Elite (2 page)

The thing that bothered Daniel the most was that Jordan, being a beautiful woman, had no problem catching the eye of equally attractive men – men even more ruggedly handsome than himself. In fact, Daniel sometimes wondered why Jordan found him so attractive. She was one of those girls to whom a hard body was a big plus. She expected it of herself and expected it of her male counterpart. Daniel was convinced he had to have been in the worst shape of all the men Jordan had been with. He was by no means fat, or even soft. He got his exercise in when he could. But he was no Matthew McConaughey. Those were the types that always caught Jordan’s eye. In some respects, it made him feel good that she found his personality so sexy that he didn’t need a six-pack to keep her attention. Deep down though, he longed for that chiseled physique that would turn women’s heads and make it impossible for Jordan to keep her hands off of him, like the guys she had slept with.

Three years was an incredibly long time to go without sex, but Daniel was far from a prude. Sex was one of his favorite subjects, and it was incredibly frustrating living without it. But he knew random hook-ups could not satisfy him. That wasn’t the type of experience he was looking for anymore.

He unlocked his phone and read the message:

“Guess what!!”

He hit reply and responded, “What??” The use of two question marks was intended to match the enthusiasm she had shown in her text by using two exclamation points. He wished he had thought of something more sarcastic and witty to respond with, but the recollection of their relationship, or rather the lack
thereof, had exhausted him. Or maybe it had been the long day at work he had just finished.

A minute later he received a response:

“I’m going to be in Chicago next week!”

He smiled,
then paused. It had been about three months since he had last seen Jordan at Ball State’s homecoming. Three months that now felt like almost a year. He knew she would insist on not sleeping together while she was in town – she always did. But just seeing her face – and body for that matter – would be enough to make his next few months. And if he was lucky he might just be able to persuade her to engage in some intense making out and maybe even a little light petting. Yes, it would be a relief just to see her again.

“YESSS!
Can’t wait to see you!”

Chapter 2

It was one of the longest, most stressful weeks Daniel could remember. Work had been very slow, which only made it drag on. It was probably for the best seeing as he was also experiencing an incredible lack of motivation. Every call to a client or invoice sent felt like a chore. All he could think about was spending a night with Jordan.

He had planned it all out. Her train was scheduled to arrive at 6:12pm. He would meet her at the train station and together they could head over to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The Cheesecake Factory was Jordan’s favorite restaurant in the city. They would have dinner, along with a few adult beverages, and then bring a couple pieces of cheesecake and maybe a twelve-pack of beer back to his apartment for a nightcap. He had imagined the way it would all play out at least a hundred times in his head. It was perfect.

It being Friday, most of the sales people at the station did their best to slip out early, which meant that Daniel was able to walk out right at five. His apartment was further south, beyond the train station, but he still had over an hour to kill before Jordan’s train was due to arrive. He estimated it would take him around forty minutes to walk to the train station from work, so he decided to start walking. He had planned - like every other detail of the day – on going straight from work so he had packed a change of clothes with him. It wouldn’t have been an issue for him to be wearing his work clothes when he met Jordan, in fact it may have made him appear even more attractive, but
he felt more comfortable in street clothes. He packed his best pair of jeans along with an argyle sweater. Some of his friends liked to call him an old man for wearing argyle, but he liked it. Whenever he went shopping for clothes, something about the cascading diamond design always caught his eye.

As he walked through downtown there was no doubt it was Friday evening. The streets were alive with a variety of souls accompanying him on the street. Many of them were business people. Most were rushing home from work, anxious to get there weekend started, while others made their way into one the multitude of bars the city had to offer for an end-of-the-week libation to take the edge off after a hard work week.

The rest were a mix of college kids done with classes for the week and out in search of a good time; hardcore shoppers on their way to the Miracle Mile, anxious to spend someone’s hard earned money; and out-of-towners just arriving for a weekend getaway to the Windy City.

Daniel felt the rush of excitement flowing through his body as he realized he was only an hour away from spending the weekend with who he considered the most amazing woman on Earth. There was no one he’d rather spend the evening with.

His estimation was proven almost exactly right when he walked through the doors of the train station at 5:44. He still had almost a half hour before Jordan was scheduled to get there so he decided to head over to the gift shop to buy a drink. He really didn’t want a drink, but it seemed like the best way to kill time. He wasn’t much in the mood for a sugary soda, so he settled on an Arnold Palmer and found a bench to rest on.

