After
all of the weekend's excitement, Aidan was almost glad to be back at
his desk Monday morning. The slower pace of his job afforded him
time to relax and get his bearings amidst his suddenly burgeoning
social life. As she requested, he had called her last night, and
they had spoken for a little over an hour. It hadn't been a heavy
discussion, they had mostly talked about her work and she had teased
him a bit about the coming weekend, but it was still a lot more
excitement than he was used to on a Sunday night. Enjoyable as it
was, these new social interactions had disrupted his regular routine
and he hadn't been getting to bed as early as he was used to, and he
was finding himself a bit tired this morning. “Oh well”, he
thought, he would adapt to it soon enough. Coffee would just have to
suffice until then, he was already on his second cup of the morning
and it wasn't even 10:00 yet.
“Aidan,
my boy”, his boss greeted him as he returned to his desk. “How
are you doing on that little assignment I gave you?”
The
assignment from last week had largely slipped his mind, but he had
finished his little report on Saturday evening after coming home from
their date. “I think we should go for it”, he said confidently,
“I went to an art gallery this weekend and spoke to some people
there, and they seemed in favour of it. Artists are very particular
about their supplies, and I think a premium store has real
potential.”
“Excellent”,
he smiled, clasping his hands together, “it's great to see a young
person like yourself showing initiative. The safe way out would just
be to turn them down, but you can't make money that way. I think
you'll do well here, Aidan.” He patted Aidan on the back with his
giant hand, almost knocking him out of his seat. “Just send that
report off to me and I'll make the case to the higher ups.”
He
nodded and his boss strode happily back to his office. “Here's to
showing initiative”, Aidan thought to himself, raising his coffee
cup and reflecting on how his life had changed.
He
finished polishing up the report a little before lunchtime and
decided he might as well head down to the cafeteria a few minutes
early. He got to the table before Dan, and sat down to wait for him.
It took Dan another few minutes, and Aidan stretched out and yawned,
finally getting a chance to slow down.
“Another
busy weekend?” Dan asked, pulling up a chair.
“Yeah,
I guess. I've certainly been spending more time on the phone
lately”.
“Has
she been calling you a lot?”
“Well,
not really, I called her last night and we talked for a while.
Though actually Tina called me this weekend as well.”
“Oh
yeah? What did she want? You already met her fiance, right?”
“Just
to get together I guess. I couldn't go, I was just about to go out
with Nisha.”
“She
never calls me”, Dan shrugged. “Though I guess that's no
surprise, she was always much closer to you.” He took a bite of
his lunch, which was leftover pizza today. “What ever happened
between the two of you, anyway? I always figured you were going to
get together.”
“Nothing
happened. It never went anywhere.”
“Right,
but who decided it wasn't going to go anywhere?”
“Who
cares, that's ancient history now”. A hint of annoyance showed
through in his tone.
“I
was just curious”, Dan said, backing off. “How was your date
this weekend?”
“It
was great. We went to an art museum, which you might think would be
boring, but it was actually a lot of fun. She's very passionate
about that kind of thing, it was interesting to discuss it with her.”
“That
must have won you a lot of points with her, did you take her back to
your apartment afterwards?”
“That's
really none of your business, but no. I like her a lot, I'm not
trying to rush things.”
Dan
grinned. “So you wanted to but she said no, basically.”
Aidan
rolled his eyes. “You're such a dork. No wonder you don't have a
girlfriend.”
“So
when do I get to meet her?”
“What?”,
he said, surprised.
“You
know, I've heard a lot about her, when are you going to introduce me
to her?”
“I
dunno, maybe if I decide I don't want to see her anymore?”
“Ha
ha. I'm serious, I want to see the girl who's changed your life.
You can't just keep her to yourself forever”. Dan finished off his
pizza, then an idea struck him. “Hey, she takes the same train
that you do, right? You should bring her to Carson's on Friday. We
can all have dinner together.”
Aidan
looked down at his lunch, avoiding eye contact. “I dunno...”
“Hey,
come on, you trust me, right? I won't say anything bad.”
“If
you agree not to get drunk, I'll ask her.”
“I
won't drink a single drop.”
“See,
it's saying things like that that makes it so hard to trust you.”
He
grinned widely and slapped Aidan on the back. “I knew I could
count on you, buddy. I'm looking forward to it.”
