PROLOGUE: Here’s another short story I wrote. You would appreciate this better if you watch the second season of CSI:NY but I’ve structured it so that those who don’t (and I can’t understand why you don’t) watch the show would still appreciate it.
Anybody here who’s ever had a first kiss would completely relate…
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It would happen on an ordinary day where one least expects it. It would happen at an ordinary place like the workplace at the (fortunately) co-ed locker room.
He would already be there, changing from his work clothes to perhaps gym clothes. He would probably be in a subtle state of undress — just a tank top and boxer shorts maybe. He would have his glasses off, his hair wet. Halfway into putting on his clothes, she would walk in.
They’ve known each other for a year. It would probably not be awkward anymore. She would get startled, but eventually laugh it off. She will go to her locker door and fidget with her things. “What was I supposed to get again?” she would probably think.
“
Quantico
” she would say.
He would sigh. “Yeah. FBI or bust” he’d say.
“We work together almost 24 hours in a day and I’m the last to know?” she finally turns to him, closes her locker door, almost confrontational, but still in her gentle sweet demeanor.
He would chuckle a bit. “I didn’t think it would matter”
“You got the highest recommendations from Mac.” she would say. “Did you ask him to do that?”
“FBI’s been wooing me for a year” he’d say, putting on his pants and his shirt and his jacket. “It was all up to me from the beginning”.
He would sit on the bench. She would sit beside her.
“For how long?” she would ask.
“Six months. If I decide to move forward, four years.” He would turn to her, waiting for a reaction. She just stares at the floor in utter disbelief.
“If they’ve been wooing you for a year” she would ask “why say yes now?”. She returns his glance.
He would stop and think for a moment. He would look away.
“Only two things can happen here.” he would say, his voice as soft as it has never been before.
He would take a deep breath.
“I tell you that I’m crazy about you” he would say “you turn me down.”
He would look to her for a reaction but she just stares at him.
“I get devastated.” he would continue “I find it hard to concentrate. I find it hard to work with you. Mac gets pissed off. I get reprimanded, fired even. Or I eventually leave”.
He would pause for what seems like three eternities.
“Or” he would start again “I tell you that I’m crazy about you, and through some heavenly twist of fate or some dumb joke of the universe…. You tell me that you feel the same way”.
He would look at her again. She would only play with her fingers, obviously anxious.
“We fall in love” he’d say, his voice breaking “We kiss, have dinner, hold hands” he would pause “make love even”.
She would chuckle a bit.
“And then we tell everyone else.” he would continue “Some will like it, some won’t. Maybe Mac won’t like it. It affects our job. It affects all those around us. We’ll argue about it, we’ll find the most trivial things about each other and eventually hate each other. We can’t stand to be in the same room. And I eventually leave. See a pattern?”
She would let out a deep sigh. “Danny….” She would start.
“Let’s just skip all that” he would interrupt her “We can’t win either way. I end up leaving. So might as well leave now while I have the chance”.
She would touch his face. He would feel every inch of his skin all tensed. He would look at her.
She would touch his lips and look at them earnestly. “What is she doing?” he would think.
He would see the space between their faces slowly disappearing until he would practically feel her breathing. “Is she even breathing?” he would think. “Am I even breathing?”
Just then, like a universe exploding, something monumental, something significant happens. Two bare lips touching. She would try to keep her distance but he wouldn’t be able to help it. Soon his hands would have a mind of their own, going into her hair, her neck, her arms, her back. He would restrain himself, try to be as gentle as possible, but his heart is just exploding with passion.
She would pull away, but not too far as to make him think that she was offended, just far enough to tease him. She would smile, the most flirtatious smile she has ever given — her, the uptight country girl.
“We have a problem ,then” she would say.
