On my way in to work one Friday, my project manager called me. He needed me to go trouble shoot something at a job that I had run. We had done a "life style center", which was basically a fancy name for a large mini-mall, and a high-end hair salon/spa was having problems with their power.
He told me what the problem was, and that the manager of the salon would be there around 11:00. I made sure that everybody at my current job was set with their assignments, and headed out.
When I got to the salon, I was told that the manager was in an interview, but the receptionist, this cute, young girl, was able to give me a little more information about what the problem was. It took me about an hour to figure out exactly what was wrong and correct it.
As I walked back out to the front desk, I noticed a tall blonde standing there talking with the receptionist. There was something vaguely familiar about her, too. As I approached the desk, the woman turned around, and it took me a only a second to realize why she looked familiar.
Even over a span of almost twenty years, you never forget the proverbial "One that got away." That one, for me, was now standing right in front of me.
When we were in our late teens and early twenties, we were part of a tight circle of friends. She was one of three girls, and there were a few guys. A couple of us were in a band, and we had gone out with two of the three girls. I had actually slept with both of those girls, and I was "The First" for one of them. This one, however, had stayed on the sidelines through all of the dating and drama.
I had an opportunity with her once, but at that point, we were such good friends that we (OK, she) was afraid of what would happen to our friendship if things didn't work out as a couple. We stayed friends, we both found others, and we eventually drifted apart, as did the whole circle of friends.
She had also remained a virgin the longest, eventually losing it to an older guy, and then she wound up dating a succession of losers. The last time I had seen her was at the wedding of the guitarist in our band, about ten to fifteen years ago, and I couldn't help but notice how good she looked.
Now, as she stood at the desk, the receptionist saw me walking towards them, and pointed me out. After staring at her, speechless, for a second, I finally spoke.
"Elke?" I asked.
"Oh, my god!" she responded. "Kurt? I haven't seen you in years!!"
Elke ran up to me and gave me a hug, holding me tight. "Oh my god! How are you?"
"I'm doing fine," I told her. "How are you? You look incredible!"
Elke's one downfall was always her size. At 5' 9", she was tall, for a woman, and she was not thin. She was VERY well put together, but apparently a lot of guys were put off by her size. She was even more beautiful than I remembered her being back then, which is saying quite a bit.
"I'm doing great," she told me. "I'm a part owner here, and I run the day-to-day operations."
"Ohh," I teased her. "Management, huh?"
Laughing, she responded, "Yeah, that's me."
She walked me back to her office, which was still a mess, after only being there a week or so. As she sat me down, we talked a little bit.
"So you're the electrician they sent out?" she asked.
"Yeah," I answered. "This whole mall was my job. I was the foreman. I'm going to have to have a talk with the guy that finished the panel here, too!"
"Ohh, management, huh?" she teased back at me.
"No," I answered. "Management doesn't still strap on the tools."
"Well if I remember correctly, rumor was that you were very good with your tool, too," she said, with a big smile on her face.
Before I could say anything, she asked, "So how is Nancy?", referring to my ex wife.
"Well, the last time I saw my kids, she was doing ok," I told her.
"The last time you saw her?" she responded.
"Yeah, we split about four years ago," I told her. "I guess you could say that we just grew apart."
"Gee, that sounds like diplomatic bullshit," she said, with a laugh. "I have to say, though, that I'm glad. I never did like her."
"Well, the way that she treated my friends, especially the women friends, had a lot to do with it," I explained.
"So how is your social life?" I asked, trying to change the subject.
She told me that she had never married, had a couple of relationships, but just never found someone that she wanted to settle down with.
After a couple of more minutes, her intercom beeped, and the receptionist informed her that her next interview was waiting.
"The joys of my job," she explained as she stood. "We are expanding, and I get to interview new stylists and massage therapists."
"Not a problem," I told her. "What time do you get off tonight? Do you want to get together for a drink? We can catch up some more."
"I would love that," she said. She gave me her address, and told me when I could pick her up, and I left her.
That evening, when I went to her apartment, she was ready and waiting for me. She had on a long summer dress that went down to her knees, and a pair of flats.
"Wow," I said as I walked in and had a look at her. "You look incredible. Better than I remember."
"Why thank you," she responded. "Do these shoes look ok? I couldn't decide what to wear. I would normally wear a pair of heels, but since we're the same height, I didn't think that would be such a good idea."
"Why not?" I asked.
"Well, it has been my experience that most men don't want to be seen with a woman taller than they are," she told me.
"Well, I'm not most men," I told her. "If I remember correctly, you have a great pair of legs, and heels would just make them look even better."
"You wouldn't mind? Really?" she asked, blushing.
"Not at all," I responded. "Go change. I'll wait."
As she ran back to her bedroom I got another good look at her ass swaying, and her breasts bouncing, and smiled to myself.
I took her to an old German restaurant in the neighborhood that we grew up in, and I couldn't help but chuckle at the looks that we got as we walked to our table. We had to be quite a sight, with her being as beautiful as she is, combined with her now three inch height advantage on me.
We had a great dinner as we caught up on the past years and she polished off almost a bottle of Riesling and I had a few half-liters of good, dark German beer. After we finished dinner off by splitting an apple struedel, we decided to go for a walk around the old neighborhood.
As we walked, we talked about the old days, joking about the memories. We wound up at a bar that we both remembered and went in, surprised to see that it was not only still in business, but still owned by the same people.
We sat, drank, and talked more, both of us getting pretty buzzed. As I knew it would, we started to talk about what might have been, us as a couple.
"Do you remember that night at the party, when we were talking on the balcony, and you kissed me?" she asked.
"Of course I do," I told her. "That was one of the best kisses that I have ever had, even to this day. I also remember the next day, when you told me that you didn't want to ruin our friendship by getting into a relationship."
