A Modern Love

by M. Glenn Aldridge

  Chapter 4

  The day Amy and David first met was beautiful, a perfect day for pool play. It was Amy's normal time to be by the hot tub sunning herself and enjoying her favorite tasty beverage; beer. Saturday afternoons in Owensboro, at least at The Villa, is a time for relaxation. This must have been David's intent as he slowly made his way down the stairs from his second floor apartment to the closest gazebo. Book in hand, ice water and sporting some light blue swimming trunks, David appeared to be set for the afternoon.

  In the early afternoon with sun shown high in the sky there is little place in the courtyard that isn't sprinkled with sunlight. The gazebos can get fairly warm, so quick trips to the pool can keep the local bookworm cool and refreshed.

  Back and forth David went several times during the afternoon. He did notice an attractive blond in a two piece swim suit lying on a towel next to the hot tub, but being ever the polite one David watched his manners and chose not to stare, at least not for too long anyway.

  Amy certainly noticed David and the new kid in town immediately sparked her interest. He looked fit and cute she thought initially. As the afternoon wore on Amy was sure the young man would approach her, but he didn't. Instead he just consistently made his way back to the gazebo after each dip to slurp on his water glass and read that little book. Amy became a bit frustrated.

  It's time to take things into my own hands, thought Amy. The next time David came out of the gazebo to make his way toward the pool she rolled over toward him to catch his attention and then used her deep blue eyes to provide a consistent alluring stare at David. For some reason, most people can feel when someone is watching them, or especially when they are being stared at. This case was no different. David immediately looked into Amy's eyes. Amy had honed her skills of the seductive stare over years of practice. Completely non-threatening and not in the slightest bit desperate her stare drew you in with the highest of hopes.

  David, being on the other end of the pool from Amy, found himself overcome. He entered the far end of the pool and swam right up to Amy. Pulling himself up chest high out of the pool and leaning his elbows and forearms on the cement across in front of him, David smiled at her for what seemed like minutes but was actually only several seconds.

  Amy never lacking in confidence said, "Can I help you sir"? David continued to smile a silly little smile and said, "Oh, I'm new here j-just m-moved in a little while ago and I thought I'd just say hello".

  Amy smiled at David and provided a simple "hello" in return. Amy knew this would make the young man feel a bit uncomfortable, but she also knew from experience that a little bit of flirtatious hard to get was like a moth to a flame, irresistible to young men.

  David, being a bit nervous at this point, went on to tell Amy about his move in experience. In great detail, too much actually for a first impression, David explained how he moved in each piece of furniture, boxes and all. He explained how the stairs made it especially difficult for him to move these things on his own. When David was done with this little spiel he sensed a bit of boredom in Amy, he quickly realized he had been bantering for well over five minutes about nonsensical matters. This of course only made him more nervous.

  Amy enjoyed this part of first meetings. She felt that her looks always gave her the upper hand on first impressions, and very much reveled in making the fellow sweat out her approval, if she chose to provide it at all.

  Now that David decided to take a breath from his speech, Amy sensed it was time to get things rolling. "Well, I know your recent life story, handsome man, but I don't know your name," said Amy. "Perhaps you'd like me to call you the pool man?"

  David began to blush slightly as he realized in all his words he still had not properly introduced himself. "David, um, David Kerr is my name," said David with a self-conscious twinge to his voice. In fact his voice crackled a bit like a pubescent fifteen year old boy.

  "Amy Helmer, pleased to meet you," said Amy while stretching out her hand to David. David reached for Amy's hand and with only one arm stationary on the edge of the pool he slipped and fell back into the water with a splash. This was becoming comical, David thought, as the splash landed on Amy, her towel, her romance novel and worse even; knocked her beer over.

  "My, aren't we the suave one," said Amy with an inviting smile and a giggle that left David at ease. David thought for a second and realized things couldn't get much worse regarding his first impression with this pretty girl Amy, so he decided to try to be cool about the whole thing.

  "Sorry 'bout that Amy, but you looked hot," said David.

  Amy paused for a moment slowly wiping the water from her face, then breasts, stomach and upper thighs in away that could only be termed as provocative, while all the while maintaining fierce eye contact with David. "Well you look pretty good in that swimsuit yourself, David," said Amy with a devilish smile.

  "Oh, um that's not what I meant really," said David, stammering and rethinking the whole trying to be cool thing.

  "Oh I know what ya meant honey I'm just checking your sense of humor," said Amy. This brought a nice laugh from David; and broke the ice well. Amy always had a way of carrying conversations in any direction she wanted them to go.

