This is a very long and very slow-burn tale. If you expect torrid love scenes from page one, you will be disappointed. This is about seduction more than sex, but it is about sex too.
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Abigail
By Christina di Filippo
On a Monday morning, my boss asked me to join him on an initial visit to a potential client. I work in a medium-sized architecture studio specializing in the internal design of business offices. I did not graduate in architecture but in fine arts, yet I have an uncanny spatial vision and the ability to quickly and accurately translate ideas into sketches, the sketches into drawings, and the drawings into 3D views. I know AI is making inroads into my domain, but so far, I have consistently given better results.
Much as I have that special gift, I have my share of unusual quirks. The two most important are that I hate waking up early and I hate cold showers. My boss called me at 06:30, ticking the first of them. I then discovered that the gas supply to my area had been cut for maintenance, which meant no hot water. That ticked the second. I met my boss at the client's place, not in my best mood.
We were introduced to the client and to his assistant, Abi. I later found that her name was Abigail and that she hated it with all her might. Abi was a very interesting sample of womankind, interesting enough to change my foul mood. She was a very tall brunette (my guess was 5'10"+), lean, with medium-sized boobs, very pretty, and extremely elegant. Elegant in her clothes, elegant in her demeanor, and elegant in the way she put her thoughts on. With the exception that she rarely put any thoughts on. She was shy beyond measure.
The client had purchased two very old and identical industrial warehouses. They were beautiful buildings from the beginning of the 20th century, in a state of moderate disrepair. The client wanted to tear them down and build one single building, but due to planning restrictions, he could not get a license for additional space. We visited the buildings that were parallel to each other, and tall enough for 3 floors each (ground floor plus two). After a few discussions, I proposed to retrofit the two warehouses to their former grandeur and build some ultra-modern glass "bridges" linking the two warehouses at each of the floors.
Initially, nobody understood my proposal, so I got my sketchpad and translated it into a couple of sketches. The client liked the concept. Less construction costs, less time to completion, and a sustainable final product β sustainable is fashionable nowadays. Abi, whom I later discovered graduated in Architecture and was pursuing a MArch, also loved the idea and asked if she could keep my sketches. My boss was very happy because we were landing a new client before lunch on Monday.
After a few weeks of spec detailing and price haggling between the client and my boss, we got the contract, and I got a bonus. Not a bad one, to compensate for waking up early to a cold shower. Abi became our counterpart in this project. Our company had a team of architects plus me. Considering Abi, we had lots of men plus the two of us. She had the double disadvantage of having me as her sole "partner in crime", and of being extremely shy. She was very impressed with my ability to translate ideas into sketches and feed the results to the technical designers with all their CAD programs, so she stuck to me as an oyster to a rock.
One day we were in the meeting room at the construction site office, and she had a rather long call. I had nothing to do so I got my sketchpad and drew her. One sheet, with three different drawings from different perspectives. I was giving the final touches to the last one when she ended her call.
"What are you drawing so furiously?"
"Furiously, me? I'm sketching a few things while I wait for you to end your call so that we can go to the site."
"Are you having another architectural inspiration? Are you going to change the whole project?"
"No. It's just an inspiration based on beauty."
"Let me see!" And she came around the table to look at my 'masterpiece'. When she saw it, she went red, almost crimson. She stammered, went back around the table, and started to gather her belongings. I signed and dated the sheet and pushed it to her.
"When I cut my ear off and become as famous as Van Gogh this will be worth something." She smiled, visibly embarrassed, and said "Let's go." But she kept the drawings.
We visited the site, checking a few details and talking to the foreman. He suggested a modification that would make the construction easier and cheaper. I promptly sketched it, and he proposed a few changes to my sketch which I promptly incorporated. I promised to send it to the architects that same evening. Abi was observing the exchange in a dazzle.
"How can you capture a 3D idea given to you verbally and translate it into a semi-finished construction design?"
"It's a gift. I have been able to do that since I was very little. I guess my mum ate a CAD software disc when she was pregnant with me." She smiled and shook her head.
We walked towards our cars in silence, but when we parted ways, she asked why I had drawn her. "As I said, I had an inspiration based on beauty." She made a dismissive gesture with her hand. "Don't joke! The drawing itself is beautiful, not the model."
"Can we discuss that tomorrow at lunch?"
"OK."
In Brazil, we have a costume in which we exchange kisses when we meet or leave a close friend, male or female. It is more of a cheek-to-cheek thing than an actual smooch. With time, the custom became so generalized that now, except for men who usually don't kiss men, everybody kisses almost everybody.
So, very naturally, I moved forward to kiss her, but she moved backward, startled.
"Oh sorry! Anything wrong?"
"I apologize. It's just that I don't have the habit of kissing people."
"Well, now you have. At least with me!" And I approached my face again. She reluctantly smooched my face and became very red again.
"Seeya!"
I will not say that I wasn't sexually attracted to Abi from day one, but now a new, more objective plan started forming in my brain. I haven't told you yet, dear reader, that I'm a 31-year-old bisexual girl who loves enlightening straight girls on the joys of sapphic love.
We didn't see each other for a couple of days, but when we did, I kissed her. She reacted as if she would withdraw her face, but then allowed me to plant a kiss rather in the middle of her cheek. She went red again.
"Do you know you are even prettier when you blush?"
She became redder and made her dismissive hand gesture, saying, "Oh stop!"
"Hadn't we agreed to discuss that at lunch?"
"I agreed to have lunch with you. I hadn't agreed to any discussions regarding my prettiness or lack thereof."
So, we had lunch together and I didn't push the subject of her prettiness. I wanted her to open up to me and making her uncomfortable was not the way to do it. In fact, we had several lunches together and each time I was able to make a millimetric inroad into that shy soul. On each occasion, she would ask 90% of the questions and I would talk 90% of the time. Her questions were never personal. About college, about my drawing abilities, about projects I had participated in, etc. That was when I discovered that she was pursuing a MArch.
She seemed happy each time we met (and we kissed each other each time we met or left). One day I invited her to dinner the next Friday. She got a bit confused as if I had invaded her comfort zone. "I usually don't go out at night."
"Why not?"
"I don't have company."
"Whaa! Now you do!"
"I don't know what to dress!"
"Oh, come on! You are one of the most elegant women I ever met professionally, and you don't know what to dress for a dinner with a friend? Don't mess with me!"
"Really, I'm always dressed like this. Pleated skirt, white blouse, pantyhose, and heels. I don't know how to dress like young people."
"If I may ask, how old are you?"
"26."
"Then stop behaving like you are 62. When we finish here today, we are going shopping."
"Are we?"