The phone's backlight flashed on. 7:58 PM. I hit the lock button and sat back, fidgeting nervously as I listened to bland local sports talk radio. As they yammered on about baseball, something in the rearview mirror caught my eye. Nah, nothing, just a few patrons exiting the nondescript suburban Burger King as I sat in the lot.
It was a nice night. Relatively warm, mid-70s, the sun had just begun to set on another early summer evening. I considered lighting up a smoke as I surveyed the lot yet again. The dinner rush had ended; only a few straggler patrons left -- and me, of course, as I sat in my car waiting.
A car turned into the lot -- was it her? No, they're heading for the drive-thru. Damn.
7:59 PM. Had it really only been 1 minute? It felt like an eternity. A second car pulled into the lot and parked off to the other side, perhaps 10 spaces away. This has to be her.
* buzz buzz * My phone began to vibrate. I answered nervously, trying to sound suave. As I answered, I looked across the lot to see the woman in the other car looking at me. I nodded briefly and hung up the phone, taking a deep breath and opening my car door to finally greet her.
She stepped out of her car and opened her driver's side rear door. I steeled myself and stood firm as she grabbed a small duffel bag and headed towards me. I could tell she was a bit nervous as well as our eyes met, a sight which strangely calmed me down.
Much to my surprise, she looked -- thankfully -- average. Of course we'd shared pictures online, but I suppose you never know until you actually meet someone.
"Maria?" I asked, already knowing the answer as she walked toward me.
"Ryan?" She gave a half-smile. She had dressed modestly for the occasion. She was roughly the size she had described herself, a mere 5'4", 135 pounds. Not petite, but not overweight -- in any event, she had a completely different body-type from my usual girl. I tried to put that out of my mind as we made eye contact once again. Her skin was as caramel-colored as I'd imagined, and she wore her blonde-brown hair in a ponytail tucked inside of a Detroit Tigers cap. It was almost as if she didn't want to be recognized. Her jeans were seemingly skin-tight, the kind of jeans that looked like they take forever to get on. Combined with her t-shirt, her seemingly innocuous look helped to show off her curves without being too overt about it.
She approached, and we hugged awkwardly. "I remember the rules, no kissing," she smirked as we embraced. I blushed -- I can't believe she remembered such an old rule of mine, but she was right -- I had vowed not to kiss another woman as long as I was dating my girlfriend.
We made small talk before finally heading out, and as I began to drive, the reality finally set in. Literally a year after our chance encounter online, and after developing a strong, albeit very sexual, online friendship, I had finally met Maria. She guided me through the winding suburban highways and streets as we chatted, the kind of awkward chat that old friends who hadn't seen each other in years would have. Ignoring the obvious sexual elephant in the room, I asked about her kids, who the babysitter was, and so on. Up close, she certainly showed her age; the lines in her face telling the tale of the divorced single mother. She was 39, a mother of two and 12 years my senior, but neither of us seemed to mind as we chatted excitedly.
Not 25 minutes later, I pulled down a nice middle-class cul-de-sac on her direction. She scanned the mailboxes in-between peeks at her phone, finally stopping me at 117 Pine Woods Drive. I turned the car off and we sat in the dark in the street in front of the house. There were a few cars in the driveway, but most of the interior lights were off. Was this it?
She smiled nervously and nodded. I looked at her, finally serious for the first time since we met, and asked if she was sure she was ready. She nodded again, eagerly. I resisted the urge to kiss her and began to dial the number in my phone that Mike had given to me.
"Hello?" A man answered.
"Is this Mike?" I questioned.
"Is this Ryan?" He shot back immediately.
"I believe we're here," I replied. That cut the tension.
"Awesome! Come to the front door and ring the bell, Tara will let you in."
Maria could hear the conversation from the loud speaker on the phone. I could tell she was excited but nervous. "What if the guys are weird?" she asked, suddenly cautious.
"You don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with," I replied, reaching into the backseat to grab her duffel bag. "If you're uncomfortable, we'll leave immediately. These guys have a good reputation."