  "I'm going to be right back David, just need to freshen up my drink," Amy said as she began to slink back toward her apartment. As Amy got about half way there she quickly looked back over her shoulder and said "David you want one?" Amy was really just trying to see if David was checking out her nooks and crannies as she walked away from him. Amy would have bet her life he was, and of course he was. David quickly averted his eyes, not wanting to appear to be gawking at her backside, he thought.

  "No I'm good, thanks," said David. Amy thought to herself, I'll bet you are, I'll just be you are honey.

  Upon Amy's return David noticed she had two beers. He thought to himself surely she heard me when I said I didn't want a beer. Amy knew what she was doing; she had done this numerous times. She was setting down the "ground rules" and expectations of the way their relationship would work. To Amy this was an important part of her first impression, to impose her will in a nonthreatening manner but still assertive enough to get the point across. The point being, I hear you, I know what you want, but you will do as I wish and grin and bear it. After all I'm the leader here, the winner, the Alpha and you'll be the Omega in this relationship sweetie. The spoils go the victor and I'll be taking the lion's share, thank you very much.

  David, never wanting to be the rude one, took the beer as if he had asked for it. "Thank you" he said with a genuine smile.

  "You're welcome ? David" Amy said with a strong inflection on his name. Amy was keen on how to draw men in, especially young men. She would over emphasize the use of his name. Not just in how the name was said, but how often. Amy would constantly repeat the man's name often with a sensual tone to her voice. She knows men love to hear their names come from pretty girl's lips, in many different circumstances.

  Taking her time to slowly lower herself, Amy slid down to sit on the edge of the pool with her legs in the water. About as close to David's face as she could get with her thighs, she was using every bit of her physical charms at this point. David being polite moved over slightly out of instinct more than anything else. Amy let out a little giggle and took a large gulp from her beer.

  "So how long have you lived here," asked David while politely taking a sip from his beer?

  "Oh a while now," replied Amy. Amy often used a lack of detail in her answers. She could have told him just over a year, which was the truth, but she has made a habit out of providing as little provable facts as possible in a conversation. This allows her to not have to explain any of her lies. If she's vague in her speech then it's hard to pin her down on any real facts. This was something she observed and then internalized growing up with a lawyer father in the house. I suppose there's nothing like having a leisurely Saturday afternoon personal conversation with
someone using attorney tactics, huh?

  "Are you from Owensboro, or did you mo-," asked David? Before David could get the word move out Amy interrupted him with her answer.

  "Yah, I'm from the wonderful town of Owensboro". Her tone was not one of praise for the little town but more of how a mechanic might talk about a twelve hour transmission job he had ahead of him; glad for the work but exhausted at the task. "Been here my whole life, you could say I own this town," said Amy with another long pull from her beer. David thought this as an interesting statement, but was never quick to make judgments on people.

  "Our best attribute would have to be the river," Amy continued. "It's a good place to hang out and stuff, do you party much?"

  David, not wanting to shut Amy down with just how boring he really thought he was replied, "Well I've attended a few if I'm with the right person".

  "Oh yah," Amy replied with an inviting grin?

  "So what's it like living here at The Villa," asked David as he lowed himself up to his nose in the water just to cool off?

  "It's pretty peaceful and quiet, maybe even boring up until now," replied Amy again in a provocative manner with strong emphasis on the word now. David thought to himself, is she coming on to me? Oh surely not. David being a modest person was a bit blind when it came to seeing a woman's interest in him.

  "There are mostly older people here so I usually get the pool to myself, thank goodness as I wouldn't want to see all those wrinkles in a bathing suit," said Amy with a cringe at the thought. Amy was never against the inappropriate negative comment about a group of folks or the precisely placed stab at an individual either.

  Amy continued, "Oh and there's this one old fart, I think his name is Frank, he's a piece or work. Someone ought to take his crusty old ass, or ars as he pronounces it, out behind the wood shed and teach him a lesson or two if you know what I mean." David did, but thought violence against the elderly as something he would take a pass on. David thought to himself that there was a bit of fire in the belly of this young lady, that for such a soft and pleasing appearance she certainly had an aggressive side to her. At this point he really didn't know the half of it.

  David, wanting to see what he desired in Amy, changed the subject to form his opinion of her as he wished; so he could like her. You know how young men tend to judge the inside based on the outside, a book by its cover so to speak. David was blind to the signals Amy was sending; signals that could easily have told him that she's pretty but can be ruthless, so steer clear.

  "So, what do you like to do for fun Amy," asked David while lifting himself back out of the water to take his elbow perch on the side of the pool again?