As he sat down he was reminded of just how far his walk from work had been. It felt good to rest his legs for a while. He pulled out his phone and lit up the screen – 5:56. Well that hadn’t killed much time.
He still would have to wait another sixteen minutes until Jordan’s train arrived.

Another rush of adrenaline struck – 16 minutes. In just 16 minutes he would watch her walk of that train.

Which train? He hadn’t even thought to check which platform her train would come in on. He got up to check the arrival monitors on the wall. 6:12pm from Indianapolis – Platform Five. By the time he found a place to sit and wait near Platform Five he only needed to wait another eight minutes before a train rolled up and the sound of clashing lightsabers let him know he was receiving a text message.

“I’m
heeeere!”

Daniel felt a mile-wide smile form on his face. He took a quick look around to make sure no one was looking at him as if he were out of his mind. He felt stupid for having such a thought – realizing that no one around even cared about his existence, let alone the idiotic smile on his face. So he turned his attention to the train, trying to put himself in a position where he could see the door to every car, not sure which one she would be disembarking from.

He could hear his heart pounding in his ears and feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He was both incredibly nervous and excited at the same time. It was the same rush he got when the Cubs took a lead into the bottom of the ninth. These were the moments he lived for.

Just then, he saw her climb down from one of the cars near the rear of the train. She was just as beautiful as he remembered. She had changed her hair color – she was always changing her hair color. Last time he saw her it was brown with blonde highlights. Now it was a dark auburn. Of course there was no telling what the name of the color was on the box – there were so many it was impossible to keep track – but he considered it a dark auburn. Regardless, it looked great on her.

The rest of her was exactly as he had remembered. She had an incredible smile, made all the more beautiful when her big blue eyes accompanied her mouth in the act. He had always told her that he loved the way her eyes smiled, and she had never completely understood what he meant, but there was an extra glow to them when she smiled. It was enough to make his heart leap. She was so incredibly beautiful.

She spotted him right away and his eyes followed her the entire way as she walked over to him. Her body moved almost flawlessly as she walked. God he loved that body – every inch of it. It was perfect. And when it was put into motion, there was no greater sight.

She was wearing black leggings and a grey sweater that extended down to the middle of her thighs.
Just a little too low
, Daniel thought. From the female perspective however, it was obviously the classy decision.

When she was only a few steps away she took a couple of extended strides, set her bag down beside her and threw her arms around Daniel. He returned the embrace and squeezed as hard as he possibly could. She smelled wonderful.

Daniel was just over six feet tall, and wasn’t exactly sure how tall Jordan was, but he always loved the fact that the top of her head lined up perfectly with the bottom of his nose when they hugged. It seemed rather creepy when he thought about it in those terms, but her hair always smelled heavenly and felt so soft on his skin. He could never get tired of that hair in his face – no matter what color it happened to be that month.

After a healthy embrace that had lasted at least five full seconds, she loosened her grip and he followed suit, although he would have gladly spent another hour standing there with her firmly in his arms.
She stepped back and looked up at him with a smile, those big blue eyes putting Daniel in a trance.

“Hi!” Jordan said, breaking the silence.

“Hey,” Daniel managed to reply, his faced stricken with permagrin. “You hungry?”

It took the pair about half-an-hour to get to the restaurant by way of the L. Daniel wanted to take a cab so that Jordan wouldn’t have to drag her bag around town, but she insisted on saving money and taking the subway instead. Jordan was always looking for ways to save a buck, even if it meant sacrificing a little convenience. It drove Daniel crazy sometimes. He had always believed that sometimes one needed to splurge a little and enjoy the finer things in life – that it was simply good for your health – but he could never convince Jordan of that. If she didn’t mind riding the L, neither did
he.

When they made their way down the steps of the John Hancock Center on Michigan Avenue, they could see that there was already a crowd gathered outside on the steps – their sacred buzzers clenched in their hands, awaiting the moment it would start vibrating and a ring of red LED lights would illuminate, alerting them that their table was ready and they would have to wait no longer.

By the number of people standing around Daniel estimated the wait to be at least an hour long. He was close. Luckily being only a party of two the wait was a mere forty-five minutes. He knew that amount of time would fly by with Jordan at his side, so they made their way across the dimly lit restaurant with its almost Doctor Seuss-esque décor with the intention of enjoying a healthy libation at the bar while they waited.

