office romance – Lulu M Sylvian

The Twelve Dates of Christmas: the seventh date

7th

Seven Swimming Swans Court

I dumped my bags in my cubicle and headed upstairs to see if Chris was in his office yet.

His hair stuck up in different directions, and if it wasn’t for the change of clothes, I would have sworn he had been at work all night. I tapped on the door frame.

He swung around with an exasperated sigh. Clearly expecting it to be a work related interruption.

“Hi,” I said.

Without a word he got up and grabbed me in for a bone crunching hug. As he held me I could feel him relax into the embrace.

“How long have you been here?” I stroked his hair, no not peanut butter. Maybe gold was the right color.

“I’ve been here since before six. But the good news is I should be done before four, so we can leave on time.”

“And how late were you here last night?” I asked.

“I was home and tucked into bed by midnight.” He smiled at me.

“So you crashed, and face planted fully dressed into bed at 11:59 right?”

“Pretty much.” He laughed. “Let’s go get some coffee, I could use a break.”

I sipped my coffee slowly as we headed back upstairs from the coffee shop in the lobby. The elevators were crowded, and neither of us felt awake or energetic enough to take the stairs up four floors. Chris walked me back to my cube. His eyebrows shot up when he saw my bags in my cube.

“Oh, I took Uber in. I figured it would be easier coming back on Monday to not have my car here.” I explained.

“Smart.” Then he kissed me.

We skipped lunch so Chris could get all the reports finished that he needed complete by year end.

At three forty-five, an exhausted sexy man showed up in my cube to sweep me away for the weekend.

We necked in his car in the parking lot for at least thirty minutes before leaving. I was breathless and giddy when we stopped kissing.

I watched the golden, water-starved hills pass the car window. That was close to the color of Chris’s hair. I sighed. Dead grass. Nope. It might be a great color, but it was the opposite of sexy. Dead grass hair. I couldn’t do that, Chris’s hair was sexy, it deserved better.

Chris pulled into a subdivision. I giggled at the street names: Leaping Dolphin Drive, Flying Bird Lane, Swimming Swans Court. He pulled into a long ranch style house on Swimming Swans.

We left our bags in the car, and I followed him into the house.

“Moms, I’m home.” He called out.

A tall woman with similar bone structure to Chris came from one direction, and a slighter, smaller woman greeted us from another.

“You brought someone with you!” The taller of the two women exclaimed as she hugged Chris. She held out her hand to me. “I’m Pat. And this is Grace,” she said turning to introduce the smaller woman. Grace had the same eyes as Chris. I was confused. I swallowed down my surprise and smiled, and hoped I didn’t say anything stupid.

“This is Natalie.” Chris wrapped an arm around my shoulder as he introduced me.

“Nice to meet you both,” I said as we shook hands.

“Mike is around here somewhere. You can meet him later. Why don’t you get your bags, and Chris will show you to his room.”

Pat made noises about having something baking in the kitchen. She and Grace disappeared in what I assumed was that direction as we headed back outside.

I blinked and stared at Chris as he handed me bags. I followed him silently as he led me down a long hallway and into a guest room, that clearly had been his bedroom in the past.

“Where am I gonna sleep?” I asked. I had too many questions in my head, but this was the topic I felt safest dealing with.

“You can have the bed, and I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Isn’t there another room for me?” I wasn’t ready to sleep with Chris just yet, at least I didn’t think I was.

“Not unless you want to bunk in with my little brother. And he’s smelly. If you want I can sleep out on the couch.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expecting this.” I motioned to the room.

“It’s okay. Moms probably aren’t sure either. I forgot to mention I was bringing you along. I wanted it to be a surprise.” Chris pulled me into his embrace. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. You’re full of surprises by the way. Two moms? You could have warned a girl.” I scolded.

“Think of it as a litmus test, you passed with aplomb.”

“Why thank you. So is it tacky to ask which one is your bio mom?”

“Grace is my biological mother.” I could see that, after all, they had the same eyes. “And Pat is my biological father. She started transitioning about sixteen years ago.” He continued.

I’m pretty sure my eyeballs popped out of my head.

“And your parents stayed together?”

Chris nodded. “Mom decided she loved Dad no matter what, and when he started to make the transition she supported him.”