  Ever engaging her opponent Amy replied with her standard, "Whatever you like to do, honey". This was followed by a flirtatious bat of her eyelashes and another large gulp from her beer.

  "No, really" David said in a very subordinate way, as if begging his keeper for a measly cracker to stifle his hunger. David realized he was sounding a bit soft, but thought Amy would appreciate his interest in her likes and dislikes. Amy on the other hand only read this as weakness.

  Never wanting to divulge too much information during a first impression, Amy was reluctant to answer, but she also thought David was harmless so she would throw him a crumb to peak his interest. What to say, oh what to say, she thought. To tell the truth would go against her grain, so she would need to quickly decide what to tell David; something David would want to hear.

  "Well I enjoy reading, I see we have that in common," said Amy while holding up her little romance novel and pointing to David's book resting in the gazebo. David's first thought was wow some deep reading, a romance novel, but then let that impression fade.

  Trying to turn the conversation back to David, rather than have to answer questions about her, Amy asked David, "what is it that you're reading today?"

  David didn't want to sound condescending to Amy, comparing his more cerebral book to her tawdry romance novel; he paused for a moment to think while glaring across the courtyard. As a tactic Amy learned from her father, Amy rarely provided an opponent the time to think about her questions. She knew that a quick answer was usually true and a well thought out answer may be at the least vague and at the most an outright lie.

  "Well, David what's the verdict," Amy said quickly to force an answer.David caught off guard took a big drink of beer and returned his eyes to her.

  "This Side of Paradise by Fitzgerald," said David softly.

  "Is it a good read," Amy quickly replied.

  "I've just started it, how's your book," asked David trying to find out a bit more about Amy and focus the conversation in that direction?

  "Yah, it's a nice soap opera and it's got a lot of funny misunderstandings and keeps the interest with plenty of messing around," replied Amy with a lift of her right eyebrow and a smirk on her face that said; I like messing around. This was straight forward enough for even David to believe Amy was coming on to him a bit. Pumping his ego up and sparking his interest. Just what Amy intended.

  "Well I'll have to put it on my list of books to read," David said, never intending to and leaving an obvious tell of this by not even asking for the book title. Amy thought his feigned interest in the book at least showed a form of polite etiquette.

  David, beginning to feel a bit worn down by trying to pull some knowledge from Amy's answers, along with Amy sensing this clearly; lead both David and Amy to slip into the pool for a light swim. Slowly doggy paddling their way about the pool and chit chatting about everyday nonsense, the sun continued its deliberate path across the blue Kentucky sky.

  Time wasn't slow or fast, it just moved along as Saturday afternoons often do. From my observation perch I could see that David had gained an interest in the pretty Amy; his mannerisms where fairly obvious. Amy, as usual, was harder to read. In fact, I chose not to try. Just didn't really having the energy as the afternoon wore on. Maybe more coffee would help.

  As the afternoon came to a close for Amy and David and they each made their ways back to their respective apartments, I chose to reflect on the encounter. Shortly after I was to find out that, as usual with most men on first impressions of Amy, David was genuinely interested in the young and attractive temptress.

  In fact, David felt a spark. You know that warm fuzzy feeling deep in the pit of your stomach, kind of like butterflies but in a good way. He felt a connection deep inside, thinking maybe Amy could, or even would, be the one. Jumping to conclusions and rushing in as young folks often do, David was letting this one time encounter dominate his thoughts and spill over into his future plans. Not a bad place to be for a young man; on the edge of "love". However, I had a sneaking suspicion that lust may be disguising itself, as it often does in youth, as more than just a physical attraction; promising some kind of deep intellectual or spiritual bond that may never exist, at least not from a first impression. David had quite the quandary on his hands, but didn't see it coming, nor wished to.

  I also later found out that Amy was genuinely interested in David. She found him cute, both in appearance and in his, at times, awkward way. Amy thought he had a polite innocence that would fit her well. Sort of opposites attract.

  Now it's not like Amy to actually take an interest in a man before she can decide what she can either get out of him or what he can do for her, but perhaps David's quiet way was a good influence on her. Maybe Amy will begin to see there is more to human relations than just what you get out of it. Something concerned me though. Amy didn't appear to change her behavior and deep down she was not willing to give up her normal selfish ways.

  Amy was interested though and that was a start. David had sparked her interest and, being a girl that is a serial dater or even loose at times, that was a rare occurrence in her life. A welcome and rare occurrence, she thought. She even allowed David to enter her thoughts of the future, though mostly in regards to his swim trunks.