True Lovers III: Getting to Know You

As Madison showed up for work, she looked around for Jack. From their date that morning, she remembered he said he'd have to be in at 5:00 p.m., which was an hour earlier than her. She had just come from her house in which she had a total of eight hours for sleep and one hour to get rested and ready for this shift because their morning date had went on so long. It seemed like a dream thinking about it, and each time she thought of that last kiss it was like a sword shot from her heart down to her stomach. Ooh, she got the chills. She liked her new, handsome man. She was having a harder time keeping her cool when it came to Jack.

When she did finally see him, he shot up those eyes. They met and embraced hello with a huge hug where he may have squeezed her too tight, as if there was such a thing.
"Hey, how has it been here?" She inquired.
"It's not too crazy. It is going to be busy because of that local game at the high school." He smiled at her.
"Oh. There will be some big tables, tonight." She smiled back. "Well, have a good night."
"Thanks.. it's good seeing you."
"You, too."
They locked eyes for a moment. Then she walked away tying her apron strings behind her with him catching a glance.

"Tonight our special is Pollo Con Arroz which consists of a grilled chicken breast topped with monterey jack cheese, grilled onions, jalapenos and mushrooms served over a bed of rice." She informed her table of ten teenagers and two coaches. This was after she had brought out seventeen drinks out for two of her tables, on one serving tray. This night was already turning out to be a busy one. While she was answering their questions about the menu items, she looked behind them in the distance and caught a glimpse of Jack and those eyes. At once, she had a sweet thought about him and his eyes almost let her know that he knew what she was thinking. Suddenly, one of the coaches made his mind up.
"I'll have the chicken. You made it sound good."
She was pleased with the compliment.
"Yeah, me too." Chimed in the other coach.
From that point the boys mainly ordered tacos and enchiladas or combinations of both. This table was easy-to-please and she liked it that way.

The night went on smoothly. She was raking in the dough, which was good because she had been saving up for the cutest, black leather jacket. It wasn't a bulky 'biker-type, rough-riding' jacket, but a sexy, sleek one that would look awesome, she was sure, with her tall, brown boots, brown tights, brown mini-skirt and her long, pretty sweater. It would be picture-perfect if her and Jack were to go on another date. He'll look like his stunning self and she would look her very best. They would meet then she would cuddle up to Jack and just smell him. Wait! What is it with her that made her think about smelling him? She laughed to herself. Stop it! Surely, that would only lead to trouble! Am I some kind of an animal? There would be a day for these kinds of activities, she hoped. But, until then she was determined to behave. She wasn't about to let this relationship be physical only. She really wanted it to be more than just sex. No, she wanted it to be love and then a whole lot of... Ugh! Whatever! Stop it bad thoughts!

Later at the end of the shift, all the busyness around the restaurant subsided. Waiters and waitresses were casually lingering around the tables of their more talkative guests. Mostly they were genuinely visiting with them, but you could hear the loud, exaggerated laughter of those few waiters that were only trying to beef up their tips. Madison was talking to an older gentleman in his early eighties. They were discussing his late wife of fifty-one years.
"She was the sweetest angel you'd ever want to meet." He said with longing in his eyes.
"I bet." Madison said encouraging him to go on.
"Yeah, she would talk to a stranger every time I turned around. It was hard to get used to at first, but she could just tell when another human being wanted someone, anyone to talk to them... even if it was just hello."
"Yeah" Madison agreed, "I've heard of people so sad even to the point of suicide because they just felt invisible. Nobody would talk to them for like days!"
"Yeah, my wife was very good at making people smile...even complete strangers! I mean, out of nowhere, she'd just say something and they would look up at her like, 'You talking to me?' Just when I thought there was about to be a need to fight she'd tell them again. Then they would just get her joke or whatever and just smile these big, ridiculous smiles. It's almost as if she saw the world as a group of children that were all ready to play." He remembered. "It would embarrass me so much. Oh man! I would even get enraged because that is not the way I was raised. We would just, maybe smile when seeing someone look at us. Mostly, and I know you're not going to believe me when I say this, we would see someone staring at us and really just want to fight them. I mean... why are they looking at us in the first place?" He glared off in the distance as he said these last words.
For a second Madison sees the 'fighter' look in his sad, tired eyes. There was a bad boy there once, before this love of his life came in and saved him. She wanted that... a man to be thankful for her kind and generous spirit with others. She definitely could not deal with a jealous man.

