I have never been called, "good with people." I always had trouble forming relationships, even as a kid. My friends tended to be work-acquaintances, and women called me "cold" when they broke it off. To be truthful, they must have been right, because I barely felt it when I was inevitably dumped, and I can objectively look back at myself and see how I was an asshole to almost everyone.
Then everything changed because then I met you.
We had worked together for a few years. I immediately noticed your good looks, but I was professional and I remained detached. Then we started working closer on projects, and I got a chance to appreciate your intellect, curiosity, and infectious humor. There were no bad days to you, there were no bad co-workers. You had a way of treating people with joy and brightness, and you made everyone around you feel like a better person.
This lit a spark somewhere within me. Silently, invisibly, inexorably, you touched me deeper than anyone had before. I was helpless as the feeling grew stronger, although I tried to fight it. I rebuked myself a hundred times a day, but still that spark grew and grew. It didn't help that I on some level, I could feel that spark growing in you as well.
We grew closer, our relationship more of a friendship than a professional acquaintance. You brightened my day and laughed at my jokes. We would eat lunch together more often than not. Then one day, over lunch when everyone else I had left, I confessed.
It was foolish and thoughtless of me, as I knew you were happily married. I had sternly told myself to remain silent, but the feelings welled up and I came to the point where I had to say something or go mad.
My profession of love was halting and I stuttered more than spoke, I was so afraid of your rejection and the end of our friendship. You didn't say anything in return, but I thought maybe you wanted to and maybe it would have been better if you had. If you had spoken up, agreed with me, admitted feelings for me too, it would have relieved the pressure inside and the awkwardness of the moment, but what would we have done then? I did not consider all of this until later.
I considered it at length when you started avoiding me.
I looked for you every day, every hour, every minute. I would catch myself looking around all over for you, then I felt foolish, and then I started looking for you again anyway. You had always been a distraction to me, but after you separated yourself from me completely you became a compulsion, an obsession.
Four endless days later I found the note on my desk when I came in. It asked me to wait until after close and meet you in your office. It said you wanted to talk. I did not have a productive day.
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Your office door is ajar as I approach; I push it open and walk through. You are there, by the door, waiting for me. I walk past you, into your office, but you are avoiding my gaze. Neither of us say anything. You wait a bit, looking out the door, but it is late on a Friday, and everyone has gone home long ago.
You push the door, letting it drift toward closed, and walk to stand in front of your desk, facing the back wall. The door closes softly behind me, already locked.
I say your name with a question mark. Somehow that single word, your name, carries all that is about to happen. It carries a sparkling message, a flash of inspiration that we can both see. The denial is over, the tease is spent, and the game has played out to this point. You have made some kind of decision, but I do not know what it is yet.
There is a tear in your eye, and you stand rigid, with your back to me. But you do not leave, you do not tell me to leave. I can see you are torn between two conflicting needs, decision or no. Hesitantly, you remove your wedding band and place it in the center of the desk before you.
The ring on the desk is bright in my eyes, but you are brighter. My stomach is solid pressure, my chest feels like it is burning up from inside. My skin is tingling all over, and I feel like I am just outside myself, to one side. My body slowly closes the distance with you, as if it is pulled by a string. I do not feel like I initiated the action.
As I move closer, you tense up more. The air between us is humming with heat and pressure, it feels like lightning is about to strike. I say your name again, but softly this time, very close, and you jump. Your head is down and your eyes are closed tightly. It is as if the pressure between us has collapsed the air, leaving a vacuum that draws me closer. I am huge and you are tiny, I loom and you cower.
I am close enough that every breath I take is scented with the scent of your hair. I place my large hands flat on your tiny shoulder blades. My fingers stretch up over your shoulders and my thumbs touch each other just over your spine. Touching you seems to complete a circuit somewhere inside me and there is a tingle in my body that is slowly feeding a fire burning in the center. I can tell that you feel it too, because you are tense and trembling beneath my touch, but then you sigh and your muscles begin to loosen in response to the warmth and gentleness of my contact. I slide my hands across your back, one hand goes up, one hand goes down and then I switch. Up then down, up then down, I continue sliding my hands on your back as you relax. The fabric of your blouse bunches under my hands, and I briefly contact bare skin at the base of your spine.
My hands continue to slide, and I touch your bare back again, my fingertips barely beneath the waistband of your skirt. You make a sound, not more than a whisper, and my hands slow to a stop with one hand on your shoulder and one hand on your hip.