Chapter 13

On Thursday morning, Elizabeth took one look at Stan as he walked into the office and knew that her plan for him had worked, albeit not in the way she'd expected. He had a spring in his step, his face was open and content and he was whistling some tune or other.

She couldn't help smiling at Stan when he sat down, the same beatific look still on his face.

"You had a good night and all went well, I see," she told him.

"I had a great time, thanks, Elizabeth!" he replied. He told her about the date. Under questioning, he provided details about her dress, how she had arranged her hair... before he knew it Elizabeth had a complete description of the date, right up to them leaving Tennants.

"So, anything happen after?" she asked, sweetly. On seeing Stan's slight frown, she added quickly, "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just living vicariously, you know."

"That's okay, Elizabeth. We had a cup of coffee, then I left. Nothing more." 'This time! But it was close, ' he added silently.

"Any more plans?"

A goofy smile on his face, he answered, "We're going out again tomorrow. Dunno where, yet. What about you?"

With a glint in her eye Elizabeth answered, "James came around after work yesterday to mow the lawn. I asked him in for a glass of wine afterwards." James was a guy who'd retired early, was five years younger than Elizabeth and was definitely smitten, Stan knew. They'd been 'doing a tap-dance' around having some sort of relationship for ages.

"Are you going to let him get closer than just 'interested', or are you going to keep him dangling?" Stan asked her. Elizabeth actually blushed. Stan was amazed as he'd never seen the normally very self-assured lady become embarrassed. She said, quietly, "I asked him to stay over."

"Oh... Oh!" Stan was surprised, but he recovered and continued, "Er, okay — things went well, I assume?" with a smirk.

"Enough! Yes. I'm seeing him again tomorrow, too. He's taking me out to dinner."

"Good. I always like my Elizabeth to have fun."

"Your Elizabeth?" she growled.

"Yes, and don't forget it!" he laughed.

At lunchtime, Stan went to find Anne. Unfortunately, Anne also went to find Stan! There were ten minutes of finger pointing and "I just saw him" and "I just saw her" before they finally caught sight of one another.

Stan was wearing his usual plain shirt and trousers, this time grey and black, respectively. Anne had a blouse and wrap-around skirt, one light-, the other darker-brown. But her hair was up and the pendant that Stan had bought was on prominent display.

Stan saw Anne's face light up with a brilliant smile when she saw him. He realized his own face was similarly smiling. Together they walked into the canteen. Anne picked up a salad. Stan opted for the meat-pie and potatoes that was on offer.

Normally, Stan ate with a group from the Test department while Anne ate with some of her own colleagues. Today they grabbed a table for themselves. They sat together, reaching for their cutlery simultaneously, starting in on their meals with occasional glances up from concentrating on the food before them.

After a couple of minutes, Stan noticed something. Neither of them had said a word. He searched for something. The weather? No! Football? No! Music... Yes! Try music.

"I had a look at your bookshelves last night, Anne, but I never noticed your music collection. What sort of things do you like?" he asked.

Anne contemplated while chewing on a new potato. Finally, she said, "Bits and pieces. I'm a child of the eighties, so I love Madonna. One of my favourite songs for a long time was the one from 'Top Gun'. You know, Take my Breath Away. I love Queen, Freddie was great. More recently, I've come to like some of Elton John's stuff.

"I don't much like what they now call dance music, but I have to tell you even that's got something at the right time and place. Of course there's a lot of classical ballet music that I came to love while at school. I suppose that, in the end, I don't categorise music, I just like it or don't like it."

Stan, munching away on his meat pie, thought for a bit. Then he declared,

"Take my Breath Away was by Berlin. The rest of the album it's on, Count Three and Pray, is actually quite different. Madonna can be very, very good, or pretty awful. You're right about Queen, of course. Elton John? Well, if you put out as much as he's done, some will be poor, some will be good.

"That's a killer test you've just passed," he finished with a grin. "Our music tastes have enough in common for us to be together!" Anne threw a piece of cucumber at him.

"Well then, I'm so glad to have passed your test," she said caustically. "What sort of films do you like?"

