by Scott Kujawa
Chapter Eleven
Pacing back and forth in her bedroom again, Alexandria fell into the same worry she had all the other times she was about to go out on dates, she couldn't settle on what she wanted to wear! Clothes were thrown all over her bed once she pulled them from her closet or her dresser, held them to her body, and tossed them onto her bed.
“Just choose something, Alex!” she repeated to herself for the dozenth time.
She slipped on a pair of jeans and sneakers to go with the white blouse she decided was good enough. The ends of her blonde hair were curled a little, and she kept the strands loose around her shoulders.
“Hi,” she said once she stepped out of her Jeep and crossed the street once she found a place to park and saw that Christie was waiting outside of her apartment for Alex. She smiled a little, seeing that Christie was wearing another geek shirt. This one was blue and had an image of the Tardis from Doctor Who plastered on the front. Christie was also wearing a pair of jeans and sneakers, so the two matched except for the shirts they were wearing.
“Heya.”
“So far I've seen you wear a shift with Pac-Man and Doctor Who on the front. This has got me wondering what other shirts you have but don't tell me; I want it to be a surprise.”
Christie blushed a little even as she laughed. “I can't help it; I have a collection of different shirts.”
“Well, I like the two I've seen so far, so it's all good.”
Alex smiled, seeing the woman's blush deepen because of those words. Alex stopped teasing the younger woman. Reaching out, Alex took Christie's hand and gestured towards her Jeep. “Shall we?”
“Let's.”
The drive wasn't long since Alex knew where she was going and it was a little later in the evening, so most of the people trying to get home through rush hour were off the roads. Alex slipped her fingers among Christie's again once the two of them met up in front of Alex's Jeep and walked towards the front door.
“Sit with me?” Alex asked while following the server towards the table that would be theirs for the evening. She looked over at Christie as she felt the black haired woman's eyes on her. Seeing that Christie was blushing again, which caused Alex's cheeks to fill with color.
“Is this a date, Miss Alexandria?”
“Um…” Alex gave those fingers a light squeeze. “I suppose it is and if that is the case, then you must call me Alex or Alexandria. We're not at work, and I feel weird when you add Miss to my name.”
“Oh. And okay, Alex.”
With her smile wide, Alex said, “That's better. Also, is that okay with you that this is a date?”
Seeing Christie's return smile, Alex relaxed more, and her tension broke even more as she listened to what Christie said. “Yes, that's fine. I'm glad to be here with you.”
Sipping a little from her glass of white wine, Alex relaxed even more in the booth while they waited for their meals to arrive. She stared across the table at Christie, seeing that her date had a glass of the same wine. Seeing that Christie tried the wine after asking Alex about the wine caused Alex to smile as she explained the taste of the wine, how it was made, and a little more about what they had decided to drink.
Alex's BBQ chicken with rice and Christie's burger with fries didn't take too long and the two soon fell into enjoying their meals even as they kept up conversation about the games they like to play, brainstormed a few other ideas about how to make areas of the game better or change some of what is already inside of the game.
“It's time,” Alex said at last, once they finished what they ordered and listened to a few others that had gotten up on the stage. “Come on, Christie,” Alex said as she grinned at the woman she was with. “I promised you I'd be with you so we'll go up there together.”
“Oh, gods. All right, all right!”
With a laugh, Alex reached out and took Christie's hand, using it to lead her out of the booth and towards the stage. “We will do two songs but the first will be one of your favorites and then the second will be one of mine. Let's look at the jukebox and see what might work.”
“Okay.”
With their backs turned away from the crowd, the two looked through the selection until Christie pointed at the song she decided she could sing.
“That one? Are you sure?”
Giving a hesitant nod, Christie's quiet, “Yes, I'm sure,” could be heard by Alex and no one else.
“Okay.”
Standing up on the stage and looking out at the people before them, Alex reached out and brushed her hand over Christie's arm, causing Christie to look over at Alex and smile even if both of them were blushing a little. Standing next to each other they smiled at each other a bit longer as the opening beat of Bon Jovi's Living on a Prayer came out of the speakers.
It started with the guitar riffs, which then was blended with the drum beat. Hearing that drum beat, Alex turned, so she was facing Christie, giving Alex a chance to be the first one of the two to sang the lyrics. Without either of them discussing it, they each settled on singing different parts of the song, making it sound like they were telling a story. Alex took up singing the lyrics that involved Tommy and Christie picked up the lyrics about Gena. When it was time to blend the song, they smiled at each other still and harmonized with no signals to each other they wanted to blend their voices.
As the two of them finished, they turned from where they faced each other, looking out at the crowd. It was then that the crowd, who had gone silent to listen and absorb the music the two of them created, started to wolf whistle, clap, or call out. That brought both of Alex's and Christie's blushed to return in force, filling their skin with a deep red color.
“Another!”
“Yes! Yes! We want another!”
Alex and Christie looked back at each other, debating if they would follow that request. It only took a minute for them to follow through as a way to please the crowd that called out for the two of them to entertain the crowd some more.
