"Hey Cass! Is that you?" I turned around to see a familiar, friendly face.
"What are you doing in this part of town, Cole?" I teased him. "I didn't think that places like this were all that you." I said, laughing, we both took a look around the almost empty laundromat.
"It's not." he admitted, good for him. Point for honesty. "I was looking for you. Aurie told me that this was were you spent your Wednesday nights. Gotta tell you, I thought a girl like you would be doing something a little more fun."
"Fun or not, I happen to enjoy clean clothes."I shrugged. "Besides, there really isn't anything exciting going on Wednesday nights. Have you come to change that for me?" I asked shyly, offering him a pretty smile.
"Hmm, I could lie to you, but I don't think you'd believe that I do my own laundry." Cole smiled back.
"Especially when you are empty handed."
"I could have left it in the car until I knew that there were open washers." he replied defensively.
"What do you want?" I asked suspiciously.
"Dinner." he replied simply.
"There's a diner up the street." I told him and went back to my laundry.
"With you." he clarified.
"That's not a good idea."
"Don't you trust me?" he asked, trying to use his most innocent tone.
"I don't trust any man who asks me that." I snapped.
"That's kind of harsh," he pouted, I guess I got his ego with that one. Oh well.
"You'll heal." I know it sounds mean, but you should know that I'm smiling on the inside.
"Do you want some help?" he asked, changing the subject. See, I told you that he'd heal.
"Are you just trying to fondle my under garments, Mr Addison?" I asked suspiciously.
"If I wanted to do that," he said, coming up behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist. "You'd still be wearing them." he whispered in my ear.
"Go away, Cole." I replied, those three words cost me a lot in emotional strength, but I knew that it was for the best.
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"You know what's really strange?" Cole asked me, walking into my office out of nowhere.
"That you're talking to me when you should be at work?" I asked not looking up from the file on my desk.
"Me? No, I'm not strange." at that I did look up and smiled. "But now that you mention work, did you know that our offices are only two blocks apart? Isn't that just fascinating?" he asked with an impish grin.
"What do you want?" I asked, taking off my glasses and giving him my full attention.
"You. Lunch."
"Excuse me?" Did he really just say that? And what exactly was that supposed to mean?
"I want for you to have lunch with me." I breathed a small sigh of relief. "Or I could have you for lunch, that's a much better alternative. Or I could have lunch delivered up here, lay you across your desk and eat off of you... what do you think?"
"I think that you should go." I replied primly, clenching my thighs and locking my ankles. No way was I going to give in to this man...
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"There are laws against stalking in thsi state, last I heard." I said loudly when I realized that Cole was walking behind me.
"I'm not stalking you, I'm just walking you home from work." he replied, jogging to catch up the last few feet between us.
"So you are going on a two mile walk with me, then walking back another two miles to drive home in the opposite direction?" I asked sweetly.
"You walk two miles a day?" He asked incredulously. "In the city?" he voice raised another octave. "In heels?"
"Four, round trip, five if I go out for lunch." I snapped at him.
"In heels?" he asked again.
"I like heels, and I hate driving in this town, it's too perilous, I only do so in extreme emergencies."
"Perilous? Walking in those is perilous!" he argued, still unable to get over my shoes. They are just shoes!
"Only if you aren't used to them. What is your fascination with my shoes?" I asked, annoyed. "Want to wear them?" I challenged him.
"What? No!"
"Exes not into heels?" I tried another approach.
"Not especially–"
"Have a problem with me being as tall as you are?"
"No, I love that–"
"Do you date a lot of prissy women, Cole?" I asked taking a swipe at his taste.
"I don't really date." he mumbled.
"Why are you stalking me?" I asked him finally.
"Two reasons."
"So you admit that you are stalking me?" I asked triumphantly.
"Cass!" he almost yelled in his frustration.
"What?" I asked, turning on my heel to face him. I guess he wasn't expecting that so he ran into me. He wrapped his arms around me, I don't know if it was more for his balance or mine, but I didn't fight him. Not this time.
"I've tried talking, stalking, walking... none of it is turning out the way I envisioned it." he replied, frustratedly dragging a hand through his tousled hair.
"Maybe you should try obscene phone calls next, those get me really hot!" I offered sarcastically.
"That isn't me. None of this is me. This is crazy, and probably one sided, as in completely just inside my head, and I don't know what to do about it except..." he trailed off, leaned forward and kissed me. It was a soft, sweet, tentative kiss, as though he expected me to smack him or push him away. I know I should have... one or both, instead I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, shocking us both. I supposed he had been more prepared for rejection than compliance because for a moment he stopped. When he remembered what he was doing and kissed me again, I pushed him away, gently.
"This is so not good." I said, walking away from him.
"I would have classified it as much more than good. I'm probably going to come off geeky saying this, but I haven't been with a lot of women, Cass. But I know enough to know that that was something special."
"I can't get involved with you," I whispered breathlessly, wishing I could shout at him. I walked to the nearest bench and sat down. The sun was setting and the bay was beautiful but I was too stupefied to take much notice.
"Why? What is so wrong with me that you won't give me a chance?" he sat down next to me.
"It's not you, specifically. We'd never work out, so why bother?" I asked defeatedly.
"Why not?" he asked again. Was it an ego thing?
"Because of Aurie, mostly."
"What does she have to do with us?" Cole asked, confused.
"Because when we break up, that will put her in the middle and I can't lose her."
"We haven't even started anything and you are already breaking up with me?"
"We barely know each other!" I argued.
"I'm trying to change that." he replied calmly. "Come on, Cass, you have to take a chance some time, and when better than now? We have something special... can't we just go with it and see where it takes us?" he asked, taking my hand in his.
"The last chance I took nearly put me in the hospital!" I snapped at him and immediately wished I could take the words back.
"What?"
"Nothing. I'm not talking about it. Forget it. Forget this. All of it. It's never going to happen."
"Why won't you give me a chance?"
"Because it's not just you at risk."
"What if we don't call it dating? What if we don't tell anyone? That way if it doesn't work out, we won't have to admit that we tried."
"Are you asking me to be your imaginary girlfriend?" I laughed, pushing away my demons and looking into Cole's eyes.
"Only if you say yes."
