Abby looked over at him, “You shouldn’t do anything that you don’t love, you will never be happy that way.” She told him.
Tom sighed, “Can you keep a secret?” he asked her.
She smiled, “Of course.”
He stopped walking and turned her around to look at him. “I have been taking art classes, but I have been doing it under a fake name so that nobody knows who I am. I love art and I know my father would be very angry if he knew I was taking them.”
Abby was quiet for a minute, trying to get the words completely right before she said them, “I think that if art school makes you happy, you shouldn’t be afraid of what your father says, but I do understand why you wouldn’t want him to know. It’s something that you will have to figure out eventually.”
Tom stared at her for a moment with an odd look on his face as though he was seeing her for the first time. He put his hands on either side of her face and looked into her eyes and she quickly got lost in the soft blue of his eyes. Leaning forward he touched his lips to hers softly, making her heart pound and her stomach jump.
This was the first time anyone had ever kissed her, and it was more wonderful than she had ever imagined. He pulled away from her slowly, with a look on his face that said he wanted more, but didn’t want to push her too far.
Finally he smiled, grabbing hold of her hand, “It’s getting late, I’ll take you home now.”
She nodded, not knowing what to say.
***
Back at her apartment, she unlocked and opened the door; turning around to look at Tom she whispered, “Thank you for such a lovely night, can you do me a small favor?” she asked him.
He nodded, “Of course, anything.”
She blushed and looked down at the carpet, “Can you kiss me again?”
Without a word, he pulled her chin up making her look at him before he leaned in and kissed her once again. This time he opened his mouth and slid his tongue out and touched her lips with it until she opened her mouth so that he could slide his tongue in so that their tongues could touch. As soon as their tongues met, the kiss deepened, and she wrapped her hands around his neck and he lifted her up walking into her apartment, shutting the door behind him with his foot.
He carried her into the living room and laid her down onto the couch, laying himself on top of her, all while never letting his lips leave hers. She felt as his hands slowly slid up her body, making her skin tingle where ever he touched. He moved his hand onto her breast and rubbed her hardened nipple with his thumb over the top of her sundress.
She gasped as a pleasure she had never felt before rolled through her body until it reached the area between her legs, where she suddenly felt a wetness pool inside of her panties. Suddenly her hands started to feel hot, as though she were touching a hot stove. She pulled her face away from Tom and looked down at her hand noticing that it was bright red and had a weird shimmering quality to it.
She tensed up, scared of what was happening and Tom pulled away from her looking at her with concern.
“Are you okay? He asked her.
She didn’t want to tell him about what her hands were doing, so she told him the only truth she could think of.
“I’m a virgin.” She blurted out.
He pulled completely away from her, sitting up next to her on the couch.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have moved so fast if I had known that.”
She blushed, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I am very attracted to you but I’m just not quite ready to go any further yet.” She told him.
He nodded, “I understand, no big deal, I need to get home anyway.”
She stood up and walked with him to the door and before she closed the door, he turned around, “So, would you like to go bowling with me tomorrow? There are some friends of mine going and bringing their girl friends, and I just know they will love you, so what do you say?”
Abby gasped as her heart started beating, she never thought that anyone would want to take her on one date, much less keep asking her on multiple dates.
“Wow, Tom, I am honored you want me to meet your friends, and yes, I would love to go bowling with you. What time tomorrow?” she asked him.
He tilted his head as he smiled, “How about noon? We can grab some lunch before we meet them.”
She nodded, “Sounds great, I can’t wait.”
He smiled and leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the lips, “See you tomorrow Abby.”
Chapter 7
That night Abby had trouble falling asleep, she kept looking down at her hands, wondering how they had glowed red the way they had. She went to the living room and looked through the shelf that had all of her movies and found one of her favorite old movies on the shelf. She put it into the DVD player and laid down on the couch to lose herself in the movie.
She must have fallen asleep about halfway though because suddenly it was as though she was standing in a field that had tall orange flowers that were so tall, they nearly reached her knees. She looked around, not knowing where she was or if she was dreaming and she finally saw a large gazebo off to her right, so she made her way through the flowers, trying hard not to step on any of them, toward the gazebo.
When she finally reached it she noticed a woman with dark red hair sitting on the bench, looking out at the flowers with her back to Abby. She sat down next to the woman and waited silently for her to turn around, and as if sensing her there, turned to her as soon as she was seated.
Abby nearly gasped when she saw the woman, it was almost as if she was looking into a mirror, with the only differences being in the color of their hair. The woman had the same deep green eyes, small and slightly turned up nose, full lips with a deep cupid’s bow, and even the same small dent in her chin.
Abby reached up and touched the woman’s face, partly expecting to feel the cold glass of a mirror, but instead feeling smooth warm skin under her touch.
The woman grabbed Abby’s hand and smiled at her, “Hello child, I am happy to see you finally” the woman said to her.
