Queen for a Day: Part 20

The nerves were hitting me once more as I pull up to Annie’s apartment building. This time, however, they were of a type I’d not felt in a very long time. At first I thought it was the typical anxious tension I felt during any of Sarah and I’s adventures but as I check myself over and over again in my truck mirror it hits me that what I was feeling was just good old-fashioned first date jitters. More than anything else it was these nerves that told me I was truly ready to do this.

I stride up to the front walk of the building. On the walk leading up to the main door a trio of girls, sisters by the look of it, were drawing hopscotch squares with different colors of chalk. As I approach they clear the way and look at me expectantly. I pause…then hop my way through their course.

“Ha ha ha ha!” They laugh and cheer.

I chuckle and continue on my way. I am buzzed up in short order and it is not long before I am standing at Ann’s third floor door. I pause and consider whether to text Sarah one last time. I slip my phone back into my pocket. We’d been over this too many times to count. It was time to make this fantasy a reality. Just a couple of seconds after knocking Annie’s door opens. What I see takes my breath away!

She…is…STUNNING!

Her long onyx hair, worn loose draped over one shoulder, shone like black silk. Her narrow, delicate face had been done up tastefully to both exaggerate and accentuate her oh so attractive Asian features. Jewelry had been kept to a minimum, perhaps so as not to distract from her natural allure, with only a pair of glittering diamond studs in her lobes. Garbed in a sleek dress of glossy black satin Ann looked like she’d walked straight off of fashion runway to answer the door. With such a small bust Ann could get away without wearing a bra so, with just a slender spaghetti strap over each of her slender shoulders, there was a vast swath of nearly uninterrupted flesh across her chest and shoulders. The garment itself clung snugly to her to the long, elegant curves of her lithe body. The dress cascaded down to nearly her ankles though a slit that ran from her hip all the way down gave a tantalizing glimpse of her shapely leg. In black six inch stilletto heels the top of her head reached up past my brows. For a guy my size it was a rare thing to be looking at a woman nearly eye to eye. The extra height and the confidence with which she wore her sexy attire gave her a awe-inducing presence that filled the whole hall.

Dear God! Little Annie Yung, that brace-wearing, pimple-faced, awkward, nerdy dweeb of a girl, had become this radiant goddess!? Miracles were real!

“Woah!” I hear myself gasp.

Her dusky rose lips curl into a sultry grin. Reaching up with just her index finger she pushes my chin up to close my gaping mouth. “Hey there, handsome.”

“Ahem!” I blink and shake my head. “Oh my God. Annie!? You look…WOW!”

“I clean up nice, huh?” Looking me up and down she adds. “I’m not the only one.”

Unconsciously I straighten up, rising to my full height, and offer her my arm. “Shall we?”

Grabbing a little black handbag from a table beside the door she steps out and accepts my arm. “David, I thought you’d never ask.”

Arm in arm I lead my date down the stairs and out the front door. The girls out front had much the same reaction as I had back at the door. As they watch Ann glide past them on my arm they all let out in a single voice. “Wooooaaahhhh!” There were a few other neighbors too, one on a balcony and a couple strolling the sidewalk, whose heads are turned as well. I couldn’t blame them. Even at her side it was nearly impossible to take my eyes off her.

I guide her to the passenger door of my truck. Without making a fuss she lets me open the door and accepts my help up into the seat. For a guy like me there were few things more attractive than a woman that allowed a guy to be a gentleman. The night was barely begun but so far Ann was scoring a perfect 10.

I hop in and start the engine. “I hope you don’t mind seafood.” Ann turns and looks at me, her left brow rising. “You always liked seafood I seem to recall. Anything. Chowder, fish sticks, and what was thing your mom used to make? Hong Kong…uh…”

“Hong Shao Yu.”

“Yeah! That’s it. You used to go batty for it.”

“I can’t believe you remembered that.”

With a smile I put the truck into gear and we were on our way. As I drive the easy camaraderie between the two of us picks up right where it left off the last time we spoke. I worried that there might be some tension or painfully awkward silences, but the laughter comes easy and the conversation flows as normal but now with a quiet sexual electricity crackling between the words. After laughing at one of her corny jokes it was as natural as anything when I lay my hand over hers. She does not pull away.

The drive was surreal. Here I was taking Annie out on a date that, in another reality, really should have happened ten years ago. Before her troubles, before I met Sarah, what would our lives be like now had we done it? It was so strange to realize that we were, right now, doing the impossible and exploring the path not taken. Like magic it felt as if we had turned back the clock.

