Stephanie
Your flight arrives in ten minutes and I've been waiting for half an hour already. I left much earlier than I needed to, but I wanted to make sure I was waiting for you when you got off the plane. We had planed this weekend together for months on chat, the details of how we would stroll the town, shop for mementos and mostly spend long hours enjoying each other. I had to make sure I was waiting for you, reassure you that I'd be there, that you had done the right thing in coming. So I waited.
My heart beats faster as the time approaches, feeling like a kid on a first date. Get it together, I think to myself, you'll be fumbling for words when she gets here if you don't hyperventilate and pass out before then. Then I smile, laughing inwardly at my almost childish excitement. That you can make me feel this way when I am well past childhood is a major part of why I am here now.
Its time now, your flight is on the ground according to the monitor. My heart skips a beat knowing you're here, within half a mile of me. Closing my eyes just for a moment, wondering if I can reach out and feel your presence, your warmth and soft embrace, from this distance.
"Stephanie," I say, your name slips from my lips in a quiet whisper, the sound of it sending a shudder through my body. "Stephanie," again, like warm honey down my throat. Since I've learned your name, since we made that leap, trusting each other with that critical bit of personal information, your name has been my drug. "Stephanie," I whisper again. I know I'm in an airport, I know I'm standing in a cold hard terminal but I feel you near me. My mind drifts into a waking dream of warmth and softness...
"Michael?" your voice coming from close to me. My eyes snap open ... you're there! Disoriented, not sure if I am dreaming. I can't speak, fixed in place I can't move a muscle. It is you, you came, it really is you! You are finally there, for the first time close enough to touch. I want to look at you so I can burn this image into my memory, remember you and the electric feeling through my body as I see you.
"Stephanie," I finally whisper, stepping toward you. Automatically we embrace, my arms around you, pulling you close, feeling your soft, warm body against mine.
Whispering in your ear, "Stephanie, you came, you really came". A flood of warmth, of relief, of doubts swept aside by the reality of you, by your warmth, my arms around you, by your sparkling blue eyes inches from mine for the first time.
"Stephanie," I whisper again like a magic spell from my lips.
Our lips are close together, not touching yet. Hesitant maybe because we both realize this is our first kiss. This is the step from the virtual world, from mere words describing how we would feel, how your lips would meet mine and how our bodies would mesh together in embrace and now to the first hesitant brush of your real lips against mine. A shock through my body at that first brush, then in a torrent of passion and desire our mouths open, our lips press together, tongues gently but insistently intertwining like amorous snakes. For a moment we're alone in the crowd, just you and I, the world beyond the boundary of us ceases to exist.
You pull away and I literally shake my head to clear it. "We better get out of here before we cause a scene," you say.
Taking your hand and picking up your carry-on I lead you down to pick up you luggage.
We make small talk as we wait for your luggage. "Was your flight okay? No fat guys halfway into your seat?" I ask. We both laugh at that private joke. The reminder that we know so much about each other serves to break the ice a bit. There is still a little distance between us, the knowledge that we are meeting for the first time even though we have talked about the most intimate details on-line. We've shared our wants and desires with each other no matter how deeply hidden we have kept them from others. Now, this person that we've trusted with this awesome power over us is there right beside us. Like standing at the base of a dam, it is a little bit scary. I wrap my arm around your waist and pull you close, pushing the fear and doubts back with your physical touch.
"There it is," you say quietly, indicating your bag on the conveyor belt. I slip away for the moment it takes to retrieve it, sling it over my shoulder, and take your hand again.
"Lets go, Stephanie," I say as I lead you from the terminal.
"I had to bring the big car," I say. As much fun as having the sports car would be, driving with a suitcase on your lap would not be, so we settle into the big comfortable sedan. "It will take an hour or so to get to St Michaels, do you want to eat dinner on the way? There are plenty of seafood places just over the bridge .... and on the water ... with candles," I ask, smiling a bit as I add that last description, knowing you enjoy being near the water and can't resist a romantic candlelit dinner. I've been expecting your affirmative answer long enough to have made reservations a week ago, at just the right place and at just the right table to watch the last rays of the sun setting over the bay.
A short, but quiet, drive later we pull into the restaurant parking lot. The sunset almost over as we arrive but the sky streaked with dark crimson and gray. The colors reflected off your light hair catch my eye and I stop and watch you just for a moment. The excitement of our initial meeting has worn off just a bit and the flight is catching up to you.
I remark, "You look a bit tired from your flight sweetheart, lets just get a quick bite to eat, and you can nap on the rest of the ride."