by A N Busch
Slowly her feet were back on the ground, one of his arms was around her waist holding her close. The other hand was gently holding her neck and he was kissing her deeply and softly. Abby’s legs became jelly under her and he held onto her tighter.
When he pulled away, she tried to fight it and threw her arms around his neck and got on the tips of her toes, pulling him closer. He pulled away and gave her a little laugh, “I better be more careful whispering in your ear. Don’t worry I’ll miss you the moment that I get into that elevator, but I’ll see you soon.”
All Abby could do was nod at him and smile. The dangerously wonderful haze from his kiss was still potent in her head, making it hard to think of anything but the feel of his lips on hers. She watched as he walked away down the hall, wishing she had a reason for him not to leave.
Without him by her side time began to drag by, but she had a smile on her face the whole time. Around seven she decided that she should make better use of her time than daydreaming. The first thing that came to mind was to get a start on her paper for Greek Mythology. She turned on the computer and made a quick call to her aunt while she waited for it to boot up. When Melissa didn’t answer her phone, she just left a message, “Hey Missa just calling to say hi and see what is going on with you. I had a great night and it was beyond perfect. I’ll tell you more about it soon; I was just going to get some work done for class. He is going to come back over later I think, so I’ll give you a call tomorrow. Love you.”
Abby sat back down at her computer desk and pulled out the notes she had taken in class about the paper. She had never been a big movie watcher, she preferred reading a story and playing things out in her head. Movies never seemed to tell a story the best anyway; if there was a book and a movie of it, it was just a fact that the book was going to be better.
There really was so much to do for this paper. The first part was going to be the hardest to figure out. Where was she going to get an idea for this? She logged onto the school’s website and found her class forum. She started reading through all the other topics that students had posted for their papers. Someone was comparing the story of Icarus and a movie she had never even heard of. Another was of Aphrodite.
Toward the bottom someone had listed a website they had found that might be of help to others. Abby couldn’t open another window fast enough and type in the site. There were pages and pages of comparisons of movies and stories from Greek Mythology. Abby wanted a movie that she had seen before or at least one that would be easy to find at the video store. It took no time for her to find a movie that she knew: My Fair Lady and clicked on it. It was in some ways related to the story of Pygmalion.
Abby wrote down the name and pulled out her textbook to look for the story. She had never heard of Pygmalion before, she was going to have to read that first. It was not in her book, so she looked it up on the Internet and flipped to a fresh page in her notebook where she could make notes while reading it. Halfway through reading the story there was a knock at the door that made her jump.
“Come in Mel, it’s unlocked.” The knob on the door to the hall jiggled which startled her again. She had thought it was Melanie at the bathroom door. Abby went to the door with excitement on her face, hoping it would be Westly on the other side.
Rachel bounced into the room smiling. “I just had the best weekend ever. I had to come over right away and tell you all about it. What are you doing?”
“Getting started on my paper for class. Did you leave town?”
“Abby I told you Friday before class that I was meeting some friends in Florida. Didn’t you listen to a thing I was saying?”
“Sorry Rach, my mind was somewhere else I guess.” They sat down on the bed and Rachel started going on and on about her weekend at the beach. Abby just sat and listened.
“So Abby what did you do this weekend? Please tell me it was more than just staying in his bland beige colored room and studying.”
Before she could say anything, Melanie was knocking on the bathroom door and opening it. “Hey Abby I heard Rach’s loudness and figured it was safe to open the door this time.” The smile on Melanie’s face was devious.
“Hi Mel,” Abby and Rachel said, almost in sync with each other.
“I was just asking Abby about her weekend; how was yours? And what do you mean you figured it was safe to open the door?”
“Abby’s weekend huh? I want to hear this too. She was so busy I just have to know how it was,” Mel said sitting down on the computer chair she had pulled over and smiled looking from Abby to Rachel.
The look on Rachel’s face said it all; she was curious what Abby had been up to. “Busy, and not with studying. That’s not like you; we usually have to pull you away from your books. What did you do?” Abby’s cheeks were turning scarlet red and she knew that Rachel could see it happening by the look that was developing on her own face.
After a few embarrassing seconds of silence from Abby, Melanie took it upon herself. “Miss Abby was with him all weekend long.”
“‘Him’ who Mel?” Rachel looked back and forth between the two girls waiting impatiently for an answer. Then she slapped Abby on the leg, “Oh, you have to tell me! I want to know everything!”
Abby didn’t even need to talk; Mel smiled then proceeded to tell Rachel what she wanted to hear. She started with how she had walked in on them Friday night making out on the bed and then how he was still around the next morning. “He knocked on the bathroom door and said that he had to leave and did I mind locking ‘Abs’ door behind him. He didn’t want to wake her up because she looked so peaceful.”
Rachel bounced twice on the bed, both times smacking Abby’s leg and squealing with excitement, “Oh my God! How sweet is that! So, what does he look like - total hunk or what? Hey wait!” She turned her attention to Abby, “Where did you meet him?”