Deciding that she wanted to make Alex pay for getting her up on the stage and into this, Christie laughed when she chose the next song without telling Alex what it was or allowing Alex to see what Christie picked.
“Are you kidding me?” Alex asked as she heard the music start with a country twang. “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk. Really, Ristie?”
“Deal with it, Alex! Now sing along!”
Alex's laughed as she hung onto Christie, following the younger woman as Christie showed Alex that Christie knew how to two-step with ease, almost like she had grown up in the south even if that wasn't the case. Christie somehow filled her voice with a country twang, which also caused the two of them to laugh until their eyes leaked with tears.
After the choice of that song ended was when they decided enough was enough and she stepped off the stage while giving anyone a grin, wave, or other acknowledgment when someone greeted them. The two of them figured it was time to give up the stage to someone else that wanted to make use of the open mic and show off their talents or how badly they could sing.
Chapter Twelve
During the next week, Alex looked up from time-to-time to see Christie hard at work on the idea that Alex had given to the intern even if the idea had been something that Alex would add to the game. That idea that Alex had gotten stuck on now belonged to the intern, and Alex was fine with that. So far Christie came up with plenty of ideas on her own to put her spin on the forest idea. Still, Alex enjoyed looking across her office to watch Christie. The woman's different expressions caused Alexandria to smile sometimes, laugh when she caught the concentrated expression that caused Christie to stick the tip of her tongue out of the side of her mouth or the other unguarded expressions that the woman fell into without knowing she was doing so.
It dawned on Alex that Christie had been saying her name a few times. Alex had been so lost in her work or staring at the woman it took that fourth call of her name to pull her from her thoughts. A light blush spread over her cheeks as she looked up and blinked
at Christie.
“Uh? What?”
That confused reply filled the room with Christie's amused laughter and caused the woman to grin. She had gotten used to Alex's weirdness over the past week, but the way one of the co-owners of the business got so wrapped up in her thoughts caused this reaction by almost everyone that worked here.
“I think there's nothing more I can add to this part of the story, so I was trying to tell you I think it's as good as I can get it. The testers have been all over it as well – like you asked – and I've fixed all the bugs in the code that were pointed out, at least the ones I knew how to fix.”
“Oh. All right. So that means you're ready to present it to the others?” Alex's hand came up and gestured towards the open area where the paid employees had their stations.
“I… I'm ready as much as I could be.”
“Then there's no reason to wait, let's have the meeting so you don't have to stress for the rest of the day about showing off your work. Trust me when I tell you that what you've created is wonderful. I'm sure my sister and everyone will be blown away.”
“Okay,” Christie said, still finding it hard to believe she had been given this project so soon after being hired on as an intern. She figured that she would be the office gopher! Not have such a project thrown to her within hours after having an interview with Melody.
“You will be fine, just remember what we talked about when we went to the club. I'll also be sitting right next to you, and that means you've already thrilled one of the sisters.”
“Right… Hey… that's right!”
Alex grinned before she stood, moved around her desk, and set her arm around Christie's shoulder in a friendly embrace for a few moments. “That's right, so don't forget that.” A moment later Alex dropped her arm and stepped out into the main area.
Catching the attention of everyone by clearing her throat and looking at everyone, Alexandria spoke. “I'm not sure how many of you have met Christie, but she came to learn from us as an intern. I gave her a project to tackle on her own and over the past week she has impressed me by what she could do with a simple idea. Now she says she's done, you all know what that means. So everyone gets to have a break from their work and spend time in the conference room listening to Christie talk about the part of the game world she's been working on.”
Alex's grin spread as that news spread and the cheers, whoops of joy, and other sounds started up. It wasn't often that she gave everyone a break. Usually, that was something that Melody took care of. However, Alex took over when someone had some new bit of code to show everyone. She looked across the bull pen at Melody, seeing that her sister was doing what Alex was doing. The two of them waited next to their doors until everyone made their way into the conference room, allowing the sisters to arrive last. It wasn't because the two of them wanted to show off their power, they waited because they liked to arrive after everyone else as a way to show that the two of them didn't consider themselves privileged.
Alex glanced back into her office, hearing Christie repeating, “You can do this. You can do this. You can do this!” which caused Alex to smile to herself before she felt Melody's arm loops with hers as the two made their way into the conference room.
“How is she working out?”
“Melody, you'll just have to wait to learn that just like everyone else!”
“Alex, you're such a brat!”
Alex's only answer was to laugh and stick her tongue out at her sister after they sat down in the empty chairs that hadn't been claimed yet.
“Real mature, Chitter!”
Since they were the last two to come into the room, Alex only grinned at Melody while trying to keep her snickers and laughter under control.
“You did great.” Alex smiled at Christie from where the blonde was sitting in the chair she had claimed once Melody, and she stepped inside. “See, that wasn't that bad, was it?”
Alex watched Christie shake her head a little in denial. “I was so nervous. Sure, the night at the bar helped, but I thought at one point during the meeting I would pass out!”