“Wasn’t that hard on you?” Chris seemed completely at ease with it, and I think it would have freaked me out. “You were what? Fifteen?”

Chris nodded. “I was an asshole for a year or two. But Mom’s unconditional love really helped me to open my eyes and realize it’s not about body parts, it’s about love. Now here’s the kicker, cause I know you’re gonna do the math. Mike is my sixteen-year-old brother. You can say, he was their last hetero hurrah.”

Now I know my eyeballs popped out of my head.

“You’ll do fine. I kind of sprang everyone on each other. I’m not driving you to a hotel or back to LA tonight am I?”

“No Chris you’re not. Besides if you did, who would kiss me at midnight?”

He kissed me again, and the cares of the world went away.

I followed Chris into the kitchen.

Pat had pulled the most amazing smelling cookies out of the oven. She handed one to Chris then one to me. It was gooey and falling apart. Pecans, cookie, and melted chocolate and something else I couldn’t quite place.

“Oh my gawd,” I said around the hot goo in my mouth. “What is this? It’s divine.”

“Butterscotch bars. They’re Chris’s favorite.”

I looked at him. He smiled and nodded. Butterscotch. That was it, that was the perfect description for Chris and his hair. And it felt nice on the tongue. Butterscotch.

“His favorite? I can see why. So do you make these too?” I asked Chris.

He shook his head.

“I’m surprised if they are your favorite. I learned to make my grandmother’s sweet potato pecan pie since it’s my favorite.”

“I don’t make them nearly as well.”

“Sweet potato pecan pie? That sounds delicious. Would you mind sharing the recipe?” Pat asked.

“Of course. I ah, I don’t have it with me, but I can email it to you when I get home. Do you mind a swap, and giving me the recipe for this?” I asked.

I wanted to make Chris’s favorite food. I had an overwhelming need to cook for him, to show off my culinary skills, such as they were.

Pat shewed me from the kitchen and told Chris to get the grill started for dinner.

I sat on the back deck with a cold beer and watched Chris show off his grilling skills.

Every time I offered to help I was told everything was under control.

Mike cruised through. He gave me a glaring once over, was a brat to Chris, then left to hang out at his friend’s house for New Year’s.

Dinner was pleasant, then we just hung out and watched TV. Seeing Grace curl up against Pat, I took as permission to be able to curl into Chris’s side.

“Is this okay?” Chris asked. “I’m just beat from year end. I didn’t have time to plan anything. And honestly,” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “I don’t have the energy for much more.”

“This is fine.” And it was, besides I got to curl up against him and have his arm around me.

When midnight rolled around, Grace handed out champagne flutes.

We watched the ball drop for California and toasted in the new year. Chris’s kiss was the best way to start the new year.

catch up with the sixth date

continued on Jan 1 with the eighth day of Christmas

The Twelve Dates of Christmas: the sixth date

the 6th date of Christmas

Ducks, Geese, Whatever

It seemed appropriate that on the sixth day of Christmas Chris and I sat on a bench next to a duck pond. I felt stupid, I did not even know there was a duck pond back here. But we sat and fed ducks and geese. As far as I could tell none of the geese were laying eggs, so much for six geese a laying. Chris was quiet today. Even his kisses felt toned down.

I tossed a chunk of bread from my sandwich to the ducks and geese that had gathered around us in hopeful expectation. We weren’t talking, just eating in companionable silence. I was nice. It didn’t feel awkward, or like we needed to be talking. Actually, I really liked it. We could just be together and that was good.

Chris yawned. “I’m sorry Nat, I’m not good company.”

“Pish, you’re perfectly fine company. I kind of like just hanging out with you.” I scooted closer to him and rested my head on his shoulder. “How late were you here last night?”

“After midnight. But the good news is that I will get everything done tonight, and we can get out of here around four tomorrow.”

I rested my chin on him and watched his face as he spoke. I really liked how his lips moved. This close I could see the patches on his cheek where he accidentally missed shaving this morning. I trailed my finger down his sideburns and along his jaw.

“That tickles.” He complained with a smile.

“So I have a question for you,” I said.

“Hmm?” He chewed. I liked watching his jaw move.

“We aren’t exactly dating are we?”

“Not in the past few days simply because of my schedule this week, but I’ll take you out over the weekend. Promise.” He said.

