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Shelly smiled weakly. “Hey, I know this is last minute, but can I talk with you a minute?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“It’s about us,” she said. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”
“And?”
“And I think we need to make sure this thing with us doesn’t happen again. I’m so sorry. I really care about you and I want this. I really do, but I just don’t think I can handle it. The stress is getting to me. It’s going to start interfering with my work. I’m not sleeping well. I’ve been through a lot the past few years and I don’t need this extra stress right now. I’m not handling it well. I’m sorry.”
I sighed quietly, but did my best to keep my composure. I kind of figured this, but I was getting a bit tired of Shelly’s back and forth. I’m the kind of guy who makes up his mind about something and I just follow through, but if Shelly needed more time I was not going to try to convince her or argue with her. I knew she would eventually agree that this thing between us was too valuable to just let go of. That was a conclusion I’d come to a while ago. It just sounded like she needed a bit more time to see it for herself.
“Ok,” I said. “I understand.”
“I’m really sorry,” she said.
“No worries,” I said. “I got to go. See you later.”
With that, I ended the call and finished my cup of coffee. Then I headed out the door ready for another fun filled day of waiting for a tragedy to happen. Most likely it would be another day of hanging with the crew, playing some games, working out, and training to keep our skills sharp. I would now have to add trying to avoid Shelly, or at the very least pretend like I hardly knew her, to that list.
I could do that. No problem.
As I drove to work, I turned on the radio and blasted some old eighties hair metal. It was my favorite morning music and it always got me pumped and ready for the day. I’ve never understood how most radio has a bunch of talk shows first thing in the morning. What’s wrong with starting your day with some great music instead? That is much more likely to get you awake and pumped up, especially when you had a physical job like I did.
As I drove, I tried not to think too much about Shelly. The night we’d shared was phenomenal. I’d never experienced sex like that before. Every single fiber of my being had been on fire with lust and orgasmic pleasure. I was surprised I could walk at all after that. And I desperately wanted to make love to Shelly again, and again…
She was a strong woman, but I knew she’d been through a lot. She hadn’t really opened up that much about her past, but there were definitely some demons there that were pulling on her that were preventing her from really opening up and being who she truly wanted to be. I could tell she wasn’t the type to lie down and let someone tell her what to do with her life. That was one of the things I enjoyed most about her. I found this to be very attractive.
I arrived at work and greeted everyone while making my way to the break room and filling up my mug with piping hot coffee. I hadn’t slept that great the night before. I wasn’t sure why. I supposed it had something to do with Shelly, as if I had anticipated whether she would contact me or pull me aside before the work week started and give me the speech about how she really was doing. That was fine. I expected it. I was doing my best to put myself in her shoes and try to see what she was going through.
“Hey, man. How was your weekend?” Max asked me as I sat down at the table.
“Good,” I replied. “How was yours?”
“Not bad. I went to see that Stonesour concert. Those guys melt faces live. It was sick and awesome.”
“Nice. How come you didn’t ask me to go?”
“I didn’t know you would be interested. I thought you loved that old music.”
“The eighties was the golden decade of amazing rock music. It is by far my favorite, but I’ve evolved with the times man. I even love Nickelback.”
He laughed. “You aren’t allowed to admit you like Nickelback.”
I grinned and sipped my coffee. A moment later I saw Shelly walk into the breakroom. She poured some coffee into her cup. At first when she saw me sitting there, I could see her breath catching inside of her. She was taken aback, afraid of what to do or say. But then she was over it and doing her best to act normal. No one else seemed to notice, but I could tell immediately that she looked tense and distracted, as if something was actually bothering her. She was even humming slightly, which I had never heard her do before.
I glanced around a bit nervously to see if anyone else was picking up on her demeanor, but luckily everyone seemed lost in their own world. Then again, it was eight in the morning. Most people were still half asleep and just trying to get into the groove of the day.
As Shelly left the room heading to her office, I could sense that she had turned her head slightly to look at me. I refused to look at her, instead playing it cool. Wow, she was right; she was having a very hard time playing it right.
If this went farther, it very well might blow up in our faces. Maybe Shelly was right. But I was convinced that she could really start to do better with it and that eventually, after she was convinced that nobody could tell, she would be doing fine with things.
The morning went along pretty easily. I drank a few cups of coffee and talked to Max and Richie a bit about a few random things. Then the afternoon started to drag. No calls were coming in, so we were both grateful and bored. I played some cards with Max and Richie. We were possibly going to go to a ball game Thursday. And we were possibly going to go out drinking after that. It would be a good night, but it would be almost weekend, so why not?
After this, I hit the gym and got a great workout in. I loved the pump I got after lifting weights. It was almost as good as sex. Well, almost as good as regular sex. With Shelly, sex was mind-blowing on a whole other level. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and every time I did, I got raging hard and I felt the wildest urge to go to her office and whip it out for her approval. I was sure she could think of a few ways to satisfy that sort of need.
I smiled to myself, especially when some of the small talk in the gym turned to talk about Shelly.
