“I just
possibly couldn’t stay”, stuttered Jeffrey as he put down his tea cup, “I
really must be going. I’ve a terribly long day ahead of me and I wouldn’t want
to inconvenience you any further. You were quite marvelous and I hope I can see
you again very soon”.
Sandra
closed her robe a little as Jeffrey stood up from the breakfast table to
retrieve his coat from the floor near the couch. He’d thrown it there as he and
Sandra kissed like two people possessed with Cupid’s poison. She watched as
Jeffrey collected his coat and gloves. She felt her thin robe was now
ineffective in hiding her previously uninhibited bare breasts.
“When will I see you again”, she asked, already knowing the
likely answer.
“Hopefully this coming weekend. This week is so busy for me.
I will certainly call you though. I really had a wonderful time with you”, said
Jeffrey.
“I did too. It was nice”, said Sandra.
Sandra
stirred her tea in her cup as Jeffrey stopped at the little hallway mirror by
the front door and checked his hair. He
turned back to her and she stood from the breakfast table.
“So, I will call you later”, said Jeffrey.
“Yes, please do”, said Sandra as she walked toward Jeffrey.
He leaned
forward and gave her a weak and passionless kiss on the lips and then fumbled
with opening Sandra’s apartment door.
She had to reach around him and unlock the door. He chuckled nervously
and slunk into the apartment hallway and then quickly rushed down the three
flights of stairs. Sandra closed the door and went to her window that over
looked the courtyard. She watched as Jeffrey exited the building. She noted
that he didn’t look back or up to see if she was watching him.
She
returned to the breakfast table and sat down. She tried not to let herself feel
like a fool for letting this man charm his way into her bedroom. He wasn’t even
all that charming or exceptionally good looking. He’d made her laugh but he was
probably just confidently drunk. Drunk and able to say all those smooth sweet
nothings that Sandra actually needed to hear.
It was her fault for being this
way. She had promised herself that she would try to get out of the shadow of
her previously cloistered lifestyle and experience the pleasures that sex could
provide. It was something adventurous and a little dangerous. It was also
leaving her feeling empty and unfulfilled.
Now,
sitting in her kitchen in front of a cold cup of tea, wearing a thin sexy robe
for no reason, she felt like a fool. A fool searching for romance and love in
the worst possible way. She rapped her
fingernails on the breakfast table and chewed slightly on her bottom lip. She
suddenly really wanted to take a shower, wear sweatpants all day and eat as
many terrible things as possible.
“No”, she said to the empty kitchen, “I’m going for a run”.
She picked
up her tea cup and the half full cup Jeffrey left behind in his hasty exit and dropped
them in her sink. She walked to her bedroom, tore off the robe and changed into
her running gear. She told herself that a confident woman doesn’t let herself
be defined by a lousy one night stand. They take life by the reins and make it
their own. She was a confident woman and not going to let the Jeffreys of the
world ruin her.
With her
running gear on she moved to her front door and looked at herself in the
mirror. She had forgotten she had done the whole “smokey eyes” make-up thing
last night and it had smeared down her cheeks. She looked like Alice Cooper. It was like she was wearing a disguise. She kept looking at her reflection, leaning in closer, looking at herself in
the eyes and wondering where she had gone; or wondered rather, who she was
becoming.
Sandra
turned from the little hallway mirror and went to her bathroom. She washed her
face, fixed her hair and silenced her thoughts as best she could.
“No more Jeffreys”, she promised herself aloud. She grabbed
her iPod and programmed her playlist with upbeat songs. She wiped her eyes and
when the music started she went out into the world to run away from whomever it
was that was looking back at her from the little hallway mirror.
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