“Well,” came Melody's voice from where she was also sitting, “like Alexandria said, you did great. I'm impressed and I know that Alex has been otherwise she wouldn't have given you the project to work on.”
Still giving Christie a wide smile, Alex nodded. “Mel's right and I'm not lying to you. Everyone was blown away with the idea, and we'll add it to the game.” Standing, Alex laid her hands on Christie's shoulders once Alex was behind her. “And I think you should let me take you out tonight for dinner as a way to celebrate.”
“Oh,” Christie said in surprise, feeling her blush return. “I… I guess I'm free this evening.”
“Good.”
For once, Alex wasn't freaking out about what she would wear; the two agreed to leave from Alex's office at the end of the day, giving Alex a chance to drive them to where she wanted to take Christie out for dinner, and maybe something more.
Popping into Melody's office on the way out, Alex told her sister she would talk to Melody later. As the two left, Alex reached out and took Christie's fingers in her own and gave the woman's hand a little tug, bringing Christie up next to her so the two could walk out together.
“So, where are we going?”
Alex grinned over at Christie when the car was stopped at a red light. “I'm keeping it a surprise.”
“So mean. Miss Melody is right; you're a brat.”
Laughing at the teasing and how Christie seemed to be more relaxed, Alex's smile grew even as she gave Christie the same stick her tongue out that Alex gave to her sister. “I know, that's why I'm the younger sister.”
Only a snorting sound of amusement was all the reply that Alex received about that comment before Christie's laughter joined in with Alex's once they moved through the light and continued.
“Oh my god!” Alex heard from Christie once they pulled into a parking spot and looked through the windshield at where they were. “You brought me to an arcade and a place where we can play miniature golf?!”
“Yes, and you'll be surprised. They serve great food, and it's fun to get a little buzz on and try to play the arcade games. I'll also have you know I'm wicked good at miniature golf. So much so that Melody won't even play against me because I kick her butt when ever I talk her into coming here.”
Christie only laughed while looking at Alex with shock and surprise. She only shook her head before smiling again. “All right, I want to see what you can do then!”
“Be prepared to be amazed.”
Giving a wide smile, Alex laughed as she looked at the wide-eyed expression that was on Christie's face. Alex was serious when she said she was good at arcade games and now she could see that Christie believed her.
“You said you were good. What you've been doing at every game we've played is beyond good. Alex, you're a master at these.”
Blushing a little, Alex looked back at the screen and finished putting in her name to the high scores. “Melody and I spent a lot of time at arcades while growing up. If you think I'm good, don't bring her here because she's better than I am.”
“Really?”
Alex nodded even as she smiled again and laughed a little.
Tiring of the arcade games after playing another, Alex took Christie's hand and pulled her towards the counter where they could sign up for the miniature golf. The course was lighted enough by outdoor lights they could see even though it was dark out by now. It was during one of those times when the two of them were secluded that Alex looked up from her shot to see Christie staring at her.
“What?” Alex asked, giving Christie her attention.
“Alex,” Christie said before she stepped forward, putting herself in front of Alex and leaning in to press her lips against Alex's. A second later Alex moved her hand around so it was pressing against Christie's back as the blonde returned the kiss, pulling the two of them even closer together.
“Um… wow?” Alex said after a few m
oments of silence pressed down on them once they released each other's lips.
“I,” Alex heard Christie say. “I don't know…” Looking up at Alex, Christie tried a third time. “I wanted to do that a few days ago, and I decided that I would not hold back any longer.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
Alex nodded. “That's right. And even if you didn't want to know, I've wanted to do the same thing to you for days now, and I've also been holding back.”
Seeing Christie's wide smile and hearing the quick, “Oh,” caused Alex to bring their mouths together for another kiss. The hand that was on Christie's back also ran up and down the woman's back.
“Let's get out of here,” Alex whispered once their lips were freed again.
“Okay.”
The drive back to Alex's cooled some of their feelings even though the two of them stared at each other when Alex's car was at a stop light or when one of them reached across to run her hand along the other's leg or touch each other. Alex pulled Christie towards her once the two of them were inside of Alex's home, giving the younger woman another kiss that caused Christie to make a deep sound of pleasure. That sound also brought out Alex's laughter, but Alex also enjoyed seeing how Christie flushed from the kiss and how the kiss caused Christie's breathing to deepen.
After another round or two of kisses and touches, Alex stopped to look at Christie as the younger woman's words registered with Alex. She caught on that Christie asked to slow down and that the woman had said a few times in a row.
“Sorry,” Alex said, feeling her cheeks color. “I got carried away.”
“It's okay. It's just that things feel like they're going so fast and I… I'm not sure if I'm ready for things to happen this fast.”
Sitting back, Alex put a little space between them even as she ran her hand up and down Christie's arm or over her back. “All right. I understand that and to be honest; it's been awhile since I've felt this much towards someone. Maybe taking things slow is a better idea.” Alex's smiled, looking over at Christie and seeing the way Christie relaxed. “You haven't upset me or anything,” Alex added.