"Oh, really?" Celeste interrupted gleefully. If she were a cartoon character, her eyes would be bugging out and popping out of her head on springs. "How do you know he's a great cook?"
"After the gym we went back to his place and he made me dinner."
Celeste sighed and leaned back in her chair. "This is why I have to live vicariously through you. I just went home and heated up leftovers for my husband."
I laughed at Celeste's disgusted expression. "It was amazing."
"How amazing? Clothes dropping to the floor amazing?"
"Celeste!" I was scandalized by her bluntness and I couldn't help reddening from the accuracy of her statement.
"Ah ha!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "I knew it! Nothing wrong with that, honey. You're young. You're allowed to have fun."
"That's exactly what I'm looking for. Fun. Jackson seems to be looking for the same thing, so it's a perfect fit."
Celeste frowned. "He told you that? That he was just looking for some fun?"
"No, but my roommate has been friends with him for years. She knows him pretty well so she filled me in on the types of relationships he looks for. And he looks for the no-strings attached kind, which is good with me."
"Did they ever date? Your roommate and Jackson."
"They went out on a few dates when they first met, but that was years ago. They realized that they were better off as friends."
Celeste looked unconvinced but her phone started ringing and she wheeled back to her cubicle to answer it.
I went back to my emails when I heard my cell phone beep inside my desk drawer. I pulled it out to see that I had a text from Jackson. I felt giddy as I opened it.
How's New York's most up-and-coming marketing executive's day going?
Good. How's the city's most sought after trainer's day going?
Average. It started out amazing, but now I'm just counting the minutes until Friday.
I giggled like a schoolgirl, happy that Celeste wasn't around to see me grinning so foolishly.
I'm looking forward to Friday too. Thanks for the wonderful dinner last night.
No problem. Thanks for an incredible evening. And an amazing morning. I like waking up next to you.
Heart-wrenchingly sweet things just seemed to roll off Jackson's tongue. Well, his fingers anyway, since he was texting. It was hard to keep a clear head when he said those kinds of things to me.
I like waking up next to you too.
I hit send before I could change my mind, a little shocked at my own boldness. I wasn't used to laying bare my feelings. I wondered if I felt freer to express myself because I knew this wouldn't be a long-term relationship.
Call me when you get home from work, even if it's late.
Okay. Talk to you later.
I forced myself to put my cell phone back in my desk. I didn't need to be tittering like an idiot all day, checking my phone constantly to see if I had a text message from Jackson.
Fortunately, the day was busy and I didn't have a moment to spare to think about Jackson. As I had anticipated, I worked late and didn't get home until nine-thirty. The apartment was empty when I got home and I changed quickly into shorts and a t-shirt. Janet and I had ordered dinner delivered while we worked so the only thing left to do was call Jackson.
As I lay in bed, listening to the phone ringing, I started getting nervous. Even though I had done the most intimate of things with Jackson, we had only met a few days ago. I still felt jittery just thinking about his face above me, looking at me with passion and desire.
"Emma." Jackson's voice was bright, as if he were happy to hear from me.
"Hi, Jackson." I paused, unsure what to say next. "How was your day?"
"It was okay, nothing earth-shattering. That was reserved for last night."
I laughed, feeling some of the tension drain away from me. "You're going to give me an inflated ego if you keep saying things like that to me."
I could practically hear Jackson grinning through the telephone. "That's not the only thing inflating when we're together."
I groaned. "That's so corny."
"Okay, enough of my lame come-ons," Jackson said laughing. "How was work? Did you just get home?"
"Yeah, it was tiring but I'm still enjoying it. Fortunately, we got a lot done today so I don't have to work late tomorrow."
"Great! Can I pick you up tomorrow at six-thirty? That way, we'll have enough time for dinner before the play. It doesn't start until nine."
"That should be fine, but don't you need to rehearse or something beforehand?"
"Nah. We still have rehearsals every now and then during the weekdays, but it's pretty sporadic since the show is running now."
"Before I forget, did I leave my skirt at your place?"
"Yup. I liked the way it looked on my floor."
"There you go again," I said laughing. Jackson was irrepressible. "Can you bring it tomorrow?"
"Why would I do that?" Jackson asked slyly. "It's an excuse to get you over to my apartment again."
I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. "I don't need an excuse to want to come over to your place again."
"Ah, I'm happy to hear that. Let's just say I'm holding onto your skirt as leverage."
I smiled at Jackson's playfulness. "If you say so. How many people did you train today?"
Jackson regaled me with funny stories about his day, from the client who refused to ride the stationery bike because it was against her vow of chastity to another client who spritzed perfume on herself every five minutes to dilute the smell of sweat, giving everyone a headache around her.
Jackson seemed genuinely interested as he asked me about the details of my day, and about what I was working on at Mass. It was easy to talk to him. He was a good listener and made me laugh. It felt good to have someone to tell the details of my day to, from what I ate for lunch to the scandalous things Celeste said to me. It had been a while since I had someone to talk to like this. Sean and I had stopped sharing details long before we broke up, seemingly just living side by side without much interaction.
I looked at my alarm clock, surprised that we had been on the phone for almost two hours.
"It's almost midnight," I said. "I need to go to sleep or I'm going to be the walking dead tomorrow."
"Alright. I'll be at your place tomorrow at six-thirty. See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow," I echoed. I waited for Jackson to hang up but there was just silence. I wasn't sure if he was still on the line.
"Hello?"