Aidan,
however, regretted agreeing to it almost immediately. Things were
going really well, this just introduced and unnecessary degree of
risk at a crucial time in their relationship. If Nisha and Dan
didn't get along, that could easily sour the evening, and he was
already feeling nervous enough about the prospect of bringing her
home to his apartment that night. He really hoped she would say no
and spare them the trouble, hopefully she had more sense than he did.
He was even more anxious to see her after work today than usual, so
the hours just seemed to crawl by that afternoon. After working on
that report this morning, it looked like he probably wouldn't finish
his inbox before quitting time, by 6:00 he still had quite a few
papers left. “That's not my fault”, he thought to himself,
stuffing the remainder of the pile inside his desk. “No one will
notice if they don't get finished until tomorrow morning”. He
wouldn't normally put off his work like that, but he really couldn't
afford to work late tonight. He locked up his desk, said goodbye to
the receptionist, and just barely made it to the train in time, where
Nisha was already waiting for him. She greeted him with a hug and a
quick little kiss, and he wrapped his arm around her as they rode
home. He was enjoying her company so much that he didn't really want
to ask her about Friday, but he was a man of his word and he felt
like he had to.
“Hey,
Nish, about this weekend...”
“Can't
wait?”, she asked, not lifting her head from his shoulder.
“Not
that”, he said, rubbing her shoulder. “This Friday, how would
you feel about going to dinner at a place near the train station? I
have a friend who would really like to meet you.”
“Already
feel like showing me off?”, she teased.
“It's
okay if you don't want to, but I said I'd ask.”
“I
don't mind. Afterwards we can take the train back to your place.”
“Yeah...”
“It
gives you something to look forward to for the rest of the week,
right?”
“Or
to worry about”.
“Don't
worry about it”, she said, caressing his chest with her hand. “If
you enjoyed taking me to the art museum, I'm sure you'll enjoy taking
me to bed.”
He
had nothing to say to that, but his cheeks were completely red. She
looked up at him and smiled. “You're fun, Aidan”. She snuggled
back up to his shoulder, contentedly.
He
took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. “We've got a
dinner to get through, first”, he reminded himself, but that didn't
really help.
Dan
was overjoyed that she had agreed to come, and spent most of the rest
of the week talking about how excited he was to meet her. Aidan
tried to gently persuade her that they shouldn't go, but she seemed
keen on the idea, so eventually he just had to accept that it was
going to happen. He wondered if Nisha knew how he felt about it and
just enjoyed watching him squirm. She was a nice girl, but she did
seem to enjoy toying with him sometimes. He tried to just busy
himself with his work as best he could, at least it remained
appreciably predictable. Somehow the rest of the week passed by
eventually.
“I
hope she knows what she's doing”, he thought as he checked at his
watch again. It was 5:00 on Friday afternoon. He glanced out the
window. It was already getting a bit dark, but at least it was clear
outside. It had snowed yesterday, and the world outside was still
blanketed in white, but it looked like they wouldn't be getting
drenched on their way back to his apartment tonight. “Let me help
you out of those wet clothes...”, he imagined himself saying to her
as they returned to his apartment, but he quickly pushed those
thoughts out of his mind. “There's a lot to deal with before
that”, he reminded himself.
He
plucked another paper off the top of his pile and began reading it
over. At this time of year, a lot of people were looking for short
term financing to cover credit card debt. Unless a person had
absurdly bad credit, these ones pretty much always went through, so
he took out his pen and started filling in his share of the fields.
“Aidan,
my boy”, his boss greeted him, dropping in unexpectedly as he often
did. “I thought you might like to know that the loan for that
business you recommended got approved today.”
“That's
great, sir”, he smiled. He'd tell Nisha about it later.
“Yes,
good work on your report. I might have some more of those cases for
you to look at in the future if you're still interested. Anyway, I'm
off for the night, you have a good weekend, now.”
“Thank
you, sir”. Aidan didn't really want to offer any more details
about his weekend plans on the off-chance there were still some
people who hadn't heard yet. His boss waved jovially and left down
the hall, and Aidan returned to his work.
“Well,
come on now, we don't want to be late”.
Aidan
looked up from his desk to see Dan standing there. “You're not
even supposed to be able to get in here”, he replied, going back to
his work.
“Someone
let me in as they went out. Everyone's leaving already, let's just
go.”
