He woke up early, like he always did. But that was probably the only thing that made this day the same as any other. It wasn't just the warm . . . no make that, the hot body next to him. Oh, that was really different. But what had really changed was his whole attitude. He had come to New York to escape. For a change of scene. All the cliches for a man with an emptiness in his life. But the last thing he had expected was to find someone new. A place to go to, rather than something to forget. Hadn't he just told his friends that he was not ready to take any chances? Well, if they could only see him now. And he smiled as he thought about it.
And he almost laughed out loud when he looked down and saw the curve of her hip. Thinking that it was probably just that curve that had bumped his glasses right off his face. And one more time he replayed in his head their first evening together . . .
"Oh! I'm sorry, did I do that? Here let me get them for you! Damn, sorry again. You get your glasses . I'll keep apologizing. I'm so embarrassed. I was talking to my friend and backing into our seats and I know you were already here, but I didn't realize how far we had moved down the aisle and is there anything else I can say so that you won't be mad at me?"
"No. I'm fine. Please, sit down" Boy wasn't he the charmer. First good looking woman that said more than two words to him since he got here and he brushes her off like he doesn't care. ASS hole! And speaking of asses, it wasn't such a bad one that knocked off the glasses. Maybe he should be a little nicer. But then what would she care?
"Look, I'm really sorry. They didn't get scratched did they? I know how annoying scratches can be. If they're scratched, please, let me pay for a new pair."
Pay for a new pair. No, they weren't scratched. Too bad. She had a nice voice, he'd probably have to talk to her some more if they were scratched . . .
"I don't think so. " I hope she doesn't think I'm making too big a show of looking for scratches.
"Here, let me see. I wear contacts most of the time, but when I wear glasses, I can't stand scratches. If you have any, I can tell." And with that she took his glasses. Looked through them, at them. Hell! Thought he was making a show of it. You'd think she was some damn optometrist. "No, I really don't see any" and then he got zapped and the world changed.
Those eyes. Those incredible eyes! Looking right at him through his own glasses and he thought he saw his soul. Everything about her was bubbly and happy and when he saw her eyes he saw pain so deep it was like looking in a mirror.
And then she looked away. Took off his glasses and shyly handed them back. Boy he must have scared the hell out of her.
"I'm sorry I stared. Your eyes in my glasses, just took me aback." Sheesh, 'took me aback' He had never said 'aback' in his life.
"Oh, that's OK. I thought I was staring too. I'm Sue."
"I'm Jerry. You said you were here with a friend?"
"Friends, really. We're all from Chicago on a Broadway weekend with a group. You're alone?"
"Yes, decided to see the show hoping there might be a single. Sometimes you can get into 'soldouts' if you are alone. And I got lucky."
"OH! You must have John's seat. There was a last minute cancellation. It's a singles group, I'm afraid to admit, and he's no longer 'single'," she added with a wink.
"Lucky me."
"Hopefully . . . Lucky John or he's going to be pissed."
Well, he knew it wasn't going to be Lucky Jerry. She wasn't exactly trying to turn away and chat with the girl next to her. That was nice. It was never a good sign when women wanted to talk to their girlfriends more than you. But Sue didn't seem to ready to turn away.
"Are you from New York?"
What? . . . "No, Baltimore. Have business here on Tuesday and am owed some time off, so I came up early and will probably stay until next weekend. Hoping to get out to the beach before they close up for winter." He better start paying attention and not let his mind go into it's now normal funk.
"I would just LOVE it if we had time for the beach. But we head back on Monday. What are your other plans?"
"Nothing definite. Just this show, Probably the new planetarium. Hopefully some good food. Probably some sightseeing. I'm usually going through New York on my way somewhere else, so not having to go anywhere is a nice change."
"That's interesting. The only times I've been here is to change planes so when the chance arose, I jumped at it."
"So what are your plans?" Gosh, those eyes. He just couldn't stop looking at them. What a terrible time for [EU8]the lights to start coming down.
"Not too much different from yours. I'll tell you about it at intermission."