“But are we dating?” I asked.

Chris turned to look at me. He didn’t say anything just looked me in the eye. We sat like that for a long minute. He lay his hand against the side of my face and leaned in.

“Chris? What the hell are you doing out here?” The voice was sharp, female, and bitter.

We both turned.

A fit sweaty woman stood before us with her hands on her hips. An iPod was strapped to her upper arm and she plucked ear pods out with one hand.

“Hi, Jess. Running on lunch?” Chris said slowly. “I’m working over there these days.” He pointed back to our building.

“I always run at lunch, or did you forget? Why aren’t you running?”

I really didn’t like her tone, she sounded like she was scolding him, like she had the right to nag at him.

Chris breathed out through his nose. “I don’t run all the time anymore Jess. There are other things to do.”

She made a face that spoke volumes. She did not approve of his attitude.

“You should run, you’ll get soft.” She glared at both of us, then raked that glare up and down me. If lasers could shoot out her eyes, I would be crispy fried. “Suit yourself.” She slammed the earbuds back in then took off running again.

I stared at Chis as he watched her trot away.

“Who was that?” Please don’t say, girlfriend, or wife.

“My ex,” Chris stated flatly.

“And she’s a runner like you used to be?”

Chris nodded.

“Look, Nat,” Chris sighed.

I could tell he was about to get heavy with whatever he was going to say. I had started it asking about our dating situation, so I pretty much couldn’t blame him for things getting uncomfortable.

“I ran, a lot. My girlfriends for a while were also runners. I pretty much exclusively dated runners. It’s what we did. No movies, no drag shows, running.”

“How long were you and Jess together?” I felt myself easing away from Chris. I’m not a runner, I am so not a runner. We’ve talked about this, and yet, I still felt this was a big deal for him.

“We were together for three, almost four years. We were actually engaged until I wasn’t committed enough for her. I think it was over some half marathon that I was not interested in. I wanted to do something else that day. I try not to remember honestly, being over it and all, but it was my parents’ anniversary.” He shivered as his memories came back. “We broke up over having to choose between a half marathon and my parents’ anniversary.”

“How long ago?” Now I was worried that I was rebound girl.

“Over two years ago.”

“And rebound girl?” I had to be certain.

“She was cute, and we dated for about three months. I’ve mostly been single and dating since then. What about you?”

“I had a serious boyfriend in high school. Lost virginity together, going to get married, the whole bit. We made it through a year and half of college. I think it was a mutual dump. Did date one guy for about two years, but nothing real long term since maybe six months here and there. I’m seeing someone now.” I said. I watched Chris’s face fall. “He’s tall with dark blondish hair. Used to be a runner, but does weights and stuff. Likes to do just about anything, a really nice guy.” I liked watching his grin come back as he realized I was talking about him.

He moved closer to me and started to lean in. “Is he any good at kissing? You seem to me to be the type of girl who likes to be kissed.”

“He’s the best,” I said against his mouth as he began kissing me.

Ducks and geese protested as we kissed because I had stopped tossing bread their way.

“I hope Jess didn’t upset you,” Chris said as we headed back towards the office. “I don’t want you to think that because she was my type that I don’t like you.”

I turned and smiled at him. “Hey some people have a set type, and others are all across the board. It’s no big deal.” I shrugged.

“Look Nat. You asked me earlier if we’re dating. And as corny as it sounds, I want to say no. I want to say we’re past the dating part and we’re a couple. I wasn’t expecting any of this when I asked you to go to dinner. I just didn’t want to be a sorry ass alone on Christmas night. But you turned out to be the most amazing woman. You are nothing like anyone I have ever dated before.” He held his hands in front of him, inches from my body, indicating my figure. “Not in shape, and not in sense of humor, not in anything. And I really like you.” He nervously ran a hand through his hair. “Not one girlfriend in the past has ever brought me a pizza and offered to hang out with me when I’ve had to work late. Not one.”

I blinked at him in stunned silence.

I know that the thing on Christmas was by chance, and I know it really was just to not be alone. That didn’t make his confession sting any less. But everything else he said took the sting all away.

“So this kind of does away with that whole relationship timetable huh?” I finally said. “We skipped right over dating and fast-tracked to the exclusive couple part. Huh?”

