Chapter #5A Date With the Eager Redhead by: Azazel-8   Your ability to muster a response was momentarily lost as you stared up at this redheaded beauty, her tall athletic frame looming over you as she looked down with a pleasant and somewhat hopeful smile, bright green eyes fixated but not in an unnerving manner. From your perspective you often had difficulty gauging the height of girls, but you’d guess that this newcomer was at least six feet tall, towering over the smaller Anna who had led her to your table. A tight red polo shirt exposed the well-toned muscles of her arms and emphasised the above-average size of her chest, while a pair of dark-grey semi-formal slacks hugged her toned legs and clung to her notably expansive posterior.
With her long red hair pulled into a tight ponytail, offset slightly to hang over one shoulder, it was clear that she had made an honest attempt to look presentable for the occasion, which put you somewhat at ease. Enough so that you finally got your thoughts together enough to remember your manners and stammer out a response. “Y-Yes. I’m Anthony. Anthony Little. It’s nice to meet you miss…” You trailed off, not knowing this girl’s name, but it appeared you’d said the right thing as her smile grew even wider and she quickly dropped herself into the seat closest to your perch. The table shook a little from the impact, but it was no great inconvenience as the redhead beamed down at you. “Hi! I’m Alex. Alex Towers. Thanks for showing up. I was really worried that you’d be a no show.”
Evidentially happy that she’d done her job and united you with your date, Anna took her a leave with a small wave, and you used the distraction as Alex returned the gesture to gather your thoughts once more. It didn’t seem like this woman was going to grab you for something nefarious as you had feared, but you were a little concerned as to why she had feared you wouldn’t come. What didn’t you know? “No-no worries. I’m not the kind of guy who’d stand someone up like that. Not without at least meeting them first.” The redhead chuckled at that, the pleasant noise filling your ears as she set an elbow on the table and leaned in a little closer, her pale freckled face filling your vision as she smiled at you. “Well. I wouldn’t have really blamed you in this instance. Though I’m glad you didn’t.”
Before you could ask what she meant by that, Alex spoke again, unknowingly cutting you off. “To be honest though, I don’t know that much about you, other than you being the little brother of my twin sister’s friend. And I guess you don’t know that much about me either, so… maybe we could start by getting to know each other a bit. Cause I… I’m not just looking for a hook-up or something you know. I’d like if it we could actually get along.” She bit her lip at the end, clearly embarrassed as a faint blush stained her cheeks, and you couldn’t help but smile back. Honestly, you were relieved to hear that she was actually looking for a relationship, rather than some object, toy or pet. “Of course. I am nothing if not an open book. I’ll share my secrets so long as you share yours in turn.” You tried a wink at the end and it got the result you were hoping for as Alex giggled and her blush deepened.
With your immediate concerns put to rest, your conversation was pleasant and informative. You explained the terms of your internship, and the redhead appeared suitably impressed, giving you a little clap for your achievements. It turned out that Alex was a professional basketball player for your local team, the Valkyries, and 26 years old. Though you weren’t the most avid fan you’d seen a few highlights at least and wondered if you’d seen her before, though the redhead noted that she was far from the team’s star player. Your date’s twin sister Riley was good friends with Katherine, which did make you a little nervous, and she also had a tiny older brother, Cecil, and her mother, Julie. Though your date didn’t live at home anymore, it seemed that she still visited her family often.
You were engrossed enough in the discussion that you barely noticed when Anna returned to take your orders, nor when she came back again with your small coffee and sandwich, barely managing to return her friendly smiles as most of your attention remained fixed on Alex. It was pleasing to find that the tall girl actually listened to you and didn’t make the discussion all about herself, despite her obvious success in her field. She seemed suitably aware of the issues that were faced by tinies and how difficult it must have been for you to make it so far in the legal profession, admiring your goal of becoming a fully qualified solicitor to help others like yourself. While she loved him dearly, your date admitted that her own brother had never left their family home, nor shown any intention to do so. Though she felt that was at least partially due to her mom not wanting to let the boy out of her sight.
Of course, it helped that you didn’t share every detail of your life to date. You glossed over many of your more unfortunate experiences during high school and college, such as weeks of classes missed because you’d become a semi-permanent addition to your homeroom teacher’s wardrobe, a month spent as the lucky charm of the cheerleading team, padding out the chancellor’s chair when you should have been sitting your exams, or the hundreds of times you’d run afoul of Rebecca. The last thing you wanted to do was to give Alex the wrong idea of what constituted a happy memory for you, nor to give her reason to think you were dwelling on other girls rather than focusing on her beauty. It wouldn’t do to say that the one silver lining of the summer holiday you’d spent in Australia was that the oblivious blond who had kidnapped you as she visited her family was drop dead gorgeous.
Similarly, neither of you mentioned the recent controversies that had surrounded some basketball teams in the pro-league. Pretty much since the epidemic had begun, there had been controversy over the use of tinies to boost performance, most often as insoles for that extra bounce in each step, but often also as other pieces of clothing or accessories. All in the pursuit of that competitive edge. For years the league had attempted to ban such usage outright, but then Baker’s Law had changed all that. Rules restricting the use of tinies were now seen as violations of those tinies fundamental rights, and the league was forced to withdraw the ban almost overnight. Ever since, the use of so-called Performance Enhancing Tinies, or PETs for short, had skyrocketed, with most professional teams ‘employing’ at least several licensed tinies to boost the performance of their key players.
Dishearteningly the main controversy concerning the use of PETs wasn’t the wellbeing of the tinies being pounded underfoot or otherwise tortured with every match, but rather the imbalance that could be introduced to the game. Since the use of PETs was unregulated there was no limit on how many a give team could use, so that teams that could get their hands on more had an unfair edge. Officially of course, every PET needed to be a volunteer and needed to hold a valid Usage Licence, but you’d long suspected that some of the more successful teams had a fairly loose interpretation of what constituted a volunteer. It was some comfort that the Valkyries at least seemed above board. They did have PETs, but from what you knew it was only a few, and they at least seemed willing.
Having put aside those unpleasant thoughts, you found yourself pleasantly surprised by this date so far. You’d honestly expected that any woman Katherine set you up with would have ulterior motives, but it didn’t seem like Alex had anything of the sort. She just continued to engage you in pleasant conversation as Anna cleared away your plates and cutlery, making you wonder if your sister may have actually decided to turn over a new leaf in regard to your sibling relationship. Distracted as you were, you did still notice that the little diner was starting to fill up, and that several nearby women were looking around for tables, a few fixing their eyes momentarily on Alex as they noted her plate being cleaned away. As much as you didn’t want this to end, you were nevertheless about to say something when the redhead beat you to it, standing suddenly as her eyes glanced around the room. “I need to use the restroom quickly. When I get back…” She paused for a moment, biting her lip. “Maybe we can go for a walk?” You liked the idea of that and waved her off with a pleasant smile.
It was hard to believe that things were going so well. Of course, it was too early to say you were in love, but Alex was both highly attractive and incredibly nice, so you were pretty sure you’d hit the jackpot with this one. Already wondering at the possibilities, you allowed yourself to drift off into pleasant thoughts for a moment until the thump of approaching footsteps drew you out of it. A sudden shock of fear runs down your spine as you realise your distraction and look up to see…  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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