"I know, sometimes people are like, 'You looking at me?'" She said with her best 'mafia' accent. Then they both started laughing.
"Yeah, we were kids and we were like, 'Hey why are they looking over here? They must want something. And I'm about to go give it to them.' Man we were punks, then. We sure were saucy in the mouths." They both laughed again.

The older gentleman then ordered a cup of coffee and Madison immediately went and got it for him. His mind wandered off back into his own world where everyone knew him and his wife as a darling and sweet couple destined to be together forever... only her 'forever' would be shorter than his. He would have given anything to have her there talking again, and this time to as many strangers as she ever wanted to. He missed her so much and, if truth be told, he missed talking to those strangers, too. She had brought so many interesting characters into their lives. And one thing was for sure... when those other kids had looked at him when he was younger they didn't really want to fight. As a matter of fact, they were usually just glaring in the distance thinking of other things besides him. That was suddenly amusing to him and he chuckled to himself.

Just then, as Madison neared the storeroom, Jack appeared behind her. He was there for a mop when he saw her figure walking into the cooler. She was needing dressings and sauces for the salad bar and was getting ready to haul a big vat of salsa out when he showed up.
"Hey cutie." He said as she began to blush.
"Hi." She replied as she was looking on the shelves for what she needed.
"Can I help you get anything?" He asked just as she saw the container.
"Yes," she smiled still not looking up, "That container right there is what I need."
It was at that point that she peered up and their eyes met and locked. Oh my God. Could he look into my world anymore than that? Her eyes felt like they jumped out of their sockets and went to kiss his and were never going to come back! Ugh! This was very nice being around him! She could not get over it! As he lugged the big container out for her and helped her fill the smaller jugs, she just stood there in awe over how much she had grown to like this man. He was the sweetest and gentlest man. His hug was like a giant cradle for which she'd gladly be the baby. Just then, without thinking, she reached out and caressed his arm. Something in her needed to be connected to this man. He looked up and again they stopped time and just looked at each other. She had a good thought and at that point his eyes lit up.
"Hey, you wanna go dance later?" He asked.
"That was random. Ha!" She laughed. "Sure. Where?"
"There's a club down the street from my house. I really don't do the 'clubbing' thing but with you, I think it'd be fun."
"Of course," she was getting excited, "I will need a few minutes to freshen up."

So, they parted and each went to finish their work. They made plans to get together at her house again, and go from there. She had twenty minutes to get ready before he showed up. Madison then invited Jack inside and showed him to her livingroom. She pointed to a comfortable looking couch and handed him her stereo remote. She said she'd be right back. He skimmed through some radio stations and then he noticed five CD's were in the CD player. He was suddenly curious about what music Madison liked to listen to so he began listening to them. He flipped through them and came to the most fascinating music. It seemed to just fill the room with this feeling of happiness and celebration. She returned with a smile on her face and slightly embarrassed that he had chosen this CD. It was oldies but it had always made her feel good to hear it. She had often chosen this song to listen to as she cooked. She would be chopping up veggies in the kitchen just singing and dancing to these tunes. They were about love and the happiness it made people feel. They rejoiced in hugs and kisses, loyalty and fun and flirting and forever. Madison had gone and slipped on a silky, soft black dress and some black heels for dancing. Even though Jack had never been much on dancing with another woman or even around another woman, he suddenly had the urge to just let loose. He stood up as she entered the room and grabbed one of her hands, then wrapped his arm around her waist. She did the same to him and their heat just filled the air. Luckily her ceiling fan was blowing a soft breeze through the room. Smiles plastered on their faces, they just swayed to the music and as usual had so much chemistry! Of course, they danced well together. It may have not been a dance you could call by a certain name, but it was their dance and they would dance it many, many times after that night. The music was joyously playing and they were holding each other softly and just looking into each other's eyes. They would dance all night, and when the day began to break, they would both go into the kitchen where Madison made them some hot chocolate with marshmallows. They took that outside to the front patio and sat cuddled up drinking the warm stuff. Not too many words were spoken but they were growing closer and closer.

