Happenstance and The Man In The Blue-Suit ~ Complete01:47 Jan 16 2013
Times Read: 861
Happenstance and The Man In The Blue-Suit
Chapter One
In the bathroom, Jeanine stopped a moment after applying another coat of gloss to her lipstick: “No more,” she thought, gazing at her reflected self in the mirror.
Her confidence showed and, her fine lingerie did not.
The black dress she wore plunged low at the front, her bra lifting and separating, to give an excellent emphasise, not constrain, her evident curves.
Running a brush through and up that she had laquered with hairspray, Jeanine shook her head, so producing the effect she wanted, styled yet wanton.
Jeanine left the bathroom, pulling on the chord that turned the light off and, made her way downstairs. In the hallway she stopped to look at the mirror…
Jeanine set the alarm then unlocked the front door, by the handle. She looked around, briefly wondering about whatever it was she had forgot. Jeanine could not recall what it was, so stepped outside, grasped the handle and closed the door immediately.
Then turning back, she walked down the small path to the gate and, taxi waiting on the other side.
She had her handbag coat and mobile, yet still there’d been that feeling. And, she decided to ignore it, “After all,’ she reminded herself, ‘”It’s a party, my first in ages!” So it was and, Jeanine had needs.
And that was something that Lydia had reminded her again and again.
She got in the car, giving the driver the address her friend had written down for her, as the office had closed early, for the holiday season.
As she had looking out the window into the night and, the night-dwellers, living for a Life she hardly understood now, she was aware of the taxi-driver, looking at her through his mirror. And, simply ‘coz she was out and about, she made a point of crossing her legs more than once, conscious that he got a flash of her stocking-tops and, a hint of flesh, everytime time she did.
And, such was her fun; Jeanine did not notice they took at least five, to ten minutes longer than they should have. But, she had enjoyed giving the show, as much as Amir with the long0bonnet had enjoyed it. So all was good.
She had left the car, paid her fair and smiled, as the lecherous fellow with dark skin, short-black hair and cheeky wide smile with white, very white teeth said to her, “Well I enjoyed the journey…”
“I know you did…’ she wanted to say as she walked up the short drive to the block of red-tiled low-rise apartments were the part was being held, with a balcony ouside with revellers there and … revelling noisly, to the sounds of Motown, filled the air.
And, less than half an hour later, Jeanine stared at the group of giggling women and, she downed her champagne wondering, ‘Just what do you call a group of women squawking away like geese?’
And, across the room the man in the blue-suit mouthed her answer, before she said: “Gaggle, a gaggle of teachers…”
She had already learned that one of the group was having her first night away from her newborn and, that for her, maternity leave was an irritant, as she wanted to be back at work, with her friends. And, she’d learned all that in less than quarter of an hour.
Jeanine sighed, took her mobile from her bag and checked the time. It was too early to leave and, besides, she’d not met anyone interesting, yet. And, Lydia had said there’d be interesting men here. She had said…
Suddenly she saw a fellow in a smart blue-suit, tightly knotted tie and button-down collar, watching the room, much as she was. He had dark, eyes and, dark hair, cropped near to the scalp and although he stood midst the crowded room, he seemed apart from it all, the partly, the people, everything.
Jeanine glanced to the large oval mirror in its ornate gilt frame and looked at the man in the blue-suit, watching the room of well-heeled people in the room with a particular fascination, taking notes on a spiral bound notebook, when he felt that no-one was looking.
Briefly she wondered what one might call a group of teachers, squawking away like geese? “Just what do you call them?” She asked aloud, looking at the small group of people in the one corner of the room.
She did not notice the man in the blue-suit mouth what passed through her mind, moments before looked at them and a group of women began giggling: “A gaggle.”
It was definitely appropriate,’ she mused, having learned that they were
Finally the boredom got to her and with a courage borne from the glasses of wine she had drunk as she dressed, Jeanine crossed the room, with two freshly poured glasses of champagne in her hands.
“It’s not bad, not gone flat and, I haven’t seem you drinking.” She began, then paused, in thought: “Ah, I didn’t think, you do drink, don’t you?”
The fellow’s dark eyes studied the smiling woman, her curves poured into a ‘little black dress’ and after a second or so, he acknowledged her, “Oh, I drink though rarely champagne; but I’d like the company… Now that I would appreciate.”
Jeanine placed the glass she held in her left hand down on a nearby bureau, then turned back to the fellow, in the blue-suit and she smiled.