“That’s not exactly what I meant. I don’t want to make you feel like you can’t date other guys. But. Yeah, no. That is what I mean. Damn it. I don’t want you seeing anyone else. I want you to be my girlfriend and not just a girl I’m dating.”

Chris walked in a big circle. His hands raking through his hair. He was stressed. My initial reaction to be snarky was put on hold. I didn’t want to be the cause of his stress. I seriously liked him.

“Hey.” I pulled him into my embrace. “I can’t think of a nicer plan, to be exclusively your girl, and you being exclusively my guy.” I could feel the tension leaving his body as I held him.

He wrapped his arms around me. “See this is what I’m talking about. You are different. You aren’t putting me on some timetable, and you are okay with how fast this is happening. You want to know why I was at work until after midnight?”

I nodded. “You got dumped on by your coworkers. You had a lot to do.”

“I was distracted by you and that damned pizza. I kept thinking I should have let you stay, but then I know we would have ended up making out more. Of course, that led me to thinking about making love to you on my desk on top of all of those papers, and then I couldn’t focus at all.”

I blushed and swallowed hard. We weren’t even into heavy petting yet and he was talking about the sex. Not that I hadn’t thought about that too, but hearing that I did that to him too was, wow.

“I guess I had better not volunteer to stay late with you tonight then?” I asked.

“Knowing you are willing to just hang out with me, and not be the center of my attention is a lot. Most women would demand that I focus on them, even if they know I have a job to do. I know you wouldn’t but I’m still gonna say no thank you. Because even though you wouldn’t, I would want to give you all of my attention.”

I was falling in serious deep like with this guy. I definitely wanted all of his attention, hanging out while he worked was a bad idea.

“Can I at least stop by for some making out before I head home tonight?” I pleaded.

“Please.” He began nuzzling my neck. He groaned then stopped nibbling on me, he rested his forehead against my shoulder. “Damn.”

He stood and looked down at me. “I might be in a meeting.”

“So call me, let me know what’s going on. We’ll figure this out. It’s only one more night then we have a long weekend together right?” I tried logic on him.

He kissed me, it wasn’t a soul searing kiss. It was a nice simple kiss, a basic kiss because we both knew it wasn’t the last one. We knew there were plenty of more kisses coming. For a split second, I realized this may be the first real grown-up-in-a-relationship kiss of my life.

catch up with the fifth date

continued on Dec 31, with the seventh day of Christmas

The Twelve Dates of Christmas: the fifth date

5th Date of Christmas

And a Side of Onion Rings

I forgot how wonderful it was to feel this way. Chris and his peanut butter hair made me so happy. Not peanut butter, it’s too dark and too sticky. But it’s a step in the right direction. It’s definitely better than beer. But beer is a cleaner description. Oh, it doesn’t matter. He’s lovely, and each day he’s more mine, and that’s what matters.

My stupid-happies did not defeat the morning commute traffic beast today. But it didn’t matter. Chris sat spinning in my chair when I got to work. And that made up for all of it. What is it with men and spinning in my chair? I may have squealed.

“Good morning.” He stood and put his arms around me.

I dropped my bags and threw my arms around him. “Hiya. What are you doing in my cube? Not that I’m complaining, or anything.”

I really didn’t care if anyone in the office was going to be offended by our PDA: public display of affection. Besides, my cubicle was fairly private. Unless someone walked past it, like Blake just happened to do.

“Well, are you going to kiss her or not? I can’t stand around all day waiting for you.” Blake snarked.

Chris dropped his arms.

I glared at Blake for killing our moment of joy. “What do you need Blake?”

“Nothing.” He shook his head. “I just wanted to see how straight people do it, ya know.” I really don’t know how to describe his expression, but his face contorted from super pretty boy to comically-derpy with screwed up eyebrows and lips. “For science.”

Chris’s arms were around me a second later. “Watch and learn science boy, watch and learn.” Chris leaned in and the world disappeared. His lips were soft and he tasted of coffee. He gently prodded my mouth open and his tongue found mine. I swear his kisses were getting hotter every day. Soon flames would burst from me, and we would be consumed in passion’s flames. I shoved my fingers into his hair, and he grabbed onto mine. We kissed deeper until I was floating in space.

