Annabelle's cotton sheets have ducks on them. They're not made of as nice of a material as the satin I'm laying on now, but the ducks are so cute and so her. I can imagine Annabelle's face when she'd determined that I stood her up on New Year's Eve. I feel so horrible and so cold.
We met three weeks ago. Annabelle kept glancing over at me in the coffee house, obvious and sweet.
She buried her nose in her book as I walked to her, suddenly shy. Her red oxford vest was rumpled and her white collars were uneven. Her tapered khakis were wrinkled and her clunky low heels were scuffed. Annabelle looked for all the world like the sweet-sexy literature grad student she was in her untidy -- but flattering -- clothes. She read Jane Austen, a Penguin paperback
Emma.
Adorable.
I tugged her high black ponytail as I passed her table, then grinned mischievously at her as she turned at my childish affront.
"I'm Lea. Are you going to ask me to sit, or just pout at me for teasing you?"
Annabelle smiled and gestured at the seat across the bistro table from her. I sat and took her IPhone from the tabletop, using it to dial and then hanging up at one ring.
"What was that?" She's cute when she's off kilter.
"I wanted your name and number. So now we can just enjoy the deep conversation we're about to have without me worrying over contact information." I smiled my best disarming smile.
"We're about to have a deep conversation?" Annabelle can blush and sparkle at the same time.
"That depends." I surveyed her dog-eared copy. She'd closed the book, but kept her page with her index finger. "How many times have you read
Emma
and why?"
"Every December. Just to help me get in the spirit." She shrugged half-apologetically.
Three hours of conversation on cabbages and kings later- along with a few winks from me and not entirely innocent touches of her pretty hands - I was walking her home in the cool evening air.
I kissed her on the steps to her apartment. A soft, Vancouver-in-December snow dusted us with powder as my tongue slipped between her lips to bring my warm wetness into her pliant mouth.
"So, are you going to invite me up?" My hands pressed beneath her winter coat, beneath the silly white shirt tail, and beneath the oxford vest, to find the small of her back. My cold hands on her hot skin made her shiver and press closely into me. "It's all cold and snowy out here. I wanna get inside."
I hoped she'd ask me in. I'm charismatic and sexy with my long, dirty blonde hair, my large, perky breasts, and my undeniable sexual swagger. And I'm hella fun. More often than not, I'm invited up.
"Lea, we just met." Sweet Annabelle looked doubtful. "Can we get to know each other a little more first?"
"Sure." I kept my arms around her. "I'm a Libra. You?"
She slapped my shoulder playfully from inside my arms.
"You know what I mean. Can we wait until next time?"
I probably could have pushed my way in, but decided to wait. I wish I would have taken advantage of the opportunity.
"Of course." I bent to nuzzle my cold cheek against hers, thinking. My choice for our next date needed to be uncontroversial and not in either of our wheelhouses, but still had to demonstrate taste, keenness, and sensitivity. Most importantly, by the social conventions of dating, whatever we did would need to be at least three wasted days away so I wouldn't seem desperate. "There's a showing of
Planet Ant: Life Inside the Colony
at the university theater on the 10th at 8:30. Interested?"
"Yeah. That sounds great." She was lying. No one wants to watch ants for 90 minutes, but at least I knew she really wanted to see me again.
"Cool. I'll meet you here at 8 on Friday." I went back to kissing her slowly in the softly falling snow. Annabelle kissed me back, her tongue shyly darting into my mouth. As she gained confidence, her oral acrobatics thrilled me. We made out on the street like teenagers for the better part of an hour. Then my fingertips found the shell of her ear, and both felt nearly frost-bitten.
I broke our kiss. She whimpered, but one of us needed to be responsible.
"I may not be going up, Annabelle, but you have to get in out of this snow. I'll see you Friday?" I took her hand and placed a courtly kiss on her dainty wrist.
"Okay." Annabelle held on to my hand as she stepped backwards up the three entryway stairs to her foyer. She tripped on the top step, I guess expecting one more.
For a split second, she looked like she'd take a spill onto the cement sidewalk, but I caught Annabelle falling forward into my arms. I've never been more grateful for quick reflexes. Letting her go immediately wasn't going to happen either.
I righted her and kissed her forehead.
"Little distracted were you?" I asked cheekily.
It brought that charming blush I wanted to see again. I put light kisses all over her flushed face and cinched my left arm firmly around her waist. Gripping the railing with my right hand, I walked/kissed her safely up the steps and opened her door for her before letting Annabelle go.
I strolled through the chill to the bus stop and paid more attention on the ride home to the Christmas lights and garlanding that changed the hues and mood of the city. Into the spirit and all.
Annabelle stood waiting for me on her step at 7:45 on Friday. Her face lit up when I handed her an eggnog latte, steaming in the cold winter air. She wore gloves and earmuffs, apparently prepared this time for some outdoor attention. She wore Uggs that crunched the snow under our feet.
We left our cold-weather gear on the racks just inside the theater door and found seats. I spent an hour and a half of my life sitting next to her, smelling the soft cinnamon of the latte mix with the undertones of her sweet-scented perfume, but learning about leafcutter ants. That's an hour and a half of my life that I'll never get back, and I could have been touching her.
The error was quickly corrected. We only half-hearted discussed ants on the way back to her apartment. This time I didn't wait at the door for an invitation. I took her gloved hand (I know, less sexy, but what else could I do?) and led her upstairs to her apartment door.