Beautiful, that was what she called me. I knew I was a good looking guy but guys are not beautiful. I was not beautiful. I did understand that I was not handsome in the normal meaning of the word. I also knew most guys that looked like me were gay and those guys were gorgeous. I was gay.
She was my best friend Jenn, a cute bundle of energy and my work station mate. We worked at a business law office with perhaps fifty others but as with most places like that we knew maybe nine and we were the only ones the other knew well.
We only saw each other at work, we did not socialize. She had a partner and I had a partner.
Well, I no longer had a partner, one evening he became physically abusive and I ended up breaking his jaw and a couple or ribs when I fought back.
He could not live with the fact that his pretty boy had beaten the crap out of him and left.
I had become disillusioned with him anyway, we had little in common. We had met at a bar and the sex was good. We should have left it at that.
The problem was that I had purchased season tickets to the symphony, the opera, the show venue, and the ball park for two people, one for him.
I had purchased such tickets since I learned I could afford to do so but that year was the first I had bought two tickets for each performance. All together they added up to over a thousand dollars a year. Fortunately I could get them with different paychecks.
None were full season tickets. Eight were to the ballpark, six to the symphony, four each to the opera and show venues. My schedule was full in May and September but the rest of the year I only had one or two events a month or so.
I decided that I wanted company for the next show which would be Spamalot so I asked Jenn to suggest someone I could take with me.
"What happened to Carl?"
"He has been history for a while."
"Oh, sorry, I guess."
"Don't be."
"When is the show?"
"This Saturday."
"I'm free."
"What happened to Crystal?"
"History. She stole from me."
"Ugh, very sorry. In that case I get to learn where you live."
"Follow me home after work today. I will feed you dinner."
"Deal. Have you finished uploading the new numbers?"
"Yes, they are ready."
"Thanks."
After work I was very surprised to see we lived in the same neighborhood of town homes. Hers was a bit smaller than mine and did not have a patio but the place looked like it was decorated by a pro.
"Did you hire somebody to do your place?"
"No, Crystal and I did this. We fought every step of the way but were astounded by how well it turned out. Shrimp linguini in garlic butter sauce OK?"
"Sound delicious."
"I will put them in the oven then go change. Go ahead and snoop around until I get back."
I was looking at a photo album titled Girlfriends and had stopped at a photo of five women exposing their bare ass to the camera.
She was by then looking over my shoulder and said, "Those are sorority sisters, we were at a party and decided to leave, we were saying goodbye."
"Didn't like the party?"
"No, a bunch of snobs. I'm surprised I didn't see you there. Dinner is ready."
"I will have you know I am not a snob," I said in my most snobbish voice.
She punched my shoulder and giggled then turned towards the kitchen.
Wait, which one is you?"
"Guess."
I left the album open to the photo and followed her to the table. That was when I noticed all she wore was a t-shirt. Her ass and tits enjoyed their freedom and were celebrating. I enjoyed their freedom too.
Dinner was fabulous and I demanded she give me her recipe but she wouldn't. I threatened her with bodily injury and she stuck her tongue out at me. I assumed a threatening kung fu stance and she walked right through it and embraced me.
"Thanks for keeping me company for dinner, it has been lonely for me in here. If you don't mind I could cook dinner for you every Wednesday night."
"Thank you but no. Every other Wednesday night would be good. Next Wednesday dinner will be at my place. You can walk to it from here you know."
"Where do you live?"
"F-14."
"You are kidding."
"No. I am just as surprised as you to learn we are neighbors."
"Wow you are right. I can come home and change first. You have a deal."
She kissed me, it was just a quick kiss that only meant we had an agreement but it was nice.
The drive from my place to hers was probably too long to walk but if she went out her door to the commons area she just needed to walk past one building and the pool area to get to my home. Five minutes tops.
"I can't believe we could have been bothering each other at home for years and never knew it," she said.
I gave her my best withering stare that made her giggle.
"Any TV shows you like on Wednesday?"
"No, I watch TV only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. During the summer I watch baseball but now I watch just pro football. The rest of the time I'm listening to music as I stare at my aquarium."
"How big is it?"
"Thats a rather personal question isn't it?"
She paused confused for a moment then punched my arm before bursting into giggles. She would like Spamalot.
"Oh, did you mean my aquarium? That is a hundred and fifty gallons. It's a marine tank."
"I will be parking myself in front of it next week. Wait, what kind of music do you play?"
"Classical mostly. What isn't classical is classic rock. Both were my grandfather's collections."
"I can handle that but I may bring a CD with me."
We were back in the living room drinking a sweet wine by then. I felt she wanted me to stay for a while and I was happy she wanted me to stay for a while.
"This is you," I said as I pointed at the second naked ass from the right in the photo.
"How did you figure it out?"
"Your t-shirt leaves little to the imagination."
"Oh, I should dress better for company."
"Don't you dare."
She punched my arm and kissed me. Both seemed to have been impulses she had not taken into consideration before she allowed them to flow.
"Stand up," I said.
She did and I swatted her ass. She jumped on me and we began to wrestle and ended up on her floor. Her shirt rode up and I could see she was a true redhead and commented on that.
Punch, kiss.
She got up and brought us fresh wine and we talked about our previous relationships. We agreed the last relationships were likely on their death throes months before they ended. She called me a dangerous animal when I related my last confrontation with Carl. I called her a dangerous animal when she told me about her confrontation with Crystal.
Then we almost died laughing when she suggested we fix them up with each other.
I decided I needed to go home. She decided to allow me. We kissed at the door.
I felt I had a smile on my face through the night. I felt the smile return as soon as I saw her the next morning. She was smiling too. We did our work as usual and ate lunch together as usual.
We said goodbye by our cars as usual and went home. I watched my TV shows then the news.
I was about to get in bed when my phone rang.
"Take me to dinner tomorrow night."
"Any place in particular?"
"Some place that has seafood. You can follow me home and I would just go from my car to yours."
"Deal. Good night."
"Night."
I was almost asleep before it occurred to me it would be my first date with a girl since my second year of college. I fell asleep smiling.
The next day went by very slowly for me. Just before quitting time we almost crashed into each other hurrying out of the restrooms. We did slow down on the drive home and I then drove us to the boardwalk fifteen miles away. We beat the crowd and were seated immediately.
I was still wondering why we ended up holding hands as we walked into the restaurant. I suspected she was too.
We shared an appetizer tray and had margaritas. After we had demolished our enormous dinner we went for a walk along the pier. Again we held hands.
She said, "I think we are confusing people, they are wondering how a guy that can have anyone he wants ended up with me"
"I'm sure all realize you must be a rich heiress."
Punch, kiss.
We walked right through the spurting water fountain without getting wet. We listened to the band for a while and when we saw people dancing we did too.
We returned to my car and I drove us the her home. She invited me in and we drank a beer as we watched the news. We had another two beers as we watched Guy Fiery mug his way through two shows then fell asleep on her couch.
I awoke when she began to drag me to her bed. We plopped down on it and went back to sleep.
At the breakfast table we admitted to each other that it had been years since we had shared a bed with a member of the opposite sex.