I pulled up into a parking space, and shut the engine off. I was excited, adrenaline made my senses more alert, I was ready for this. I took a final look in the mirror, fluffed my hair a bit with my fingers and stepped out of the car. I wondered a little at his instructions, "Don't wear make up or fuss with your hair." I normally wear very little make up so this was not difficult to comply with, but it seemed a bit odd.
This has all happened so quickly. I can't believe I let Pam talk me into putting up a profile and a picture of myself on Plenty of Fish. I don't share pictures, I don't often even put ones of me on my Facebook page unless my two girls are in it with me. The contact ad was only up for 24 hours before I was messaged "Good morning." by an interesting looking fellow, his picture was not a great one, but he seemed attractive. We sent messages back and forth through POF for a short while.
He asked "Can I give you my cell number, so you can text me directly." I thought about this for a moment, and replied "Sure" He sent the number to me, and a moment later I looked my reply "So now what?" and hit send. His reply was immediate. We texted only a few more messages, getting to know a bit more about each other, where we lived, that sort of thing. I told him about my job, he told me he was out of work at the moment but looking for a job. It was not a surprise when he wrote "Could we get together this afternoon?"
I replied "That would be nice, we could meet at Starbucks here in the mid-afternoon."
He texted back "My car is broken down. Can you come meet me here." I knew he lived an hour away, a two hour round trip, I would have to fill up with gas, and was a bit unsure about driving all that way to meet a stranger, but at the same time I was excited, interested in meeting him in person. His easy manner in the messages intrigued me.
As I entered the mall I could not help noticing some of the mens furtive glances my way, this boosted my confidence, I knew that I looked fantastic and I felt great, keyed up, I looked forward to this.
I sent him a text "I am in the store, by the entrance." He replied "Be right there." I saw him approaching before he spotted me. I know it sounds like a cliche, but time slowed down for me, it felt as if the world stopped turning. He was beautiful. Not handsome. Not good looking. Beautiful. A beautiful man.
My knees felt weak, and my stomach was doing a little flip, and then he saw me. His face lit up with the greatest smile. I watched as he made his way towards me, he appeared confident, self-assured. He carried himself well, straight upright,and walked with an easy gait.
He reached me and opened his arms to hug me. "Hello Diane, it is great to see you. You are much more beautiful than your picture." I managed to reply "Pleased to meet you Brad, your picture doesn't do you justice either." I felt his warmth, his solid chest, his strong arms around me, and it felt great. His scent was enticing, his cologne a blend of spice and citrus. "Mmmm," I said "that cologne is so nice. What is it?" "Eternity" he replied, "I am down to the very last drops though." We stood, looking at each other, not sure what to say next, then we both said "Hi" at the same time. This made us laugh as we turned to walk through the store to the food court.
I really wanted to get a coffee, and sit down across from him and talk and talk, to learn more about him, and to gaze at his face. As we neared Starbucks he said "Never mind, the line up is too long." We strolled the length of the mall, and returned the way we came. As we walked he talked, told me all about himself. This was alternated with him telling me how beautiful he thought I was. That feeling was mutual, those were exactly my thoughts about him. He was constantly interrupted by text messages from his friends.
I turned to him and said "Let's ditch this scene." "He smiled and replied "We can go to my place, it is near." I did not hesitate, nor question at all, we left the mall and went to my car. He offered to drive, but I laughed and said "I am OK if you give me good directions." We got in, and headed out. We just entered the city street when he reached over to the radio and switched the station from my country music station to a hard rock station. "He smiled. "This is my favorite station, I listen to it all the time."
On the drive over he talked non-stop about himself, about places he worked on as we drove past them. I loved the sound of his voice. I could not help thinking about how confident, how cool he was. He sent out an aura of strength. I was conscious of his scent, clean, warm and enticing, as the air coming through the open window carried it to me.
© 2014 NoelHC
Exercise 3: Your characters are having a conversation/discussion/negotiation/argument. Who are they? How are they similar? How are they different? Write a short scene, paying careful attention to differentiating each of the characters through dialogue, actions, and attitudes. For a special bonus – no physical descriptions allowed. Instead, communicate the uniqueness of your characters to the reader using only their actions, dialogues, inner thoughts, etc.
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