Perfect Moments

There she was, standing in the kitchen attempting to formulate in her mind exactly what the cookbook was saying, process its intended meaning, and then execute it in her head.

She always did this with anything she had difficulty grasping, and the culinary arts were certainly one of those very things that eluded her understanding.

Often she would joke that she was an accident waiting to happen in the kitchen and on the very few -- and intensely brief -- excursions she had inside the kitchen she proved to be just that.

He still loved her, though, yet he often chided her that should she attempt anything that was more involved than the microwave she might be testing the limits of that love.

Gladly, she would reply to him, as she trumped off to find the handy list of telephone numbers to various restaraunts they ordered delivery or take-out from.

Not today, she thought to herself.

No, tonight was far too special to her, and she planned to surprise him in ways he could not possibly predict.

He was so very good at that. Predicting her behavior. It infuriated her, how he would say things she was thinking or tell her how she felt with that smug look on his face.

Arrogant.

Cocky.

Full of himself.

Yet that was part of the allure, this she knew, as she had always gravitated toward those with the confidence she lacked in herself.

It wasn't that she had little to be confident about, she most certainly did, at least that was what everyone around her would always tell her.

She never really believed it.

They're just being nice to me, she thought.

The phone rang, startling her briefly, and freeing her from those evil thoughts of noodles and ricotta cheese.

Where was the portable, she wondered, as the shrill tone alerting her of the incoming call echoed throughout her apartment. She held her place in the book with one of her long slender fingers, and wrapped the rest around the edge as she tossed pillows on the sofa aside, unearthing the handheld device.

It was him.

Why couldn't he call her cell phone, which was resting in her pocket. She knew why before she even finished wondering the question. He was well aware of how messy her apartment was and liked to make her fetch things that he knew would either be lost or difficult to find -- such as her driver's license, car keys, and telephone.

She clicked it, and as soon as she heard his deep tumbling voice all thoughts of his misbehaving had vanished from her mind.

"You missed me."

He always did that.

It was his way of saying hello, and she'd gotten almost used to it, as if anyone could really get used to him.

"Almost as much as you did me," she replied with the coy self-assertion she clung to around him. She had noticed that over the years they had known each other she had gotten more and more confident in herself, at least when it came to interacting with each other.

He had once said to her that if she spent enough time with him she'd learn to come back as strongly at him as he came at her, because he would never let up on teasing her.

He never let up.

She learned.

"So what is the most beautiful woman alive doing right now," he inquired in his ever flirtatious way.

She plopped down on the sofa, and laid the book down beside her, picked up the remote and began flipping through channels as images on the television sprung to life.

"I don't know, why don't you go ask her?"

She laughed.

"How many times have we had this exchange now?" he openly wondered.

She didn't really know, "Too many times love, so what are you doing up so early? Don't vampires hate the sunlight? It's not even two in the afternoon."

Now, that question, that one she was confident in knowing the answer. Today marked their one year anniversary, and he had not once brought it up nor let on that he was even cognizant of its impending arrival before now.

And he would not stray from that path, it seemed.

"Oh, no reason, just woke up early. You know how my sleeping habits are. It's tough working nights. Figured I might get up, and head on over. See what you're up to."

He could not help but smile ever wide at the thoughts that must be racing through her head right now.

And as he often is, he was right about that. She nearly panicked, but she kept the image of herself in a plain white bra and shorts on the sofa with pillows tossed about, magazines falling off her coffee table with last night's teacup sitting on top of one, her clothes from yesterday strewn about the area and his gifts sitting unpacked in plain view while in the kitchen all of the spoils of his surprise dinner littered the counter.

Not to mention she looked and felt like a wreck, her hair needed to be washed, and she had no makeup on.

Before she mouthed the words, "You can't,"he interjected and saved her.

"Actually, sweetheart, I think I'm going to go hang out with the guys at their place and play some video games with them. If you get bored just give me a call, I may crash over there. That cool?"he asked her flately.

