Happily Ever After_ - Benison Anne O'Reilly [8]
I also started noticing how good looking he was. I’d never thought of myself as a girl who was interested in blondes. Surfers have certainly never done it for me. I began to reassess; he was pretty damn cute. He was wearing jeans and an immaculately-ironed white cotton shirt, which he had folded up to his elbows to reveal tanned hands and muscular forearms covered in fine golden hairs. When he folded his arms his biceps pressed tightly against the shirt fabric in a most alluring way. His closeness and in-your-face masculinity started arousing some curious sensations within me, so much so that when he started telling me about his job and what a big rush it was to get those magnificent machines to rise up in the air, I couldn’t help speculating on other large objects that may also get a rise. I was glad the lighting was dim so he couldn’t witness my blushes.
By the way, you needn’t waste your time feeling sorry for Mimi about all this. Predictably by this time she was surrounded by a circle of worshipful admirers, although I could tell by her demeanour that she wasn’t interested. Her time would come later.
Eventually Tony asked me to dance and took my hand as he escorted me to the dance floor, past the raised eyebrows of my brother. I was having a fine old time when Mimi came up to me saying she had a headache and wanted to leave. Damn, that was my lift home gone.
‘Don’t worry, I can drop you home,’ said Tony. ‘If that’s okay of course.’
Oh yes, that was okay.
My first impression of Tony was that he seemed extremely grown up. He owned a nice car - a late-model Mazda 323 - unlike most of the other guys I’d dated who, if they possessed any sort of vehicle, invariably got around in rusty old jalopies that were never guaranteed to start when you turned the ignition key. Of course he knew the way to my place as he’d been there before; it was a comfort that he already knew that my family wasn’t wealthy. He asked if he could see me again and I gave him one of my new business cards, feeling very sophisticated. Then he kissed me, just the once, but it was splendid - a tantalising hint of what I hoped was to come. He’s always been a great kisser.
For the next few days I was on tenterhooks. I’d had enough of those ‘I’ll call you’ experiences to know the success rate wasn’t great. Every time the phone rang at work my heart would skip a beat. I’d eagerly grab the phone, only to say ‘Oh’ when it turned out to be Joe from the accounts department, or someone else equally as boring. Then, after almost four days, when I’d convinced myself he was just another arrogant prick who didn’t deserve me, Tony called.
‘Sorry I didn’t call earlier. I’ve been away with work and I forgot to take your number with me.’
‘Oh that’s fine,’ I said. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to call any sooner.’ Liar!
We organised to go to the movies (we saw Speed as I recall), which proceeded to dinner, which proceeded to dinner and parties with his friends and before I knew it I had assumed girlfriend status. Almost all of Tony’s friends had, rather unimaginatively, paired up with girls they’d all known since their school days, so I did for a period feel somewhat an outsider. Luckily most of these girls were friendly enough, except for one or two whom I suspect had been planning to line Tony up with a friend or a sister, or maybe even themselves. He was certainly much cuter than their boyfriends, I thought with satisfaction. I was glad that my brother was living overseas by this time, because I think this might have been more awkward if it had been happening under his nose. I think Tony was relieved too, as it’s always a bit loaded seeing a friend’s sister, especially when there is sex involved - which there was before too long - and David was nothing if not the protective big brother.
After we’d been seeing each other about a month or so Tony suggested we head back to his place after dinner. Things had