So I asked a young lady at work to give me an idea for a short story so I could practice my writing. And she did. This is what I came up with...
"Cup of Joe" by Mary Beth Banks
Reese- I swear I could spot him in a crowd of thousands. Tall, coal black hair and eyes the color of milk chocolate. That alone would have make me stop in my tracks, and it did the first time I saw him.
He was ordering his usual according to Em, my coworker. I had just transferred to the downtown location of "Cup of Joe" after working over a year at our University location.
"He's a tall soy decaf latte" Em said. All I could think was he was definitely a mocha-- wow. He was beautiful.
I stood there like "Rain Man", just staring. I could feel the air crackling between us. Then he smiled this mega watt smile that sealed the deal for me. I was in complete and utter "like".
Em was looking back and fourth like she was at a tennis match. She finally walked over to me, bumped my arm and whispered "close your mouth and wipe your chin."
That snapped me out of it! I was so embarrassed. I am not "that woman" who turns into a babbling needy female that acts like she has never seen a man before!
Wow-- had it really been a year since I first saw him? A whole year of me lusting after this man.
"Hi, I'm Reese", he said in a voice that sounded like it belonged to an Arch Angel.
"Lola" I managed to whisper.
"Lola" he said my name like a caress. He took his coffee and walked backwards smiling at me, then turned to leave. I had been there one week when he finally spoke.
I will not lie, I pulled out all the stops. I was his own personal Batista Angel, and most surely I was not pumping out decaf.
I found myself dreaming of him often-- the way he walked-spoke-the way he would bite his bottom lip when I flirted with him. He knew though, he must have, that it was only him that I flirted with.
I was falling in love with Reese. Even on my days off I would be there enjoying my coffee and reading when he would come in. Sometimes he would sit and talk for hours. Finally I got the nerve to ask him if he would like to have dinner sometime, since he had always seemed so reluctant to do so himself.
"Maybe sometime" he said with a promise of sometime soon in his smile.
A year-- a year of craving this beautiful man. A year of so much sexual tension between us that I thought if I ever had the chance to be loved by this man I would surely spontaneously combust!
A year-- learning about him in stolen moments, his hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes... God I just knew I was falling in love.
Finally the night came, after a year of waiting-dreaming of being "his" if for only one night...
Dinner was wonderful. The food, the wine... oh the music and the conversation. All of it extraordinary!
As the night was ending, he walked me to my door, leaned against it-- holding my hands, oh God this was it...
The beginning of my dream of passion and love with this beautiful man. My Reese...
My breath caught as he leaned in and pressed his soft lips to mine. I could feel my heart began to pound and tears to form in my eyes... His kiss-- so sweet, so loving, so tender...
I pulled away from him and touched his beautiful face.. "Goodnight Reese.."
"Lola?" I will always remember the look on his face when I said goodnight. I never answered him.. I just closed the door and slid against it to the floor and quietly sobbed into my hands while he stood on the doorstep pounding and yelling my name.
I knew-- oh God I knew with that one kiss that he was not the man for me. His beauty and passion for life aside, I needed that kiss. That kiss that said he wanted to consume my heart and soul. That Kiss that said "I could live forever breathing your breath and tasting your skin.." That kiss that never happened.
I crawled into bed empty inside. The dream was gone for me... Oh to go back and feel the magic before that kiss that was so tender but that lacked the hunger I needed..
I reach for my phone and the tears begin again.. Its a text from Reese- "I'm in love with you.."
The End...
Note: The idea was that the girl would chase him, and he wouldn't want her, then he would want her, and she wouldn't want him....