He
looked at his watch again. It was 5:45. “Just let me finish this
one”, he said, checking off a box and filling in a dollar amount.
Dan sat down in a nearby desk that was already empty. He was right,
most people had already gone home for the weekend.
“So,
are you two going to go do anything after we finish dinner?”
“We're
just going back to my place for a bit”, he responded
absent-mindedly, not even realizing what he had let slip until it was
too late.
“Oh
ho!” Dan squealed, greatly enthused. “Finally going to get
intimate, eh? Lucky bastard. No wonder you didn't really want to
come, you just wanted to go home and have sex.”
Aidan
rolled his eyes, “see, that's the perfect example of something you
shouldn't say during dinner.”
Dan
put his hand on his chest. “You don't have to worry about me, I'm
perfectly discreet.”
One
of his other co-workers walked by, leaving for the evening. “Good
luck tonight, Aidan”, he said. Aidan smacked his forehead.
“See,
if we had left a few minutes ago, that wouldn't have happened.”
Aidan
sighed and finished up the form. “Let's just get this over with”,
he said, and they finally left the office for the weekend.
“So
when are you going to ask Nicole out?” Aidan asked as they rode the
elevator down to the ground floor.
“I'm
getting there, our conversations have gotten very cordial lately.”
“You
should stop wasting time and just do it. That's what I did.”
“Well,
I can't ask her out tonight, we've already got plans.”
The
elevator doors opened.
“Hello
boys”, she greeted them.
“Hi,
Nicole”, he beamed, walking over to lean on her desk. “Great to
finally be done for the weekend, eh? Have you got plans this
weekend?”
She
smiled. “Nothing exciting, I'm afraid. How about you?”
“We're
going to dinner to meet Aidan's new girlfriend.”
“Oh,
congratulations Aidan.”
“Thanks”,
he offered quietly, trying to stay out of it.
“You
should join us sometime”, Dan suggested, very transparently, “we'd
love to have you.”
“Maybe
next time”, she responded coyly. “You have fun, boys.”He waved
to her and they left the building.
“See,
what did I tell you? I've practically got her worn down.”
“I
don't know, I think she was just being nice.”
“Well,
there'll be time to worry about that later. I'm really looking
forward to tonight.”
Aidan
sighed. “I guess you might as well go on ahead and get a table,
I'll go pick up Nisha from the train station.”
“All
right, see you in a few minutes”, he said, leaving Aidan in
blissful silence as he walked the rest of the way to the station.
Nisha
was waiting for him on the same bench where he had met her the day
when he missed his train.
“You
look lovely”, he greeted her. She did look especially beautiful
tonight, her hair was curled a little fancier than normal and she was
wearing a beautiful black dress with a pearl broach across her neck.
“I hope you haven't been waiting long.”
“It's
all right”, she smiled, picking up a bag that she had set down
beside the bench. “I just got here. You're looking pretty good
yourself. Shall we go?”
He
nodded and took her hand. “I hate to say it, but the place we're
going to really isn't that fancy.”
“I
know”, she said, “I wanted to look nice for you.”
He
kissed her on the cheek and led her towards the bar, no longer
dreading the dinner. As long as he was with her, it would be all
right.
“You
must be Nisha”, Dan greeted her. “Aidan's told me a lot about
you.”
“It's
nice to meet you”, she replied. They shook hands and everyone sat
down.
“So,
Nisha, tell me a bit about yourself”, he asked shortly after they
had settled in.
“Well,
I studied traditional art and animation at college, and I work as a
graphic artist. I love art, nature, drawing, and music. I guess you
know how Aidan and I met, one night there weren't enough seats on the
train and we ended up sitting together. Then the next week he was
late for the train and I offered him my seat and we got talking to
each other. I believe he was late for the train on purpose, just so
he could sit beside me.”
“I
actually wasn't”, Aidan chimed in in his defence.
“It's
all right”, she replied, holding his hand, “I was going to offer
you my seat anyway.”
“Aww,
that's sweet”, Dan said. A waitress dropped by to take their
orders. Nisha ordered a chicken salad, and Aidan also ordered
something light. His nerves were already on edge and he didn't want
anything that might bother him tonight. Unsurprisingly, Dan opted
for wings, but he did keep his promise not to order beer.
Now
it was Nisha's turn to ask questions. “So Dan, I understand that
the two of you knew each other even before you started working
together. How did you two meet?”
