Finding My Way (15 page)

“Con!
 
Get over here!” I yell out and I notice that she jumps a little as I stare at
her.  Yep, she is a deer in the headlights.

“Hey
Nicho
!
  I didn’t see you there
mate!  When did you sneak in here?”  Con yells back as he walks
over.  I swear his accent gets even thicker when he’s trying to impress
someone and I can tell that he wants to impress
Em
by
the look on his face.  I give him a warning look from behind
Em’s
back.  Con is a happily married man, and would
never cheat, but that never stops him from being a big flirt.  He gives me
a hug and then asks, “So who’s this lovely lady?”

Nick’s cousin is a
burly looking man.  He is older than Nick and he speaks with a heavy, I
think Greek, accent.  He walks over to us and gives Nick a big bear
hug.  They pull apart and smile at each other with great affection.

“Con, this is my
friend
Em
,” I notice the emphasis he put on the word ‘friend’,
he pauses and his eyes lingering on mine cause my heart to skip a beat, “Emma
this is my wog-boy cousin Con.”  He says as he slaps him on the back.

Con puts his hand out
for me to shake.  His firm grip is really warm and he holds my hand a bit
longer than necessary.  Leaning a little closer, his eyes wide and
inviting, little creases on each side, he says, “What a pleasure to meet you,
beautiful Emma.”  It’s then that I can see the family resemblance, what a
charmer!

“Nice to meet you,” I
say as he lets my hand go.

“
Em
would like to buy this bed here,” Nick says pointing at the bed beside
us.  “What deal can you do for her
cuz
?”

“No, no I don’t have
enough money, I need to save more,” I interrupt.

“Nonsense!”
 
Nick looks at his cousin, expectantly, “Con?” 

“This one isn’t in
stock at the moment.  We have a new shipment coming in about three
weeks.  Is that enough time for you to save what you need?”  Con asks
turning his attention to me.

“Ah,” I can’t afford
this and a mattress.  But Con and Nick are talking like it’s a done
deal.  I am feeling bamboozled.

“She’ll need a new
mattress too.”  Nick adds as if he can read my thoughts.  “Throw one
in will
ya
?”  Con looks at back at him with a
fake scowl on his face and I can tell that they are both enjoying themselves
here.  “You want some new linen too?”  Nick asks me.

“I um…”  I’m
struggling with what to say.  Con looks at me and smiles in a way that
somehow reassures me he is not trying to force me into any type of sale. 
I instantly breathe a sigh of relief and begin to relax.

“Now how ‘bout you
two go test out some mattresses and I will see what I can do?”  Con jokes
and then walks back towards his desk. 

I follow Nick to the
mattress section.  He casually lies down on one and taps his hand on the
mattress beside him, gesturing for me to lie down with him.  I awkwardly
get onto the bed.  Nick lifts his arms and puts them casually behind his
head.

“I knew I’d get you
to bed eventually,” he says when I turn my head to look at him.  He
gives me a wink.  My heart jumps to my throat and I swallow, just knowing
that my face is reddening yet again.  Those words combined with his
suggestive smirk, make me want to rub my thighs together for some sort of
relief, it turns me on.  But still,
I can’t believe he just said that!
 I
notice that Nick has his ankles crossed and with his arms behind his head he
looks so relaxed.  How can he be so casual and flirty?  And why can’t
I be more like that?

I stand up, go to the
next mattress and lie on it.

“No, no you’re right
dear.  This one’s not comfy at all!”  He says loudly to me as a
couple passes us in the aisle.  He scampers over and bounces onto the
mattress that I’m now lying on.  He starts bouncing around and grinning at
me he says, “Ah yes this one’s better, we need a mattress that can withstand
all your shenanigans!”

I look over to the
nearby couple and see that they are both trying to hide smiles.  He is so
humiliating!  I start to get angry but looking at him those feelings
disappear.  He looks so cute, as he jumps around on his hands and
knees. 
And also kind of naughty.

