Go for it," he replied, glad that they were finally going to work through some of the tangled emotions between them, even if she was putting off making any real decisions.
"Why me?" she asked suddenly.
He was a bit surprised by that question, he could tell that she had asked it just to throw him off. It had worked, he'd asked himself that very same question so many times. He really didn't know why he felt this way about her.
He decided to list the obvious reasons that he liked her, rather than trying to explain that he couldn't stop thinking about her or that he felt drawn to her by some invisible force.
"Well I guess when I first saw you I wanted you for purely physical reasons," he said slowly, trying to gauge her reactions, "I like curvy women and you are a very beautiful one... But then I started to talk to you and I just really like your personality. You're smart, funny, really nice, and you make me feel good about myself."
She scoffed, clearly not buying it, she obviously had a low opinion of herself, "There are lots of people who are smart and funny and nice. And, how do I make you feel good about yourself?"
He shrugged.
"It's the way you react to me I guess, you give me these intense looks, like you can't take your eyes off me, and you're so responsive to my touch which makes me feel like I'm some sort of amazing lover," he admitted.
"I find you attractive, I can't help but stare sometimes. And you WERE an amazing lover so I was just reacting appropriately," she huffed, getting defensive.
"Exactly," he laughed, basking in the warmth of her innocent kindness, "See? You're really nice to me and you think I'm good looking and it makes me feel good, you aren't the only one who likes a confidence boost every now and then."
He saw her expression change and could tell that she was uncomfortable with the conversation and was going to try to change the subject again, so he wasn't surprised when she started stroking his face.
"Hmmm... I like making you feel good," she murmured, tracing her fingers along his jawline. Her eyes glittered with a mischievous light "Why don't I try to make you feel good right now."