That next day in the early evening, Madison sat crying on her bed. Even though Jack and she had a great date the last night while they were dancing, he had said something at the very end of it that caused some alarm. He had commented on her dress. Here she had this beauty of a dress that she had just removed the tags to wear with Jack, and felt so lucky. New dress.. new man. It had seemed perfect. The dress wasn't sleazy or slutty in any way, either, but that comment...
"Wow you looked really beautiful, tonight." He had said but continued with, "That dress is a little short." Then he smiled.
That really rubbed Madison the wrong way. Thank goodness he had said it at the end of their date because frankly, she believed, that would have ruined the entire night. Now what was she going to do with this thought in her head?

Madison had dated some men in the past. She had even been married to Dalston, so she knew what it was like for men to act like they 'owned' her. This is a feeling she did not like. Madison was very much into fashion. She was never into looking sleazy, but did like to look attractive. It made her feel better about herself and feeling better made her take better care of herself. These are things that her man should appreciate or so she believed. There was no way she was going to give up that dress. And plus Jack didn't even know her well enough to start critiquing her on her own clothes. The dress hit her knees! Now, instead of all the soft feelings she had for him, there were new concerns. Did he have a pure heart and was trying to watch out for her? Was he going to begin trying to control her? She knew that control definitely did not equal love. It was, in fact, another word for hate. So, Madison decided to back off a little with Jack. They needed to get to know each other so that he could not judge her by her clothing and she could get to know what was behind such comments. She needed to know if he was going to act out of love or bitterness. This one thing would control a marriage should they ever be with each other that long.

Time to get up, dry the tears, stop the worrying and get ready for work, so Madison got up, wiped her eyes and splashed cold water on her face. Still not sure why she had reacted to such an extent, she just wanted to run. She wanted to run away so that he would know he can't treat her in any way even similar to control. She got up and since she had already showered that morning before her cry, she began putting her outfit together for work. A button-up, long-sleeve, white shirt was the first order of the day. It was waiting for her in the closet. She just had them dry-cleaned. Her tips at work did depend a lot on favorable hygiene. Now for those cute, black slacks that she wore. There they were hanging next to her other black pairs. She almost did not want to look good tonight around Jack because she wanted to look tired and frumpy and just say 'How does this look? Is it better?' Well, she was not like that and would never stop caring about her appearance. That was just stupid. She put her make-up on, then blow dried her hair, curled it and put a pin in it. She looked at the time and still had almost an hour before she had to be at work, so she took her time with the rest of her primping. She filed and buffed her nails, put lotion on her hands and found some earrings that would compliment her work uniform. Usually, she would rush and get to work so early but today, for some reason, she didn't care if she got there on the minute. Her customers would cheer her up. She knew that. Once she got into the flow of work, her mind would be elsewhere and not on him.

Work was busy as usual on the weekends and she did see Jack briefly upon entering the store. He looked busy in the back room so she didn't worry with saying hello. There was a lump in her throat as she saw him. Her heart still raced and she knew she really liked him; however, she knew in her soul that she would let him go if he was going to attempt to change her before he even got to know her. She raced to the salad bar, stocked it, went to the silverware and tortilla baskets and stocked them from the dishwasher's baskets of clean dishes. Jack went by and brushed up against her. She was disgusted in an instant. What was the main malfunction here? For the rest of the night, he basically smiled at her and she smiled back a courteous smile, but that's about it. He looked perplexed, but went on about work. At once, she saw him cleaning out the mop sink and noticed his strong back and arms and sighed to herself. He was so beautiful on the outside. His tan skin just glistened when he sweat. His muscles showed through the back of his button-up shirt and she had seen those muscles closer and had even smelt those muscles when the two of them danced. She really did like him so much. She wanted to hope for the best, but had to be cautious. She had been down that 'controlling' road before and it was nothing but drama and strife. There was no love, no smiles, no peace. She was not about to do that again!

