It was amazing, the way they simply “clicked”. Neither one of them really expecting much more from the other than a few minutes comfort. Both of them lonely; both of them a bit heartbroken; and both separated from their pasts by miles and miles. They met at the fair, stuck on the same car atop the rickety wooden roller coaster for about an hour while the roadies attempted to restore the coaster to service.
She was very shy. Although she very definitely thought he was the best thing she had seen in years, she was afraid to break the ice with a bit of small talk. And so they sat there, high above the fairgrounds, gazing at the people below, taking in the lights, and occasionally glancing at each other in what appeared to be an awkward silence. Yet, for him, it was not awkward at all. No, actually, he had seen her pull up in the parking lot alone hours before and thought that he had spotted a hidden fire deep within her. Well, he there was something compelling about her anyway, and so he began to follow her through the crowds. He had not really been much of one to fantasize about the women he saw day in and day out, and he dealt with a lot of beautiful women. So he was quite surprised at his own fascination with this rather plain but intriguing woman.
He stood in line between her and a family waiting to get on the roller coaster at about five PM. He was pleasantly surprised when the ride operator pulled him out from behind the family in order to seat him with the only other single rider – yes, her. The heavily padded and taped bar that holds riders in was snapped into place and he felt her thigh brush up against his. Sitting there next to her he found himself undressing her in his mind. He imagined her wearing not a pair of faded jeans, as she was right now, but a semi sheer dress with large hand painted flowers on it. The picture he envisioned for himself had her standing near the crashing sea, her dress billowing out behind her, her top two buttons on the bodice of the dress undone so that he could see the white lace of her bra and the pale slight mound of her breast beneath it. He saw everything so clearly, it was almost as if he knew her, and had seen her recently. He could not know that her calves were shapely underneath the blue jeans she was now wearing; but his image of her in that dress revealed her beautiful calves slightly flexing as she stood on her tip toes trying to see over the rail to the rushing sea. The sun was behind her and he could see her silhouette through the sheer dress almost as if she were standing there naked before him.
The clunky old roller coaster cart began to move skyward and pulled him from his reverie. He smiled at her as they ascended. Then, suddenly, they were at the top, only instead of moving down the coaster they had come to a screeching halt. Her pretty face suddenly seemed alert for danger. He hoped that she was not afraid of heights.
The only other people in their cart were ahead of them, in fact, they were nearly facing straight down; while he and this fantasy woman were sitting pretty at the apex of the coaster rail. He ventured a glance at her eyes; those beautiful brown eyes that seemed to emit a flame where there was no flame… he smiled at her and said, “Well at least we are not stuck in those seats.” And he pointed to the unlucky ones in front of them.
“Yes, we are lucky at that.” She said with a clearly Georgian accent.
He will never know what made him do it but at just that moment he reached out and touched her cheek, pulling a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. She looked into his eyes and saw something that even now, years later, she cannot adequately describe with the English language. What she saw was more than desire, it was lustful, and at the same time loving, it was unpleasant in that she felt as if he could see right through her jeans and that made her blush, but it was also pleasant because she could tell that whatever he saw under her jeans, he liked.
They sat there quietly waiting. Each of their hearts beating faster as the moments drug on. When they were finally released from the prison of the coaster cart she nearly fell into his arms. He then just made a decision. And he picked her up and carried her to his car.
---
She was so madly in love with him that at times she felt short of breath when he was nearby. At first she was terrified of him, but as he kept her longer and longer she had come to rely upon him for everything. He bathed her in the mornings; he selected her clothing for her, dressing her as if she were a debutante; he cooked all her meals, and finally he became her friend and lover. Her family had not heard from her in over 2 years and she had long since forgotten to be bitter about that. Instead she longed to be in his company; she loved to see him smile, and she craved the attention he gave her. What she now lived for was to please him. And she was GLAD.
