April: They’re out there for you, kiddo. You will stumble intothem.
I smiled and shook my head at the screen. April would often refer to my potential lovers as “them.” I would often correct her by changing “them” to a “her.” April and Kim had different outlooks on love and relationships. They both supported the phrase “love is love.” I was fine with it, but it just wasn’t forme.
Kim: When are you going to ask this girlout?
Ryan: Tomorrow I’m going to the diner where she works, and I’ll go fromthere.
April: Go get ‘em,tiger!
Kim: We’ll look for a full report tomorrownight.
April: If you don’t get online, we’ll know you might be getting physically acquainted with your t-shirt wearing soulmate.
FOUR MONTHSLATER
I had been eyeing Nikki since the last week in January at the pre-season baseball game. I had lots of encouragement from my friends Sadie, Kim, and April to ask this woman out, but when it came down to it, I hadn’t been ready yet. But I had spoken with her several times and used that time and distance to learn more about her. I thought about all of the mistakes that I had made with Tiffany, and I wanted to do thisright.
Nikki was older than me, but I didn’t let age intimidate or bother me. For some odd reason, I was comforted by the age difference. Come to think of it, April, Kim, Nick, and Sadie were all older than I was, and they were easy to talk with. Most of the girls I had slept with while I was at USC were all older than I was too, even if it was just a year. Did that mean somethingweird?
I waved at the hostess when I entered the diner as she pointed to my usual booth, making sure I was okay with that one again. I nodded and showed myself to my booth. Everyone here “knew” me, but it was all relative because no one reallyknewme. I settled into the booth for two near the window that overlooked the baseball field across the path. I pretended to look at the menu as I thought about the age gaps I always had with women. What the fuck did that mean? Was it something sick and fucked up from mypast?
I started to get warm as I sat there thinking of all my mom’s “friends.” I was also starting to feel immense guilt over having abandoned everything in L.A. Around Christmas, I went back to L.A. and visited Skyler and Dave, but I hadn’t gone to see my mom orbrother.
I shook them from my head and gazed at Nikki over the top of the menu. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what it was that drew me to her. It could have been many things, and the fact that she was sexy as fuck surely didn’t hurt. There was something about her that just spoke tome.
But it had to mean something that I had started to go out of my way just to see her each day. It was hard to explain, and I even tried to rationalize the allure, but I wasn’t able to come up with anything valid. There was something about the way she looked at me that made me feelgood.
Each time I had looked in her direction, it would appear that her eyes had been on me. Unlike most women, Nikki’s eyes hadn’t raced up and down my body, but she just looked at my eyes. When our eyes mutually found one another, it usually made my dicktwitch.
I fidgeted with the salt shaker as I saw her come towards me in my peripheral vision, and I looked up at her when her body cast a shadow over my table. Fuck, she had a killer smile and blue eyes that sparkled. Her smile, mixed with the beautiful blue eyes was a fusion of sweet and sexy. As her tongue darted out to moisten the corner of her mouth, I visualized those lips wrapped around mycock.
“Hi, Ryan. I thought I might see you in here after the game tonight rather than before,” Nikki said. I glanced out the window at the field; the lights had just come on in preparation for the game in a few hours. “Are you going to the gametonight?”
I shook my head and looked down at the table in an effort to clear my mind. All I could think about was her mouth being stretched by mycock.
“Not tonight. I need to work on my draft for my semester project. It’s ninety percent of my grade, and I have to do well onit.”
She nodded at me, a sign of understanding the need to get goodgrades.
“Would you like your usual tonight,Ryan?”
“Yes, I’ll take my usual,” I replied with the expected answer, though I’d really like for her to unzip me under the table and take my hardened shaft into hermouth.
Nikki smiled and said she’d be back with my Coke. As she walked away, I adjusted myself under the table. Fuck, I needed to get it under control. She quickly brought back my Coke and a fewquestions.
“How many classes are you taking this semester,Ryan?”
I loved how my name sounded coming from her mouth. Briefly, I imagined her moaning myname.
“Just one class. It’s a heavy loaded class. It’s six credits toward my filmmajor.”
Her eyebrows perked up, and she was genuinelyinterested.
“Oh my God! You’re working on a film degree? That’s socool.”
“Thanks,” I said and sipped myCoke.
“How close are you to yourdegree?”
