Lunch and Learn, Part 1

Nick Russell and Kelly Scott

On the drive to Nick's house in the Glen, Kelly had, coincidentally, been thinking about the same thing as Nick. That first meeting of theirs. It had been rather strange how things had turned out that night.

First, they had sat on a huge sofa, watching Law & Order, which was actually one of Kelly's favorite shows. They'd argued, in a good-natured way, about the case being presented--whether or not the murderer was guilty, about the constitutionality of the issues surrounding the case. Each had been a little bit surprised by the other's interest in those things.

By the time the show ended, Kelly had not been startled at all to realize that Nick's arm was draped around her shoulders and that her head rested against him. As he flipped through the hundreds of satellite channels, he found an original Star Trek episode, and they settled in to watch, finding out that both liked this show too.

Somewhere in the middle of the show, they had relaxed to the point of lying down on the sofa, Kelly in front of Nick, his arm around her. After that, a movie came on, but Kelly never even remembered what it was. She had fallen asleep.

At 7:00 am she awoke, disoriented, not remembering where she was for a moment. Then, she realized she was still on the sofa. Still had Nick's arm around her, and he was asleep as well. Kelly turned very carefully, partly to keep from falling off and partly to keep from waking him.

Nick's other arm was beneath his head, and his soft brown hair had fallen partially over his eyes. He appeared worried about something in his sleep, several frown lines between his eyes. What had him upset? she wondered.

Kelly spent a few minutes not believing she was here. After all, she'd developed her first crush on Nick Russell when she was fourteen. Played his music all the time, put posters all over her walls. Even at that age, she'd dreamed of waking up in the same bed with him.

Now, here she was. Not in a bed, but on his sofa--having watched TV with him into the wee hours. She had a definite feeling that this was not where his other female guests found themselves after a night with him. Was she disappointed? No, she thought to herself. I've had a good time.

She'd reached out and brushed the hair away from his eyes, then used two fingers to gently try and smooth out those frown lines between his eyes. That was the point at which he woke up and smiled at her.