Abby was smiling now; she wasn’t going to be able to keep Westly a secret anymore even if she had wanted to. She let out a low grumble and tried to make it sound like she wasn’t excited about telling her friends about Westly, “I met him in my history class kind of. He is in the class, but I really started talking to him the other day. I was studying over by Waders Lake when he came up to me.” Then she smiled and gave a little squeal of her own, “And yes, he is a major hunk!”
“Abby, I knew you had a wild side to you! My psychic told me something I didn’t expect was going to happen this month. She is so good.”
Abby went into the story of what had happened at the little pond on campus and what happened the next day. She even told her about their first kiss. Abby went on and on not thinking and just telling them everything: all the things he had done for their date last night and how she felt when he kissed her. Melanie and Rachel sat quietly and just listened, glancing at each other from time to time.
“Wow, Abby I’m like, in shock. Good shock, but I mean, come on. Just, wow!”
“Thanks Rach, I think. All right, I have to get back to work on this paper. I don’t want to be rude, but I would like to get something done before he comes back over tonight.”
Melanie got up but Rachel stayed firmly planted, “I need to work on mine too I’ll just stay and work also until he comes back over.” Rachel smiled and grabbed an extra notebook off the shelf under the desk and a pen from the drawer.
Abby grabbed them both out of Rachel’s hand before she could even put the pen to the page, “No way, out!”
“All right, fine, I’ll leave, but I better get to meet him soon woman.”
“You will when I’m ready for you to. Now let me get some work done you two.”
Melanie laughed on her way into the bathroom, as Rachel jumped up and down singing over and over again, “Abby has a boyfriend, Abby kissed a boy.” You would have thought they were thirteen talking about meeting their celebrity crush.
Rachel opened the door to the hall to leave and stopped dead in her tracks, looking up. Abby walked to the door to see what she was staring and grinning at. Pulling
the door open wider, she found that it was Westly leaning against the door jam one hand in his pocket and the purple roses from the night before in his other, a sly grin on his face. Abby wondered how long he had been at the door. Rachel was the first to speak up.
“Oh Abby, a real Greek god to help with your paper; you lucky girl.” She was giggling as she slipped past him into the hallway. Skipping down the hall, she turned around to look at him again and could not help, Abby was sure, one last comment, “Don’t forget about the Human Anatomy project you need to work on Abby.” With a laugh she rounded the corner and was gone, only the sound of her continued giggling echoing through the hall.
Abby didn’t even care to respond. Her eyes were locked onto Westly’s now and the rest of the world was melting away around her. Abby pulled him into her room and shut the door. She barely gave him time to get in before she was jumping into his arms and kissing him. He carried her to her bed and sat down with her on his lap facing him. Abby felt his hands on her, moving up and down her back, caressing her legs, her arms, touching her cheeks, getting lost in her hair. His touch was surreal; it felt like he was leaving streaks of heat as his hands moved from one place to the next. Every touch and every kiss was perfection, as though they fit together like two pieces of a puzzle.
When he pulled away slowly, she let out a slight moan before she opened her eyes. “Abs, slow down. We have all the time in the world.”
“No we don’t, you might disappear; I swear you have to be a dream. A wonderful, wonderful dream.”
Westly let out a laugh from deep inside. “I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere. Now what’s this about a Greek god helping with a paper?” He asked her in a whispered voice with that crooked smile and one eyebrow up.
“That is just Rachel’s idea of being funny. I was doing some research for a paper when she came over. It’s for Greek Mythology.”
“Well don’t let me stop you, get back to work. I’ll sit here with you. I have a book in my bag. Or I could go, if you would like me to?”
“Oh no you’re not leaving! I just have to finish reading the story on Pygmalion.”
“Ah good choice. What do you have to do; analyze it?”
“Oh no something much, much more exciting. I have to compare it to a movie and explain how the two stories relate to each other.”
“And what movie did you pick?”
“I was going to… wait, you know the story of Pygmalion?”
“Yes and some others, I do a lot of reading.”
“Well then, do you think you could save me a little boredom from reading it online and tell it to me? If you do I’ll kiss you.”
Westly fell back on to the bed and Abby lay with him, resting her face in the crook of his arm and looking up so she could see his face as he told the story.
“I’ll tell you, but I know you would have kissed me again anyway.” Abby giggled and waited for him to start. When he did she was transported instantly into the story.
Westly was Pygmalion and she was the beautiful sculpture made from ivory, which he had created with his own hands. She could see him placing jewels and pearls upon her. Then she was watching him at the festival of Aphrodite begging for his love, his ivory virgin, Galatea, to be real. The farther Westly got into the story, the more she was there watching it, a part of it. She could see him lean to kiss the ivory woman and feel that she was warm, no longer cold, hard, sculpted ivory. Abby’s cheeks blushed just like the ivory statue that was now human, and a tear slowly rolled down her face.
“Pygmalion and Galatea were married and their union was blessed by Aphrodite. A son was born to them and was named Paphos, from whom the city Paphos, sacred to Aphrodite, received its name.”
“That was more than wonderful Westly, thank you.”
“You’re welcome, but why are you crying?” As he asked her, he gently wiped a tear from her cheek.
