Peter strolled along the beach. 'Life sucks,' he thought to himself. Loneliness had really begun to get to him over the last three or four months, and it was taking it's toll on his happiness. The sun had begun to dip. It was getting late, and Peter had dinner to cook. He signed and headed back towards home.
Pete lived on his own in an apartment near the sea β lucky for him, a friend owned it and was renting it out to him for practically nothing. 2 bedroom, balcony, ocean views and a nice kitchen β well decorated too. These days though it was feeling increasingly emptier. He worked from home as a web designer for a leading firm, which didn't help. The only people he seemed to associate with were his few net contacts, which he had been keeping contact with for a fairly long stretch, who he saw occasionally but not frequently enough to consider friends and a few old school buddies that he caught up with a few times a year.
Peter sighed as he sat down at his computer, with his steak and chips and a glass of beer. He wasn't a bad looking bloke β at 5'11" with a long, dark brown hair (usually in a ponytail) slim but reasonably toned build and a pretty well looked-after skin, even Pete could see he wasn't an unattractive guy. He just didn't seem to have any luck meeting people. He ate his dinner, checked his email and decided to head out for another walk, this time to the local marina.
Pete strolled along the boardwalks, sucking in the night life and the open sea air. It was a fairly quiet evening for the marina, and he'd only seen one or two people strolling around since he'd gotten there. Pete lit up a cigarette, and as he was putting his pack away, noticed a young lady standing some thirty meters down the boardwalk. She was blonde, with short hair, about 5'9" he guessed, and she was looking at him. He decided to take a risk he never seemed to take, and began to walk over to her.
As he came closer too her she turned around so she was leaning against the boardwalk's railing. Pete almost stopped dead. She was absolutely breathtaking... Face of an angel, body of a succubus and eyes that seemed like the opening to two huge blue pools of immeasurable depth. What the HELL was he doing? But she was smiling at him. She hadn't noticed him falter, so he could still get though this without embarrassment. "Hey," he managed to say. "Hello," she replied cheerfully. She was either glad he came over or trying not to piss herself laughing, he couldn't decide. "Nice night huh.," he continued his stunted attempt at conversation. She was still smiling. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, and he didn't know what the fuck he was supposed to do with it.
"I'm Belinda, by the way." She had obviously decided he needed help. "Hi, Peter. Sorry to intrude, but I saw you over here by yourself and well..." Pete realised he didn't know what he was going to say... "No, it's fine, I could use some company," she replied. She was still smiling. Was she checking him out? Good Lord, she was. "So, Peter, what do you do?" she inquired. "I work from home, mostly web design, some graphics work. Pretty boring actually. And yourself?"
"I'm a student of law right now. And I disagree with your usage of the word 'Boring'. Come spend a week in my shoes!" she laughed. Peter chuckled along with her.
They walked together for the better part of an hour, making random conversation and stealing glances at each other. "She's really hot!" He was thinking to himself. "Why's she bothering with me?" Little did she know the same thing was running through her mind at the same time.
***
Belinda had been down on her luck lately. Her last exhibit had attracted absolutely bugger-all attention and she was starting to think she'd lost her talent, or at least her inspiration. She'd come to the marina to do some thinking β and maybe some drinking. When she saw him standing there her heart jumped. Whoa. He was cute. At least, she thought so. She was often told she has a really abstract taste in men, but hey. She liked what she liked. When he'd approached her she couldn't believe her luck.
They walked together for some time, laughing at weird looking people, favourite television shows and life in general. They stopped by the water's side to have a cigarette. Peter looked at his new friend. Strikingly beautiful in all aspects, he found himself staring into her eyes. He would normally be embarrassed by this behaviour, except that she was doing the same. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but was in reality about a minute or two. Belinda looked down at his cigarette. He followed her gaze, realising that it was coming dangerously close to burning his hand. He dropped it into the ocean before it could do so and laughed. Belinda chuckled along with him, and they found themselves staring at each other and smiling.
Belinda shivered. Peter noticed. "Are you cold? Shit, I wish I had a coat or something to offer you..."
"That's ok, hey, how bout we get out of this cold anyway?" Belinda replied. Pete considered the implications of this remark. Well, nothing ventured... "My apartment isn't far from here... Would you like to come over for a hot beverage of your choosing?" he remarked, jokingly. "Sounds like a plan." Belinda replied. "Did you drive?"