“We
met during the first week of university, in one of our math classes
or something. We became good friends right away, even though we had
only just met it was like we'd known each other all our lives.”
“That
must be nice”, she said, “it's hard for me to make friends.”
“Well,
then you should just hang out with us sometimes. We're fun.”
“Yeah”,
Aidan added, “if you enjoy seeing Dan drink too much and yell at
the TV, you'd have a great time.”
Dan
chuckled. “Aidan's a funny guy. I hope you like to laugh.”
“Sure,
who doesn't?”, Nisha said.
Their
food arrived, and the game came on, so they didn't talk too much
while they were eating.
“Oh
man! They scored again! Aidan, shake your fist at the TV with me.”
He
shook his head. “See, the fun never stops.”
Nisha
giggled. “You have good friends. It's nice.”
“Well,
you go out to see movies with your co-workers sometimes, don't you?”
“It's
not like this. This is a lot more relaxed.”
“Next
time you should have a drink, then”, Dan suggested.
She
laughed. “Maybe I will”.
The
bill for their dinner arrived. Aidan suddenly felt apprehensive, not
knowing what to do about it with a third person present. “I'll get
it”, he offered.
“No,
no, I'll get it, I insist”, Dan said, snatching the bill before
Aidan could reach it. “This was my idea, and it's the least I can
do after intruding upon your date.” He gave the waitress his
credit card before Aidan could protest the idea. Nisha thanked him
and excused herself for a moment.
“Well,
what do you think?” Aidan asked, as soon as she was out of sight.
“She's
definitely pretty, and she seems nice...” he trailed off, not
finishing his thought.
“...but?”
He
shrugged. “I don't know, I guess she's not quite the type of girl
I pictured for you.”
“Hah,
well I certainly didn't picture you with someone like Nicole.”
Dan
laughed. “Fair enough. You two have a good time tonight.”
“We
will”, he smiled, spotting Nisha coming back.
“It
was nice to meet you, Dan”, she said as they got ready to leave,
shaking his hand one more time.
“You
too, Nisha. Take care of Aidan, and you two get home safe.”
Dan
left, and Nisha locked her arm with his. “Are you ready?” she
asked.
“Yeah”.
He knew what she meant. He took a deep breath and they left the bar
for the train station.
The
trip home was very quiet and awkward. He tried to keep the
conversation going, but it wasn't easy. That night he had spent with
Tina, he was ignorant of her intentions until she sprang them upon
him, but here they both knew exactly what was going on and it hung in
the air between them like a dense fog. He was a bit reassured to see
that she seemed to be nervous too, for all she sometimes teased him
about being obvious and acted like she knew it all it was still a big
deal to her, too. He caressed her shoulder lovingly as she leaned on
him and closed his eyes, trying just to enjoy the moment. Eventually
the train pulled into the sleepy little station across the bay, which
was almost totally deserted at this late hour, and they started the
long walk back to his apartment. He was especially glad for the
weather now, the soft light of the street lamps created a very pretty
scene reflecting off the recently-fallen snow, and it helped make up
for the gaps in the conversation. There was no turning back now,
whatever happened their relationship was about to change, and they
both knew it.
The
tension reached a breaking point when they finally reached his
apartment. He opened the door and switched on the light, but beyond
that he was completely at a loss for what to do or say.
“This
is a nice place”, she said, coming in and taking a look around.
“It's very neat”, she noted, “I was a bit worried it might be a
mess”. She walked over to the window. “Oh, the view from here
is wonderful, you can see all the way out to the bay. The stars are
really pretty tonight.”
“Yeah,
another friend mentioned that once, too”, he blurted out,
immediately regretting it. “Can I get you something to drink?”,
he asked, quickly changing the subject.
“I'm
all right”, she said, sitting down on the couch. “Come sit with
me.”
He
sat down beside her, and she moved over to him and put her arms
around his neck, and kissed him. It was very different from when
they had been outside her house, they were alone here and they had
all the time they wanted, their kisses were long and passionate this
time, and after a few of them he could barely control his desire for
her. She was sitting in his lap, so there was no concealing his
intentions from her, but he was still a bit nervous about escalating
things, waiting for her approval before he began exploring the rest
of her body with his hands. That approval didn't come, however,
after one last kiss she parted from him and sat up in his lap,
holding him back lightly with her hand.
“Before
we go any farther, there's something I need to know”, she said
firmly.