She wasn't sure if he was playing a game with her or not at this point, but she was willing to call his bluff. Oh, how he loved to be right and taunt you with it. Well, she wasn't going to be caught falling for his little game of cat and mouse.

"Sure, sweetie, don't let those sunrays burn you too much, Vlad." she said teasingly and hung up the phone.

There she sat, frozen on the sofa, wondering what he was up to and if what she had gotten for him was worth it. She wanted very much to expose him to that which he wasn't accustomed to, and he seemed so begrudgingly opposed to other cultures. He was so American in every sense of the word.

Ethnocentric or egocentric, it didn't really matter to her, he was a good one, unlike most any of the boys she met in her formative years, who were more concerned with how cool they appeared than how cool they really were.

She loved his substance over style mentality, and she only hoped he would find the various trinkets she found as exciting as she thought of them. In a way, this sort of cultural theme and his reaction to it would make or break the night for her, because she was sharing a part of herself with him.

There was little he did not know of her, there still remained some darkened corners of her soul, and though she still fought her emotions daily, they sometimes got the best of her. It was difficult not to feel so alone, and he was there for so much, though he couldn't be the way they both wanted.

Though at times that aspect went unspoken as well.

The couple had already been through quite a bit to this point, considering the fact when they met they might as well have been oceans apart. They could not be together due to circumstance, though it was obvious how enamored he was with her, and she was taken by his smug smile and cocky demeanor from word one.

And he always commented on her eyes and her smile. How delicious she looked, while she felt all too pale and awkward. She was either too tale or too pasty or too short or too this or too that, he would say, and yet when he looked into her eyes and kissed her, she felt beautiful. Often he would comment on how lovely she was to him, and when he said it and was there, she wanted to wrap herself in those words and live in them forever, but when he was gone, well, insecurities would creep back in.

So there she sat, alone in her apartment, staring at his gifts and thinking of their first kiss and how she cried as he took her hand in his and when he pressed his lips to her own she was all but a mess.

Always there to ruin the perfect moment, she had said to him, but his reply only further strengthened her feelings for him.

"The only perfect moments are when you are here."

She felt bad upon recollection, which is no real surprise, because her cynical outlook took hold again. It was a constant fear of her's that things would not last. They would fall apart.

He would tire of her.

He would leave.

He would grow bored.

Find someone else.

He always told her that he would last forever, but how long is that?

Brushing aside those thoughts, she retrieved her recipe book, placed each pillow back properly in its resting place, and made her way to the bedroom with her dirty clothes filling her hands. She dumped them in an ever expanding pile at the foot of her bed, and returned to the kitchen.

The water!

She had forgotten it.

Scrambling to the burners, she grabbed the handle of the pot and pulled it off of the fire. The water had completely evaporated and the bottom of the pot was colored black and she ran it under cold water as steam erupted in the sink. She moved it off to the side and frowned.

Well, at least she hadn't burned any food.

Yet.

She slumped in the corner of her tiny kitchen area with her arms clutching tight the stupid cookbook to her chest and was fighting back tears when the doorbell buzzed in her ears.

It never did cease to annoy her that it rang louder in the kitchen than anywhere else, something the super could not understand or simply didn't want to.

She stood up, and made her way to the door, dropping the book off on the counter as she went. Peering out the peephole, she was greeted by the welcomed sight of her friend from school.

This was certainly a surprise because while she had invited her over a few times, and they had a lot of fun playing various games with her always varied dates, she rarely ever dropped by unannounced and now she showed up at her door on such an important day, one in which she wasn't even sure she had mentioned to her.

She opened the door and was shocked at what she saw.

She opened the door and was shocked at what she saw.

"Wherever did you find that?!" she asked with an incredulous look.

Standing in the doorway to her apartment was her friend Shannon dressed in faded at the knees blue jeans, a white tank top, and sandals with pink trim. In her hands, she attempted to balance an enormous teddy bear that was at least twice her size, which wasn't too difficult as she was rather petite and short in stature at what she termed a healthy five feet, three inches.