Before long we were on the freeway that would take us out to the affluent little bedroom community where our reservation awaits. I thought it prudent to do this out of the city in a place where there would be almost zero chance that we knew anybody so as to avoid any awkward questions in the future. But I didn’t appreciate until just this moment how much trying to keep this date on the down-low would make it feel like I was having an affair. Even thought I had my wife’s blessing and encouragement it was hard to shake the feeling that I was cheating on her.

“You’ve gone quiet.” Ann says, her hand lightly rubbing the back of my arm. “You’re thinking about her, aren’t you?”

“Uh, yeah.” I shake my head and chuckle. “That was something you did today. Making Sarah do all that stuff.”

“From all you told me about her I thought I’d lean into it and play along.”

“Well, believe it or not, I think she liked it.” I laugh.

“She did a good job.” She croons. “You are looking and smelling so good. I’ll have to thank her when this is all over.”

“I was spoiled rotten! I was supposed be the one sweeping you off of your feet, not the other way around.”

“Hey, I didn’t pay for any of it.” She quips. “You spoiled yourself.”

“Damn it!”

We laugh.

For the rest of the trip my wife is not mentioned again. In fact…for a just moment…I forget all about her role in this evening. It wasn’t until I was pulling into the parking lot near the swank steak and seafood restaurant and I saw Sarah’s car that it all comes rushing back to me. Fuck! I’d almost lost myself for a second there.

With me looking large and better than I ever had and every inch of Annie looking drop dead gorgeous the pair of us turn heads as we make our entrance into the fancy eatery. No head is turned more than that of the little blonde sitting alone at one of the more central tables. The night turns from surreal to downright otherworldly as I spot my spouse yet have to pretend not to see her.

Sarah was looking good tonight in a simple blue dress and pigtail. She had dressed up enough to blend in but not enough to stand out. Even in the dim light I could tell that she still wasn’t wearing any makeup. Whether by instruction or her own initiative she was doing all she could not to steal the luster from her queen. Try as she might though she couldn’t hide her beauty from these eyes. It took a monumental act of will not to march straight over and sit down across from her.

As the host seats us at the corner booth that I had reserved I could feel Sarah’s eyes following us. As we settle in across from each other Annie reaches out her right hand, I take it with my left. From the corner of my eye I catch Sarah squirming in her seat.

“This place is lovely.” Ann says.

“Never been here but it gets good reviews.”

“I assure you.” Says the waiter. “You will never have a finer meal. I’ll be right back with the menus.”

The moment the server was out of earshot Annie grins. “The petite blonde in the blue dress.” Without even turning her head she identifies Sarah. “Nice. She’s cute.”

“Wha…how!?”

“She’s the only woman eating alone.” She says with a smirk. “Plus I’ve never seen anybody trying so hard not to look while looking in my life.”

I chuckle. “Her or me?”

“Both.”

“I told you we’re new to this.”

“Y’all are adorable.” She pats my hand. “I just need to use the powder room. Be right back.”

“I’ll be here.”

Ann slips from the booth and whisks off to the washroom. I glance Sarah’s way to see that she was already on her phone. Bvvt. My phone buzzes in my pocket. I take it out to see the text my wife had sent.

‘SHE’S GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!’  Before I could even tap a reply the next one comes in. ‘I thought you said she was ugly!?’

“Your menus, sir.” The waiter says, setting the menus down on the table. “Can I start you with some drinks?”

“Give us a minute.” I wave him away. “I’d like to discuss it with the lady.”

“Of course.” He bows his head and hurries off to his next duty.

I look back down to the screen. ‘You two looks so…good!’ ‘I am SO jealous!’  Again she types faster than I ever could. ‘I LOVE YOU!’

‘Love you too.’  I text back just in time for Annie to reappear from the hall that lead to the washrooms. That had been quick.

Trying not to make it obvious both Sarah and I put our phones away. With a smile I watch Ann stroll back to me with a sexy sway to her hips. My brow rises as halfway back she detours to cut through the tables dotted through out the center of the room, a path that would take right by Sarah’s table. What the hell? I let out a breath of relief as she brushes past it without pause. As Ann nears she returns my smile. As she turns to take her seat across from me, moving out from between Sarah and I, I catch my wife staring at her table with wide-eyed disbelief. She suddenly slaps her hand on the table and slides it back to her. From off of her table she picks up what appears to be…a ring? Slowly she looks up to meet my gaze from across the room.

My eyes snap from her down to my left hand, the hand Annie had been holding before her powder room break, to see a pale indentation where my wedding ring had just been. I look up to Annie.

“There we go. Much better.” She says cheerily, oblivious to my stunned expression, as she wriggles down into her seat and starts browsing the menu. “Ooo, it all looks so good!”

Part 21