Abby was mesmerized by her beauty and didn’t even realize she was going to speak, when she heard herself saying, “Who are you?”
The woman looked up to the sky, as though she wasn’t sure what she was going to say and after what seemed to Abby like an eternity, she finally replied, “I am Aine.”
“Aine? That’s a different name” Abby said.
“Yes, it’s an old Irish name, but you are saying it wrong it is pronounced more like Anya” the woman told her.
Abby hurriedly asked her next question, “Where am I?” she asked her.
Aine shook her head, “That is not important right now, for now you just need to know one thing.”
Abby nearly burst waiting for her to go on, “What is it that I need to know?” she finally asked her, tired of waiting.
Aine once again looked up to the sky, “You need not be afraid of love, and you need not be afraid of your sexuality. You are destined for great things Abby. For now just know that the Gods are with you, in your heart.”
Abby felt confused over these words, and just as she was about to ask her to elaborate she started to disappear, and then suddenly she was back on the couch, breathing heavily.
She looked over at the TV and noticed that the movie was over and the credits were rolling. That had seemed awfully real to have been just a dream and she noticed that she could still smell the sweet smell of the tall orange flowers at her feet.
She shook her head, telling herself to get over it, it was just a dream, and after turning off the TV, went to her bedroom and fell right to sleep.
***
The next day while sitting on her bed after getting dressed for her date, she looked down at her watch and noticed that she had a few minutes before Tom was supposed to be there, so she decided to give her dad a call. She dialed his phone number and listened to the playback song her dad used instead of the usual ringing and had to laugh to herself. Her d
ad was more tech savvy than she was, always had the newest phones and computer gadgets.
She finally heard the click that signaled he had answered the phone, “Hey Abby, I’m so glad you called” he said when he answered.
“Hey dad, I just wanted to call and check in with you since it’s been over a week already since I left” she told him.
“Well, I am happy to hear from you. So how is the store going, and do you like your apartment?” he asked her.
She smiled; her father knew she was scared about starting something new. “Yes dad, the store is really cool, and Jasmine is so nice. The apartment is a little smaller than I’m used to, but it’s really nice, and super close to work” she told him.
He laughed, “Yes that is probably why Jasmine lives there. So, what’s on your mind?” he asked her.
She sighed, “I had a really weird dream last night, and it’s still bothering me a little bit.”
She could hear the TV in the background turn down, “What was it about sweetie?”
She told him about the dream, even explaining to him how the woman had looked exactly like her, but with red hair and he listened to her explain her entire dream before he spoke.
“Did she tell you her name?”
Abby thought that was a weird question for him to ask her, but figured he must have assumed she would have told him.
“Yes, she said her name was Aine.”
Her father gasped, which wasn’t something she had ever heard him do.
“Do you know someone by that name or something?” she asked him.
“Oh don’t listen to me, I’m just getting easily excited lately. It must be because I miss you.”
Abby smiled, “I miss you too dad.”
The door bell started ringing and she wasn’t quite ready to tell her dad about Tom so she told him the first thing that came into her mind.
“Oh I have to go dad, someone is at the door, maybe its Jasmine. Gotta go! Love you!” she shouted at him and waited for him to tell her he loved her back then hung up the phone practically running to answer the door.
As she opened the door, she was relieved to see Tom wearing jeans; she had dressed down and didn’t want to look out of place again. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss and as he was pulling away pulled a single red rose out from behind his back. Abby felt her body melt, she had always seen friends of hers get flowers from guys all the time, but she never dreamed anyone would be doing that for her someday.
She blushed as she took the rose and put it in a vase with water. He put him arm around her and left it there until they had made it all the way to his car, which had the top up this time. After sliding into the car they made their way to the bowling alley. Abby looked over at Tom and smiled, thinking that she was lucky to have found someone so sweet to date. As though sensing her thinking about him, he grabbed her hand and held it as he drove with his left hand.
They made idle chat as they drove and it wasn’t long before they pulled up into the bowling alley parking lot. Once they walked in, Tom started to introduce her to all of his friends and she noticed how all of the girls were all really nice and easy to talk to, though they seemed to be much older than she was.
When they found a table next to their lane, the waitress came up and started to take their order and Tom came over to her.
“Abby, did you want something to drink?” he asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders, “Just water is fine” She told him.
He laughed, “No, I mean an alcoholic drink, did you want a beer or something?” he asked her.
She shook her head, “No, Tom, I’m only twenty, I’m not old enough to drink yet.”
Tom looked at her funny, “Are you sure you are only twenty? You act much older, I thought you were about twenty four.”
Abby’s heart dropped, she just knew that he was going to tell her she was too young for him to date and she would never hear from him again.
She was waiting for the words when he said, “That’s okay, at least I can brag that I’ve got a young hottie.”