"A little help with the bear here, please?" her friend requested, struggling to verbalize her plea whilst buried beneath the excessive fur.

She moved forward and took the giant teddy by it's arms and together they moved within the safe confines of her abode eventually depositing the bear in the middle of the sofa where he took up much of the room.

After taking a moment to allow her friend to catch her breath, she simply had to know. "Okay, what's the deal with that thing? Does he have a name? What's he for? How much did he cost?"

Just as she was about to answer the barrage of queries, Shannon was cut off by one more question.

"And can I keep him?"

With that she hugged the giant bear and they both laughed at the sight of her clinging on to this gigantic bear.

"Well, I actually brought him here for you. I know today is your anniversary, and no don't even ask how I know, and I know your affinity for anything stuffed, and I do mean anything, so I thought this bear might be a cute way of showing my appreciation for your friendship."

One thing Shannon could certainly do was talk, and quickly. She belted out the answer and was about ready to dive in for another helping of ramble on before she was once again interrupted.

"So which one gave you the bear?" she asked pointedly, not allowing one more moment to linger without knowing the story of the bear.

Shannon let out a sigh. "It was Peter, but he only did it because he wants to get back together. And I don't mean in a romantic way. I don't even like animals, whether they are animated or not, but think he'd remember that? Noooo. So I figured I might pass him on to you. Like him?"

"I do! Very much so. You could have called me first and I could have picked him up. How did you get him up the stairs by yourself?" she wondered aloud, attempting to picture in her own mind the valiant attempts of her diminutive friend hoisting and dragging the furry brown monster up three flights of stairs.

With that, Shannon promptly turned to her side and flipped through her purse that was laying on the floor while propped up next to her chair. She pulled out a piece of paper with a phone number on it and showed it to her friend.

"The super, he thought I was cute and offered to lend me a hand, though I think he was hoping for more." she said with a wink.

"You're just evil. Pure evil. I love it. Do you ever do anything for yourself?" she offered playfully with a grin.

Shannon shook her head, stood up and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge while surveying the various food products laying about and the burned pot. "Not if I can help it! So whatcha burning?"

The starcrossed lover and amateur-at-best chef jumped up and skipped over to the sink and began the tedious process of scrubbing the damaged pot. "Well, tonight is supposed to be special so I figured I might try my hand at cooking him one of his favorite dishes. I sort of lost track of things for a moment there, though. So how did you know about today, anyway?"

Shannon smiled, knowing her friend couldn't help herself. She was always so curious. "Would you believe a certain teddy bear told me?"

The lack of response and indignant look from her friend gave her all the answer she needed.

"Okay, okay. You can't tell, though. Your boyfriend," and she poked her friend in the bare tummy as she was still only wearing her bra, "told me not to say anything to you. Oops, did I say that?"

The two ladies exchanged knowing glances of amusement. "Did he now? So he hasn't forgotten! I knew it. Grr!"

Shannon couldn't help but laugh at that. "So he made it seem like he forgot? Oh boy, tonight is certainly going to be fun. Er, not that I'd know anything about it or anything."

She just smiled smugly and winked at her friend who shot her a glare from across the small kitchen.

"Fine. Don't tell me. See if I answer the phone the next time the next Mr. Perfect turns out to be a fraud." she muttered in reply.

Shannon just brushed the comment off, "Well, good thing I know where you live then."

With that she sauntered over to the cache of gifts sitting unwrapped in her apartment in full view. "Hmmm, interesting selections. Talk about your wide variety of gifts. You've been to most of these places, haven't you?"

She asked the question but was already aware of the answer. It seemed cute that she would go to such lengths to share parts of herself like that. That was probably one of the things that Shannon liked most. She was so thoughtful and took her time to make things meaningful even if it wasn't always appreciated.

That was one of the reasons for the bear, really, she actually kind of liked the thing, but knew it would make her dear friend smile.

