Vince knocked at Jen's door wearing his Sunday's finest. When she answered it, his breath was taken away by the vision of her in a long, black strapless evening gown. He took her hand in his and, looking into her eyes, he raised it slowly to his mouth, and gently kissed it. "You look absolutely radiant tonight," he said. The pics she had posted on her Facebook page did her absolutely no justice.
"As do you," she replied.
He offered her his arm and she took it. He escorted her to the car and held the door open for her. As she was getting in, she asked, "Will you tell me what the plan is for tonight is?"
"Do you trust me?" he responded, smiling.
"Yes, but..."
Shaking his head, Vince interrupted her thought, and said, "All I'm going to say is that tonight is all about you."
About ninety minutes later, they arrived at an intimate restaurant on a beach. The place was dimly lit and crowded. At one of the tables, stood a well dressed man playing a guitar and singing. The maitre d' escorted them to a small circular table out on a deck that was lit by tiki torches. Each table had a candle as a centerpiece. A big, full moon hung just above the the horizon in a high clear sky. It's light was dancing on the water's surface.
Vince held Jen's chair for her as the maitre d' lit the candle. He handed them each a menu. Taking the menu from him, Vince requested for the best bottle of wine the establishment had to offer. "Will that be all?" the maitre d' asked.
"I don't know." Vince looked at Jen and asked, with a smile, "Would you like anything to drink?"
Jen smiled and laughed slightly. He looked at the maitre d' and motioned for him to leave. As the maitre d' walked off, he said something, but Vince was to taken by Jen's beauty, as she looked out at the water, to hear what he said.
"This view is breathtaking."
Vince looked around and said, "It is. But not nearly as breathtaking as you, milady."
Jen smiled shyly, "Why, thank you."
"I love that smile."
Their eyes locked and a moment of tension built. She could see in his eyes that he wanted to kiss her and awkwardly shifted a bit in her chair and broke the moment. "It's a full moon tonight."
"You're safe," Vince chuckled. "I assure you."
"What?" she inquired.
"I won't bite. At least, not hard and then only if you want me to."
She blushed at the thought that ran through her mind.
Vince smiled. "Why are you blushing?"
"Because," she replied, "I may actually let you."
"Ooh"
Her cheeks turned a darker shade of red. "Did I just say that out loud?" she asked.
"I kind of hate to say this but, yeah, you did."
"Oh, my God," she said, slowly, in disbelief as she lifted her menu and sank down behind it.
He overheard her say to herself, "And I didn't even so much as have a glass of wine yet."
Vince laughed half to himself, saying, "It's okay, sweetie."
He then cleared his throat.
"I don't know if this is a good thing or not," he said, tapping on her makeshift hideout, "but I think our wine is on it's way."
She put the menu down and straightened up as the waiter opened the bottle and poured out two glasses of the vintage.
"Are the two of you ready to order yet?"
Vince looked at Jen with a half smile, and, jokingly asked, "Did you put your time behind the menu to good use?"
Jen gave him a funny look and kicked him playfully in the leg and answered in the negative.
After they placed their order, the guitarist came by and asked Jen if she had a request. Jen asked Vince if he would sing her a song. Vince asked the gentleman if he would mind and he said that he didn't.
At that moment, the sky lit up for a brief second as a brilliant streak glided through it. The gentleman asked. "Did you see that?"
Jen said, "That was a beautiful shooting star."
"Spectacular," Vince agreed.
"You need to make a wish," he told them.
Vince stood up.
"I already have," Jen said. She looked up at Vince and asked him if he had. Vince responded by whispering something into the guitarist's ear. The man nodded his head and strummed a chord.
Vince looked into Jen's eyes, took her hand in his, and sang. His voice was velvety as he sang about how his wish came true when he met her. She lowered her head and turned it slightly, blushing. He brushed her cheek with the back of his fingers and as she looked back at him. He went on about how he searched his whole life for her. Pulling her to her feet, held her close and continued on with the song. He finished it up by stating about how he "found true love at last".
They stood there, within an inch of each other, gazing into each others eyes, as the last chord was strummed. Electricity charging through them. The tension building between them again. They both pulled back at the same time and then Jen nervously stammered, "I need to go powder my nose." She started off and then came back, grabbed her pocketbook and hurriedly said, "I forgot this." As she went off the guitar player asked, "Your first date?"
"Yeah, kind of..."
Oh, my God, Jen thought as she entered the ladies' room. I must be losing it. No guy ever made her feel the way she was feeling at that moment since her days in high school. That was twenty-five plus years ago. She cringed, slightly, at that thought.
She looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't look her age. She was forty-four but could pass herself off for thirty-four without a problem if she wanted to. Which was exactly how old she was when her world came crashing down around her. Her husband, the man who she had devoted herself to for thirteen year, dumped her for another "woman". He left her with a ten- and twelve-year-old to raise on her own. And raised them she did.
She had to take on a second job to make ends meet which put a big damper on her social life. Not that she had any difficulties in getting dates. She just didn't have the time. And, after a handful of blind dates that her girlfriends set her up on and another handful of online dating service disasters, she found, quite frankly, she ran out of interest.
They were all after one thing. She was worth more than that and she knew it. So, she decided to devote all of her time and channel her energy into raising her daughter and son. But now, with her daughter having a husband and baby of her own and her son being away at college for the past two years, she was finding herself all alone and lonely. That's where she was at mentally when she saw the friend request from Vince on her Facebook
She didn't know how to take it at first. Unlike all the other guys who had sent her friend requests, Vince had nothing in his introduction note about how "hot" she looked. The only thing he wrote was that he noticed when he was on her page how much they had in common and that he would like to get to know her better. So, she added him to her "chamber of torture".
Her best friend, Chandra, jokingly came up with that title. Jen figured she had a good point because all she ever did was flirt with the "men" unmercifully. Leaving them suggestive comments and messages. Hell, why not toy with them, she thought. Based on the way the men in her life treated her, she figured that all guys wanted to do was play games anyway. So, she thought, she would do just that. Play with them.
It would never fail, they would last, on average, two months before they would start begging her for her phone number. That's when she would cut them off at their knees. Her girlfriend said she was a "damn good cock tease". But she objected, vehemently, saying that she wasn't "cock teasing...just teasing big dicks".
But Vince?
Vince was proving himself to be different from the rest of the guys on her wall from the very beginning. When she logged back onto her page the evening after she approved his request, she noticed he had left her a flirty comment saying: "Thanks for the ass...I mean add" and a message.
The message's subject line read: "GOOD MORNING". In the body itself, he simply wished her a pleasant day and again expressed his wish to get to know her better.
She saw that he was online and she found herself bored and a bit curious and wasn't really in the mood to "play" with her "victims", as Chandra liked to call them. So she sent him an IM invite.
She typed, "hey". And waited. As she was just about to turn off her computer, Vince responded:
vince: hey there...how was your day?
Jenny1975: it was nice thx
vince: cool
Jenny1975: urs?
Vince: well?
it was a day let's put it that way
Jenny1975: o...k
vince: so whatcha up to?