When he pulled back, his hands cupped my face. We were both breathing heavily. I had actually forgotten that we had an audience.

Blake began a slow clap. “Well done, nice technique. I give you a 9.8 for style, and a 10 for partner satisfaction.”

I dropped my forehead against Chris’s chest. “Go away, Blake.” I groaned.

“Kay-kay girlfriend.” He said in a highly sassy tone then he left.

“What was that?” Chris asked.

“I have no idea.” I didn’t, but I was laughing. “Hi.” I mooned up at Chris. That was an amazing kiss. I wanted more. But we were at work. So that wasn’t going to happen.

“I wanted to kiss you again, and I didn’t want to wait. So I figured you would come here first.” He explained.

“I like the way you think. Can you do lunch today or is it another day of all day meetings?” I asked.

“Yesterday happened because half the department isn’t even here today, they came in specifically for the meetings. Leaving the rest of us to do the actual work.”

“Bummer.”

“Yeah, but that does mean I am available for lunch.” He slowly twisted with me side-to-side.

“Ya know, if we grab something to go from the roach coach in the back parking lot, we can go find a bench and make out.” I fluttered my eyelashes at him.

“I knew you were a smart girl.” He kissed me again. This one didn’t quite take me out of my body, but it still curled my toes.

I waited for Chris in the north stairwell. My pulse would surge every time I heard feet pounding down the stairs. I watched with anticipation for his figure to turn at the landing and make his way down to me. With each new not-Chris person, my excitement diminished. By the time Chris did arrive I wasn’t expecting it to be him. So I was completely surprised.

“Oh,” I gasped as he grabbed me and kissed me without saying anything.

His kisses were hot and urgent. And they didn’t stop even after a few people cleared their throats nervously as they passed us.

“You hungry?” He asked.

I nodded, but I wasn’t.

“I’m hungrier than the food truck can handle, mind if we hit the cafe across the street? We can eat on the patio, its nice out.” Chris pointed with his thumb over his shoulder indicating the matching building to ours.

“Sure.” I nodded.

He held my hand as we cut across the parking lot to the other building. My stomach did somersaults.

“How’s your day been?” I asked. All those practiced topics of conversation from the other day deserted me. Work seemed safe enough.

Chris grunted. I stopped walking, forcing him to stop and look at me.

He gave me a weak grin. “It’s better now that I’m with you. I feel like I’ve been dumped on with everyone deciding they can cut out early. Which means I’m working late every night just so I can leave on time on Friday.”

“Can’t you just cut out early without the late nights?” We resumed walking.

“No,” he shook his head. “Too much to get before year end. I’ll be here late tonight and late tomorrow, and I’ll have to come in early Friday if I can’t get everything done.”

We stepped up to the counter to order. I ordered a hamburger.

“You want fries with that?” The lady behind the counter asked.

I felt like throwing caution to the wind. After all the very first thing we ever did was go out to eat, so I didn’t need to shy away from food now. “I’ll have a side of onion rings, oh and one of those big pickles.” Chris looked at me with one eyebrow raised. Oh, that was a hot look, but right now I think that was him giving me a funny face. “What? It’s a vegetable.”

We found a seat on the patio.

“So, you have big plans for Friday?” I asked.

“Actually I do and I’m hoping you don’t.” Chris shifted in his chair. “My parents got back last night and they want me to come up for New Year’s.” He looked nervous. “And I was wondering if you would come up with me? Take the long weekend in Santa Barbara and hang out with the moms.”

Uhm. Wow. Meeting parents already? Plus spending a weekend away together. Breathe Natalie. This meant the sex thing might happen. Not necessarily, not if we’re at his parents. But still, the chances of the sex happening just skyrocketed.

“I can change my plans,” I said trying to be cool. I did not feel cool. I was flummoxed.

“Your friends won’t get mad?” Chris asked.

“My TV won’t care either way, the DVD player might feel left out, but I think they’ll be fine without me.”

Chris’s grin made my heart skip a beat or two, before running in circles at top speed with glee.

“Great. Bring your stuff and we can leave from work. You said you skate right?”

I nodded.

“Bring your skates, there’s a great beach walk.” He began.

“Oh, the place you took me after the Prince thing?” I interrupted.