As fortune would have it, a couple at the bar was in the midst of celebrating the awakening of their precious buzzer and got up from
their chairs, rendering them vacant. Daniel and Jordan immediately solved that dilemma by claiming the two chairs for themselves.

“Three-one-two please,” Jordan said to the bartender, requesting the local Chicago brew. There were a great number of things Daniel loved and appreciated about Jordan, but her love of good beer was near the top.

The bartender turned his attention to Daniel, awaiting his order.

“I’ll have a Guinness, thanks.”

“A Guinness, huh?” Jordan asked, in a semi-mocking tone.

“You know it’s my favorite beer,” Daniel replied with a smirk.

“I know, I’m just teasing you.”

That
may have been his favorite thing about Jordan. She had always insisted that he was the more creative and witty of the two of them, but she didn’t realize just how witty she herself could be. And she was never afraid to use it to mock him. Some may have found it annoying, which was probably why she was always apologizing for it, but Daniel loved it. He
appreciated
it. And he certainly never tired of it.

The bartender was back with the two beers rather quickly, and Daniel had a twenty out, ready to pay for the two drinks. He knew that if he didn’t act quickly Jordan would never allow him to buy both, and he very much wanted to.

It would prove all-for-not however, for as the bartender brought his change Jordan was already handing Daniel the cash for her beer. She just couldn’t let it go. Since they first met Jordan had never felt right about letting Daniel spend any amount of money on her. He was always happy to do it, but she had a lot of personal pride, and didn’t want other people doing her any unnecessary favors, such as paying for a cab and buying drinks. He had the money to do it, but that didn’t matter to Jordan. She could take care of herself.

“Just leave the tip,” he told her, hoping to compromise.

“Fine.” She knew he could be just as stubborn as her in these situations, and she set a few dollars down on the bar for the bartender.

They sipped their beers and made small talk at the bar while they waited for their buzzer to ignite. They mostly talked about work, family, and Jordan told him about the creepy old woman who kept staring across the aisle at her on the train. Daniel had just finished his beer and Jordan was already looking to order a second when the sound of vibrating plastic on wood filled his ears and he saw the little red lights begin to dance around the face of their buzzer.

He looked at his watch. If he had placed an over-under bet on the estimated wait time he would have taken the over, and he would have lost. It had been only forty minutes since they received their trusty buzzer – a forty minutes that had felt to him no longer than twenty.

They made their way from the bar back over to the hostess stand, where a nice young lady named Jen proceeded to lead them back across the restaurant to a table directly adjacent to the bar area. After they had concluded their Bilbo Baggins inspired adventure they were in their seats, ready to order another round of drinks.

“Let’s get a bottle of wine,” Daniel proposed, hoping Jordan would accept. Nothing like a little red wine to get a girl loosened up.

“Hmmm,” Jordan considered, biting her bottom lip while perusing the drink menu. Daniel held his breath and mentally crossed his fingers, hoping the next word out of her mouth would begin with a “
yeh” and end with an “es.”

“Okay, what kind should we get?” She agreed.

Daniel smiled as looked down at the wine list. He really didn’t know very much about wine. He knew which were red, which were white, and which were the biracial wines known as blush. He also thought he knew the dry from the fruity, though he was never completely confident as to what exactly that meant – but he thought he did. As far differences in taste according region however, he hadn’t a clue.

He opted for the strategy of selecting the third least expensive red wine that he knew he liked.
“How about the California Cabernet?”

He waited while Jordan found it on the wine list she had in front of her. He knew she knew about as much about wine as he did, and she was probably only checking for the price, making sure he wasn’t attempting to buy some over the top fancy bottle. Daniel had to admit, that did sound like a stunt he might try and pull. Not tonight however.

“Okay. Sounds good,” she said, setting down the drink menu and picking up the dinner menu.

The waiter came and went, and went and came, bringing them their wine and taking their food order. The two laughed and made more small talk over their wine and their meals, discussing things such as the TV shows they’ve been keeping up on and new movies they’ve recently seen, as well as the upcoming releases they are both looking forward to. Jordan also informed Daniel that there was a Cheesecake factory near her in Indianapolis.