Won't You Smile Awhile For Me

"What do you do?"

"Oh, I'm..." Sara gave the revelation of her profession a dismissive toss of the hand. "I have a really super-boring job. I'm a data analyst."

"Well, that doesn't necessarily sound boring. What exactly does a data analyst do?"

Doesn't necessarily sound boring? Wow, are you nice. "It's really kind of a cliché," Sara related, making it sound more like a confession. "I work for a big corporation, I get up five weekdays, I go in a big office in a big building with about fifty other people, I sit at a computer, I go through about a zillion documents a day, proofing stuff, translating, reconciling, adjusting, importing, validating..." She exhaled, chuckled and blinked a few times. "Oh, geez, just talking about it's making me a little light-headed."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mel said. "Didn't mean to make you...y'know..."

"Ah, forget about it," Sara smiled. "Lucky for me, I've gotten really good at unwinding. If I really need to let loose, I just get in the car with my iPod, play my favorite stuff—Velette, to name but one—crank the volume and just belt with the music till my throat's sore."

"That'll do it all right!" Mel looked about the room, around the corners to the parts of other rooms she could see. "Well, sure seems to pay the bills and put the grub on the table; you've got a lovely place."

"Oh, thanks! You want a tour?"

So they stood together, maintaining hand contact, and Sara gave Melleny a modest but thorough show-around of her pad, hiding only the one item of a very personal nature in her bedroom. Mel thought she knew what it was, but tactfully didn't ask. If it was what she thought it was, Sara needn't be embarrassed by it; Melleny had one of her own.

"Oh, God, I love big beds," Melleny commented.

"Makes two of us," said Sara, bouncing on the edge. "It's a king." She patted the mattress beside, and Mel again sat with her.

"This is a king?? You lucky duckling! Now I'm really jealous. Mine's a queen."

Sara shrugged. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, it's more of a necessity than a big luxury. I need a bed this size. I can't lie still when I'm sleeping. I roll all over the place. Well, unless of course, that is, I've just had an org—"

She stopped, turned pink, and placed a hand over her unfiltered mouth. "Oop-sie..."

Melleny didn't seem to mind. She just smoothed her palm over the warm, snug comforter. The bed was made beautifully. Under normal circumstances, Sara would've just kicked the covers off, left them be, and then pulled them back over herself sixteen hours later. But, this being the first time in she didn't know how long she had a cute girl coming over, she patently wished to impress her.

The cute girl was impressed. "Wow, this makes me feel like I could have a nap right now..." a literally dreamy Melleny gushed.

"I know! Isn't it super-comfy?" Sara clapped her hands and hopped back up. "All right, well, that's about it!" she announced. "Back into the living room?"

Melleny now didn't particularly want to get up from the bed, but she did. Sara escorted her back out. "So, that's my humble abode! It may not be much, but I like to call it home," she chuckled, amusing herself at the trite expression. "How'd you like it, Me—"

She heard a sound she didn't expect. She turned to see Mel with a paw over her nose and mouth, taking a deep, deep yawwwwwn. Not exactly the reaction she was hoping for, Sara dropped the smile and her hand.

"I...certainly hope I'm not boring you."

Melleny realized. "Oh, man..." she said. "Oh, gosh, Sara, I'm so sorry. No, no, of course you're not boring me. It's my fault; I didn't get as much sleep as I should've last night."

"Oh, that's too bad," said Sara. "How much did you get?"

"Uh...about three and a half hours."

"Three and a half hours??" Sara exclaimed. "Oh, Melleny, goodness' sakes! Why didn't you say so? I'd never have made you come over if I knew you underslept so much!"

Melleny concluded her yawn. "I know...I just didn't wanna cancel the date. I was excited and nervous, and that kept me awake."

Really? the never-girlfriended Sara thought. I made you nervous? I thought I was the only one who got nervous! This news made her feel good about herself. Perhaps Melleny wanted to impress her too.

"Besides, I'm fine now," Mel finished. "Really, I am. I just needed that little yawn."

"Well...okay," said Sara. "But as someone who basically likes you so far, Melleny, I wouldn't want you to go anywhere you don't have to on so little sleep. If you got hurt, it would...well, it would make me really sad."

Mel gave her a warm smile. "Aw...you care about me?"

"Well...sure. I mean, I'm a really caring person; I care about everybody, at least to a certain degree. Uh, not that I want you to feel like you're not special, just...um...but not that I'm trying to be too forward, or say that..."

