Chapter 25: Alex’s Day 2

They rode back together in silence, each lost in thought, a million miles apart. They were headed to Alex’s townhouse for a private screening of a romantic comedy. He had written the screenplay for this movie. The movie’s screenplay had been nominated for an Academy Award and he was proud of it.

Alex decided to break the silence before they went inside. “Would you like a tour of my library? It’s an extensive collection. The personal screening room is hidden behind a vaulted wall of the library.” So much information without saying anything that really mattered was the best he could produce.

Laura agreed by nodding, not speaking. What could she say after what Alex had shared about his high school sweetheart? She did not want him to feel like she was trying to take the place of another woman. She did not want to be his consolation prize, either. She knew she could not compete with a ghost fiancée.

# # #

He was going through the motions and she was pretending to be interested. At this point she just wanted to get through the movie.

It was unfortunate. The brief happiness they enjoyed in the hot air balloon and at the picnic were as far away as a distant galaxy with no return shuttle.

“This way to the screening room,” Alex said, trying to be upbeat. He entered a combination on a keypad behind a painting and the wall opened revealing a personal movie theater complete with snack bar. “We’ll have to settle for microwave popcorn and cans of soda, if you want a snack.”

“No, thank you,” she said with an icy tone, the first words she had managed to say since Alex had told her about his late fiancée.

“Laura, are you okay? You have been coolly silent. Did I do or say something to hurt you?”

“Oh no. No, no, no. But I am afraid of hurting you. I can’t compete with your late fiancée, Alex. Do I dare to date you and your friends? What if I don’t pick you? What if...?”

“Laura, please,“ he said, putting his hands on her shoulders, “I had no idea you were struggling with all of this. I just wanted to lay my cards on the table. Come here.” He patted his chest across his heart and welcomed her with a warm embrace after keeping her at an arm’s distance.

She let him hug her fears away while she rested her head on his chest. Then he started kissing her on the forehead as he poured his heart out to her.

“I’m a (kiss) big (kiss) boy (kiss). I knew what I was getting into going into this dating arrangement. I saw it more as an opportunity to get to know a phenomenal woman than to dare to try to replace the memories of a woman I loved and always will. I just did not know that I would fall so hard for you.” With that last phrase he pulled her even closer than what she thought was possible.

She looked up at him and he lowered his head down toward her to meet with a slow, deep kiss. The kiss was about to make up for everything; however, this wasn’t a movie and Laura sensed that Alex might need some reassurance that they could still be sexually intimate after being without anyone in that special way.

“It has been a long time, Laura. I only write about it, I don’t do it. I doubt if my equipment still works,” Alex confided in her.

At that point, his body had responded during this prolonged kissing and touching, letting him know that he was able to take things to the next step if she was willing to let him.

“Just like riding a bicycle,” she said patting him gently down where he discovered renewed life that he thought was gone from him forever. “You only needed a reason to get back on.”
# # #

At that point he led her quickly to the inner elevator of the townhouse and up to his bedroom as if in a choreographed dance of bodies, clothes, and kisses. In the elevator he remembered how much he loved and missed kissing someone he cared for and longed to touch the soft spots of a woman, this woman, that he desired. Once in the bedroom, he removed the clothes that he had been unable to while making their way there.

Laura gladly shared her body with him. She knew that at first she might be a replacement for a deceased fiancée and muse, the lack of acceptance of vapid actresses, and stand for all of his romantic female protagonists that he had created when he had no one worthy to love.

She was open to loving him and letting him love her physically. She was certain that now that he had her in his bed and these others out of his head, he would generously take her to lush mountains and valleys of passion not unlike those that they picnicked in today.

# # #

“Reality is so much better than fiction,” Alex said to Laura, breathing hard after their weekend of lovemaking. “I don’t remember it being so transformative. I just want to hold you.” And he did exactly that. They talked in bed with him holding her. They ate and drank in bed with him holding her. And they explored untapped regions of sensual pleasure and emotional bliss with him holding her. They never got around to seeing the movie.

The movie was not the only thing he skipped. This was the first time ever that he missed being with the guys as a weekend warrior before going to the diner afterwards. He did not care. It was not until Sunday night that this quiet introvert abandoned his trademark whispered tones and replaced them with roars of the king of the jungle: a king who had found his queen.