Abby smiled, relieved that he didn’t decide he didn’t want anything else to do with her.
***
After bowling, where Abby did really horrible, they grabbed a pizza and headed to his apartment. She had never seen where he lived and was excited to be able to check his place out. What she wasn’t prepared for was when he pulled up to a parking garage behind a row of two story restaurants a little further uptown than her apartment was. She looked at him with a confused look on her face.
“Why are we here? We already have a pizza” she told him, holding up the box she was holding.
He laughed, “I can tell you aren’t used to downtown yet. These aren’t just restaurants, the top floor of each building is a loft apartment. It’s really convenient when I don’t want to go very far to eat” he told her.
She had never seen anything like this before so was surprised when he opened a small door behind the restaurant and saw a little room with an elevator. This elevator was different though, instead of having a button to push to get the elevator to come to you there was a place to put a key. He put his key in and turned it and the elevator doors opened up, showing a large black interior. They stepped inside and pushed the only button available.
“So, if you have to use a key to get into the elevator, what happens when you have guests? Or a pizza delivery? How do they get to your apartment?” she asked him after the elevator doors closed.
“Oh, did you notice the door next to the elevator?” he asked her.
She shook her head, “No, I didn’t see a door” she answered.
“Well, there is a door, and it leads to a stair case that comes out next to the elevator upstairs” he told her.
“So, if you anyone can just walk up the stairs, then what’s the point of the elevator having a key?” she asked.
He laughed, “You have to have a code to use the stairs, I give it to guests, or the delivery people when I need to.” He explained.
When the elevator opened, they stepped into a small foyer that had only one door. As Abby waited for Tom to unlock the door, she looked behind her and saw that there was a door next to the elevator that said stairs on it, right in the middle. Finally Tom opened the door to his loft and she nearly gasped at how beautiful the place was.
The entire floor was open, with no walls separating his living room from his bedroom, but he still had the separate furniture arranged as though there were walls. All of his furniture looked like old oak wood with grey and black accents everywhere. It really did look like a man’s apartment, and his bed had to be one of the largest beds I had ever seen; it took up nearly an entire wall on the right side of the loft. She looked over at Tom, who was watching her expression as she looked over his place.
“How big is that bed?” she asked.
He laughed, “Everyone asks me that when they walk in. It’s actually a specially made bed, so it doesn’t actually have a size. I just know that it’s bigger than a King, which is the largest you can buy retail.”
“How many people are you bringing up here to see it?” she asked quietly.
“Oh, well not that many really, mostly family, and a few guys that come over for poker games once in a while” he told her.
She smiled as they walked over to where he had his living room setup and sat on the couch, opening up the pizza box and diving right in.
“Where did you get it made, and why do you need such a big bed?” She asked him.
“Actually, my dad gets those made, I’m not sure where exactly, but that is the bed they have in all of the penthouse suites at the hotel. He gave it to me when I refused to live in one of the suites when I finished college.”
Abby nodded, “It was nice of him to give you the bed.”
He shrugged, “I guess so. Wanna see what it feels like?” he asked her.
She nodded and he jumped up pulling her toward it. He stopped her about halfway across the room and turned toward her.
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“The only way to truly experience how great it is would be to run and jump onto it. It’s like falling into a cloud” he said.
She looked from the bed back to him, “Are you sure?” she asked him.
He nodded and she started to run and jumped as high as she could and landed somewhere in the middle of the massive mattress. She had expected to bounce back up like she usually did at her dad’s house, but instead she sank into it as it molded toward her body. It felt like little cotton balls were packed around her body and she nearly fell asleep laying there and enjoying the feeling. Finally Tom slid in beside her.
“So you think the bed is worth it?” he asked her.
She nodded, “Oh yeah, I have got to get me one of these.”
He laughed, “Well, you can share mine with me any time you want” He told her pulling her to him.
He reached behind her head and ran his fingers through her hair as he started to kiss her softly.
Chapter 8
The next morning she woke up to the sun shining on her face and she smiled, enjoying the warmth. She looked around the room and giggled; she had never spent the night with a guy before, and felt a little naughty knowing that she had. She turned over and watched Tom as he slept, one arm still draped around her waist. They had kissed for what seemed like hours before he finally suggested that she stay there with him, and after reassuring her that he would not try any funny business, they fell asleep, wrapped in each other’s arms.
He opened his eyes and looked at her, he smiled as he grabbed a hold of her and pulled her close to him, with her head laying on his chest.
“Why were you watching me?” he asked her.
She giggled, “I just woke up and didn’t want to wake you, but was trying to figure out a way to make myself get off of this bed. How do you ever get out?” she asked him.
“Well, it’s normally not so hard, but waking up next to you makes it hard to want to ever leave” he told her.
She laughed, “I have to go to the bathroom, badly, so can you help me get up?” she asked him.
Celtic Magic Page 3