I first saw Jill behind the counter of a fragrance/lotion sort of store in the mall. I'd gone into buy some scented oil for my then-girlfriend and I to enjoy.
Anyone would've noticed that Jill was good looking: Brown hair cut in a stylish bob, big brown eyes, and an impossibly cute smile. Of course I noticed, but I wasn't 'looking' because I was captivated by what I thought at the time was a pretty serious love interest. I told Jill that I was looking for scented massage oil, but I wasn't exactly sure...here's where my uncomfortable-ness in being in a ....how else can one say it?...a "girly" type store began to show....you know...the same feeling a man often gets when shopping for lingerie for his honey on Valentine's Day.
Thankfully Jill seemed experienced at making people feel at ease, or maybe she just took pity on me.
In her calming and friendly voice she suggested, " Why don't I just let you try out a couple of examples and then you can tell me which one you like best?"
"Yeah," (trying to sound cool) "That'd be great."
She gathered together a couple of small bottles. "Here give me your hand." She took my hand softly and turned it palm up. (You know how sometimes when a man and woman touch for the first time there's a sort of rush...not like a shock...but...)
"Try this one." She held my hand softly with one hand, and with the other gently smoothed on a small drop of lotion. ( I would've followed this woman anywhere!)
"Does your girlfriend ,"(The word brought me partially back to earth. Had I mentioned that I had a girlfriend?) "enjoy more floral scents?"
I looked bewildered. She smiled patiently. "Try this one," she said as she smoothed another sample onto my palm this time. (Oh my, I was hoping there were many many more samples to try.)
"Here, give me your other hand. Let's try one last one." I liked this one very much.
"Yeah, I really like this one," I told her.
"Hmmm, 'paradise musk'", she said looking at the label and then giving me a little smile . (Was this some sort of 'significant look'? Who knows. My senses were on overload, and I'm sure I was reading more into every gesture and tone of voice than what was really there.)
She found a bottle of oil, and the appropriate vial and mixed the scent into it. She then gift wrapped it and as she handed me my purchase added, "Come by sometime and tell me if you two enjoyed it." Hmmm. At this point I couldn't really tell if she was playing with me a bit and enjoying my shyness or if was she just being very friendly.
It turns out, in spite of my then-girlfriend and I enjoying a few occasions with the massage oil, the relationship was just not meant to be, and a month or so later, we had broken up.
Of course, in times of loneliness, my mind drifted back to Jill, the cute and sexy gal who'd so expertly guided me into the land of sensuous aromas. (Yeah, that sounds a bit overblown, but when you've just been hit with a breakup and you're left alone with only a bottle of massage oil for comfort, sometimes fantasies get a little exaggerated from reality.)
One day, I decided to take matters into hand (no, not in that way, that was the night before.) I decided to visit the mall and say hello to Jill. I browsed in what I thought looked like a casual way as Jill finished with a customer. I walked up and she smiled.
"Well, look who's here. Mr. Paradise Musk." When she saw that she'd stalled the momentum of my ...whatever my brilliant opening line was going to be, she added, "I'm sorry, I'm just playing. How did you like it?"
"Well, yeah, it was great but..."
"But?"
"Well, my girlfriend and I broke up."