***
Often times a young man will find out that patience pays off. This would be one of those times for David. After several agonizing days of waiting, wondering, worrying, along with a healthy dose of pacing and obsessing; David was pleasantly surprised to find that Jennifer approached him.
If I remember correctly it was a ? well ? no, no I can't quite remember what day of the week it was, but anyways ? I'm pretty sure it was late afternoon when Jennifer made her way to her telephone. She called ahead, always being the one with perfect social etiquette she decided not to just drop in on David, but rather to call first and see if he had the time to converse with her.
"Hello," David answered on the second ring.
"Hi David, its Jennifer Holmes," David wondered if she really thought he wouldn't recognize her without the inclusion of the last name. "How are you today?" Jennifer had a polite tone to her voice that immediately set David at ease about where the conversation may be heading.
"Oh, I'm just fine; how're you doin' Jennifer?" Caught off guard really, by the telephone call, David didn't have the time to be nervous with the first pleasantries of conversation but now he felt some butterflies rummaging around in his stomach.
"I'm well," replied Jennifer with a cheery tone.
"That's good ? that's real good," said David wondering what to say next. He was happy when Jennifer took the lead. After all, he thought, it was her phone call.
"Well David, I was just wondering if you weren't too busy; if you might have a few minutes to talk with me today? I mean other than here on the phone ? in ? in person I mean?" Jennifer sounded a little nervous with a stammer in her voice. This nervousness put David at ease. I suppose sometimes when someone shows a bit of venerability it can be endearing and relaxing to others; especially if they are as nervous as David was at this point.
"Oh I'm not too busy." In fact David wasn't busy at all; not busy at anything but thinking about Jennifer. "Would you like for me to swing by your apartment, or you can come over here if you like?"
"If it's quite alright I'll just make my way over to your apartment, say in about thirty minutes."
"Sure that'll be fine Jennifer; I look forward to chatting with ya." David wondered if the "look forward to chatting with ya" was laying it on a bit thick. He didn't want to seem overly anxious.
Just then David felt his throat tighten as he realized that simply because Jennifer had a polite tone of voice didn't mean she would be delivering good news to his apartment. He couldn't help but get his hopes up, but he knew the consequences of doing so could be painful. He took the leap anyway.
They politely ended the phone conversation and David began watching the clock.
To say David sweated out the thirty minutes would be a gross understatement. He felt his old friend impatience coming back around for a visit. He tried to fill his time with picking up his apartment, but that didn't take too long as he almost always kept a neat place. In fact, other than his lack of love for a dust rag, David was quite the little home maker. It's something he likes ? coming home to a nice neat apartment. He even makes sure every dish is clean and in the dishwasher after each use. He'll have none of those dish piles in the sink ya know.
Once he tidied up things around the apartment, he thought it best to do some tidying up of himself. David found himself staring into the bathroom mirror wondering what he should do. He was well shaven, clean and such. He gave a quick whiff to his shirt sleeve and figured he was good to go there. He puffed a breath into his hand and decided, even though he seemed fine, to go ahead and brush his teeth. David then, for no real reason, brushed his hair several times leaving it looking exactly the way it did before he entered the lavatory.
Next David was on to the bedroom to see if he should change into some different clothes. After several minutes of staring into his closet he decided to simply wear what he had on. After all, while he really liked Jennifer, if she couldn't stand his t-shirt and jeans style the deal was off! He laughed thinking this as he walked back into the kitchen to get a drink of water before Jennifer arrived.
If what David was doing could be considered fidgeting his way through the half hour, then Jennifer was clearly following suit. She found herself wishing she had said I'll be right over. But ? she didn't want to seem too pushy and she did feel a true need to get ready for her discussion with David, both in appearance and especially in mind.
Beginning with appearance, and hoping this would settle her mind, Jennifer found her way to the bathroom to apply some make-up; not too much just a touch up really, more to pass the time than anything. Like David, Jennifer chose to tend to her hair methodically, while leaving it exactly as it looked before she began.
Unlike David, Jennifer did decide to change clothes. She chose some of her best jeans, not just in material but in the way they fit her body. She laughed as she turned around to see her bottom in the mirror and said out loud "we all use what we have I suppose". A maroon blouse and a pair of white running shoes completed her laid back ensemble.
Jennifer wondered if David was as nervous as she was at this point. She figured probably, but couldn't bring herself to be sure; thinking that would be too presumptuous.
She made her way to the refrigerator and grabbed a small sliver of ice out of an ice tray. Sucking on this as she stepped towards the front door, Jennifer felt good about her chances with David. She was prepared for disappointment, at least on the surface, but hoped for the best. The walk over to David's door was shorter than she anticipated.
With a firm knock on David's door, Jennifer took a deep breath and held it until she heard the door handle turn.
"Hi Jennifer, good to see you," David said with a polite, and surprisingly relaxed smile.
"You too David, thanks for having me over," Jennifer felt her face blush a bit and hoped her recently reapplied makeup would cover up this little embarrassment. It did somewhat, but David still noticed and found it sweet.
