It had been a while since I'd last seen Jim. I wasn't sure if he was embarrassed or mad at me for putting him in that situation. Still, the contract that paid for the rink by the naked people club had given me a much needed windfall. And with its success, the rink owners gave me a much needed vacation.
Five weeks after that extraordinary night Jim walked back into the rink. "Howdy, stranger", I offered staring into the sea of his grey-blue eyes.
He smiled a wide toothy grin when he saw me behind to counter. I think he may have blushed a little, remembering the last time we were at the rink together. I tried to not be obvious glancing him up and down.
His "Hi, Debra" melted my knees.
Not knowing where to take the conversation and trying to avoid any awkward pauses, I feel back on my rink manager routine. I got him squared away with checking in and a locker. We didn't say much, even for our previous friendly conversation. I'll be kicking myself for months for ruining the opportunity to include someone else in my alone time.
I was fortunately distracted with rink duties to help forget the tragic loss of a sex life. My head was engaged in battle with a trash can when a certain pair of skates shushed up to the wall of the ice.
Jim let out a long, "hey, Debra" as I turned from the overflowed waste. "Haven't seen you here in a while. I was a little worried you had quit or been fired."
"No, not quit. Dave the owner gave me some time off after the uhh... event."
"Good good. I hadn't thought to get your number or offer mine should you maybe want to go out for coffee after work sometime."
"I wanted to call you after the... thing, but I only have your info from the membership records here. I didn't know how you'd feel about me snooping into your private business."
Jim smirked. "I think you've already been peeking at my private business."
I couldn't help but laugh. I needed it. The tension was getting maddening. "Jim, what do we do about the other week? Are we still friends?"
"I sure hope we are. It be a real buzz kill if two people went out for coffee tonight, after your shift and they didn't at least like each other a little."
It took me a second to pick up on his meaning. "Oh, OH! Yes. After I get off work, tonight."
"Then I'll see you around..."
"I get off at ten. Or maybe later." I shot him with a wink. I can be clever too.
It was a little after ten when I shut down the rink, turning out the lights and locking the doors. Jim was in his car at the entrance waiting. I hopped around to the passenger side. I was giddy like a teenager.
I directed Jim to a cafe nearby. He didn't know the area around the rink as well as I did. He opened the door for me and bought my cocoa. I'm sure plenty of other people had held a door for me before. But this felt sweet and innocent.
"I'm so glad to see you still at the rink. I was worried we'd never get to talk."
"Oh me too. I needed a break. I hadn't had a real vacation in years. I didn't do anything special. Just visited my mom and..." "Oh my god. I'm talking too much." "...And did a little shopping."
"I hope you did a lot of shopping if what Mr Johnston said was true."
Forgetting, "Who's Mr. Johnston?"
"Mr. Johnston. The president and lead patron of the club?"
"Oh, that Mr. Johnston." I tend to drift from subject to subject, forgetting to come back to conversations.
"You're cute."
I don't know if he meant my drifiness or my end of the day tired appearance. Either way, I blushed. He slipped his hand into the one I was fidgeting with.
"Look, Debra. I like you. You're cute. You laugh at my stupid jokes. You're very sweet. And you've seen me naked. I'd like to see more of you. More of you in the time sense. Not the nude sense. Not necessarily anyway."
This was my chance to tease him. "Oh? You don't want to see me naked?"
"No, no. Not necessarily."
"So you do want to see me naked. I see." I said this a little louder to get other patrons' attention. I thought it would make him a little nervous. Even the field a little.
"No. I mean I would only be interested in seeing you sans clothes in an appropriate and consensual situation."
He had chosen his words slowly, but failed to consider context. "An appropriate situation, say some random night at an ice rink. With a bunch of other consensual and appropriate people." He was squirming. I must have been smiling.
He gave me a playful disapproving look. "Since you mentioned it, Mr. Johnston did schedule an event for this weekend. If you would like to go, maybe we could see if it is appropriate there." He was pleased with himself.
"Well I'm not one to play chicken. But I'm not sure I could go all the way in public like that. Wait a minute. There are no special events at the rink this weekend."
"We're not skating this time. It's bowling. Mrs. Johnston's idea for her birthday. And you're not obligated to do anything you don't want. I think they make special consideration to first timers. But I'm told few first timers remain un-nude long."
"Ugh. How do I say no and not sound like a wimp?"
"Tell you what. We'll go for a short while. Maybe not long enough to go full montey. But at least long enough to wish Janice a happy birthday. Deal?"
"I guess I could do that. Saturday?"
"Saturday. Pick you up at eight?"
"Sure." We exchanged numbers, address and any other necessary biographical information on the way back to my car.
"You know, for just coffee, this was pretty fun. Can we make this a regular thing? I need to warm up after a long day in that cold building."
"Absolutely." Jim said.
Saturday rolled around and I being a reasonable woman fretted about what to wear. This was an official first date after all. I considered the weather and activity and went simple, a nice pair of curve hugging jeans and an equally simple top. I spent more time on shoes, makeup, and jewelry than clothes.
Jim showed up promptly at eight. Might have to teach him that it's impolite to be on time with a lady. Lucky for him I was ready anyway. He had a nice gift wrapped bottle of wine assumingly for Janice's birthday.
The bowling alley was forty-five minutes away. It looked very new from the outside excepting the outside lighting being turned off and the neon Open sign turned off. All the cars were parked along the side of the building away from the front door. Jim called someone as we arrived. A man came out a side entrance and escorted us in.
The birthday party of sorts had already began. A nude and very cheerful Mrs. Janice Johnston bounced up to us in her bowling shoes, tiara, and birthday girl sash. "Jim! Debra! It's so very good to see you. I'm glad you could make it."
"Happy birthday, Janice. I got you a nice bottle of merlot." Jim presented his gift as she reached around him for a hug.
"Oh Jim. You must get rid of those rags so I can hug you properly."