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irwinwe

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I've gotta bring in some new characters...can't just talk about Kane and Ellen all the time.  It's a romance so you will like how it ends I promise...but it's gonna be a long time comin' so you might as well just enjoy the in-between stages ;)

*** 

"Andy I'll be down to the door in 2.5 seconds, don't go anywhere" I talked into my cell phone as I hopped on one leg all over my bedroom, trying to put a black stiletto, or as my best friend Lora always calls them, "fuck me pumps", on my foot.  I lost my balance and slammed into my dresser.  "Ow!" I exclaimed, dropping the stiletto and glaring at the dresser.  

"Weel tryna to kill yourself in the process, it sounds like ye've just re-lived the London bombings." He said to me laughing before he hung up.  

Rachel, one of my flat-mates, appeared in the doorway.  Her dark brown hair was tied up into a messy bun and she held a half-eaten banana in one hand.  "Are ye quite alright, then?" she asked me, eyebrows lifted in worried amusement.  I laughed outright, for not only had she asked me the question with a mouth full of bananas, but furthermore with a rather thick Scottish brogue.  I didn't understand a word she'd said, but I understood what she meant.  "Yes, yes" I said, "I just need to learn that I can't multi-task when I'm trying to put on stilettos."

She swallowed her bite of banana.  "Weel, if I were you, Ellen, I'd just wear flats.  Ye look like a giraffe when ye wear those" she said, pointing to the ominous black shoes that would make me just over six feet tall when I put them on.  Rachel was very opinionated, and not at all afraid of voicing what she thought, but she did so in such a charming was that no one ever really took offense.  She was a small woman, but none too small of mind, and her cheeks were always glowing with ruddy hue.  I had only been living in the same flat with her for two weeks, but I had come to like her quite well.  

I shot an irascible look at her and then walked to a full-length mirror to survey myself.  I had decided that on this celebratory eve, I would go with cropped black leggings and a loose-fitting gold tunic, which I had tied with a black belt at the waist.  My hair was just a shade darker than the gold, and I had straightened it so that the longest layer reached just past my bosom.  Around my right wrist was my black pearl bracelet, as always.  And then of course, there were the stilettos.  I reached down to place them on my feet, successfully now that I wasn't attempting to multi-task.  I knew they made me look as tall as a giraffe, but they also, I decided, made my legs look appealing.  "Well, you know what Rachel?" I said, defending myself, "I'm not going to wear flats, I'm wearing these.  I'll just have to find a really tall man to dance with."

Rachel came into the room and giggled, "Yeh, Beauty and the Beast, eh?"  I picked up my purse and gave her a friendly smack with it.  She laughingly continued, "Hey I know someone who's tall enough for ye to dance with, your professor."

I gave her a look to end all looks.

She plopped herself down onto my bed jubilantly and lay across it on her stomach.  "Wha?  Doona ye know who I am talking about?  The young one.  I've seen him, he's so hot."  She closed her eyes and took a bite of her banana just as she finished her sentence, making it appear as though she was eating...something else.  That's what she said, I thought to myself, remembering the commonly stated phrase on the American sitcom "The Office".  It was a phrase spoken after a sexual reference that had been intentionally or unintentionally spoken or implied.  Coming from Rachel, it had certainly been intentionally implied.  Of course, I am also a very sexually frustrated person, and I most likely had my mind in the gutter while interpreting her, so we were on equal levels of corrupt thinking.  

Nevertheless, I laughed.  "Yes, of course I know who you're talking about, I've been complaining about him all week.  Anyway, I don't think he'd be there.  And if he did show up, the last thing I'd want to do is dance with him."

"Why, cause ye're afraid ye'll fall for him?" she asked me after swallowing her last bite of banana, knowing gleam in her eye.  "I'd dance with him" she continued, ignoring my expression of shock at her question, and then she reached out to throw her banana peel into my trash can.  I laughingly prevented her from doing it.  

"Oh, no, you stink up your own room with that thing" I said, looking scornfully at the now-rather-pleasant smelling remains, "It'll rot tomorrow and permeate my room instead of yours."  She stuck her tongue out at me.

I checked my purse for my cell phone, money, flat keys, lip gloss, and gum, and satisfied that they were all there, turned to exit my room and meet Andy outside my apartment.  "I'll be home late" I said, "You don't have to wait up."

"Ye never answered my question, why wouldna ye want to dance with him?"  She asked again, eyes sparkling and furtive smile tugging at the sides of her mouth.  

I sighed, "Well it's definitely not because I'd be afraid I'd fall for him." I fiddled with the chain of stainless steel hearts on my purse.  

"But why?" She persisted, her sly smile turning into a full grin.  It was suitable that she was in law school, she loved making people squirm.  

"Oh my GOSH, will you stop?" I was caught between a laugh and a great sigh of exasperation.  "I don't know, he just...bothers me...okay?  Plus a student can't date a professor anyway...I don't know why you're even flirting with the idea."

"Bothers..." she muttered to herself, finger on her chin and eyes holding a skeptical twinkle, "bothers as in hot and bothered or..."

"OKAY I'm leaving" I announced laughingly and grabbed my pea coat and scarf from the back of my door.  I rushed out of my room grinning and shaking my head, and as I walked down the steps I turned my head to see her throwing her banana peel into my trash can.  

"I saw that!" I said, trying to sound threatening.  I could hear her laughter as I neared the bottom of the steps.  "I'm gonna put it on your pillow in the middle of your sleep!"  I yelled up at her as I exited the flat.  

***

Andy raised his eyebrows at me in surprise when I emerged from the building.  "Damn woman, ye look weel and guud when ye go out.  And I never knew ye were so..."

"...Tall?" We'd both said it at the same time.

"Aye, it's a good thing, though" he quickly said, adopting a mischievous grin.  He was afraid he'd hurt my feelings and thus was covertly creating a suave thing to say.  "Tall women are sexy."  

I laughed warmly at the way he'd covered his surprise with complements, then took his outstretched hand and followed him down the sidewalk to his car.  I was tall, but at least not as tall as him.  Andy had been a good friend of mine ever since my sophomore year of college.  We had only been pen pals until I had met him for the first time in person two weeks before, but since we had communicated so much by letter I felt that I knew him as I would know a brother.  He was a professional athlete, and had been competing successfully in the running portions of the Scottish HIghland Games for the last few years.  He was thus undeniably high energy; characterized by swiftness of both mind and foot.  His hair was brown and it messily reached his shoulders, and his body was that of a runner's, long and sinewy, appealing to certain women.  He led me to the passenger's side of his car, which in Scotland is on the left, and then he got in an revved his engine.  

"Are ye ready to party tonight, lady?"  He asked me, eyes wild beneath the dark surface.  He seemed untrustworthy, one that would flirt with fire just to woo a crowd, but in all actuality he was kind as they came, and I would have asked him to be my guardian on any occasion.  Thus our flirtation was merely a game we played.

"I'm always ready for a party, Andy" I said impishly, raising my left brow as I always do when I am in any way intellectually or emotionally stimulated, "as long as I can get my hands on a Guinness."  I wasn't really always ready for a party, but tonight, seeing that I was celebrating a week of venerable come-backs in the classroom, I definitely felt like a party was in order.

Andy grinned widely, "My goodness, my Guinness" he said in said in eager anticipation, putting his car into gear, "then let us not waste time!"

***