“Yeah, it’s great for skating or biking.”

“Or running.” I finished for him.

“Or running.” He agreed.

“So just how serious is this running thing with you? Weekend warrior or what? You’re a little beefier than what I think of as a runner.” I asked.

“Track in high school. Mostly weekend warrior type thing. It’s easy cardio. I’ve done a few marathons. But not so many since I’ve added more weight lifting. I’ll hit the gym three or four times a week, run a few times, or do something else, like roller blades or biking. Depends on the weather, and if I have company.” He shrugged.

“So fit and active lifestyle is your thing?” I asked as I sank into the greasy pit of onion rings, hamburgers, meaty thighs and big boobs. One look at me and most guys who are into fit and healthy turn tail. Not that I’m not fit or healthy, I just don’t fit the physical stereotype. And to be honest, my lunch of choice did not support the argument that I was either.

“It’s an activity, not a lifestyle. I like to go to back-to-back movies with beautiful women. I like to hang out at friends’ houses and play video games. I go to the gym, so I can eat hamburgers and french fries, and convince myself that a pickle is really a vegetable.” He said nodding at my lunch. His wasn’t much healthier, the only vegetable he had was the lettuce on his cheeseburger.

“Fair enough. I used to work out more, but not so much since I moved here.” I thought about telling him how much I used to hit the gym, and how much I skated, but I decided to save that for the weekend. Give him a little surprise.

“I watch entirely too many movies. Theater, DVD, and streaming. I’m on social media too much. I like long walks on the beach, piña coladas, getting caught in the rain, I’m not into yoga.”

“So, you like making love at midnight do you?” Chris caught me. We both laughed at my attempt to use the piña colada song as my personal dossier.

I leaned in and looked up at him through my eyelashes. “I like making love at midnight. But not on sand dunes. That shit gets everywhere and gets in cracks you didn’t realize you have. Or so I’ve been told.”

Chris started choking he laughed so hard.

Chris held my hand on the walk back to the office. I loved the feel of his large warm hand wrapped around mine. His fingers were long and tapered. And he held on like he wanted to keep my hand.

“Want to find a secluded place to neck for five minutes before we get back in there?” He asked, nodding towards our building.

“I had onions and a huge pickle for lunch,” I complained.

“And I had garlic fries. We should taste amazing.” He said as he pulled be around the corner, and pressed me against a metal fire escape door.

The pressure of him leaning into me took all my resolve. His lips descended on mine. He was right. We tasted delicious.

I brushed his hair back into some semblance of order. Mine was too far gone to be saved so I pulled it into a ponytale. Chris kissed me again once we reached my cube.

“I have to stay late so I can’t take you out tonight. Come up and kiss me before you go home?” He asked. He was so cute and timid, like a little boy.

“Of course,” I was so smitten with this guy, like I would turn down a chance to make out for a bit. “Do you want me to hang out with you, keep you company?”

He made a soft growl low in his throat. “I won’t get any work done. But thanks for the offer.”

He kissed me again, then left to return to work.

I flopped down in my chair. I did not feel like working. I felt like making out with Chris, garlic and onion breath and all.

“Did I see you trying to suck out boyfriend’s tonsils outside?” Blake stuck his head in my cube.

“Probably.” I sighed, yeah that was some heavy necking.

“When did this all start. I don’t remember the two of you even talking before. And now its all suck face all day.”

“Blake. Stop it. Why do you even care?” I asked.

“Cause it’s cute and nauseating all at once. So for how long?”

“He was my Christmas present. Question.”

Blake raised his perfect eyebrows at me.

“You barely said word one to me since I’ve started here, and now you’re all up in my business. What gives?” I would have killed to have him talk to me a week ago, and now, I just didn’t get it.

“You’re snogging one of the finer specimens of manhood in this building, that’s what gives. And what do you mean don’t talk to you? I email you all the time. We’re always talking.”

“Email isn’t talking, but okay.” I nodded. He was right, we did email, but it was always work related. “And you’re right, Chris is fine.” I sighed. Fine and a really good kisser.

“Girlfriend I’m always right. Now get back to work, those sheets aren’t going to spread themselves.”

I snorted softly as he disappeared around the bank of cubicles.