"Come on in and have a seat."
"Thanks," replied Jennifer as she stepped through the doorway.
"Would you care for something to drink?"
Jennifer really didn't want anything to drink as she has often found herself in search of a bathroom when she's nervous, and she was sure that adding fuel to an already twitchy bladder wouldn't make her less nervous. However, always one to put social etiquette first, she was obliged to say "yes, thank you".
"Let's see I have tea, Coke, Gatorade, water ? let me see what else," David started to make his way over to the refrigerator.
"Oh water will be fine David," Jennifer said with a sincere tone.
"You sure, I don't mind finding something else," replied David with a grin.
"Oh no, water's fine ? just something to wet my whistle." Jennifer was thinking how she would simply sip rather than drink the water as she already felt ? well topped off.
"Water it is," said David with a poor rendition of a Scottish accent. He giggled after this attempt at humor; as did Jennifer.
Once David had filled two glasses with ice and water he made his way back into the living room and offered Jennifer a seat on his small couch. While he felt it was a bit forward to plop down right next to her, on what wasn't but easily could have been termed a love seat, David did it anyways.
As David sat next to Jennifer holding his drink, he could smell her slight hint of perfume. He though it might just be some of that good smellin' body lotion girls wear these days ? it's a bit too subtle to be perfume. Anyway, he was intrigued.
Jennifer didn't feel uncomfortable at all in regards to David's noticeable proximity to her. In fact she was glad he sat down next to her. The closeness was appropriate for what she wanted to talk about.
After a few moments of awkward silence David said: "S-so ? you come here often?"
Jennifer laughed just a little and David blushed, leading Jennifer to laugh stronger and David to blush even harder. When Jennifer reached out and touched Dav
id's hand he felt more relaxed though.
"David, you surely do know how to lighten the mood," said Jennifer with a nice smile. She took a sip from her glass and sat it on the coffee table.
"Soooo ? you wanted to chat with me about something?" David had a look of innocence on his face, but Jennifer could tell he already had a pretty good idea about what she wanted to talk to him about. Surely her mannerisms were easy enough to read.
Quite out of the ordinary for Jennifer, being that she's usually focused on social graces, she decided not to beat around the bush. "Well David, I guess I'll just cut right to the chase. You've probably noticed I've been keeping my distance lately".
"Yes," David replied affirmatively, realizing it was time to be attentive and serious.
"Well that all started with me seeing you and Amy kissing by the pool. It left me pretty flustered as I thought we hard a spark started. Then I see you kissing Amy and ....
David decided to interrupt as politely as possible. "Well that was an odd situation where she kissed me and ?"
Jennifer's turn to interrupt: "It sure looked like the kiss was mutual," she said with a tired tone of voice.
"Well, I have to be honest with you, here's how it went: She surprised me with an aggressive smooch and well I didn't fight her off at all, and I should have. I thought we had something starting as well and I kick myself for letting that situation with Amy get out of hand." David felt he just provided a lame excuse, but it being the truth, he also felt it was the way to fly.
"I appreciate your honesty David ? so are you saying there's nothing else between you and Amy, now or then ? I mean did you guys go further than that kiss?" Jennifer felt like she was being a bit too pushy, but just couldn't help herself.
"Well Jennifer, before you arrived at The Villa, Amy and I went out a couple of times but I didn't think we made much of a connection. Once you moved in and we started running together and such, it seemed Amy took an interest in me ? at least on that one particular day. So no, there's nothing between Amy and I, now or that day you saw us by the pool." David realized he left out that he had actually slept with Amy, but that was before he met Jennifer, in fact before she even moved into The Villa so he figured it was best left out. He had the feeling that his past, that is before he even met Jennifer, was not important to their future. Right or wrong that was his decision. Men, as well as women, certainly keep their secrets.
"Ok," replied Jennifer seemingly relieved to hear the good news.
At this point in the conversation there was a pause as they both took drinks from their water glasses and resettled themselves on the couch. Jennifer felt things were going well and David hoped he'd set her mind at ease.
"So you won't be kissing Amy Helmer, or letting her kiss you anymore." Though a question, Jennifer posed this as more of a statement.
"No," replied David simply and sincerely.
"Good," said Jennifer with a smile. "I'm not trying to tell you what you can and can't do, but I've just been thinking a lot about our possibilities lately and was hoping we could work on that spark again."
At this point David felt really good, both about rekindling the romance with Jennifer as well as how well his decision to hold to the patient way, of giving Jennifer her space, has worked out.
"I'd really like that," replied David with a smile.
They provided each other with long eye contact, and after several seconds David thought: oh what the hell? He moved in and kissed Jennifer. It was a nice kiss, not too aggressive. It was the kind of kiss you would have with someone you were serious about, someone you wanted to spend time with, someone you respected and would be working to build a trusting relationship with. It was what both David and Jennifer were really looking for.
After talking for several hours Jennifer made her way back to her apartment on a big white puffy cloud. David didn't let the grin fall from his face for several days.
A Modern Love Page 49