Part III
Jim
When I opened the door I was immediately reminded of what attracted me to this young man to begin with. He had short curly blond hair, piercing green eyes, dimples, just enough razor stubble to make him look slightly rugged, and a tall, lean well-toned body to boot. I was SO looking forward to this.
I smiled my best smile. "Hi Jim. It's good to see you again. Come on in and make yourself at home."
I opened the door wider and stepped aside, leaving him room to come inside. He smiled back and came into the apartment.
"Would you like a glass of wine first or would you like to eat right away? We could do both if you prefer. I just made a chicken salad with some leftovers so I'm afraid it won't be anything fancy. I had a really big lunch and didn't want anything too heavy for supper."
"Actually, that sounds just about perfect Amanda. I'm not very hungry either. How about we start with that wine and get to know each other a bit first?"
We walked through to the living room where I had dimmed the lights slightly and had some jazz playing on my compact disc player. I asked him to make himself comfortable on the couch while I got him a glass of wine. After he sat, I turned to go into the kitchen and smiled to myself, noticing that he sat in the centre of the sofa, which meant I would have to sit fairly close to him. I'm really glad that he is leading the way he is because I really don't like having to play the aggressor, even though I was attracted to him enough that I would have...just to get closer to him.
I poured the chardonnay into his glass and topped off mine at the same time. I brought both glasses in and handed him his.
"Thanks Amanda," he said as he waited for me to sit beside him. Shifting his body slightly to the side so that he could see me better, he raised his glass in a toast.
"To new beginnings," he said, smiling appreciatively at me as we both almost downed the entire glass on the first sip.
"This is a really nice wine," he said, trying to cover his embarrassment at drinking it so quickly.
I got up and excused myself as I went into the kitchen to get the rest of the bottle. I refilled both of our glasses before sitting back down.
After about 30 seconds of silence, which feels like an absolute eternity when you are uncomfortable, I finally spoke.
"I have to be honest with you Jim, you really surprised me by calling tonight. I honestly wasn't expecting to hear from you before the end of the week," I said and took another sip of wine.
"Amanda," he started and then put his wine glass on the table in front of us. "I don't know about you, but I felt an instant connection with you yesterday at the meeting. When I was standing up there at the front of the class, baring my soul to a room full of strangers, I immediately felt comforted when my gazed rested on you. There was something in your eyes that made me feel that you understood...that you had been there before and knew exactly how I was feeling. It was comforting yet unsettling all at the same time. After that, I tried not to keep staring at you but it's like my eyes had a mind of their own and kept returning to your face, much to my embarrassment. I know that you noticed and that made it even worse." He blushed and looked down at his hands in his lap. I sensed his immense vulnerability at that moment and wondered if he thought coming tonight had been a mistake.