“Well my company you have then, nice to meet you…” she told him.
And, for awhile they stood together, amidst a room of strangers, watching, as people-watchers do, just enjoying the others company as they did so.
After almost half an hour, Jeanine glanced sideways and then said, “You know, we still haven’t introduced ourselves, y’know?!
“Ah, that old convention,” the fellow in the blue-suit muttered, with just the merest hint of a grin to his face; “Well, the name’s Firman, hello…”
“Firman? Just Firman?” Jeanine queried as she took his hand.
“Yes,” he admitted, with a mocking sadness to his voice, as they shook hands and, very quickly Jeanine became very conscious of the strength he seemed to carry.
“My name’s Jeanine,” she told him, glancing down at Firmans hand, noticing how well his nails had been cared for. Jeanine liked that. And, she didn’t mind that he held her hand for longer than she’d initially expected. Nor did Jeanine expect to find his gaze once met, quite as arousing as it was. And, it was…
Jeanine liked his intense mix of latent power and curiosity. That and his slightly offbeat sense of humour, made Firman the one she wanted, tonight.
“Most meetings seem coincidence,” Firman told her, “but it’s the contention of some that these are more than that and, these seemingly random connections made are more than that, they are in fact determined happenstance…”
Jeanine looked at the fellow, an eyebrow arched. She found the fellow intriguing. And, his words, calmly spoken, seemed to make sense to her.
“That I can follow, but it hardly explains why you’re here now, at this party…”
The hint of a smile touched the man’s lips, a moment before he spoke, “Oh it does, you see I’m looking for those connections and, the possibilities… I mean…”
He turned to look at a couple to his left, “See them…?” He asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, she is a friend of his, but look at his eyes whenever she looks at someone else. He loves her. Yet, he hasn’t told her…”
“And, what makes you say that? She might know. She might be trying to make him jealous. She might…” Jeanine persisted, only to be uninterrupted, by the man in the suit.
“All true, of course… But, I’ve been watching them. Every once in awhile, she’ll sweep her hair back over her left ear, then turn to see if he notices her. When she sees that he does, she repeats the action. She is interested… But, neither of them has yet found that connection, yet.”
Jeanine was nonplussed.
“So you’re a people watcher?” She quizzed.
“In a fashion,” he answered enigmatically, “only in a fashion…there are behaviours to look for, patterns if you will and, interaction can provide the nodal start for these connections to be made…”
Jeanine was lost.
“Explain, please?” She asked.
“All around there are people seeking something, often sex is involved to some degree or another. Now you for example, you chose to make a connection, the moment that you crossed the room toward me, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Jeanine admitted.
“Well, what governed that behaviour? Might I ask?” He queried, head inclined a little toward hers, “Was it sex?”
Jeanine blushed and, for a moment the image of a deer caught in a car headlights at night came to her mind, as that was how she felt.
Jeanine blushed, her cheeks her neck and on her chest.
Even her nipples hardened. And, she felt very warm, ‘down below’…
Jeanine wanted the floor to open up, beneath her…
‘It was like… he knows what I’m thinking,’ she mused.
And, as Firman’s gaze returned back to the party Jeanine, adjusted her dress at the cleavage, pleased that his attention retuned to her and, her assets.
He had noticed… So, the dress was worth the effort: ‘Perhaps the lingerie was?’
“So Mister Researcher, how did you find this party?” She asked, in an attempt to change the subject.
“How do you find any party?” He asked, almost rhetorically, casting his eyes back and forth.
Jeanine smiled, as if in answer; although she knew not why.
“So tell me ‘bout the notes you’re taking?” Jeanine asked, moving nearer to Firman, paying attention to her hair, as she sipped at her champagne.
“I’m just collating notes is all; looking for those connections, like I told you; those nodal points that can act as a springboard, for either one possible future or another, dependant on those connections and, whether we make them, or not…” And, Firman realised he was rambling, telling the vivacious woman, with the moist-looking lips standing next to him things that he should not; not Now, not Yesterday.
“Ahem Mister Collator!” Jeanine coughed into her hand, drawing Firman from his reverie. And their eyes met, his dark, hers green and twinkling with merriment, that was only in part due to the champagne.
“So…” Jeanine began, reaching out and touching Firman’s left cheek gently: “You were talking about connections, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I was, wasn’t I?” Firman admitted, aware that his cheeks had flushed and felt quite warm.
