Chapter 2
Ignition
It's the middle of the second day since Misty gave me her phone number, and I decide that now is when I'll finally call her. I hope she didn't change her mind about wanting to do something with me and that I won't intrude into her life.
With my phone in hand, I look at the screen, with her contact information displayed on it. Even though she was so nice when we met, I still wonder whether I should really go for it. Keeping my finger above the green symbol with the phone icon, I think about what I should even say. The more I think about it, the more I realize that I haven't ever really had a simple, friendly conversation with an attractive woman before. I bite my upper lip, the heat and crushing pressure feeling like that of the sun's core.
I move my finger toward the call button, closing the distance. The phone connects the call and begins playing the standard ringing sound. It feels as though time has slowed down significantly as my muscles become tighter. I pick up a pen on the nearby desk and start fidgeting with it to calm myself. Several seconds later, a high-pitched voice comes in through the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Hey… Is this Misty?”
“Yeah, who is it?”
“It’s the guy you met the other night. You gave me your number, so I figured I’d call to see what's up,” I explain anxiously, hoping she hasn't completely forgotten who I am.
“Ohhh! Hey there! Yes, I remember now. So how are you?” she asks in a lively tone. I begin feeling much more at ease now that she seems glad I called her.
“Not bad, I'd say. And you?” I ask in return.
“I’m doing pretty good.”
“Are you just chilling right now? I was thinkin'… Would you like to go to the park with me? It’s such a nice day outside today.”
“Sure, I’m free right now,” she answers.
“I’ll ask my friend Andy to bring me over to your place soon, since I don't drive, and then we can take it from there. What’s the address?”
Shortly after she tells me the street address, we end the call and agree to meet each other very soon at her house.
I message Andy, asking if he's available to give me a ride. I feel somewhat bad about asking him to drive me somewhere for my own purposes, but he's fine with it and is more than happy to help. He comes by half an hour later and takes me to the requested location. As we approach the destination, the car comes to a stop, and I step out.
“Thanks for driving me out here. I really appreciate it,” I tell Andy.
“No problem, buddy. Hope you have a good time.”
“Alright then. See you later.”
“Take care,” he says, rolling up the window before driving off.
I watch the car's angular diameter shrink into the distance until it becomes nothing more than a black speck and disappears around the bend. I turn around to face Misty’s house and take a good look around. It's a very nice-looking house; it doesn't appear excessively big, but it's not overly small either. Everything seems to be in great condition. The sun shines down onto the neatly trimmed cubic bushes and the lime-green blades of the grass on the lawn. In front of the bushes, there's a nice little garden with some beautiful flowers, including sunflowers, golden yellow like citrine, and tulips that are bright pink like spinel.
I walk along the stone path leading up to the door, ringing the doorbell. With some slight lingering uneasiness, I tap my fingers on my sides as I await her approach. When Misty opens the door, she greets me with a friendly smile.
“Hey! Come on in. We’ll go in a minute. I just need to grab a few things real quick,” she says.
“No problem,” I reply, stepping in and closing the door behind me.
On the inside, the house looks just as nice as it does on the outside; it's decorated with cushy leather furniture and has clean white carpet flooring with gray tiling in the kitchen, in addition to a glass dining table.
“Really nice place you have here,” I comment.
“Thank you!” she says, adding, “You can sit down anywhere you like. Make yourself at home. I’m just going to get my purse.”
“Can I have a cup of water? I had best drink some before going out because it’s really hot outside,” I ask as I sit down on the beige couch across from the TV in the living room.
“Oh, yeah—I can get you one,” Misty says kindly.
She goes off to the kitchen to fill a glass with water, returning to hand it to me. It has a very clean taste—much more so than the tap water I normally drink. I take a peek and see that she has one of those water filtration devices for her tap, which is what I could've probably guessed. Just when I'm about finished drinking the water, Misty returns with her needed items in hand.
“I’m ready. Let’s go!” she says excitedly.
I hand her the glass so she can put back on its rack, and we head for the door. We step outside, she locks the front door, and then we make our way toward her car. Sitting in the passenger’s seat right next to her, I watch as Misty puts the key in the ignition.
⁂
The drive to the nearest park doesn't take very long, only about fifteen minutes or so. In the car, we make occasional small talk so we can get to know each other better. For one thing, I find out that she's two years older than I am.
“So what do you do for a living?” I ask her.
“I’m a fashion designer. What about you?” she answers and returns the question.