Mel gazed with tender eyes and a coy smirk, amused at watching Sara stumble and backpedal over her words. She gave Sara a stroke from the shoulder down her arm.

"You're cute when you're jittery," she commented.

Just like the way they held hands earlier, Sara really enjoyed how Melleny caressed her arm. She found herself wanting to hug her again, to feel their bodies delightfully smushed against each other...especially with Mel wearing that fuzzy sweater. A good hug always felt really nice with someone in a soft fuzzy sweater...

Okay, Kelton, we're getting a little carried away here, Sara told herself. Cool down, babe, it's still only date one. And we dunno what's going on in Melleny's mind. But I really really really hope she likes us, at least a little...I think we like her.

But Sara kept her confidence up by reminding herself that it was Mel who'd approached and initiated things at the concert. She reclaimed Mel's hands.

"Well, Melleny...I was gonna ask if you wanted to go out and do something—y'know, dinner or a movie or something, but, um..." She smiled, shyly glancing to the floor.

"It just occurred to me that wherever we go, it's gonna be totally nuts with the Christmas shopping and all. Being in the middle of that mess wears me out pretty quick, and it'd be torture for you on only three hours' sleep."

"I gotta admit," Mel confessed, "Since I brought it up, I am feeling a little low on energy."

"Okay," Sara agreed. "Well, tell ya what then..." She led Mel to her sofa and let her sit. "Why don't we just take it easy, stay in, have the place to ourselves...I could order us a pizza for dinner...light up a nice candle here..." She picked up the Bic on the coffee table, did just that, then pranced back to the dining room table to retrieve the candy.

"...Maybe have a little chocolate?"

"Oh, but I bought that for you," said Melleny.

"Oh, mon chérie, don't be silly! I don't wanna eat it all myself; I'll get a tummyache." She returned and plopped down with her datemate. "Besides, if we share, we can..."

She removed the wax paper, chose one at random, and brought it slowly to Mel's lips, finishing her thought with a provocative arch of the brows. Mel was charmed. The corners of her mouth rose as well. She proceeded to close her eyes and open up.

Sara watched as Mel cracked it in the middle and let the filling ooze over her taste buds.

"Which one do you think it is?"

"Mmmm..." said Mel, keeping her eyes shut for the moment. "Uh...hmmm..."

She opened them and leaned over to look down and see the label in the box.

"Ah—hey!" Sara giggled, putting her hand over top. "No fair looking!"

"I just wanna see if I was right," Mel cooed.

"Well, give me your guess, and I'll tell you if you're r—"

Sara stopped as a brilliant inspiration struck her.

"Ooooh..." she thought excitedly. "I know!..." She sat the box on the table and stood. "Still don't you go anywhere—I'll be right back!"

Sara jaunted to her bedroom again. Mel peeked. Yep, she was right: raspberry.

Sara opened a drawer in her room, where certain "toys" and other items of recreation were found. Shortly after Mel arrived, it had started drizzling. When 5:00 rolled around, the outside temp dipped to 30°, and the rain crystallized into flurries. Of course, it was a nice, warm 73° inside Sara's house. In fact, Mel was feeling warm enough that she took off her sweater and draped it on the couch with the folded afghan. Sara returned a bit later with two items. One was a homemade compact disc, which she popped into the DVD player and turned on the TV to play. An early '90s pop ballad filled the speakers.

"What's that?" she heard Melleny ask.

"A CD I made myself," Sara told her proudly. "Just some nice mood music. 'S kinda one of my specialties. I have tons of cool music to choose from, and at the risk of sounding immodest, I'm also really techno-savvy. I love technology. So doing something like making my own compilation CDs's a snap. These are some of my favorite love songs."

Mel smiled at her. "You do know how to make a girl feel charmed, don't you?"

Sara reddened once more, glad Mel couldn't see her face.

"Well..." she said, adjusting the TV volume, "I'm just going with what feels right. Trying to be a good hostess, and a good date, and..."

She sat back down with Melleny. "All right, now, I know this wins me the Miss Pitifully Trite Award," Sara explained, "But I still thought it'd be really really fun." She showed Mel the other object she'd brought with her, a silk scarf. She tied it over her own eyes. "See? Now you feed me, I'll guess what it is, you tell me if I'm right, then it's your turn."

"Oh, I get it," Sara heard. "Well, I don't think that's so trite, and I certainly don't think it's pitiful; I think it's actually kinda sweet. And romantic. So, we'd just go back and forth?"