“Stop it!”  I
say as he continues to bounce me up and down.  I start laughing,
“Stop!”  I try to say as I laugh even harder and give him a playful slap
on the arm.  He stops and lies down next to me again.  We lie still
for a moment as we both catch our breath.  Then Nick suddenly gets up and
goes over to another mattress.  I stay behind for a moment longer to
collect my wits that have just been thoroughly scattered by this man and then I
follow him.  When I lie down this time I see that he is no longer
smirking, his playfulness gone, an intensely sexy look appears in his startling
pale blue eyes.  My eyes dart down his glorious body momentarily before
hooking back on his eyes.

“Are you always like
this?” I ask him with a gulp.

“Like what?”

“You know, so
forward.  I barely know you and
you’re
bouncing
me around on a bed.”  I giggle.

“Whatever do you
mean?”  He asks raising his eyebrow, smiling as he teases me.  Then
he gets up and moves onto another mattress.  I follow and lay beside him
again.

I try to concentrate
on the shop ceiling but find myself turning to look at Nick.  This
mattress is so comfortable.  Staring into his eyes, I start to feel more
than just comfortable.

“This one,” I say
after we lie on it for, what I guess is, a couple of minutes in silence, his
piercing blue eyes drilling into me.  I’m unable to look away, I could
enjoy this all day.

“Con!”
 
Nick commands his cousin back over to us.  “The lady wants this
one!”  He says then finally breaks our eye contact.  Con comes over
and writes down the code then walks back to his desk to work out a price.

I not only get the
bed and mattress but Nick also gets Con to throw in a new doona, doona cover
set and pillows.  In the end it only costs me one hundred dollars more
than the original bed price, everything included.  And the bed will be
delivered to my apartment and setup for free.  Which makes me wonder, how
much does Nick’s cousin actually make when they sell a bed at the floor
price?  The only downside about the whole deal is that I have to wait
three weeks.

I leave the store
fully satisfied with my purchase.  The doona cover I chose is white with
blue, aqua and brown leaves on it.  It will go well with my lounge room
furniture making the whole apartment flow.  I can’t wipe the smile from my
face.  I’m not sure that it’s just because I have just bought my dream bed
(for a steal), or that I have just spent the past hour having fun with
Nick.  Or maybe it’s because of Con’s parting comment, or… all of the
above.

I try to look as
casual as possible when I lie on the mattresses so that
Em
will feel at ease.  But when she looks at me with those eyes I cannot help
myself.  I have to tease her.  And once again there is that glorious
shading on her cheeks.  I love that I have that effect on her.  But
then when I get her to laugh it affects me even more.  Her laugh is
electric and I vow to hear it more often from now on.

We lay on the
mattress together, our eyes locked.  I feel like I am really seeing her,
like really seeing deep inside of this girl through her glorious green eyes and
I cannot look away.  “This one,” she says suddenly, when she decides on
the mattress.  It sends a thrill through me like there is a different meaning
to her words, or at least that I want there to be.  All of a sudden it
becomes real.  I am lying on a bed with this beautiful girl and all I can
hear is her breathing.  I want to reach out and touch her.  I want
run my fingers down her arm and watch the goose bumps appear like I know they
will.

I watch from a
distance as she picks out her linen and sorts out the paperwork, I joke with
Con but my heart isn’t in it.  I watch as he harmlessly flirts with
Em
and it makes me happy that she doesn’t seem fazed by his
charms, especially when she seems so affected by me.  As Con goes about
doing his job, I stand back for a bit and catch my breath.  I need to make
sense of this all. 
Em
is not like the girls I
would normally date.  Not my type, she’s beautiful, but still not my type
at all.  She seems too sweet, too innocent, too perfect, yet I can’t help
but be drawn to her.

It feels like my
heart is being pulled in the direction of her.  It astounds me that I have
never felt quite like this before.  I notice everything she does, every
hand movement, when she fiddles with her hair, the concentration on her face
when she’s looking at the various patterns of linen… I surprise myself by how
interested I am in every little thing she does.

Con works out a deal,
throws in delivery and setup, and they agree on the price.  I take note of
her name, Emma Taylor, as she fills out the paperwork.  I try to look at
the address too but I’m too slow.

“You look after this
one Nick, she’s a keeper!”  Con says to me and I give him a death stare,
he knows full-well I don’t do ‘keepers’.  Then he squeezes
Em’s
hand again for a little longer than I like before we
leave the store. 

