Dana’s fantasy wasn’t about an event or occurrence he’d dreamed of happening. His fantasy was about a person, a co-worker, Lori Madsen. They’d been friends since Vince, her now ex-husband, first introduced them. Lori and Vince were engaged for about six months before they tied the knot. Dana had even served as one of the ushers at the wedding. Vince and Lori’s marriage lasted almost three years, even though it was doomed right from the beginning. Vince wasn’t one to really settle down. He always preferred to hang out with the guys rather than stay at home. Vince also had a slight drinking problem, barely escaping having his license suspended once for DUI.
Lori was one of those girls you liked the minute you met her. Seeing her soft smile is something Dana looked forward to each day at work. 26-year-old Lori was a couple inches shorter than Dana, probably around 5’7” or so. She had a fantastic figure and legs any model would give a fortune to have. Her near shoulder length, sandy blonde hair and soft blue eyes accented her beautiful face. Dana always found it difficult to talk with her. His eyes keep focusing on her lips. It was a distraction to him, maybe because he just wanted to put his lips on hers. He just couldn’t take his eyes off her lips!
At 29, Dana was still in great physical shape, jogging an exercising almost daily. He was 5’9” and a slim 170 pounds. His light brown hair and blue eyes added to his good looks. He was very conscientious about his appearance, opting for dress jeans and shirts instead of workclothes.
They regularly ran into each other a couple of times a day, usually out on the production floor at the manufacturing facility where they both worked. Lori worked in one of the production offices. Dana worked out on the floor as a machine operator. For the past year or so, it hadn’t been easy for Lori to smile. She hadn’t been happy with her marriage, yet she didn’t seem any happier since her divorce. Dana could usually get her to smile just by talking with her or paying her a well-deserved compliment. Getting Lori to smile was something he felt duty-bound to accomplish everyday. Just seeing her or even just thinking about her always made him smile. He secretly wished she’d married him instead of Vince.
“I could have made her smile constantly; I could have made her happy.” He thought.
It was late Friday morning, almost lunchtime. Just a few more hours till the start of the weekend. For Dana, it brought mixed emotions. He was happy, thinking about having time to work on the restoration of the old Victorian house he’d recently purchased on Main Street. He was also a little unhappy, thinking about going two full days without seeing Lori. His unhappiness seemed to be getting the best of him.
“Hey there!” Lori shouted as she approached his work area.
“Hey there!” Dana replied, with a big smile. “What’s up?”
“Not much.” Lori answered. “Just taking some printouts back to the schedulers.”
Lori sat down on the elevated stool at Dana’s workbench. He skirt raised several inches above her knees. Dana glanced at her legs but quickly focused on her lips and beautiful blue eyes.
“Is that a new outfit?” Dana asked. “Really looks great!”
“Nah, it’s just something I don’t wear all often.” Lori responded, smiling at his compliment. “But, thanks for noticing.”
“I’ll be glad when this week’s finally over.” Lori added. “I can use a couple of days off!”
“Big plans for the weekend?” Dana asked.
“Not really. I’m going out with my sister and one of her friends this evening.” Lori replied. “Probably dinner and maybe take in a movie or something.”
“What about you?” Lori asked. “Working on the house, I’ll bet!”
“Yeah.” Dana answered. “Still alot to do but it’s looking better all the time.”
Lori and Dana chatted for a few more minutes before she excused herself to continue on with her errand. Dana took one long, last look at her smiling face before she turned and walked away. He watched her till she was out of view.
“Damn it.” Dana thought. “I can’t keep going on like this. This is killing me. I should just work up the courage to ask her out. But, if she says no, it’d probably mean the end of our daily chat sessions.”
Dana thought better about asking Lori out. He was afraid she’d reject him and that would end their friendship. At least now, they still talked on a daily basis. Dana just wasn’t ready to take the gamble. It was just too damn risky!
Dana headed straight for home when he got off work at the end of his shift. Thoughts of going to the home improvement store for materials, mixed with thoughts and visions of Lori. The visions of Lori and recollections of the day’s brief conversation won out.
Dana checked his mail, discarding the junk mail into the wastebasket. He walked through the diningroom towards the kitchen for a cold Coke. Dana glimpsed at the shopping list on the kitchen counter seeing if he needed to add anything to it. The list was already over a full page long. That was long enough, he thought. Dana decided to lay back in his recliner and take a short nap, which was a habit he’d recently developed. It revitalized him and allowed Dana to stay up longer of an evening to work, sometimes till midnight.
When Dana woke up it was almost 6:00pm. His short nap had lasted a little longer than usual. Dana grabbed his materials list and headed for the home improvement store. He purchased everything on the list along with a few extra items. Dana always strolled through the tool section to see what new gadgets or tools he could ad to his collection. It was almost 9:00 by the time he returned home and got his truck unloaded. It was too late to start on anything this late in the evening so Dana figured he’d get an early start in the morning.
Dana jumped in the shower, thinking of how to spend the rest of the evening. Friday night television sure didn’t have much to offer. Thoughts of Lori crossed his mind. He hoped she was having a good time with her sister and her friend.
Dana thought he’d go to Brandywine’s on the west side of town and see what was going on. Brandywine’s was one of the nicer nightclubs in town with a decent sized dance floor. Their sound system was one of the best around. There were usually at least three guys for every girl so Dana didn’t feel like he’d be the only loser there. It was almost 10:30 when Dana entered the nightclub. He found a seat close to the end of the bar. There were definitely more guys than girls at the club this evening. Great for the ladies, tough for the guys! Dana was just there as an observer, he wasn’t about to try his luck with the odds stacked so much against him. Dana ordered a beer and sipped it slowly, watching the people on the dance floor. He was just about ready to order his second beer.
“Hey there!” A familiar voice greeted. “Fancy seeing you here!”
Dana looked around to see Lori’s smiling face close to his. His heart immediately doubled its normal pace. Dana was more than pleasantly surprised to see her. She was with her sister and another girl about the same age. Dana was wearing a red leather skirt, white blouse trimmed in red and red high-heels. She looked absolutely gorgeous, not to mention sexy as hell!
“Well, hello there!” Dana returned her greeting, smiling big as ever. “Thought you were going to the movies?”
“Well, we couldn’t decide on anything to see so Karen suggested we hit a couple of the clubs instead.” Lori replied, her smile fading from her face.
Dana detected a note of apprehension in her voice, like she wasn’t all that crazy about going nightclubbing with the two girls. His eyes focused on her lips, noting Lori’s lower lip twisting to the side a little.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll have fun.” Dana stated.
Dana watched as Lori and the other two girls sat down at a table. Before the waitress could take their drink orders, guys were asking them to dance. They were like fresh meat in a tank full of hungry sharks. Dana watched Lori and her friends dance with several of the guys. She appeared to be having a good time; at least she was smiling like it anyway. The more the guys asked Lori to dance, the more it bothered him. Dana finally turned away from the dance floor and just watched the two bartenders, who were quite busy. From where he was sitting he could partially see Lori’s reflection in one of the angled mirrors behind the bar. Dana thought he noticed her glancing his way a couple of times. It was probably just his imagination, he thought, wishful thinking on his part.