"Right! Right. Besides, if we have one sense cut off, that heightens all the other senses to balance it out. So this'll also make it taste better. Go ahead." Sara opened her mouth. Mel picked up the box, selected one and slipped it in. Sara slowly cracked the chocolate shell, savoring the thick flavor as it burst open, and her tongue signaled to her brain—

"That's a cherry!" she declared.

"Yay!" Mel confirmed, giving her a small round of applause.

Sara pulled the scarf up off her eyes, handing it over. "Okay, your turn!"

Mel slipped it over her own baby blues. "Oh, I see what you mean," she nodded. "Well, I don't literally see what you mean...but, I can already smell that candle better now."

"It's layered," she heard Sara say. "It's called Sweet Nectar, Flirty Fruit and Berry Bliss."

"Wow...well, how appropriate.

"So what does the winner get?" Melleny asked.

"Huh?"

"Well, y'know, I mean, whoever guesses the most right would be the winner, right?"

"Oh...well, I guess I didn't think of it as like a 'winner' thing...I guess a 'winner' thing to me's more like...oh, I dunno..."

Scarf over Mel's eyes, Sara gave her a series of playful pokes in the belly and ribs.

"...A tickle fight?"

"He-ey!" Mel giggled. "No fair; I can't see!"

"Exactly!" Her impish side coming out, Sara lifted up Melleny's T-shirt and raspberried her bare tummy. Mel laughed like crazy, reflexively squirming away and putting her foot on Sara's thigh. So, Sara naturally went next to tickle her also bare foot, until Melleny giggled, "Okay, please stop, I'm gonna pee!"

Sara immediately stopped. Mel wasn't bluffing, but could've fooled Sara had she been.

"All right, well," Sara pondered, "I hadn't thought of a prize, but...you have any ideas?"

"Hm..." Melleny smiled. She lifted the blindfold just enough to see Sara's right socked ped on the floor, then dropped her bare ped beside and brushed it over Sara's.

"Maybe a...foot rub?"

Sara became more excited. The feel of Melleny's warm tootsie touching hers gave her a tiny tingle. Even though her feet were incredibly sensitive out of their socks, she decided to hold off on unveiling that information for the moment.

"I like the way you think, masseuse girl," Sara smiled back, letting her paw mingle with Mel's. "And, I do have some lotion that makes skin feel about as soft as a teddy bear..."

Melleny smirked, lightly shaking her head, enjoying their first round of footsie. "Wow...Sara...when I asked you if you maybe wanted to date me...I had no idea you'd have thought of everything to make the evening so..." She shrugged. "...Enchanting."

Sara couldn't help but balloon up with joy at this remark. It was true, once again, she'd barely been on even a dozen dates in her entire life, and couldn't believe how terrifically this one was turning out. She figured she must be doing something right, and she didn't want to think too hard and mess up. She found her brain repeatedly telling her heart, Take it easy, take it slow. It's still only your first date. Don't move too fast, don't get carried away. But...her heart wasn't listening as closely anymore.

Still, she forced herself to stay cool and under control. "Oh...I...think we just happen to be hitting a lot of the right notes together," she finally mused, plucking another chocolate from the box. "Okay, now, open wide..."

*****

Saturday, December 14th, 2013, 6:14 p.m.

Six chocolates later...

"Oh, dear. I think maybe we should make this the last one and quit while we're ahead, so to speak," Melleny suggested, rubbing her stomach. "Before this stuff really does start wreaking havoc on our bellies."

"Okay," agreed Sara, setting the box and scarf down. "So...who won?"

"You weren't keeping track?"

"Well, not really so much..." Sara elusively fibbed. The truth was, she remembered Melleny had correctly identified four of the chocolates Sara fed her, and she had only got three. But while she thought she knew what the others were as well, she'd half-intentionally guessed wrong, to "let" Melleny win. She hadn't been totally "throwing" the game, as it were, but when Melleny'd suggested the foot rub, she got excited at the idea of soothing Mel's piggies with her hands, and the reaction(s) she could evoke.

And then there was that other reason she wanted to rub Mel's feet, and not vice versa.

"...But y'know, I think you got more right than I did," Sara added. "So, uh...looks like I owe you a little foot rub, huh? Guess I'll go grab that lotion!"

When she returned with the lotion and a small towel, Melleny thought she might switch things up a little. She threw out another suggestion.

"You know, Sara, being that I am the, well, 'professional' and all...if you want, you could take off your socks, gimme your feet, and we'll call it a tie and do each other's."

