Chapter 1
Well, I don't exactly know how to start describing what happened a couple of years back since it really was a coming together of something that went back a long long way in time...to the 80's actually.
A friend of mine, Mark, was taking tennis lessons at a local club. He wasted no time in advising me to attend. Being adventurous myself there was absolutely no hesitation on my part to join up...and I think that tennis club was the place were I fell madly in love for the first time. Our island is blessed (cursed?) with long hours of sunshine all during summer and even through our mild winters. So there I was at 7am (to beat the heat) with Mark to enroll in this club. There was always somebody there he explained. That somebody was in the form of Mariella, who at 16, was about a couple of years younger than I was at that time. (I am now 38). I have always read or heard about people who claim to have fallen in love instantly they see a person. I was ever so skeptical about this. But as soon as I saw this girl for the first time I was struck dumb by her raven beauty. Large round eyes were framed by jet-black hair. She wasn't thin, actually she was a bit filled up, but that is exactly how I like my girls...not fat obviously, but with a bit of meat on them.
I simply could not believe my sensations. I thought that somebody was pounding my ribs with a sledgehammer until I realised it was the beating of my heart. My breath caught in ragged gasps. Her sweet childish voice was like that of a songbird. I fought to bring my emotions under control , and it was only with some effort that I managed to control myself and stop from blurting out 'I love you'. Because back then I knew it had to be the real thing.....well to cut a long story short, she managed to prise my name out and fill in the requisite forms, age, sex (yes please), medical stuff and all that.
Pretty soon I was in the court for my first lesson. She also was attending there. What I had not known was that her father was the head fireman in the rescue department next door. So naturally, not wanting to be left alone at home, she used to go with him in the early morning shift and immerse herself in the club. She was a sort of secretary there. She was also a bit of a nifty player.
So what can I say that I haven't explained to loads of other people? It was painfully obvious that I was besotted on her...hell I would have accepted to being her guard dog. Because just being around Mariella was what I wanted...but would she have me? No way! I tried in every way, starting from forming a mixed doubles team, to attending early mornings just to be with her alone, whispering in her ear, sending her flowers, the works....and I was swatted away with just a wave of her hand as if I was a fly. To be totally frank, I simply could not stand being around her and not being with her alone. Well after what seemed to me to be some months , but was actually a couple of years, I finally gave up. I could not understand why she had not agreed to go out with me. I mean, in all fairness I am fairly handsome and well-built, and could have had my pick from the number of girls that used to hang out. Hell one of them, Doreen , a beautiful blonde girl with firm pear-shaped boobs stated flatly that she would love to blow me. She used to tease me by doing cartwheels wearing just her top and a short tennis skirt, with the smallest panties she could fit into. But I only had eyes for Mariella. And if I could not have her, then I would have no-one from the club.Don't get me wrong, we were very good friends, and used to go out with other friends in a group, but not alone. So I stopped going to the tennis club.
Chapter 2
Re-emerging into the real life soon after, I met my long-lasting loving companion Jessica. She was shy and quiet in a very unassuming way, but I was struck with the simplicity and power of this young woman. It would have been injustice to call her a girl. She was so mature for her age.We actually used to meet in the company of other friends, but somehow always finished together, either when we used to go swimming, for a hike, or just plain hanging out. I don't think that my relationship with Jessica blazed into life like it did with Mariella, but more like a tiny spark that grew into a huge inferno, until we could no longer bear to be separated from each other. I had known Jessica for twenty years, been married to her for the last fourteen and had two lovely children. Jessica and the kids disappeared from my life when a drunken driver skipped a red light and rammed her little sports car from behind. The following week was the worst week I had endured in my life. At the enquiry I made sure that the guy got as much time in the slammer as I could possibly wring out of the judges.
After Mariella had not seen me for some time, she had asked Mark what had become of me. He had replied that I had given up waiting and was going out steadily with another girl......And hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.....or at least that is how the saying goes. She burst into tears there and then and confessed to him that she was actually teasing me, playing hard to get. Mark was absolutely stunned. He knew, and told her, that I had fallen madly in love with her the very first time that I had saw her. My good buddy said that very same day he was in a competition and the pairings had brought him and Doreen against Mariella and Ivan. That match was a disaster for Mariella, and the humiliation of the defeat was as nothing compared to her feelings....
She knew that I used to go to college, and once or twice she waited for me while I was passing through her street. It used to be hard for me to send her away, but I could not afford to be taken as a plaything. I had matured quite a bit, was happy at the way life was revolving with Jessica, and had no wish to spoil my sweetheart's way of life. So I had decided then to ignore Mariella. Of course my love for her was still bubbling just beneath the surface. But I only thought it right that things should remain as they are. Those were the last couple of days I saw Mariella, until four weeks ago, on a Thursday.... twenty years after I had last seen her beautiful face.....
Chapter 3
Back to the recent past now....it was Thursday morning, about five o' clock I think it was. I had been waiting eagerly to contact a friend who had a pda he no longer used. He had promised to sell it to me for a decent price. So I got out of bed, washed, and made my way down to my car to get some money from the cash-point right on the edge of the town where I live. Unluckily it was being serviced automatically, so I resigned myself to going to the airport, which was the closest location. I never made it to the machine. Because there, standing under a tour agency banner, was Mariella, still with her beautiful eyes, long hair and fabulous body.....and once again I found out that I could no longer breathe. There I was, a supposedly mature thirty-eight year old man, standing in the middle of the concourse, with a sick grin on my face, staring at a woman. I saw Mariella clear out some items a tourist was enquiring about, and lift her glorious face to me... and her lips spread out into one of the widest smiles I had ever seen on a woman... together with some tears that were already starting to form at the corner of her eyes. She rushed from behind the stall and threw her arms around me, as if we had known each other for years and not been seperated all this time.
We embraced for a long timeless moment, and then stepped apart to examine each other...the years had been extremely kind to her. She still retained the full bodied curves of a beautiful woman, while attaining a certain kind of maturity that only comes with age. Her body warmth seeped through her thin skirt and my light shorts.Surprisingly I felt something stir quickly within me.
'"Hello Chris, haven't seen you for some time!", she greeted me warmly. "I'll be clocking off in about ten minutes if you have some time to spare for a chat."
What could I do but accept? I looked at my watch, realising that I had about three hours of empty time coming up. I wouldn't meet my buddy until nine, and even then , he would wait a bit more if I sent him a message. I proceeded to the cash-point where I withdrew some money, and made my way to the coffee bar right across the tour operators where Mariella was finalising the transfer of tourists. The time was just enough for me to reflect on this chance meeting. I felt that the time was ripe to advance a little on the friendship we had enjoyed a long time back. That and the fact that I was so alone these days...and the loneliness and aching at night was something I could rarely bear.
Six o'clock duly arrived and true to her word, she came to pick me up at the bar. I offered her a coffee, which she politely declined. How could anyone refuse a coffee at six in the morning? The answer was simple.
"How about I offer you coffee ... in our company's private rooms?", she asked.
