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Ally's text read, "Meet me at your work in the parking lot. I have a surprise for you."
I tried to focus on the coming moments of my date with her. I needed it, and I needed to forget Jessica, but her fangs remained locked into the carotid artery of my soul. Her poison flowed through me, turning me towards her.
As I pulled into the parking lot, Ally stood by her car, wearing those hot pink workout tights and rollerblades. She held a second pair of rollerblades in one hand and two brown paper bags in the other. Her lips tilted to the side in a soft, grinning duck face. As I got out of my car, she set everything down, glided over, and wrapped her arms around my neck.
"Hey, handsome! I brought dinner," she said.
As she leaned back to look at me, my chest tightened. I tried to hide behind a grin. Her eyes studied me.
She knows.
Her hand slid down from behind my neck and rested on my chest.
“I wore the pink tights.”
“I noticed.”
She bit her bottom lip, and her eyes sparkled as she smiled wide at me.
“I know.”
As she let go of me, she giggled, turned and skated back to her car to pick up the rollerblades.
God, her ass.
“Now put these on," she said.
My lips parted as she returned, holding out the rollerblades with one hand.
"I hope I don't fall and break my neck."
As I took them, she gave my shoulder a light punch.
"You'll be fine."
I sat down to lace up the rollerblades, and she moved around behind me, got on her knees, and began rubbing my shoulders.
"Ron, I know you’re hurting. If you want to talk about it, you know I love to listen, but I thought we’d take your mind off it for a bit."
When I finished lacing up, she stood and moved around in front of me, reaching out her hands. I looked up at her with a wincing grin and raised my eyebrows.
"Ron, I promise you will be okay. I’ll help you up."
I stumbled as she pulled me up, but she held on and steadied me.
"We'll start slow."
At first, I wobbled like a toddler. With each stride, my legs threatened to fly out from underneath me, but she balanced me with her firm grip. My mind and body started to work together. Awkward stumbling transformed into more comfortable glides, and we picked up speed, drawing the air towards us in a tender breeze. Ally's ponytail danced with her body and the flow of air around her. Her strong legs crossed and stretched with the smooth grace of an Olympic figure skater as she led me around the parking lot. A soothing warmth built in my chest.
Wow. She’s an angel.
She turned her head and watched my legs move.
"You're picking this up fast, Ron."
I am, aren’t I?
I even admired the curves and muscular definition of her body without falling or feeling the usual shame. After all, she chose the pink tights.
She kinda knows what that does to me.
The angst from my clash with Jessica washed away little by little in the gentle tide of Ally’s playful company. After several laps around the Solidarity building, she led me back to our cars and the brown paper bags.
"How about some dinner?"
"That sounds great."
She held my hands as I sat down on the curb.
“You good?”
I smiled at her.
“I think I’m good.”
Ally dropped herself down near me.
Oh, to be young and elastic again.
She smiled, handing me one of the brown bags. Her eyes, like pools of kindness, reflected the warm hues of the setting sun.
“So, what’s going on in that troubled heart of yours?”
A hot sting pierced my chest, and the waterworks started behind my eyes. Her words pulled the scab off my heart, leaving it exposed and raw. My torso heaved as I choked back tears and tried to answer her.
"Ally..."
I couldn’t control it. The tears spilled forth.
“I'm a sick person.”
She might never want to speak to me again, but I needed her to know the truth. She shifted her body, turning towards me, and scooted in close to me, opening her legs. Her fingertips stroked the hair above my ear. Her eyes followed them.
"So, Ron, I’m a young woman dating an older man. Who’s married. Who I found cussing at a punching bag in a gym. And I wear leggings around him knowing he likes my ass."
Her eyes shifted to meet mine.
“You have a lot of shame, and I know this is hard. Trying to open up when that shame has such a tight grip on your heart. Just know that I do not judge you. I promise. I don’t. This is a safe place.”
I took a deep breath, trying to regain composure.
"I'm obsessed with Jessica. With her evil. Even though it hurts me, I’m drawn to it."
I looked away from her piercing gaze.
"That’s the shame you’re feeling, Ron.”
My eyes closed, and my heart pounded.
“If you think this bothers me. It doesn't. I appreciate your honesty. Your bravery."
"She came to my place earlier today. She was supposed to sign the divorce papers, but she refused. Instead, she bewitched me with her words. And her vagina."
Ally smiled.
"She's a siren for you."
I turned to look at her.
"What do you mean?"
“Well, I think it was the Romans who told stories about these treacherous female creatures who lived on an island. They used their charms to seduce sailors on passing ships and drew them towards the island, knowing they would wreck.”
“Sounds about right.”
“Da Vinci said they would kill the sailors in their sleep.”
“How merciful. I think Jessica keeps me alive to watch me suffer.”
Ally chuckled as she rested her hand on my cheek.
“I want to run away from her. Holding on to her is killing me. I’ve taken more Pepcid this month than I’ve taken my entire life, and my muscles are constantly petrified and sore. And, you’re so great, Ally. You deserve someone who isn’t distracted by a man-eating succubus.”
Ally stood up and reached her hand out to me.
“Well, I can take care of your muscles. And don’t worry about me, Ron. I’m aware of your situation, and I’m here by choice.”
I took her hand and stood up.
“I want to do something if it’s ok,” she said.
“Are you going to take me hang gliding now?”
She laughed and winked at me.
“That’s next weekend.”
Her eyes poured affection on me as she moved in closer so that our bodies almost touched.
“I want to touch you with my energy.”
My voice cracked.
“Okay, that was my next guess?”
She grinned and closed her eyes. Her open palm hovered a couple inches from my shorts and a growing bulge in them. My chest tightened.
“Just relax and listen.”
She hummed, her eyes still closed and hand floating in the air around my crotch. A warm, tingling sensation began moving into my body, like beams of morning light from her hand. She began chanting the same words over and over.
“Out beyond ideas of right-doing and wrongdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”
As she did, the warmth coming from her hand grew stronger, spilled into my legs, and rose up my torso. It rolled over me in waves until my knees turned to jello, and my body lost all sensation of gravity.
What is she doing to me?
It reminded me of a warm, fuzzy feeling I used to get singing in church, but the women there got nowhere close to my penis. Her voice washed over me with a soft resonance. It reminded me of Norah Jones.
I didn’t want it to end, but she stopped singing, opened her eyes, and looked into mine as she pulled her hand back. My entire body buzzed. She spoke, and the soft tone in her voice trickled like warm water between my ears and down my spine.
“Ron, I don’t know where we’re headed, and I don’t have to. For now, I choose to witness you. And I see goodness, generosity, strength. If Jessica draws you to her, maybe you should walk that path. And maybe I should walk it with you.”
“I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”
She tilted her head to the side and smirked.
“Doesn’t he already know her?”
I laughed.
“Touché.”
She winked.
“I had a lovely time, Ron.”
She kissed my cheek, turned and walked to her car, and got in. I stood there, my body still buzzing from whatever enchantment she put on it, and watched her drive away.
“Me, too, Ally.”
