Daydream Believer

She shook herself and went back to reading, but did not get much further. The echoes of her reverie stayed with her until it was time to go to bed. No, somewhat later than that.

On Friday, Ginny stayed downtown after work to eat an early and quick dinner at an Italian restaurant, then went home for a fast change into something prettier and back to the center city for the symphony concert that night.

She had been absorbing the music and drifting to it for a time when the intermission caught her by surprise, half dozing. As she returned she looked ahead down the aisle and saw David. When he recognized her face, he nodded and smiled. She began to worry.

When she had seen him before, it had been at the end of the show, and while she had not seen a woman with him then, that woman might have gone to retrieve her coat at that moment. And it was very possible that he was not alone here; his girlfriend (probably live-in girlfriend, she suddenly thought) might still be in the ladies' room and about to return.

So for the next ten minutes Ginny almost ignored the concert while she stared at the empty seat next to David, until it was filled -- by a middle-aged woman who talked intently to the middle-aged man on her other side. Then Ginny began to drift with the music again, with thoughts of a somewhat different and more sensual kind.

That sensuality stayed with her as she prepared for bed that night, since she selected a filmy negligee which she had bought on impulse when she first moved to the city but only worn once since. She normally preferred more practical nightwear, though she had a few times slept nude when she first got the waterbed. That had felt very good, though getting in and out of it was chilly.

That would probably be true tonight too, but she wanted the fabric next to her somehow. As she stood at the full-length mirror in her bedroom for a moment, she wondered if she would ever get to model the intimate clothing for David.

And that thought returned again as she got under the covers. Here was the one point that she had been reluctant to go over in her mind, because it was so dangerous. How would she feel about, in one sense at least, becoming a woman? Was she really ready to sleep with a man and give him her body and accept his? Did she want to have a man with her forever?

Oddly, perversely, the last answer was easier, though it included the other two.

Ginny began to fantasize about what it would be like as she drifted off to sleep, halfway between one sort of dream and another. She felt that she really should imagine David in a hotel room with her, carefully taking from her and hanging up an ornate wedding gown, but it was so much simpler and more natural to picture the two of them in this apartment, standing in this room, David holding her and kissing her and the two of them gradually turning the kiss from pleasure to passion.

He would drag his mouth away from hers, kissing first one satiny cheek, then the other. Then her eyelids. Then the hair at her temples.

His lips would linger at her earlobe, her throat. When his tongue created a hot wet swath along the length of her neck, she would moan softly, thrust her fingers into his hair and urge his mouth back to hers.

They would exchange swift words whose details would be swiftly forgotten but whose meaning would always be remembered, words of love and wonder and passion and need.

Then David would kiss her again, in a raw and powerful way that would shake her to the core, a core that wept for him. Her knees would weaken and she would fall if not for the grasp of his arms.

He would take down the back of the long tight dress she wore until she stood only in panties, because she had chosen to wear a dress that would not need upper support and would make things easier for David, if they got that far this night. He would hold her again and her hands would open her shirt as his mouth sought hers once more.

At his gentle urging, she would drop her white panties to the floor, and he would carry her the five steps to her bed and lay her down. He would stand beside the bed for a moment, looking at her, and she would lie on her back, gazing up at him with a combination of anticipation, trust and something else.

Fear? No. Not fear. Nor apprehension. But something very close.

He would sit beside her. His mouth would brush hers, at first lightly, as if seeking to reassure. Then deeper, to complete the seduction.

Her hands would slide inside his open shirt, pressing against his chest, skimming over the planes of muscled flesh. Putting aside her fears that David would find her lovemaking skills disappointing, she would kiss him on the chest.

And then he would almost force her back and his mouth would be on one breast. His fingers would caress, his mouth roam. He would kiss her breasts, her nipples. His lips would spark along her collarbone, her ribcage.

When David would place his palm against Ginny's mound, the heat inside her would be so great she could feel the flesh melting. And indeed there would be a flood of moisture. Her hips would rise involuntarily, seeking more of this moment, seeking relief.

She would murmur a ragged protest when he would release her and leave the bed to take off his own clothes. He would reveal his broad shoulders and sinewy arms, and his chest, dusted lightly with hair, would gleam in the light.

Her eyes would follow that arrow of hair down, and see his manhood stir with arousal, growing as she watched and he saw her do so.

He would return to the bed and pull her to him. She would cling to him, submitting joyously to whatever he asked, allowing him to take her wherever he would. She would rejoice in the touch of David's fingers at the nest of curls where her thighs met, the tug of his teeth on a nipple, the strength of his long legs as they tangled with hers.

When he could take little more and she was already drifting on a cloud of sensation, he would shift to lie on top of her, careful not to crush her. His lips would touch hers in almost a benediction as he reached between their bodies and stroked her clitoris until dampness flowed over his fingers. He would take his shaft in his hand and rub it against the nub of flesh.

"I don't want to hurt you," he would say.

Her hands would slow their journeys up and down his back. The tension inside her would build as he ever so gently slipped inside her. Just barely, but enough to send her senses soaring.

"That could never happen," she would reply.