I ordered a pizza before the end of the day and personally delivered it to Chris before I left. I gave him a quick kiss goodnight that lasted about thirty minutes. He was getting bolder with his hands. He really had been my Christmas present. Best one I had received in a really long time.

need to catch up on the fourth date

The story continues on the sixth day of Christmas

The Twelve Dates of Christmas: the fourth date

the Fourth Date of Christmas on www.lmsylvian.com

Calling Birds

On the fourth day of Christmas I woke up happy. Stupid stinking happy. Princess movie happy, birds were chirping, cute little chubby rodents made my breakfast and made me an entirely new wardrobe kind of happy.My lips were still a little tender after all that kissing. But man, oh, man, oh man. It was so worth it.

The stupid happies carried me all the way through my morning commute (a miracle by LA driving standards). It wasn’t until I went to take a sip of coffee I realized I didn’t have one. That’s the power of stupid-happy.

I turned on my computer and opened my email as I moved into my cubicle for the day. I stroked the side of my monitor in response to an email request from Blake, clearly a habit now.

I slid open the bottom desk draw to drop in my purse when my desk phone started ringing. “This is Nat.”

“Did your drive in go incredibly smooth? Mine did.” It was Chis, sigh. He sounded stupid-happy too.

“I’ll see your good commute and up you a coffee-free morning.”

“Seriously?” I could hear the smile in his voice. That of course, made me smile more.

“Yeah, no coffee. Are you having a good morning?” I asked.

“I am now.”

“What are you doing for lunch?” Lunch seemed like hours away, but I wanted to see him again.

“I have an all-day meeting. That’s why I was calling. I need to drop off some forms to your department, and was wondering if you wouldn’t mind meeting me halfway?”

“North stairwell in five minutes?” Oh a clandestine meeting in the stairwell, I wondered how much making out we could do.

“Make it three.” He countered.

As calmly as I could, I hung my phone up, finished putting my stuff away, and tried not to run to the stairs. Once in the stairwell, I pounded up the stairs. Chris was running down just as quickly. We met on the landing between the two floors.

His hands were empty.

“Looks like you forgot your paperwork.” I cooed. I played with the front of his shirt.

“That was just a ploy for anyone who was listening. I couldn’t very well say I wanted to make out with you some more over the company phone. You know those lines are monitored.”

I finished in a stilted computerized voice, “for quality assurance.” He smiled a dazzling grin at me. “So you want to kiss me some more?”

“Yeah. I really liked that last night.” His hands slid onto my hips, and he stepped in closer. His head tilted down, and his eyes closed. We heard footsteps on the stairs. He stood straight and stepped back. I stared at the floor. I didn’t see who passed us.

“You know,” Chris’s gaze landed on my chest. “These are very distracting. I honestly keep thinking about them.”

“Oh really?” I arched my back, giving the boobs a bit of a lift. “You didn’t seem very concerned with them last night.” It was true. I had half expected him to be super handsy, yet he had barely even gotten close.

“Truth? I am in awe, and a bit intimidated by them.” His fingers barely brushed the tops of my breasts as he zipped the front of my shirt up another few inches. I had worn the zipper a bit lower than usual for him.

I laughed. “Intimidated? It’s not like they bite. Actually, they like you.”

“Oh yeah?” He moved in a little closer.

“Yeah, they would like to play with you sometime.” I can’t believe we were talking about my breasts as if they were a complete and separate entities. I mean, at times I swear they are, but for the flirting, it was kind of lame. Lame, but it was clearly working for the two of us.

He smiled and nodded. The rest of our conversation was mostly just mooning at each other and sighing. His watch beeped, pulling us out of our mutual gazing stupor.

“I’ve got to go. I’ll call you when I’m out.”

I nodded, bit my lip, and watched him sprint back up the stairs. I went from stupid-happy to lonely despair in the blink of an eye. I slogged back to my desk. When I got there Blake the Beautiful swiveled back and forth in my chair. He was so pretty with his smoky skin and his dapper beard. But he didn’t make the butterflies in my lower abdomen flutter anymore. I leaned against the opening to my cubicle.

“What can I do for you, Blake?” Blake never visited for the sake of a chat.