Well, the night went by very quickly and Madison was rolling silverware about as fast as anyone had ever rolled silverware before. That tray was stacking up with those wrapped utensils like an Egyptian Pyramid! She was just about to bolt out the door when an arm reached out from behind the stockroom door and grabbed her wrist. Jack pulled her in for a sweet kiss. She could have resisted if he hadn't gotten her so close to him where she got a whiff of his scent and then blam, kiss. She deserved this one for an apology, but then she would make some excuse to leave, she thought. Jack looked deep into her eyes for love and when he found confusion, he asked what was wrong. She denied anything was wrong, but only half-heartedly. He saw right through it. She wasn't totally mad at having to look at him for a few minutes today. She did really miss him after their dance session the night before. It was so wonderful. His strong arms around her and spinning her around and her gently following his lead. They laughed and loved and it all remained so perfect and sweet. They had even kissed goodnight and didn't just jump each other's bones... although in an alternate universe, these two would be all over each other all of the time! They were just playing it safe, not investing too much physicality into the relationship, so if they lost, they wouldn't have lost everything they were made of. Even though she missed him this much, her self-protection would prevent her from falling deeper in love with this man if he was really a bad man.
"What is wrong?" He persisted.
"Not really anything. I'm okay, it's just a comment you made about my dress. I wore that dress especially for you." She looked down.
"Oh! That comment about how short it was, right?" He asked lowering his head to meet her eyes.
"Yup." She looked back.
"Okay, I'm sorry I went there. It wasn't that I didn't appreciate the fact that it showed your legs, because I did. Believe me! I was a thankful man last night. Almost too thankful! But, I would always get asked by my two sisters about their outfits. 'Is it too short?' 'Does it make me look fat?' 'Does this make my arms look fat?'" He chuckled slightly at these fond memories. "That is a habit I have to comment on an outfit. But, I did tell you how beautiful I thought you looked. Didn't I? Because I certainly thought so! And that was it. I really did love it on you. I would never try to tell you what to wear. You are a beautiful woman and I've often found myself looking at you because you are so attractive. You hold yourself well. You never seem trashy or anything like that. Please forgive me for saying that. It was never intended as a critique against you. Please forgive me."
Madison thought for a moment and really did believe him.
"I'll forgive you. It's just I want you to know that I really will not be with a man that..."
Just then he interrupted her with a kiss that lasted a full minute, she swore.
Dang it! She forgot what she was going to say, but Madison was sure in her heart that she had been wrong about her new guy. She definitely believed in playing it safe, but could admit it when she was wrong. But, she decided, they would focus on getting to know each other better so that they wouldn't have a lot of miscommunication in their relationship. She had seen that these types of mistakes could lead to many fights that were senseless and never really benefited anyone. They would do more harm than good and actually tear down everyone involved. And her opinion remained that Jack and she were two nice people that deserved good things. And if they stayed together, she could see them doing really great things with their lives.
"Hey... I think about you so much." Jack said. "It's like I think about ways to make you happy all the time. I think about ways you could make me happy, too." He winked.
"What?" Madison cooed.
"Yeah, I mean just being around me and us taking care of each other, going cool places and doing great things would be the best thing ever. I was thinking of these things after last night. I want to get to know you and for you to get to know me so much more." He finished.
"Yes, this sounds like a great idea. I'm sorry I painted you into a bad guy. My mind really ran with that 'short skirt' comment and it wasn't right. I look very much forward to getting to know you better, too, Jack Debido... very much."

They both left the restaurant holding hands and then got into their own cars. They had decided to go down the street to an all-night cafe and have some coffee and pancakes. It was here that they truly laughed and enjoyed each other's company, again, until the break of day. Both of them sure could get used to this. They were definitely falling in love.