“What
is it?”
“I
know you like me, but... Aidan, are you looking for something
serious?”
“Can't
you tell?”, he asked, staring into her lidded eyes. “You always
seem to know what I'm thinking.”
“This
time I need to hear you say it”, she said, her voice sounding more
vulnerable than he was used to.
He
nodded. “I'm very serious about you, Nisha. I want us to be a
couple.”
She
smiled and leaned in to kiss him, just a short one this time. “I
want that too”, she said, happily. She stood up off of him and he
was disappointed for a moment, but then she undid her dress,
revealing a lacy white bra and panties tantalizingly covering her
dark skin.
“Do
you like me?”, she asked, displaying her whole body to him. Aidan
was too captivated by her to say anything, but she enjoyed that well
enough. “I guess this time I can take your word for it”, she
said, climbing back on top of him. She pushed him down onto his
back, lying on top of him and kissing him. “Don't be shy”, she
instructed him, and he took her breasts in his hands and caressed her
whole body as she pressed her body against his.
“Let's
get these off of you”, she said, removing his pants. They snuggled
for a bit longer, but he couldn't take much more of it, and she knew
it.
“Are
you fine with doing it like this?” she asked. He nodded. “Then
help me out of these.” He undid the clasp on her bra while she
slipped off her panties and she took him inside her, then she leaned
forward to kiss him as the two of them made love for the first time.
It
didn't last long, but she seemed to be expecting that, and under her
care he quickly found himself ready to give her more. “I'm on the
pill”, she reassured him, “so you don't have to worry, just do
what comes naturally”, but he needed little encouragement. He felt
no hesitation this time, and she was very supportive and alluring, he
quickly worked past his nervousness and they had a wonderful night
together.
“This
must be what it's like to be with the one”, he thought as they
snuggled together on his bed afterwards. He gazed lovingly into her
beautiful brown eyes, which were brimming with affection and
kindness, and gave her another tender kiss. “Tonight was
wonderful”, he said softly. She nodded, and he held her tight,
drifting off to sleep with her lying in his arms.
---
“You
have to get out of here”, a familiar voice called out to him.
“Why
now?” Aidan wondered aloud. Everything had been going so well,
surely there couldn't still be something wrong in his life. And yet,
he still had this sense inside him that he had to find something, so
he placed his hand along the mirror to his left and began to walk
down the hall.
“This
isn't right, please, you have to go back.”
He
found the hole in the mirrors where he expected it to be, and
continued down the path.
“No,
please”, the voice pleaded with him. “Don't go in there!”
He
reached the hallway with the mirrors that showed different images of
himself. He took a closer look to see if they had changed, but they
had not. The images showed his life up until he had met Nisha, but
nothing after that, she did not appear in any of the mirrors. He
came to the end of the hallway.
“I
beg of you!” The voice said, but he was ignoring it. “Come to
my voice!”
He
looked into the final mirror, where the shadowy figure was waiting
for him.
“It's
her, isn't it?”, he demanded of the figure. “She's the one I've
been searching for.”
The
shadow swirled around and faded away. Inside the mirror, a
brown-coloured figure slowly came into focus. As the figure became
clearer, he saw a brokenhearted girl with long brown hair leaning
forward on her knees, the dark skin of her face shimmering with
tears.
“Nisha...”,
he said softly, reaching out towards the mirror. His hand slipped
through it, and he stepped inside. He crouched down and hugged her
to him, her naked body hanging limply in his arms. “I swear I'll
protect you”, he told her. He could feel himself starting to wake
up, and the hall of mirrors started to fade out around him. Just as
everything went dark, she opened her eyes, and the last thing he saw
was her vibrant irises staring into his soul.
Aidan
slowly opened his eyes. She was still lying there in his arms,
breathing slowly, the woman from his dream. “I finally know why I
couldn't be with Tina all these years ago”, he thought, giving her
a squeeze, “it's because I've been searching for you my whole
life.”
She
slowly opened her pretty brown eyes and looked up at him.
“I'll
keep you safe”, he silently vowed to himself, kissing her on the
forehead.
“Are
you already eager to go again?”, she asked, sleepily.
It
hadn't been his intention, but he found this his desire for her was
even stronger than it had been earlier. She smiled warmly, amused by
his passion, and he gave her everything, knowing that he would love
her for the rest of his life.
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