The Gods of Song and Poetry

Chapter 18 - She's Mine Tonight

Chapter 18 - She's Mine Tonight

"The Norwegian Women's World Cup soccer team," I stated matter-of-factly.

"You can't have an entire soccer team as your celebrity crush," Kelly protested with a smile.

"Well I can't pick just one, silly. The rest would get jealous." Kelly rolled her eyes.

The movie had been okay. She picked a comedy, but it wasn't all that funny or original. About halfway through I found our hands were touching, and I decided to rub her pinky with mine as a way of asking if she would be okay with holding hands. She looked down at our hands, and we both sat watching, as if they had minds of their own and we were curious what they would do. Fingers started intertwining and coiling around each other. They came to rest palms and forearms together. We looked at each other, grinning like idiots. After hours of cuddling and kissing that first weekend, how was it that holding hands seemed like such a big step now?

We were currently in Kwik's, a tiny frozen yogurt shop. Kelly was trying a big scoop of the flavor of the day, Peaches and Pecans. I had a small scoop of lemon sorbet since it was about the only thing a vegan could eat. I did sometimes make exceptions to my diet for Kwik's, but Peaches and Pecans didn't sound tempting enough. There were only a few tables full of people. It was almost ten, and they closed at eleven, so the crowd was pretty light.

We decided that in order to help speed up the get-to-know-you component of our first date, we would take turns asking each other questions. Kelly had just asked me who my celebrity crush was.

"Seriously, can you name one that stands out?"

"I can't pronounce their names," I said with faux indignity. "Helena Yourgen-mun-flurgen-der-schnitzel, I don't know. Languages and I don't get along very well. My turn." Since I cheated Kelly out of a good answer, I decided to ask a fluff question. "What's your favorite perfume?"

"I don't really have one, but I like essential oils a lot. I like anything with lavender or sandalwood in it." I already guessed that. I had been intoxicated with her lavender scent all through the movie, and I remembered her sandalwood smell all too well. "My turn."

She thought for a minute. Her face was pretty expressive, and I could see the exact moment when she thought of something she wanted to ask, but then hesitated.

"You can ask me anything," I promised her. I felt like she was on tiptoes sometimes, like she was worried about saying the wrong thing around me.

"I know you said you and Coach Ferguson are just friends, but it looked like she was topless in the picture where you guys were in bed together. Did anything...?" She stopped herself. "That's too personal isn't it? I was just curious. It's not important. I'll ask something else."

"No, it's fine. Kala and I never did anything. I did get to see her naked, since she showed me her whole tattoo, but as far as touching goes, we never kissed or anything."

"You were drunk, Coach was hitting on you, you were in bed together, she was totally naked...and you were thinking about me?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "That about sums it up. I don't think she was really hitting on me. I'm pretty sure she was just giving me a chance because Tara wanted her to."

"But still, she said she was hitting on you. I just don't get why you would..." I assumed she was about to say something like "pick me over Coach."

"I don't want to freak you out or anything. I tend to get really poetic and sentimental sometimes, but when I first met you, you stood out. It was like...I don't know, I guess like you were more in focus than any girl I'd ever met before. I'm not saying it was love at first sight or anything, but I definitely couldn't stop thinking about you. I'm starting to ramble. Sorry. I don't know if I can really answer your question. Kala is beautiful, intelligent, fun...but so are you, and you're the one that makes me forget who else is in the room whenever you're around."