BLURRED LINES

She did not expect to spend the evening with him when he called her earlier that day. She had made other plans to see a friend after work. He called and said he was in the area, could he just see her face for a bit? She laughed and quipped,
-Why not?
She was a bit jolted at the sight of him in his crisp white shirt, dark skin gleaming. He smiled his easy smile at her from behind the wheel of his car, a new interest contained in his eyes as he regarded her dark eyes and plum-colored lips. He couldn't seem to stop touching her, there in the parking lot, hand sweeping over her hair, her arm, her shoulder as she leaned into his window and laughed gaily.
-Come and sit in the car.
-Give me a minute, let me get my bag. You can drive me to my friend's office.

Her friend was in a meeting and he said to her after waiting for only three minutes,
-We can't wait all evening. Let's go and get a drink.
In the car, she pulled the jack from his iPhone and plugged it into her phone.
-I can't listen to this noise you call music, she said, eyes dancing.
-Let me introduce you to actual music, the kind that will feed your senses.
He smiled slowly and said,
-Introduce me.
Introduce me. She felt the jolt again at those words and mentally shook her herself. It couldn't have been so long since a man smiled at her like that, words laced with meaningful innuendo. They listened to Dexy's Midnight Runners and she was impressed when he sang along to Come On Eileen.

They went to Chocolat Royale and sat in a corner booth. After scrutinizing the menu with her mouth scrunched up in utmost concentration, she decided on a cup of frothy cappuccino and a thick wedge of vanilla cake. He ordered a cocktail with an extra dash of Cointreau, and when the waiter called it ‘Koin-tree-ahu’, she caught his eye and they both sniggered.
They sat side-by-side, legs touching, his hand on her knee. She knew she should swat it away, but he did everything with a certain kind of endearing innocence that she recognized at the back of her mind as lethal. He played with her palm, her nails, her knee. They talked about everything between sips of coffee and cocktail, soccer, mutual friends, food. They numbered the benefits of eau de parfum over eau de toilette and he sniffed obligingly at her neck when she lifted her hair off it in invitation. He asked her to come and watch him play 'footie' on Sunday. She wrinkled her nose and asked him not to waste her precious Sunday afternoon. She fed him slices of her cake and he fretted about shortening her ration between forkfuls. She spoke deprecatingly about her weight and he ran his palm down the folds of flesh on her back, pronouncing each one beautiful. Her stomach hurt from laughing so much in one evening.

She went to the bathroom right before they left and gazed at her reflection. She saw herself, flushed and twinkly, and she wondered when this attraction started. She would not do anything about it, she decided. She had neither the experience nor the ability to contain the mess it would surely be if she let her body take over.
On the drive back he asked,
-Where will you get a taxi?
-Front of Four Points.
He sped past the taxis and she demanded,
-What are you doing? Will I go back to the mainland with you?
-No. I'm taking you home.
-Why? The traffic on the road to my house is insane.
-I want to.

He kept touching her in the car, holding her hand, tickling her side. She laughed and told him that he was drunk. He was mortally offended.
-On top of one dash of alcohol and a glassful of ice? Please.
They joked about the crazy drivers on the road and his easy smile and soft-spokenness warmed her like a blanket. She was beginning to hurt all over from laughing so much. He drew the laughter effortlessly from her with the wry way he phrased every other sentence he spoke.
By the time he pulled up in front of her house, she was pleasantly buzzed from caffeine and good company. She regarded his profile fondly and felt an almost platonic wash of affection sweep her. She was just beginning to wonder how she thought herself to be attracted to him when he turned to look at her and the mood shifted almost imperceptibly. He carefully took off her glasses first,  then his, and drew her towards him. The caution that was second nature to her made her duck her head and rest it on his chest.

He eased her away and said, smiling that maddening smile,
-You're so shy. Oya go inside.
She felt herself bristle.
-I'm not shy. I know you want to kiss me. I just don't know if I remember how.
-Who wants to kiss you? Abeg, go inside.
She laughed with abandon, throwing her head back, a small snort escaping her. She turned her head to him and he pressed his mouth against hers. It was as pleasant as she remembered it could be, searching, soft. She eased back and he said,
-You remember how.
-And you are trying. You're coming up, she answered, grinning.
He took a long look at her face.
-You're so cute without your glasses.
-I know.
He kissed her again, briefly.
-I had better go. You need to get back to the mainland.
She placed her spectacles on her nose.
-I know, he said, gazing at her mouth.
He kissed her a third time, and she felt the jolt again this time. He bit her lip and her answering sigh curled like a mist around his tongue.
She shifted away, patted her hair and gripped her bag. She stuck her finger under the black frame of her glasses and wiped the foggy lenses. Her chin tingled pleasantly from the abrasion of his beard.
-This was nice, she said.
-Yes, it was.
-Tell me when you get home.
-You tell me when you get home.
-I AM home, she giggled.
-Will I see you tomorrow?
-I don't know. Call me. Goodnight.
-Goodnight, honey.

She slid out of the car and walked slowly towards her gate, dreading the unavoidable postmortem she would do in the morning, laying tonight's kisses at the table of guilt. She didn't want to think about how out-of-character this was for her generally prudish self. She didn’t want to see in her mind’s eye the glint of gold on his third finger, a damning brightness she had successfully ignored all evening. She pushed the gate open and stepped into her compound, deciding to savor the smile she had been unable to shake off all evening, for now.