Apple pie and the art of seduction

Chapter 3: Did I say those words out loud?

After having closed the door, the girl made towards him pretty quick. Alex was still roleplaying in his head, but somehow all those words he had come up did not come out. She smiled at him as she made her way back towards the stairs, and all Alex could say was 'hi'.

She was about to start climbing the stairs again when Alex heard himself blurting out something else: 'Uhmm... sorry... I, er...' The girl paused and turned her head. Yes?

'I like your belly'

Did he really say those words out loud? Was this something people actually said? Alex could not believe what he just said. Never ever before had his mind so carelessly directed his speech. This was a feeling so powerful it overrode all his normal behaviour.

It seemed the girl also wasn't really sure what had been said, as she replied with 'what's that?'

Now Alex had to explicitly repeat his blurb. Or could he pretend he said something else, like 'I like how that smells' and point at the canister of whipped cream in her hand. But that would not do, Alex thought. It didn't really sound alike, and, after all, I do mean what I said. I should own up to it, he thought, so he took a deep breath and repeated more clearly: 'I like your belly.'

The girl didn't immediately know what to make of it. Alex saw her face getting puzzled. But the didn't run upstairs, nor did she start screaming at him. Things were still quite OK in this tearoom basement.

Alex managed to remember the old couple's remark from a few minutes ago, and saw a way now to save his face and simultaneously speak his mind.

'I couldn't help overhearing what those customers at the counter said to you, about not having to go to the gym. And I thought that was quite rude of them, you know, unpolite, to make a remark about someone's body, even though maybe they didn't mean it the way it sounded, but to me it sounded as if they did not like that you were fat. Not that you are fat, I mean, you are, but not fat fat, you know (he was rattling and couldn't stop) you're just like great and normal and it's good that you're obviously comfortable with your body, at least I hope so but it seems to me you are doing alright, and you know, who am I to judge, I never had any weight struggles (will I ever be able to stop this cascade of illguided words, Alex thought) and I don't know you so I can't say anything about what you ate or didn't eat, and maybe you're on raw veggies all day and you have some serious condition that prevents you from being slim, that could be, of course, I'm sorry but I just wanted to let you know that I think you are just very pretty, and it's not just your belly, which is just perfect, but it's not that the other parts of your body are worse, that's not what I'm saying, don't get me wrong, you're simply not average, and I'm so sorry I hope I haven't offended you, but I... yeah... you know... sorry.'

Finally his mouth stopped moving. The girl had listened to his ramblings with caution yet patiently. Alex breathed heavily because of this strange situation, but the girl also was moved in a way - her jaw dropped a little. Was it his imagination, or was there a bit of cream on the left corner of her lips? Maybe she had indeed eaten some of it in that storage room?

'That's a lot to take in,' she said, after a long pause. 'I mean, yeah, I noticed what those customers said myself as well. I know I'm a bigger girl, and it's never really nice to hear 'oh, she should go to the gym more often' instead something about my great personality...'

A joke, Alex thought. She is not taking my remarks the wrong way. Maybe what's going on here isn't even bad at al.

'I'm sure you have a great personality as well,' he quickly interjected. 'I couldn't take my eyes off of you when I saw you just now' (you stupid boy, Alex thought to himself, that does not have anything to do with her personality!). 'I mean, as I said, you're very... What time does your shift end?'

'We close at five,' she said.

'Can I invite you to get some coffee or something afterwards? I mean, I said all those things , and now we're talking, and it's still a pretty weird conversation, right? So maybe we meet at five and we can talk, like normal people do.'

'Sounds great,' she said. 'See you then.'
'See you. Oh, and thanks for not taking this at all the wrong way!'

Her face was blushing as she made for the stairs, and the 'no problem' she answered came when her head was already out of sight. Alex was left with her butt and thighs slowly disappearing.

He returned to his seat. A few seconds later, the girl came and served him his coffee and his pie. It was covered with cream from top to bottom. This wasn't pie with cream anymore, but more something like cream with possibly a bit of pie underneath. That's also a bit what your body is like, Alex thought.

'I gave you a little extra,' she said.

'Thank you! You shouldn't, I mean, I shouldn't, but, it's great, I love it.'

For a second they watched each other right into the eyes. What is happening, Alex thought. How can this be real?

'What's your name?' she said.

'Alex,' he said.

'I'm Felicia,' she said, and then, whispering but with a conspiring smile on her face, 'fatty Felicia.'

And then she returned to the counter.

Alex had great troubles finishing all the cream, but every spoon made him feel closer to Felicia. Sometimes they looked at each other, and to Alex it seemd like they both felt like the whole world was made of cream and they were bathing in it.

He finished his coffee and pie, left a generous tip and went outside. At five, he returned to the tearoom. Felicia was already waiting for him.

'You said you wanted to go for some coffee,' said, 'but I think I'd rather get something to eat first.'

(tbc)