The door slammed shut, and as the voices of the group faded away, I smiled. Sitting on a lush leather sofa, holding my fourth beer in my hand, I was feeling pretty good. I turned my head from the door to her, she was smiling that big beautiful smile that she always wore. My friend was a lucky man.
"So, Jon, how are things with you?"
Sitting in the computer chair on the other side of the room, she leaned forward. I always enjoyed my conversations with her, because she was just as good of a listener as she was a talker. She had a way about laughing at your jokes, even if you didn't think they were that funny, that just made you feel like you were funny. Like I said, my friend was a lucky man.
He and the rest of the party (two of our other friends and their girlfriends) had gone out for a beer and food run. I hadn't opted to go because well for one, there wasn't room in the car, and for two, I wasn't sober enough to drive.
"Things are going very well for me, thank you."
She stood up, crossed over to the couch and plopped down in that light hearted manner she always had about her.
"Are you sure? I know break ups can be tough."
She was referring to the end of my most recent relationship. I had been dating a girl for almost three years. We had even been engaged when we broke up two months prior.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm much happier now. Don't worry about me, I don't want to bore you with the ugly details."
She laughed again, and slapped my knee, which surprised me a little. I didn't mind it, it was just she had never really been very physically affectionate, except with her own boyfriend.
"But the ugly details are the most exciting! Come on, let it out, that's what friends are for."
I smiled and shrugged.
"There really isn't much to say. Our relationship had reached a point where we were always fighting, everything she did got on my nerves and everything I did got on hers. I realized getting married wasn't going to solve anything, it would only make things worse. Not to mention we hadn't had sex for nearly two months," I laughed, "You know me, that was the clincher."
She laughed with me, and nodded her head.
"Yeah, I mean, I totally know what that's like."
This comment caught me a little off guard.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, the lack of sex. I know what that's like. Totally sucks."
I frowned. As far as I knew, her and my best friend had been together for almost five years now, and neither of them had been in a serious relationship before that, having met at the end of high school.
"You mean, you and Luke have had dry spells?"
She laughed again, a bit louder than necessary this time.
"Had dry spells! Yeah right. I feel like the last year of our relationship has been a dry spell."
Why was she telling me this? Despite the buzz from the beer, I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. I hadn't ever asked my friends about their sex life, and to be honest, I had no real desire to know anything about it.
"Ouch, that sucks."
She nodded and shrugged simultaneously.
"Yeah, I mean I'm a very sexual person. I really, really enjoy sex, you know?"
"I've heard rumors."
She laughed. It was true. I had heard some rumors of some pretty kinky stuff that she and Luke had done in the beginning of their relationship from their roommates at the time. Back during their supposed "peak" sex life, I wasn't living in the same apartment, and I visited infrequently.
"Yeah, that was back in the good old days. Of course, we didn't see you much back then."
I nodded my response. I didn't really like talking about that part of my life too much. It had been a hard time for me.
"But of course," she paused, a strange look coming over her face as her eyes began looking me up and down, "you've changed... a lot... since then."
Now I'm not an idiot, and I can tell me when a girl is checking me out. I'd noticed her giving me some looks before, but nothing as obvious as this. And she was right, I had changed a lot in the last several years. When she and I had first met, I was well over 300 pounds, depressed, jobless, girlfriendless, and a high school drop out who just smoked pot all day. Suffice to say I wasn't very... appealing to opposite sex.
Since then I'd dropped my weight back below 170, but I had gained another 20 pounds of muscle on top of that. I had bulked up, and had a pretty low body fat percentage. I completed my high school diploma, not a GED, which I felt was the "easy way out", and received several technical certifications and a two year technical degree. Add in a decent job and a decent car, suffice to say my confidence had skyrocketed since I was eighteen.
"Well thank you, I'm glad someone noticed."
"It's hard not to."
I smiled and took a sip of my beer. She was doing that thing that she did all the time. I'm not sure if she did it just with me or with everyone, but she refused to break eye contact. I've been told that by breaking eye contact with someone you give them power over you, and it means you have a lack of confidence in yourself. I don't know how true that is, but I definitely felt some serious pressure flowing from her at that point.
I felt I should say something, so I said the first thing that came to mind.
"Well, I mean, you haven't changed at all since then."
She guffawed.
"Well, geez, thanks Jon!"
"No, no, no, I didn't mean it like that."
"Sure you didn't."
I had said the wrong thing. When you tell a left wing borderline crazy liberal hippy that they haven't changed in five years, it's a pretty big insult.
"What I meant to say is, you're still as beautiful and charming if not more so than when I first met you."
She paused for a moment, and if at all possible, her smile got bigger.
"Well thanks Jon. That's nice for a woman to hear. Luke doesn't think so."
I nearly snorted beer out of my nose.
"What do you mean, he doesn't think so?"
"He told me... well, not in so many words, that he thought I was more beautiful back in high school."
I got really angry. What a douchebag. The last thing you tell a woman is that she was more beautiful when she was younger. Isn't that just common knowledge? Especially when it wasn't true!
"Don't get me wrong Elsa, I thought you were captivating back in high school. You were like a budding rose. But since then that rose has blossomed and come to fruition. With you it's like that rose gets more and more appealing every year. Any many would be a fool not to see that."
One thing clicked in my mind about how she had changed over the last five years. She had styled her hair in some pretty interesting, but not totally unattractive ways. However, she had returned it to the shoulder length, loose and somewhat curly style she had had when I first met her. Which I felt still suited her the best. Her style had changed a lot over the years as well.
Back in high school she wore some pretty dark, punk, almost gothic attire. But now she was wearing tighter, more colorful, more lively and form fitting clothing. I felt it was an improvement.
I had never seen her blush before, but she did. I was a little surprised, and I suddenly felt out of place.
"I'm sorry Elsa, I shouldn't have said that."
"No, it's okay. That's what I like about you, Jon. You're so poetic and speak in metaphors. I think it's sexy."
I smiled and nodded, we had talked about this before, minus the sexy part. I may be a computer technician during the day, but at night my true love is writing.
"Tell me," she started, slowly, deliberately, to lean towards me, "what about me do you think has changed for the better?"
"Well, I think you've grown a lot. You're painting has improved so much. You're constantly discovering new things about yourself that you love and I think that's great. You're always trying to improve yourself or find a new way of doing things. You're a lot more mature, laid back than you used to be..."
"No," she interrupted, "I mean, what about me physically?"
I stuttered for a moment.
"You mean..."
"Like, I mean my body. What do you like about my body?"
I was stunned. This was getting a little too... intimate for me. Thoughts of Luke and our friendship quickly flashed through my head. Well, he had always been a dick to me, really. I mean when the cards were down he would come through pretty much every time. But overall he was pretty much a giant ass. I never really saw what Elsa seemed to see in him, but I wasn't one to be the judge of anyone. Not to mention I'd been his friend since elementary school.
I figured a little flirting wouldn't hurt. Not to mention I was starting to feel a little excited by the conversation.
"Well, you're eyes have always captivated me. Their piercing, beautiful. You're smile is amazing. It's like you could brighten the worst day a man ever had with that smile. I like..."
"Go on," she encouraged.
"Well, I like how petite you are. Don't get me wrong, I think you're a beautiful woman, but I've never really been into women who are six feet tall blonde supermodels. I like that you're small, and if I was your boyrfriend..."
"Yes?"
