Once again there's no sex in this chapter. You'll have to wait for it.
Second Time Around
CHAPTER 2 Good Intentions
I woke late the next morning to the thumping of my head. I lay in my bed for a few minutes not daring to move, before I had to make a quick dash to the toilet, throwing up the consequences from the night before. I hated this. I sat next to the toilet for an hour, waiting for my stomach to settle. Every time I ended up in this situation I told myself 'never again'. But still I found myself in this same position, next to the toilet.
I got up and found my flat to be empty. I guessed Liz must have been out with friends. I lay down on the couch and went back to sleep.
I woke up a couple hours later when Liz shut the door. It scared the crap out of me! I jumped up before sitting back down, trying to stop my spinning head.
"Oh. Sorry," Liz said, "didn't mean to wake you". She sat down beside me and rubbed my back. "How are you feeling?" She smiled at me, already knowing the answer.
"I feel like shit". I sunk down into her lap.
"Well, sweetie. Next time don't drink so much".
Liz cooked dinner that night. I felt much better once I had something in my stomach. After dinner I had a shower. The warm water was bliss on my skin. I stood still, just letting the water wash over my neck and shoulders. I watched it run over my breasts and stomach. I sighed. It was times like these that I wished I had a partner. I ached to be touched - to be held. I ran my hands over my breasts, lightly caressing my nipples.
The next day I decided I had to get out of the flat. In the afternoon I had planned to start an essay I had for my screen studies unit. I threw on a pair of jeans, my books and a jumper. It was autumn and over the past couple of weeks the weather had started to cool down. I grabbed my book that I was reading and made my way to the coffee shop. I felt great.
Especially compared to how I felt yesterday. I loved this sort of weather.
I wasn't really a fan of the heat of summer, so this cool change was perfect for me. Our summers in Australia were always dry. Strict water restriction had been brought in so you could only water your lawns twice a week. I could remember when I was a kid me and my sister would play under the sprinkler on the lawn, then we would drip water all through the house and have my mum running after us with a towel. I was happy to find that the coffee shop wasn't that busy. It wasn't unusual for the place to be filled with Uni students, even on a Sunday morning. I ordered a coffee and sat down to read my book.
An hour later I was on my second cup. I had a habit of letting my mind wonder when I was reading. I would read and be thinking of something else, not taking in a thing I had been reading. This time I was thinking about the caffeine I was putting in my body. I decided I should really cut down.
"Hey"
I jumped. "Hey" I said in reply. Who was this?
"Ashley?" I nodded "I'm Daniel. We met Friday night. You Probably don't remember"
I looked at her. "Oh. No, I remember" I smiled and pushed my glasses back up my nose.
She sat down opposite me, looking relieved. "I wasn't sure if I had the right person. You look different"
"Oh"
"Not that that's a bad thing. Can I join you?"
"Sure" I said even though she was already sitting. I was trying hard to remember everything from Friday night. I put my book down. Danny took a sip from her coffee before placing it on the table. I didn't know what to say. I probably made a fool of my self the other night. I guess now I have the opportunity to reconcile that.
"How have you been?" I asked, trying to think of what to say.
"Good" she smiled "I didn't do much yesterday, only study. I have a prac coming up"
I smiled "I'm sorry. I can't remember everything from the other night, so if I ask you something we've already talked about, that's why"
"That's cool. Bet your head was sore the morning after" Danny had a wicked grin on her face.
I laughed. I few people on surrounding tables looked at me. "Just a little"
"How long have you known Mark?"
Basically all my life. We went to school together and we lived in the same street. How about you?"
"We met at a club about six months ago. I've seen you around him before, at parties"
I smiled at her "Mark has dragged me to his clubs before. We have lots of fun".
Mark had a few gay clubs that he went to regularly. I though about this for a second.
"You're gay?"
"Yeah" Danny looked down at her cup to pick it up.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it like that" I blushed "I just didn't realize"
"Are you? I saw you with Rebecca, and Mark made a few comments, but-"
I thought for a while. "That's a complex one. Do you want to go for a walk?"
We walked to the park and slowly made our way around the lake. I told her everything.
About my ex-boyfriend and so on, I usually keep everything in, but something made me want to tell Danny everything, and it was so easy. She listened to everything I said. I just rambled on about anything, often going off the subject only to put myself back on it a few minutes later.
I stopped walking and turned to Danny. "I'm sorry. You probably don't want to hear all this. You just asked a simple question and I'm telling you my life story"
"No. You don't need to apologize. It's good that you can talk to me about this"
She hooked her arm around mine and we continued to walk. This time she told me about herself and her last relationship, which had ended 8 months ago. She didn't really go into detail about it, but her ex sounded like a bit of a bitch. She cheated on Danny a few times and didn't always turn up for things they had planed.
We walked in silence for a while before finding a bench that over looked the lake. The sun had started to set.