He continued to spin around, his fingers steepled together tapped against his pretty mouth. I had wanted to kiss that mouth the first time I met him before I knew he liked boys. Heck I had wanted to kiss him even after I knew he liked boys, he is just that pretty. Now, it was just a good looking mouth, like it belonged to some actor in a movie, nothing more. It wasn’t Chris’s mouth.

“So,” he began. Twist. “What did I see you and Chris Jones getting up to in the stairwell? Hmmm?” He continued to twist around in the chair.

Busted. I flushed.

“Oh it was something, look at you blush.” He leaned forward in the chair.

“What did you see?” I asked. He saw nothing because Chris and I did nothing.

“Somebody was a little too close, a little too predatory.”

“And?” I prodded.

“And someone else seemed a little too pleased with herself.” He continued.

“And nothing else, because nothing else happened.”

“You aren’t denying it? You aren’t going to say it was a random meeting while you were running errands?”

“Blake what’s the problem? You caught us flirting. No big deal.”

“I love a good juicy office romance.” I had not pegged Blake the Beautiful to be sassy office gossip. He always seemed so aloof.

“Out!” I pulled him from my chair and shushed him from my cubicle. “Be gone purveyor of whatever it is you’re purveying!”

A week ago I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the fact that Blake was sassing off to me, let alone been able to actually grab his arm to pull him out of my chair. What can I say? My hormones act funny around pretty boys. And really hot men.

I sat and quickly typed an email to Chris. “Blake was in my cube, he basically thinks he’s busted us on some hot office romance. FYI, I did not deny it.”

I hit send and hoped I handled the situation right. It hadn’t occurred to me that Chris might want to keep this on the down-low until that very second.

I stared at my monitor waiting for a response ping. Chris was in a meeting. I had to be patient.

I was in the middle of sorting my email inbox when it pinged with a new message. “Good. I’m not worried about keeping it a secret if you aren’t. – Chris.”

Big sigh of relief. Double sigh, because it always bothered me when a guy wanted to keep the beginning of something a secret. I kind of wanted the world to know that I got to make out with Chris Jones, and hopefully on a regular basis. This also meant he didn’t have another girlfriend that I didn’t know about. Triple sigh.

I spent my day sorting and matching invoices to packing slips, and forwarding the matched sets on to the people who handled the money. It was a very long day.

My phone rang again just before I decided to head out for lunch.

“This is Nat.”

“I have a hot minute, and wanted to say hi.”

I smiled, the stupid-happy flooded me again. “Hi, Chris.”

“So that was Blake in the stairwell?”

“Yep,” I confirmed.

“Well everyone should know we are dating by the end of day tomorrow. He’s pretty fast.”

“But.” I stopped. Dating. Yeah. “I didn’t peg him as the gossip monger. He’s so quiet.”

“Stealthy, the man is stealthy.”

“Hey Chris? What ya doing this evening?” I wanted to ask him if we were really dating. But it seemed stupid, he had just said we were.

“Work. It looks like this meeting is going to last a few more hours. Then, I’m going for a run. Do you want to join me?”

“Running? Have you seen my boobs?”

“Yeah.” His voice was kind of breathy.

“These boobs were not made for running.” He started to make a noise on the other end of the phone, and I panicked. I didn’t want him to stop dating me because I didn’t run. “But I hike, and I skate, things that don’t jostle or cause multiple black eyes.”

He laughed. I really did like that sound. “Skate like roller blades?”

“Yeah, like roller blades.”

“Cool. If the weather holds let’s go skating this weekend. I have to go, they’re starting up again. I’ll call you later.”

The rest of my afternoon lagged.

My evening was lonely and dull.

I lounged across my couch watching mindless TV. A soft tapping knock sounded on my front door. I slid the chain across before opening the door to peek out.

“Chris!” I closed the door so I could unchain it, and open it all the way. He stood there in his sweaty running clothes. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to say good night.”

I stepped back so he could come in.

“You could have just called me.”

“Yeah but I can’t kiss you over the phone. And I really missed not kissing you today.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to his chest.

The kiss was warm and searching. One of his hands found its way to one of my breasts.

“Good night,” his voice was raspy after the kiss. He let me go and headed out the door.

“Good night.” I managed to say after I got some of my wits back after that kiss.

Oh, I liked this guy. I liked him a lot.

Catch up with the Third Date

The story continues on the Fifth Day of Christmas