“I just have some boring online job,” I reply.
“Oh, that's too bad,” she says. “Well, it doesn’t look like there are many people here right now,” Misty comments as we begin to near the park.
When we get out of the car, she takes out a pair of sunglasses from her purse and puts them on to shield her eyes from the blinding sun and its ultraviolet rays. Something about seeing a sexy blonde wearing sunglasses always says summertime to me, and Misty couldn't fit that image more perfectly.
We begin walking along the concrete path and looking at our surroundings. Lush trees line some parts of it as well as being scattered all throughout parts of the grassy fields. A small lake is located in the center of the park, and around it, there's even more vegetation, with flowers in a variety of colors.
“So what do you like to do in your spare time?” Misty asks me.
“Usually, I watch TV or spend time on the Internet. I also like watching videos on YouTube, and Vsauce is one of my favorite channels; he’s pretty cool,” I explain to her.
“You watch Vsauce too? So do I! He is very cool. What is your favorite video that he's done?”
“That's a tough question because so many of them are great. I like ‘How To Count Past Infinity.’ That one blows my mind like no other.”
“Yeah, that's definitely an interesting one. I'd say my favorite videos are the ones related to language.”
“Those are awesome too.”
Misty then does something that catches me off guard—she reaches her hand out and holds mine. This surprises me, since I've never had a woman voluntarily touch me before. I remember holding Misty's hand for a few seconds the night I met her, but now that I have the opportunity to do the same for an extended period of time, it's even more magical. The way she squeezes my hand with hers is so comforting. With my thumb, I gently rub the smooth surface of her palm and along her fingers up to her beautifully painted, shiny nails. It's like we're speaking to one another, yet no actual words are being said by either of us.
While we're taking a sitting break, a beautiful little purple-and-orange butterfly lands on our table briefly before fluttering away. Soon after we start walking again, we come across a tennis court.
“Ooo, I have an idea: Would you like to try playing tennis with me? I haven’t played in sooo long,” Misty says nostalgically.
“Hmmm… I’ve never really played tennis before. I doubt I’d be any good at it.”
“You don't have to be good at it to enjoy it. Besides, it’s easy to learn, and I’ll show you how!”
/> “Well, alright—I guess it wouldn’t hurt to at least try.”
“I should have some tennis rackets and a ball in my trunk, so let’s go back and grab them, then we can come back here and get started.”
We begin our somewhat long backtrack to Misty's car to retrieve the needed equipment. She looks exceedingly cute when she puts her hair in a ponytail and wears her tennis cap. When we get back to the tennis court, she begins instructing me on how to play the game. She hands me a racquet and stands close behind me, guiding me through, with her hands on mine, the motion of how to swing it properly. I likely could figure it out if she explained it with words, but she obviously wants to touch me and be close to me anyway. I certainly can't complain about that.
“Just relax. Hold it with a gentle grip and swing with the speed that you feel comfortable. Let the racquet do the work for you. Stand from behind the baseline, throw the ball in the air, and hit it to get it over the net onto the other side,” Misty explains with her gentle voice.
She then stands back a little as I attempt the action, and I manage to complete the serve successfully.
“Cool, I did it!”
“Great job!” she cheers. “Now I’m going to stand on the other side and we can try playing a full game. If the ball bounces twice on your side or you don't return it, then the other player scores a point. Oh, and also, the person serving the ball switches each round. Ready to try it now?”
“Sure, seems pretty straightforward.”
She runs to the other side and makes the opening move. I'm able to hit the ball back to her twice before I miss it and it flies out of bounds on my side. Misty is clearly very experienced at this, so there's hardly a time when I can score a point.
We play for several hours, but it ends up being so much fun that it feels like far less than that. I can't recall the last time I enjoyed an activity this much. It's fun I wouldn't ever have on my own; I can only do it when Misty is on the other side of that court. As it gets late and the sun begins to set, we decide to call it a day and head back so that she can drive me home.
“You’re very good at tennis,” I compliment her.
“Thanks! I actually used to play competitively in high school. I have a few trophies I could show you sometime if you'd like.”
“Also, before I forget, I don't think I ever gave you my number. You can call me too whenever you want to do something,” I say.
I enter my contact information into her phone shortly before I exit the car.
“I had a really great time today. I’d like to go somewhere with you again soon,” Misty says to me, looking straight at me with her dazzling eyes that still shimmer in the night.