"Where's the sun going?" I asked looking at my watch shocked to see that it was almost 6pm. So much for doing my essay in the afternoon.
I woke to the sound of my alarm clock. I hated that sound! I hated it with a vengeance. I was dreaming about Danny. We were in the park again, but this time it was in the spring.
There were new leaves on the trees and the flowers were starting to bloom. It was so peaceful and perfect - I was so happy. Then I was ripped out of it by the sound of my alarm clock. I wanted to go back to sleep and continue with the dream. I was slipping back off to sleep when it went off again, beeping like it was having an epileptic fit. God I hated that sound! Even in movies I would shudder when I heard that sound.
I was having trouble concentrating in my first lecture. I didn't get home till after 7pm after spending the day with Danny, so I was up late doing my essay. And of cause, Steve came around, so I had that distraction for 3 hours. So now I was tired and a little moody because of it.
I had an hour break between lectures so I went to the campus cafe to get something to eat.
I also had to catch up on some reading for my next lecture. I had a sandwich and a coke while I read. While I was reading about media ownership I remembered that I had decided to cut back on caffeine. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.
A week had past since I last saw or spoke to Danny. I meant to call her, but I ended up working every night of last week as one of the other staff was off sick. I didn't mind though, working that is, it meant I got more money, which I was in need of. I waitress at a local Italian restaurant, which suits me good as it's only a 15 minute drive from my flat.
At the risk of sounding bias, it has very nice food and it shows, as it's popular among the locals.
I went through the pile of clothes on a chair in my room and found my pants that I had been wearing when I first met Danny. Luckily I hadn't washed them yet. I pulled out the crumpled bit of paper that had her number on it from the pocket.
The phone rang 4 times before she picked up. "Hello?"
"Hey. It's Ashley"
"Oh, hey! How are you?"
"Not bad"
"I thought you'd forgotten about me. I don't have your number so I couldn't call you"
"I'm sorry about that" I felt bad about it. I had told her I would call sooner. "I ended up working every night since I last saw you"
"That's ok. Where do you work?"
"I waitress at an Italian place not far from here. How about you. What have you been up to?"
"I've just been doing some work in the ER. Supervised of course. I got to stitch up a guys head. He cut it climbing a wire fence"
"Nice"
"So" she paused for a few seconds "Do you want to catch up some time?"
"Sure. I think I can handle that" I smiled to myself.
We planned to met on Wednesday afternoon, after my last lecture. I left it up to Danny to decide what we were going to do. She mentioned something about catching a movie and then having dinner. I was nervous about it. I know I didn't have a reason to be, but still I was.
Wednesday seemed to take forever to arrive. I snuck out of my last lecture early so I could go home first to freshen up. I had an extremely quick shower, put on some jeans, a tight top, some make up and grabbed my jacket as I went out the door.
I'd been to this cinema a lot. It played a lot of 'art house' films and strongly supported student and amateur films. One day I hoped to have one of my films played here.
The movie we saw was an old one from the 60's that was in Spanish so it had sub-titles.
Danny had picked it. I really enjoyed it. These day's many people would bother watching a black and white film, let alone one with sub-titles. But I liked to have that variety. I often stayed up late and watched movies that were aired on TV at 1 or 2am. I guess the time slot they're put in is a hint to their quality. After all, you only know when a movie's good when you've seen a bad one.
After the film we walked a block to a small restaurant. We sat down and ordered.
"What did you think of the film?" Danny took a sip of her wine.
"I liked it" I smiled at her. I think she was expecting me to say the opposite.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I could go into detail why, but that will probably take a while"
"I believe you" she smiled back. "You know, my ex wouldn't see a movie that was made before 1990"
"You're kidding me?" I was shocked "Man, she's missing out on a lot! Most of the best films were made before that time. Like Alfred Hitchcock's films" I had to stop myself.
"That's what I told her" Her smile was so warm "I'm glad you liked it"
We talked about so many things that night. I hadn't had such a good time for a while.
Danny told me about her family. Her dad was a lawyer, her mum owed a florist, her sister, who was older then her, was a psychiatrist and her brother, who was younger, was in high school. Her and her sister were quite close. I had a sister, but we were anything but close. I didn't really get a long with my family. That's why I lived in my own place.
I hadn't spoken to them for nearly a month. They never really tried to keep in contact with me, but whenever I called they went off at me for not calling earlier. It seemed that I could never please them, so I found it easier not to let them now what I had been up to all the time.
When Danny and me departed that night she gave me a hug and genteelly kissed me on the check. "Have a good sleep"
"Thank you. You too" I smiled and turned around, making my way back to my car.
Later that night when I was laying in bed I could feel her lips on my check where see had kissed me earlier. They were soft, warm and so gentle. For the first time in nearly two years a part of me began to melt - the barrier that I had built to stop myself from getting close to anyone.
Hope you enjoyed that chapter. Stayed tuned, there's more to come.
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