And of course it would play very well into tonight.

She certainly had to watch herself, though, as things were still somewhat up in the air.

Tenuous at best, she thought, as she thumbed through the pages a book she had sitting on top of the pile of his gifts. The pages were fresh and clean, the binding still firm and without crease, it was obviously new.

"You got him Harry Potter? You know he won't read it. He swore off those books. I love this necklace, though, haven't I seen you wear it? What's this? Another necklace? With a pentagram? Oooohh, some voodoo magic planned for tonight?!" Shannon began modeling the sterline silver necklace with the gold inlayed pentagram on herself and dancing about the room making all sorts of strange noises.

It was a sight to behold.

Truth to be told, she had planned to wear the necklace tonight, and give her love the one with the pentagram. He had seen it in one of the many shops she had dragged him into and mentioned it was the one thing in the entire place he'd actually wear. He was always into the occult and things of a fantastical nature.

It was the theme.

As for the other necklace, it was secured by long wiry golden strands fastened to a diamond-shaped centerpiece with bowing wires of metal on the top half along with a metallic seagull in flight hanging in the center, pebbles of rose quartz adorned the structure along with ornamental leaves hanging from the lower half with the bottom tip a singular star shining brightly.

One of her closest friends had actually made the piece for her as a gift for her birthday. It was that very same birthday with which her love's own present would form the foundations of their current relationship.

And this was not lost on her.

Neither was her desire to meld those worlds, both past and present, into one beautiful future with her love.

Her love.

How much she missed him right now.

In the throes of passion, that was what she wanted to be lost in, right now, there really was nothing like his hands pressed into her hips and his nails raking across her back or grasping her hair in them.

Suddenly, a jolt of electricity coursed throughout her body.

She shook with the realization of Shannon's hand brushing up against the bare skin of her back as she moved past her to get to the silverware drawer. She removed a corkscrew and popped open a bottle of rosé.

Retrieving two wine glasses from the cupboard, Shannon poured each of them a healthy dose and offered to help her cook.

"Well, I figure the worst that can happen is we burn it a second time." Shannon said, unlocking the cookbook and finding the appropriate page. She could feel her friend staring at her, and so she offered a wink.

Embarassed by being caught gazing, though it wasn't difficult to do with Shannon with as lovely as she was, she had that kind of striking beauty that grabbed you and simply demanded one take notice.

Shannon smiled at her before shooing her off. "You really should get ready if you plan to be at all presentable tonight."

Collecting herself, she turned around and headed off toward the bedroom, catching the door with her foot to close it as she went past. It only made it halfway through completion, though she remained unaware as she shimmied out of her shorts.

Catching a glimpse of herself in her mirror, she looked herself up and down and was dissatisfied with too many aspects of her body, especially in contrast to the tanned beauty in her kitchen. There she stood in her bra and panties, neither matching, and she frowned. Sucking in her stomach she removed the clasp of her bra when she heard a sound from behind her.

As she turned her head around, Shannon was standing directly behind her grinning ever wide.

It was an awkward moment for her, considering she wasn't very happy with her body. She didn't let very many people see it beyond those she was close to, and it was only after spending time in college sharing a room with another girl that allowed her even the comfort to walk around her own apartment in her bra with her friend.

This was slightly different.

She felt secure in her room and right at that very instant that comfort was removed. Taken from her in a way she was not really capable of discerning, but she felt it. Not only was she bare of much clothing, there was something else, the way her friend was staring at her that belied a more devious intent.

A shiver coursed throughout her body, shaking her slightly as her eyes asked the question her mouth could not say.

Shannon just smiled at her as she moved in ever close behind her, almost to the point of touching.

But not quite.

She looked off to the side, her head tilted downward, not wanting to focus on anything, especially the possibilities of what may come from this experience. Tensing up, she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, waiting for the first touch of Shannon's hands or lips upon her own body.

It would be deceitful to suggest she had not imagined this moment before.