"Romances, comedies, action films, war films — pretty much anything except straight horror. Even then I can sometimes get it — Texas Chainsaw Massacre was actually quite funny, although it certainly made one jump at times. Straw Dogs was wonderful. Both of those are so old, though. Most of the modern horror stuff is just slash, with little or no plot, it seems to me," Stan said, immediately.

"Good," said Anne. "I know we were going to wait until tomorrow, but I want to be with you tonight. So lets go to a movie!"

"What's on?" Stan asked, caught by surprise.

"I don't know," replied Anne. "We can check on the net. Hurry up! We can use my PC: choose a film and book the tickets at the same time."

So, the two trooped off back to the lab. Once there, they hunted for the website of the cinema in the town, finally choosing Prime with Uma Thurman. "A romance, I said I liked them," was Stan's comment. Anne was pleased as well.

That evening Anne called round to pick up Stan in her blue sports car. Stan wore a simple but clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt, with a light woollen sweater in case it was colder when they came out of the cinema later. Anne honked the horn outside his house, and Stan hurried out the door to get to her car before his neighbours complained.

As he climbed into the car Stan looked over at the blonde in the driving seat. Anne was wearing a black wraparound skirt and red v-necked top, cut conservatively yet still emphasising her figure.

Grinning like a thief, Anne gunned the engine and took off, heading for the town. Scant minutes later they were at the cinema. Anne threw the MX-5 into a parking spot with panache and skill.

"You enjoyed doing that a lot, didn't you?" asked Stan through a rather tight grin. It wouldn't be very macho to reveal the anxiety he'd felt during that ride!

"Yup!" Anne replied. "I don't throw my car around very often, but it's fun sometimes."

Stan crooked his arm and Anne slid hers through it. Together they walked into the cinema, bought tickets, drinks and popcorn, then found the screen showing their film.

Stan wasn't actually too interested in the movie, to be really honest about it. He liked Uma Thurman as a fine actress, and the film was more than okay, but what interested him was the woman sitting next to him, her hand in his. It was a simple intimacy, yet for Stan it was an incredible feeling. He felt every nerve in his left hand afire at her touch. Stan tried to pay attention to the movie, he really did! But if he'd been asked for a critical review afterwards, he'd have been hard-pressed for words.

Anne, for her part, thought that the film was fun in a superficial way, but that the heat of Stan's hand in hers, the occasional glance he'd make at her, the way his body was twisted slightly towards her all felt far more compelling.

The film finished, the credits started to come up. Anne habitually stayed to watch the credits; a lesson learned when one film she'd seen had a 'blooper reel' at the end. So when Stan stood, he found that his date didn't. Momentarily at a loss, Stan sat once again. Anne turned to him and asked, "Did you want to leave?"

"No, we're okay, we can stay here as long as you want," he replied.

They went back and forth for a couple of rounds, then Stan, wisely, shut up.

On the way home Stan wanted to think about whether or not to try for a kiss, but Anne once again sent the car flying through bends and into gaps only she appeared to think were big enough. Stan couldn't think as she threaded her way through the traffic, so they arrived at his house with him quite distracted.

Anne, on the other hand, knew what she was doing. With the car stopped, she unclipped her seat belt and leaned over. As she did so, Stan became aware for the first time that Anne had taken advantage of her smaller cup size — she'd gone without a bra and her nipples were quite visible through her shirt.

She gave Stan a kiss, then she leaned back into the seat and said, softly, "See you then Stan. Tomorrow!" There was a wealth of promise in that one word.

Stan looked at Anne in the same way a rabbit looks at an oncoming truck. "Go on, Stan. Shoo!" she told him, softly, and Stan shook himself and opened the car door. After getting out he leaned back into the car and said, "Till tomorrow, then," and closed the door. Anne waved, gunned the engine and drove off, leaving Stan waving back.

On Friday, at lunchtime, Stan and Anne once again ate together. Neither made much in the way of small talk, they were, instead, deep inside their heads.

Stan emerged from his reverie, thought of something, and asked...

"Anne?"

"Yes, Stan?"

"Where are we going tonight? We haven't discussed it."