When he slowly wihdrew, she would moan, from deep in her throat.

And then he was back, entering her by inches, pleasuring her beyond words. Her hands would frame his face. He would lower his head, touching his lips to hers as he withdrew, and then returned, repeating the tiny strokes until every pore in her body was screaming for release. It would be torment and paradise at once.

His movements, designed to coax her to orgasm, would arouse him also beyond his capacity, and his body would take over his mind as he surged the rest of the way into her.

There would be a pain as he entered her, she felt, first sharp, then sweet. Grabbing onto her hips, he would hold himself absolutely rigid, allowing her time to adjust to the unfamiliar invasion of her body and for him to gather his self-control back from its fragments.

And then he would begin to move, withdrawing almost all the way, then returning even deeper. Her legs would wrap around his lean hips, begging him with words and motions not to stop now.

They would prolong the experience such as they could, going higher and higher, until they crested and drifted back to earth with their hands clasped and lips touching.

And so Ginny slept, alone only in the trivial reality.

On Saturday, January 22nd, Ginny went downtown for no good reason but wanting to get out and walk around. She bundled up in a heavy coat because she intended to spend much of the day outdoors. Noon found her near where she worked, and she entered the diner where she had seen David once. This time she was in a booth, since the Saturday lunch traffic was much lighter, and she saw David as he walked down the street and turned in.

This time he sat at the counter and both of them (it seemed to her) prolonged their meals to watch each other. Maybe she was deluding herself about her interest, but she could hope. She finished first by a little, since her order had just been taken when she first saw him.

She paused down the block, knowing that his plate had been taken away before she left, and saw him emerge. She wondered what the police would think of a complaint that a woman was following a handsome man around, but that was what she did now.

David went only a few blocks before going into a second-hand bookstore. Ginny entered a little behind him, but circled around so that she was waiting at the first corner he turned inside. That way she had evidently entered before him and was only a little further along. She led him around, finding herself really interested as much in the books as in glimpses of David, but also finding that the really interesting books were too expensive for her. As for that really interesting man, he was within reach, but she was too chicken. A price of a different sort, perhaps. A pearl of great price, she was beginning to think.

But she found something she wanted and could afford, and was just coming out of the shop after an hour and wondering if this adventure was going to have to end when Ginny saw Janine coming down the street.

"Is that David?" Janine asked, pointing at the man just stepping to the sales counter.

"Yes," Ginny said truthfully but nervously.

"He looks like a good catch!" And Janine hurried on.

Ginny was very thankful for the shortness of the conversation, needless to say.

She walked into the park which lay between the building where she worked and the bus stop where David would be going home from. He *might* be heading this way now -- though she sort of hoped that she would see more of him today. She stopped to admire the pattern of icicles hanging from the trees at one point, and, yes, he was coming this way! But he stopped also, a little way from her, and also looked at the crystals hanging down.

She glanced at David from time to time, and she thought that he was looking at her. But the time spent standing still had almost gotten absurd when he walked by her and went to the street where his bus stop was.

But he did not go to the stop. He went to the window of the department store near it. Ginny followed him and also looked at the display, She looked some at the merchandise, some at his reflection. And the way he stood, his attention may have been similarly divided. But then he turned at looked directly and openly at her for several seconds before walking into the store.

He stopped at the jewelry counter, within sight of the door she now stood at. He quickly selected a woman's brooch, inexpensive but very nice. Ginny though that it was one she would like to own, that it would go well with the coat she had on now -- but she was certain that he was buying it for his girlfriend, that live-in girlfriend whom she was getting to hate without ever meeting her -- or being sure she existed. He seemed to be hesitant about buying it, however, and stood a while deliberating. When the salesclerk rang it up, Ginny walked on, her emotions mixed.

She wandered through the shopping district for another hour, only thinking about David every few minutes. Then she saw him walking down the street toward her. The attraction and disappointment combined made her unwilling to pass him, so she turned into a coffee-shop between them. It was, after all, four o'clock now, and her legs were tired.

When she sat, David walked in. But instead of sitting, he walked to the men's room. And when he returned, the cashier greeted him; evidently they knew each other from past years somewhere.

And then Carla and her boyfriend Robert walked by on their way out. Carla waved him on, saying she would be there in a moment. She dropped into the booth facing Ginny and said: "So, that's David, talking to the cashier. He looks like your description."

Ginny nervously but silently nodded.

"I'd love to meet him, but we have to get going. Meet him soon, I hope!"

And Carla breezed on.

Then David turned from the cashier, who was busy with customers, now, and walked towards her. And he said:

"I hope that I don't offend you by being so forward, but I seem to be running into you everywhere lately, and I hate to defy fate, if that is what it is.

"You are not wearing a wedding ring, or an engagement ring, so I hoped that you are unattached..."

Ginny nodded in shock.

"And to compensate for disturbing you, and maybe bribe you into putting up with me, I would like to give you something that I thought would complement your coat." And he took out the box from the department store and showed her the brooch.

"My name is David."

"M-Mine is Ginny."

And it turned out a lot better than she had dreamed.