Leah paid for her lunch and turned to scope out the room. Business men and women crowded the tiny cafeteria, munching on salads and sandwiches and sipping bottled water. Finally her eyes landed on a table in the back corner, where her friend John sat waiting for her.
Leah O'Toole and John Hall were best friends. They had known each other since they met on the playground at age four, and had been inseparable ever since. They had been in the same class for most of their school years, attended the same college, and now worked in offices just a block away from each other.
Sometime in middle school, Leah had begun to really notice John. She doodled "Leah loves John" and "Mrs. Leah Hall" in the margins of her notebooks. She treasured pictures of the two of them together, and made excuses to be as physically close to him as possible.
Her efforts, it seemed, had been in vein. John liked blondes. Leah's hair was flaming red. John liked the vapid, cheerleader types. Leah was class president and valedictorian. John thought of Leah as "just one of the guys."
After years of pining for him, Leah was no closer now at 26 than she had been at 16. She had had boyfriends in this time, of course. She had dated a wide variety of men. She started out hoping they would make John jealous, but nowadays she mostly was hoping they'd take her mind off him for a while.
She set down her tray on the table and slid into the chair next to John, carefully brushing his knee with her leg. "How's it going Lee?" John asked with a big, oblivious grin on his face.
"Oh, it's been better," she replied, tucking her long curly hair carefully behind her ear. "Charlie and I broke up."
"Oh, no! When did that happen?" John asked, laying a comforting hand on her arm.
"Just this morning." His hand felt so good against her bare skin. It was innocent little touches like this one that kept Leah completely enrapt. She leaned a bit into his touch and imagined that hand caressing her in the most intimate ways.
"Wow, you must be really broken up about this... Did you even hear what I just said?" John's face showed a deep concern.
"I'm sorry, I'm a little out of it today I guess." A scarlet heat began to spread across Leah's cheeks, and she looked down at her food to try to hide it.
"It's okay. I understand. You know, he was never really any good for you anyway. I always thought he was a bit of a jerk anyway you know. You could do better."
Boy could I ever...
she thought to herself. She fought herself not to get lost in John's gorgeous brown eyes, and began to pick at her salad instead.
"Hey, I know what will cheer you up... A bunch of the guys are hanging out at Rick's place tonight. He just had a new entertainment room put in, and he's showing it off. You know how he is... always bigger, better, louder. Anyway, should be a good time. I was thinking about asking Marla, that hot new girl from HR, but why don't you go with me instead? Maybe it'll get your mind off things. Who knows, you might just meet someone new."
But I don't want to meet someone new...
"Umm... sure. That might be fun," she replied, trying not to sound too enthusiastic about it.
Don't get your hopes up girl. You know this isn't a date. He's just trying to make you feel better.
"What time?"
"Great. I'll pick you up at your place at 7. Listen, I gotta get back to the office so I can finish some stuff up. I'll see you tonight." John gave her a chaste, brotherly kiss on the head before heading out the door and back to work.
Leah quickly finished off her salad, while daydreaming about what she'd like the night to entail.
And why not?
she thought to herself,
it's my turn. We're both available. There's no reason this time can't be different. I just have to try a bit harder.
She cleaned up her tray and purposefully strode out into the warm summer sunshine.
I'll just have to
make
him see me.
As she waited for the elevator to take her back to her office, Leah was forming a plan. She went back to her desk, finished all the work she had for the day in record time, and begged her boss to let her off work early, citing "feminine problems." As soon as she was out of the building it was shopping time. She stopped by the lingerie store, her favorite makeup counter, and several clothing shops she would normally not even think of setting foot inside. Bags in hand, it was time to head back to her apartment and get ready.
By the time John came to the door, the transformation was amazing. She had pulled her hair back from her face in a high ponytail, and then tousled it just enough to perfectly frame her face. The smoky eye shadow and crimson lip color brought out the green in her eyes. She was glad she had spent the extra money on the black, lacy push up bra. She unbuttoned her green silk blouse enough to show just the barest edge of lace, and more than enough to show off some pretty amazing cleavage. The black leather miniskirt was quite a bit shorter than she was really comfortable with, but it covered everything it needed to, while still leaving little to the imagination. Her long, well-shaped legs were complimented nicely by the black stiletto heels. It had taken her several trips around the apartment, but now that she was more comfortable in them, she added a sexy sway to her hips as she went for the door.
"Wow – you look... I mean... Umm..." Was all John could manage.
"Ready to go?" Leah asked, a coy smile on her lips. She was amazed that she had finally gotten a reaction from him.
"Oh, yeah. Uh... Sure." As they walked down the hall toward the elevator for the parking garage, she could see that reaction had traveled all the way down his body as well. "So, you really do want to find someone new tonight, huh?" he asked, his voice a bit flustered.