“Hmm? Do you need some fresh air?” Jeanine asked, thinking ahead and, blaming the champagne.
“Yes, perhaps that what I need…” Firman muttered, as he allowed Jeanine to guide him through the crowd, toward the hallway and, the front door.
As she led the bid man, Jeanine smiled to herself thinking, ‘I know what I need.”
And, it was then that Lucie appeared from the kitchen doorway, her blottle bleach-blonde hair in disarray, as was her dress.
“Going already?” She asked, lipstick smudged.
“Yes,” Jeanine answered her friend, “I think I found what I was looking for…”
Hearing this, Firman looked out at the rain, that had continued to fall for the previous two weeks, ever since he had created the vortex.
He looked back at Jeanine as she talked to her friend and, her exquisite derriere and, he smiled. If the time-council wanted him to continue his studies, they could allow him some recreation.
And, if that meant it would rain a little longer, then so be it…
Chapter Two
With the party beind her, Jeanine walked behind the man in the dark blue suit, draping her left arm over his left shoulder and, her chin on his right shoulder.
“It’s raining,” she said to Firman, softly into his ear, quite unnecessarily.
“Yes, I can see…” he responded, his voice as low as hers had been.
“So, what do you want to do?” Jeanine asked of him, “the nights nearing it’s end and the young-un’s are pairing up, as they do…”
“I should…” Firman began..
Smiling, she suggested, “Observe?”
.
“No,” he retorted, turning his head a little, “I should go…”
He spoke with his lips scant millimetres from hers and, looking to her eyes, Firman could not help but ask, “Why, what do you think I should do?”
Her lips were moist and, Firman wanted to make a connection. He wanted to. But, he did not. Firman had come to observe and, other than that, he was lost.
And, Firman blushed.
“I should go…” he repeated, their lips nearer still; “I should…”
“And where should you go?” Jeanine asked, her soft lips brushing his. And Firman closed his eyes, wishing that he could see the next moment, after this. But, he could not do so. And his people knew that the connections were always had a consequence.
‘If they kissed…” He wondered, as they kissed and, his lips parted, for her insistent tongue that taught his how to battle, as it sought its capture and her hands caressed his back and buttocks, that tightened beneath the material of his suits trousers.
The kiss continued and the rain continued to fall. And suddenly bright headlights illuminated them, as a car turned in the road outside, the lit sign affixed to its roof proclaiming it to be a taxi.
A phone rang.
As they kissed, a phone in her bag rang and, Jeanine parted away from his lips, albeit reluctantly, her hands on his buttocks, as she looked to him and said, “Firman?”
“Yes…?” He replied in answer.
“It’s call-back. It’s the taxi company. They ring to let you know its here and…” her adrenalin was pumping and, her neclk felt warm, as she added, “it is. Here, I mean.”
“Your taxi?” He enquired, unnecessarily.
“Yes,” Jeanine answered, as her friend Lydia appeared at the kitchen doorway, a young man with her and, her make-up smudged.
“You going?” Lydia called out, “Parties just getting stated!”
And, she laughed at the young man’s mauling, as Jeanine pressed herself against the man in the dark blue suit and with a broad smile, she asked; “Are you coming?”
‘Involvement? Attachment? Problems, Pain?’ A myriad thought were illustrated through Firman’s dark eyes; yet his mouth supplied an answer that surprised even him, even after all his studies.
“Yes, I am… Jeanine. I’d like that,” He told the woman, who held his buttocks, just a little bit tighter than she had s few moments earlier, as she smiled up at him.
“Lydia,” she called to her friend, over Firman’s right shoulder, as he held her again, “that’s my car and, we’re going…”
“So you found what you were looking for?” Lydia called, as they left hand in hand and, Jeanine closed the door behind her.
Chapter Three
As the car turned in the street, doing a u-turn, Firman looked out the window, his stress level rising. He had been sent to this time, in this form, so that he could observe the connections that made people do as they did; the connections that led to their decisions. That had been his mission; so that his kind could ascertain what decisions had led to Man leaving the paradise that the Earth had become, after the last war and, then headed for the stars.
Yet, as he sat there in the back of the car with Jeanine, her left hand on his right knee, Firman began to reconsider his decision to join her; yet how could he have refused?
And while he deliberated on the half dozen scenario he built on what may transpire at the journey’s end, Jeanine sat smiling, just one scene in her head. She had started the evening with a degree of expectation. And, it had been realised; she had met a man, who she found attractive and, intrigued her.