“You are positively
beaming!”  I say to
Em
as we stand on the
footpath.  I have not seen a smile so wide on her pretty face
before.  “See I told you I could help.”

“Thanks Nick, I
really appreciate it,” she says sweetly. 

“You’re
welcome...”  At that very moment, I decide I don’t want to say goodbye to
her just yet.  It’s only early and I’m not meeting Dan for a few more hours. 
So I have to think of an excuse.  “So,
Emma Taylor
, I don’t know
about you but all that bouncing on beds has made me hungry!”  I say
rubbing my hands together conspiringly and raising my eyebrow at her, “Do you
want to get a bite to eat?”  It’s a bit early for dinner but I don’t
care.  When she doesn’t answer straight away, I ask, “You’ve already got
plans?”  Of course she would!

“No.”

“Really?
 
A boyfriend then?”
  But I remember that she
already told me she’s not seeing anyone.

“No.”

“A
girl like you, with no boyfriend
and
no plans, on a Friday night?
 
What’s the world coming to?”  I
am
surprised she doesn’t have date,
or plans with girlfriends at least.  “So? 
You
hungry or what?”
  I ask.

“Yes.”

“Good.”  I say
as I take hold of her little hand.  It feels so small, so fragile in my
hand and yet it feels so right.  “You like Mexican?” 

“Yes.”

“Are you only ever
going to speak in monosyllables?”  I ask her.

“Yes.”  She says
back to me with a radiant smile, her green eyes sparkling and it makes my heart
skip a beat again.

It doesn’t take us
long to get to La Hacienda, the little Mexican restaurant around the corner
from Con’s store.  I come here quite often, the food is good, cheap and
it’s convenient being a short walk from home, particularly handy when I am on a
date.  Although as we sit in the booth and I look at her little hand in
mine I make the decision that this girl is too precious to take to bed on the
first date, if I could get her there that is.  I think I might take my
time with this one, she may even be a challenge, it’s been a while since I’ve
done anything challenging.  I resist the urge to touch her cheek and grab
hold of the menus instead.

We place our order of
tacos and beer.  I like a girl that drinks beer and I’m surprised that
Emma is one of them.  I pegged her for a lolly-water type of drinker.
 I turn to face her in the booth, I really want to push that loose strand
of hair from her face, but I hold myself back.

As we leave Con’s
store, Nick grabs my hand as if it was something he did every day.  His
hands are huge and I can’t help but think about what Kat says about men with
large hands.  I blush; get your mind out of the gutter
Em
!

We walk only a short
distance before Nick opens a door to a restaurant.  It’s small and
colourful.  Mexican music plays softly in the background.  He stops
at a booth where I take a seat before he slides in beside me.  He still
has hold of my hand.  It feels comfortable.  It’s funny how
everything can change in a day.  Who would have thought that I would be
here holding hands with this guy I barely know and that I was so angry with
just yesterday morning?

Eventually Nick lets
go of my hand so he can open a menu.  He passes one to me and we read them
in silence.  When the waitress comes over we both order tacos and
Corona’s.

Nick turns to me with
a serious look on his face.

“I just want you to
know that I don’t usually do that.”  He says.

“Do what?”

“Go to bed with
someone
before
a first date.”  Then he can’t help but smile at his
own joke.

“Is that so?”

“Yeah and sometimes I
don’t even date them after either,” he adds with a wink.

“Ha
ha
very funny!”
  I say
sarcastically.  I can’t help noticing that he just referred to this as a
date,
I
am
on an actual date! 
Wait
. 
Did he just admit to sleeping with girls without even dating them, at
all?  Is he serious?  I can’t even tell anymore.

Nick stands and
excuses himself to go to the bathroom.  While he’s gone I look around the
restaurant.  We aren’t that far from my apartment.  I wonder why I
haven’t noticed this place before.  There seems to be a lot of things that
have gone unnoticed in my life lately.  Nick being one of them - I only
noticed him the other day but he said he had worked there for months, didn’t
he?  Then again I only buy the occasional magazine and my train ticket
once a month, so I don’t actually go to the kiosk that often.