“The way you told the story, even the stories about New York that you told me last night, you have this way of making me feel like I’m there. Watching it all happen, last night I felt like I was in your shoes and looking at everything through your eyes. Now it was like I was watching Pygmalion come to life.” There were more to her tears than that, but it was something he did not need to know right now.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it, do you need to make notes or write it down?”
“No, I will never forget that story in my life, trust me?” Abby hugged him tight and thanked him again.
She sat up quickly and smiled at him. “I think I would like some coffee, how about you?”
“Sure, did you want to go to the Half Moon Café just off campus?”
“I was thinking something a little closer, but next time we can go there if you would like.”
“Where did you have in mind?” Westly looked confused as he spoke. She could see that he was racking his brain for what was closer and still open on a Sunday night.
“You stay here I’ll be right back.” Abby kissed him on the cheek and laughed as she jumped off the bed.
She disappeared into the bathroom and knocked on the door to Melanie’s room. After a moment Melanie was at the door. “Did he leave already?”
“No, I was wondering if you had any hot coffee?”
“Of course I do.” They both laughed and headed over the where her coffee pot was. Melanie grabbed two big mugs off of the shelf above and filled them.
“Cream? Sugar?”
“Um I’m not really sure how Westly takes his to be honest.”
“I have a couple of packs of both in that drawer if you want to grab them; I’ll make yours.”
“Thank you.” As she opened the drawer, she wanted to laugh - a couple? There were way more than a couple small packets of sugar and creamer, Melanie had two full boxes of each. Abby only grabbed about six of each, he couldn’t need more than that.
“Well you two kids have a good night, don’t get too loud now I have studying to do. But please knock if you need more.”
“We will, thanks again. Have a good night.”
Abby went back into her room and Westly was sitting up at the end of her bed now.
“Hey, I thought I told you not to move.” Abby handed him a mug and set the packets of cream and sugar on the nightstand by her bed. “I didn’t know how you liked your coffee so I brought some of both for you.”
“Black is good, thank you.”
“Mel has a coffee pot in her room, she lives off it. She’s a pre-law major with 21 credit hours and works forty or more hours a week at two jobs. Coffee is her lifeline. She probably drinks three to five pots a day, maybe more.”
“That is very busy. How’s she do it all?”
“Between you and me, I have no idea. She still finds time to see friends and get sleep. To top it all off she is a 4.0 student.”
“Wow, that is very impressive. If I ever need a lawyer one day, I guess she would be the person to hire.”
“Yeah, I have her on retainer already,” Abby was laughing as she said it and Westly joined her.
“So Abs, what were you like in high school?”
“You don’t want to hear about that do you? It’s absolutely boring.”
Westly pulled her closer to his side, and told her he wanted to know everything about her. The two of them sat for a very long time drinking coffee and Abby telling him about high school. He asked questions every so often which made her stories longer.
“I never dated anyone before, to tell the truth. I have never met anyone like you. I guess that is why I think you are like a wonderful dream to me. All of this is kind of unreal. Something in the back of my head just keeps saying you are going to disappear, and I will open my eyes in another place or time.
“I’m here Abs, and I’m not leaving. That you can trust. I am real and I will always be.” Westly took the coffee cups out of her hand and set them both on the nightstand. He laid her back slowly, never taking his eyes off of hers and kissed her again.
Chapter 11
&nb
sp; “Mommy, Mommy I don’t feel good, can I sleep with you and Daddy?”
Abigail, only half awake, looked at the clock – two-thirty-four am. Brady was standing in front of her with his teddy bear.
“Mommy, are you awake? I don’t feel good, and I want to sleep with you.”
“Brady baby, what’s wrong? What doesn’t feel good?” She scooted over so he could crawl into bed with her. He hugged her tight and didn’t say a word. Abigail put her wrist on her son’s forehead but didn’t feel a fever.
“What’s wrong; is it your tummy?”
“No, I had a bad dream.”
“About what baby boy?” She held him tight to her and kissed his head. “Do you want to tell me about it?”
“You didn’t come back from your business trip because a mean wizard put you under a spell. There was big dragon that was breathing fire and the wizard wouldn’t let you leave.” Tears started to roll down his face as he buried himself into the crook of her arm.
“Oh baby, it’s okay I promise there are no wizards, dragons or anything else like that in New York.” Abigail smiled and held him tight to her.
Even though Brady quickly fell back to sleep in Abigail’s arms, she was awake now, left to think about Westly and the dream she was having of him. She had gone three nights without dreaming of him, but now he was back. I have to shake this off and forget about it, she thought to herself. She felt her husband stir beside her in their bed and place his arm around her. Now that was the love she knew, the man that she loved.
Her mind slowly wondered to her project and all the work she had left to do on it. She was having a real problem all of a sudden, the original design she had been working on just wasn’t right. She had been racking her brain for something new but was coming up with nothing. Her trip to New York City was less than a week away now.
Unfortunately, most of the home preparations for being gone weren’t taken care of either. Aunt Melissa was going to come over Monday afternoon and stay for the week to help out with the kids. Everything else though was yet to be planned. She could go to the store Sunday and get the groceries for the week; things for easy meals would be great. Melissa was never much of a cook and there was no way she wanted the kids eating fast food every night.