Mandy’s Man

She glanced at him as he brushed his hand across the unshaven stubble of his face, and felt the urge rise within her to slap that same face. Right here, in the Full Glass wine bar and in front of everyone, Mandy wanted to smack him hard enough to knock his stubble off! Losing track of what Cherry was saying to her, Mandy focused on trying to hear the conversation taking place behind her friend’s shoulder.

“I don’t know what I’m doing next week,” Mandy overheard him admit to his friend Paul, “I’ve had an offer to take Lizzy out as part of a double date, but I don’t know,” he said miserably, shaking his head.

‘Decisions, decisions,’ Mandy thought to herself, ‘so many women, so little time! Arrogant pig!’

He hadn’t looked at her yet tonight, even though she was sure she would have caught his eye by now. Adjusting her low-cut top, self-consciously pulling it up a little more, her eyes flicked over his body. He must have come straight from work, as he still wore all but the tie from his dark suite. His top two shirt buttons undone, she remembered his musky taste as her lips had explored his chest.

“Are you going to talk to him or just undress him from here?” Cherry teased.

The question caught her off-guard. “Huh?”

“Him,” Cherry discreetly nodded over her shoulder. “You’re obviously not listening to me so why don’t you go and talk to him?”

Mandy stammered, “Oh, I, er-”

“You never just go for it! You can’t just ignore each other for the rest of your lives. You have all the same friends, go out to all the same places, and I can see you’re getting hot and bothered at the sight of him, for Heaven’s sake –you’re almost drooling! So why don’t you just go over there?!”

Mandy looked down, away from her friend’s enthusiasm. What Cherry did not know was that Amanda had already been over there, that in fact she’d been a lot further. Only since going with him, since giving herself to him and naively thinking it would mean something to him, he had ignored her entirely. Cherry would call her a chicken for not confronting him about this, for not calling him on just using her for a night’s pleasure, but what could she do – as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t bring herself to cause a scene in front of all their friends and risk humiliating herself, and what else was there? Chase him down to try and re-kindle a relationship with him from the embers of their passion, portraying herself as some sort of desperate stalker? No. Amanda had decided that where she had made the first move, it was now up to him to continue things. She had gone to him, so now it was his turn to come to her.

Mandy looked up again, “I can’t speak to him.”

Cherry pouted for just a second before she announced, “I’ll do it for you then.”

Before Mandy could stop her, Cherry had spun on her heal and interrupted Rob’s conversation with Paul.

“Sorry guys, Rob could we borrow you for a second?”

“Ah, sure,” he answered, a little confused.

As Rob stepped to the two women, Cherry slipped around him and hooked Paul’s arm, “Actually, I need to borrow you,” she said coyly, and left Amanda and Rob standing awkwardly together.

As Cherry and Paul disappeared Mandy’s eyes ricocheted from them to Paul, watching as her secret one-time lover became uncomfortable. He brushed his palm over the flick of his parting before his eyes climbed up from her feet and locked onto her accusing gaze.

Mandy smouldered. She wanted to tell Rob off for not calling her or trying to see her. He had been cold and disinterested in her, ignoring her after what she thought had been a intimate night of shared secrets and open desires. But something about the way he looked at her now calmed her temper and made her bite her tongue.

He obviously wanted to say something to her, but he was nervous, hesitating. His hope-filled eyes did not suggest an apology was trying to escape his lips, but something else, something far more important was seeking to get out. At last his mouth opened, but he froze. Mandy waited, on a knife edge of frustrated anger and evanescent hope, before Rob let out a long, sad sigh and turned away from her. He took one step before Mandy cried out louder than she had meant to, “Stop!”

Feeling as though he’s just stepped on a landmine, Rob looked around and saw that a few people were watching them now, distracted by Amanda’s cry. He looked down at her hand on his arm and then turned back to face her.

“Don’t you have anything to say to me?” she demanded.

The crowd watched and Rob could feel their eyes smothering him with expectation, as a jury awaiting to hear the defendants case.

“Y-yes!” he admitted passionately, “I do have something to say to you. I’ve wanted to say this for a long time, and I was going to tell you on the phone but you never called me back, so I thought you weren’t interested.”

“I never called you back?!” Mandy echoed in outrage.

“No! I called you twice, both times leaving a message, but you ignored me. What was I supposed to do – chase you down like some sort of mad stalker?”

Instantly Mandy remembered the two messages she had accidentally deleted before hearing. The unknown number had been Rob’s?! Her heart dropped into a rollercoaster car which began doing loops around her stomach. The look on her face must have revealed her guilt, because Rob seemed to have found new courage and he continued on.

“I wanted to tell you that I’d had the greatest night of my life. That I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you... and that all I want now, is to be with you.”

Mandy covered her mouth with her fingers to suppress the incredible joy ready to explode out of her.

Rob continued his verbal crusade, “But you ignored me and that hurt, and now you’re acting as though this is all my fault somehow, like I owe you an apology. Well-”

Mandy cut Rob off as she flung herself into his arms, pressing her lips onto his and with a squeak of thrilled passion she kissed him until she was certain he knew how she felt about him.

Cheers and applause broke out around them until finally their lips parted. Mandy and Rob smiled excitedly at each other as only new lovers can, before flicking their eyes around the room. A moment later they slinked off toward the exit, as if no one was watching them, and a wide-eyed Mandy looked over her shoulder shooting a huge smile back at Cherry.

Paul’s head hung to one side and he leered at Cherry, “You wanted me for something?”

“Oh, in your dreams, big boy!”

Paul smiled cheekily back at her and confessed, “Every night!”