Uh-oh...gulp.

"Oh...oh, well, yeah, that sounds like fun, but, um..."

Well, she'd just have to tell her the truth now, sheepish as she felt about it.

"Melleny, I, uh...I know I should've said this earlier, but...I...kinda...can't have my feet touched. By someone else. Not...the bottoms, anyway. They're not gross or anything, but..." She looked down with a bashful chuckle. "...I swear, even if you just rub 'em, it doesn't even matter; my feet are SO deathly ticklish, if you touch 'em at all, even by accident, I'll...kick you right in the nose. Obviously, I won't mean to; it just happens."

"Oh-ho-ho," Mel poked her back, also in the belly and ribs. "I get it...so you can dish it out, but ya can't take it, huh?"

Sara giggled. "Well, up here's not as deathly as down th—...um...as my feet are, but yeah, you're right; I suppose I shouldn't give unless I'm willing to get a little back."

"Yeah, I get that pretty often, being a masseuse. You'd be surprised how sensitive people are, in the funniest spots on their bodies."

Sara draped the towel over her lap and patted, urging Mel to put her feet up. "Well, I'm no pro myself," she admitted, "But I'll do my best." She rolled up Mel's jeans, pushed them up to her calves, pumped out some lotion, put the bottle down and started rubbing.

"Mmmmm..." Melleny moaned a few moments in, serenely closing her eyes as the lotion warmed up. "That's nice..."

Coming from an expert, this was another big compliment to Sara. It wasn't terribly difficult to flatter her, and her ego was riding a pretty nice high about now. On top of which, giving this attractive guest-date such a soothing sensation via her size 8 peds was starting to turn her on. Mel was about as tall as Sara, 5'6" or so, and her feet were just half a size bigger. As Sara studied them, they almost looked just like her own. She considered taking off her socks and pressing her feet to Mel's to see just how similar they were. But taking another look at the tranquil expression on Melleny's face, Sara decided to stick with the massage.

She didn't stop rubbing, but spent a few moments taking stock and assessing the situation. It seemed almost surreal. This was the second time she'd seen the girl—the first being so briefly, besides—and now here she was on her couch, working out the tender spots in her feet, smearing them with warm moisturizing skin cream, getting herself a bit worked up in the process. Melleny did this for people she'd only just met all the time, but that was a professional relationship. It was her job. She was actually almost astonished Mel was letting her do this. Hell, she'd suggested it, no less. How many first dates involved foot massages? Or any kind of massages?

Maybe, thought Sara, it was her plan all along to get me to give her a massage. Maybe she just wanted to enjoy one herself, for a change. Whatever her motives, Sara was really getting into it. She slathered lotion all over the tops and soles, arches and insteps, balls and heels, pressed in just a little harder...tightening and loosening her grip, tracing circles with her thumbs, spreading the toes apart to ease her fingers between (which made Melleny giggle a little herself), lifting her ankles to get under her heels...and gazed back at Mel's lovely face to see how she was doing.

Melleny's eyes had fluttered closed—almost. She was staring through her lashes at nothing. She looked even more restful and at peace than before. Wow, I must be pretty good at this. Sara couldn't help grinning at her newly discovered skill. She was sure she wasn't anywhere as good as Mel, but she must have had at least some talent.

Sara thought she had put the softly moaning Melleny to slumber, until a few minutes later, when another new song on the disc started. Mel's eyes popped back open.

"Oh my God, I love this song!" she told Sara, pointing to the TV. "That's...that's..." She snapped both index fingers alternatingly, trying to recall. "...Shoot! What is that? I know I've heard it, but I can't recognize it."

"'Miss Chatelaine.'"

"Right! Of course!" Melleny said. "And...oh, God...who sings it again?"

"Kathryn Dawn Lang."

"Oh—" Melleny pretended to smack herself in the face. "Duh!! k.d. lang! H—...how in the hell could I not remember that??"

"And you call yourself a lesbian!" Sara teasingly chided, poking Mel's soles, making her snicker. She was of course just kidding, as she was sure there were lots of (particularly younger) lebbis who didn't know her favorite singers. But because her knowledge and love of pop music was so expansive, it was hard for her to imagine others didn't feel the same. Plus which, Melleny had just told her she loved this song.

"I know," Mel groaned with a grin, playing along. "Demerits, Melleny!" she admonished herself. "Then again, I am also about to hit my 30s...God, maybe I'm just getting old."