After all this time without male company, she did have expectations of this meeting and, hoped that they would be fruitful.
They drove in silence, her right thigh pressed against his and, Firman’s arousal had grown, to match hers, much to his surprise. The body was new, yet obviously responsive, he had learned.
“Won’t be long,” Jeanine told him, stating the blindingly-obvious, as she rooted in her handbag for her house-key’s and mobile. ‘Sorted,’ she mused.
As the driver steered the taxi through the crowded city streets, Jeanine thought back. She had been many things to many people; yet thinking back, Jeanine concluded she’d rarely been herself.
Her late husband had often had his needs met, leaving Jeanine quite unsatisfied.
Now Jeanine had expectation of her own needs realised, having encountered a man she wanted to be with. And after all this time alone, tonight would be hers, she hoped.
Their eyes met, his dark, hers green and, twinkling with merriment and, it was no longer due in part to the champagne she’d consumed.
Jeanine was aroused and feeling flirtatious, in a manner she had not done so, since the sixth form. Not even her husband had known the woman as she intended the man in the blue suit to do.
Jeanine put her right hand to her mouth, as if to stifle the giggle that sought to escape and, Firman glanced over. And Jeanine blushed; she couldn’t help it.
She couldn’t help but picture her short and portly headmaster, white shirt stretched tight, worn with a tweed jacket, pipe in his small thin lips, with thin greased back grey hair and penetrating pale-blue eyes staring at her from behind fark rimmed pebble lens round glasses, that perched on the end of a stubby nose midst florid cheeks.
He’d sit there, elbows on the desk, hands clasped, forefingers straight, the fingertips pressed together, as if steepled, with a look of severe disapproval on his face.
And knowing what she planned, Jeanine found she needed to suppress more than a giggle. She wanted to laugh, with delight, at the idea of the headmaster’s disapproval of her intentions, for the rest of the night.
As Jeanine thought back to the past, Firman concluded that this happenstance had been intended. It was an emotional response to his present situation, but given his current form, it had to be expected.
“Is everything alright?” Firman asked, a note of concern to his voice, which surprised him; yet, he had found her manner, perturbing.
“Is everything alright?” Jeanine echoed, taking his right hand in her left and squeezing gently.
“Yes, is it?” Firman began, and then frowned, as she began to giggle as if she were a schoolgirl.
“Oh yes Firman, everything is fine…” Jeanine assured him, “My evening is going just as I hoped it might’ve…”
Again, Jeanine squeezed his hand, and then she asked, “Can you say the same?”
This time it was Firman who blushed, “Yes, I can…”
He added no more, after all; what else was there to say? They both knew why he was there. Their arousal was mutual and, the atmosphere heated.
Firman turned to Jeanine, allowing a warm smile the chance to spread across his normally stern face, “Believe me when I say I’ve not something like this…”
Placing her right hand to Firman’s left cheek, Jeanine returned his smile, “And, you think I have? Believe me Firman, you’ll be my first in years and…”
Firman listened to the silence that followed her response, Aware that there was so much more behind what she’d said.
And, at that moment the driver pulled up at the kerbside and killed the engine: “Okay folks, we’re here… time to get out… I gotta home to go to… and bed…”
Jeanine grinned, still looking at the man in the blue suit, her right hand now gently caressing between his legs, at the evidence of his desire, for her.
“And, so have we…” She told all in the car and, Firman gulped.
Then stepping out of the car, Jeanine paid the driver and took Firman’s hand in hers, as she opened the gate and led him down the path, toward the front door.
Rooting in her bag, Jeanine pulled out her keys and Firman watched as she struggled with the lock.
After a moment or so of amusement, he stepped forward, saying, “Let me…”
He took the keys and, with a steady hand Firman inserted the key and turned.
“Well,” Jeanine giggled, “I’m not going to make any jokes… although I can think of a few… for sure…”
Stepping into the hallway and turned to the hall, muttering over her shoulder, “I have to remember the key code… and…”
“You can’t remember it…?” Firman guessed.
Jeanine pressed keys on the alarm pad, then grasped the handle and closed the door, turning to look at firman with a smile on her face, “Oh, I remember the day I gave birth to the first of my children…” she said with a smile, her hands on her hips, as she looked into the mirror: “Damn boy’s labour was the worst of the three, but…”
She shook her hair, then looked at her reflected self once more, “Yes, not bad…”
All the time Firman watched, wishing for a moment, that he knew more of what was expected of him than he did.
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