I Found You. Jane Lark

long slender thighs, as she ran the last few paces in stocking covered feet over the cold ground.

      She had a good stride. I was sure she’d be good to run with.

      When she reached me though, she doubled over panting and pressing her palm to her side. “Dammit. I got a stitch. What did you have to do that for?”

      I laughed at her. Well, she could run if she got used to a little exercise. “You need to work out, girl.”

      She stood upright, her fingers still pressing against her side as she dropped her shoes onto the sidewalk, and then, when she slipped her feet into them one at a time, putting them back on, she met my gaze. “What I need is a night out, not a work-out.”

      She was smiling at me like she was having the best time of her life. But I’d got the impression from Rachel that every day was the best day of her life. God knows what had made her contemplate ending it all? Probably some guy who’d let her down. She was so openhearted she wouldn’t have seen it coming.

      But then any man who’d let her down was a fool. It was his loss, not hers.

      Her blonde hair was in a ponytail but there was a loose strand brushing her neck. My fingers itched to tuck it behind her ear as we walked.

      When we got back to my apartment she disappeared into the bathroom while I quickly changed into a shirt and a black pair of skinny cut pants. I also swapped my running shoes for the one pair of decent shoes I owned and used for work. All the time I was changing, I heard the shower running.

      I’d never gone to a club. I’d only ever gone to bars with Lindy and my friends. I was sure I was in for a wild night with Rachel. I was looking forward to it. My heart beat rapidly as I walked from the bedroom back into the living room to get a beer. Rach hadn’t told me where we were going.

      To calm the energy still buzzing in my veins from my run, and to control the cocktail of anxious excitement within me, I sat on the floor and started up a game on the Xbox.

      I heard the shower turn off and then Rach singing in the bedroom.

      “Man. Why don’t you have a hairdryer?” Her voice reverberated through the closed door.

      “I keep my hair short so I don’t need one!” I shouted back laughing.

      “That’s just selfish…” There was laughter in her voice, too.

      “Want me to come and blow on it!”

      “Ha, ha. No thanks, I’ll manage.”

      She went silent then but I could hear her moving about, getting stuff out of bags.

      She started singing to herself again and then shouted, “I won’t be much longer… I hope you’re ready?”

      “I’m ready. I’m waiting on you!” As I shouted my thumbs carried on working the controls.

      Rach was getting good at my games. Her scores were starting to beat some of mine. She’d play in the morning, before she started a lunch shift and I’d play after my run, before I met her from work. It had become a competition between us to play the same game the other one had played and beat their last score.

      She was becoming like one of my best friends. In fact in some ways she was more fun than them.

      “Hey.”

      I glanced round. I hadn’t heard the door open, and… Fuck…

      None of my friends were hot like her.

      I’d dropped the controller without even thinking, letting the car just crash, and now I stood, unraveling from my crossed legged position on the floor.

      “Fuck, Rach…” That wasn’t the thing to say obviously, but she looked amazing. She was wearing stiletto heeled black leather knee length boots which hugged her slim calves and a scarlet red jersey dress. I’m sure most women couldn’t have pulled the dress off, but she could.

      Fuck.

      I was lost for words, and then finally the right words came out. “You look amazing… Beautiful.”

      Her hair was a bit messy. Obviously she’d turned upside down and shaken it to dry it a bit. But even so, its ruffled look only made me think of how she looked when she was asleep, when I got up in the morning, and I always thought that was a good look.

      Shit.

      She was wearing make-up too, and I’d never seen her in make-up. Her lipstick matched the color of her dress and the mascara on her eyes seemed to highlight the unusual light green even more.

      “You look fabulous, Rach,” I said more calmly.

      “You scrub up pretty good, too.”

      Her gaze swept down over my clothes. I knew they were really nothing special, Lindy always moaned I didn’t have a gift with style.

      To stop feeling awkward I finished off my beer, then turned and put the empty bottle down on the counter, saying, “Ready,” as I turned back.

      She’d taken her little black leather purse off her shoulder, and was pulling some dollar notes out of it.

      “Here.” She held them out to me. “You’d better take this before I get drunk and spend it.”

      “You don’t have to, Rach.”

      “No, I do. I’m not gonna keep owing you forever. Take it. And we’re Dutch tonight, right, no manly I’m buying all the drinks bullshit. We’re half and half.”

      I smiled. “Okay, it’s a deal.” I took the money off her. I couldn’t refuse. It would be cruel to refuse. She was busy turning her life around. I wasn’t going to stop her.

      After I’d put the money in my wallet, I reached her coat down from the peg and held it up for her.

      “Why, thank you kind sir, it’s amazing what a figure-hugging red dress can do.”

      “Very funny…” I was smiling at her, even though my words were dry. But she was right, the dress was figure-hugging, it clung to every curve and left nothing to my imagination. Not that I needed imagination, I could still see the image of her on that first night in my mind as she’d lain naked in the bath. Shit, tonight was not the night to be thinking about that.

      I reached for my coat, then put it on.

      “We’re going on the subway,” she said, hooking her little purse bag over her arm again. “So don’t take your hat and scarf, you’ll only lose them in the club––”

      “And freeze on the way home either way…”

      “You won’t notice the weather on the way back you’ll be too drunk.” She grinned at me, her devilish come-on-live-a-bit-wild grin.

      I grinned back, a sucker for a beautiful woman in a hot dress. “I wish all my friends looked as good as you,” I whispered to her as we went out the door.

      She glanced back, flashing me another bright smile. Then she said, “Likewise.”

      When we got on the subway train we sat on opposite sides of the carriage, grinning at each other, like a couple of kids. But then my cell buzzed in my pocket as it pulled away.

      I took it out.

      It was Lindy.

      “Yeah.”

      “What, not hi, darling, or, great to hear from you.”

      “I’m on the subway, Lindy. I told you I was going out.”

      “Right. I just wanted to check you’re okay.”

      “I’m, okay.”

      “You always call me, I just wanted to surprise you and call you for a change.”

      “On the one night I’ve gone out for a drink since I’ve been here, cheers, Lindy, thanks for thinking of me.”

      I