Saturday evening, Chuck came by to pick up Trisha for their first date since she returned home for the summer. She was excited about him coming by to pick her up at the house - it was the first time in 2 years that he had been over there. She hoped he hadn't forgotten the way. There was so much growth in East Cobb that even 2 years made the route look different. Just as before when they had met downtown, Trisha wanted to look nice for Chuck. She wore a red and white flower print dress and a new pair of 1.5-inch heel slides with a red and white woven upper that showed off her fresh red toenails. She enjoyed the chance to wear these shoes and display her toes and heels since her workplace did not allow such. She also knew that Chuck liked them and that was the more prevalent reason for this evening's attire.
Earlier in the day, Trisha had some free time so she did home pedicure. First she used a pumice brush to scrape off any dry skin from her heels and soles. Then she did a wax treatment that left her skin very smooth and soft. Next she put a fresh coat of polish on her toenails - a nice bright red color that stood out from a distance. Lastly she added some moisturizing lotion on her feet to make sure they remained nice for the duration of the evening.
Trisha had been doing some thinking about some of her recent success with men over the last few months. There had been the Cinderella incident at the library with Jay who had also been caught admiring her black mules at the AOPi Sorority banquet. There was the date by the river with Tim where she had caught him looking at her legs and feet when she came out of her shoe in the mud. More importantly, for her lunch with Chuck a couple of months back, she had worn a pair of pink slides of a similar style and he ended up taking one home for a souvenir. She was not convinced that Chuck was as attracted to her legs, shoes and feet as the other guys were, but she thought this would be a good time to see.
The doorbell rang and Trisha went to open the door to let Chuck inside. When he first set eyes on her he started at the top and moved downward. He enjoyed what he saw and couldn't help but hesitate on the sight of her open toed slides. She took a mental note of that as they chatted briefly before heading to the car. He took her hand and escorted her into his car and they left for dinner at their favorite Italian restaurant - Frankie's. Trisha had not been there since she quit working there the previous summer. Trisha made note of Chuck’s mature look as well. He was wearing a button-down dress shirt, khaki slacks and a blue sport coat.
In the car, Chuck was excited but nervous about being on a date with Trisha for the first time in so long - he realized that their time together in the spring was more of a friendly thing that had indeed led to this date, and not actually a date itself. Things seemed different this time around. Before, they were mere high school teenagers. Now, both were adults and Trisha was really blossoming into an attractive young lady. He took advantage of the red traffic lights along the way to take a glance at how well she was put together. The red print dress was very pretty and accented her physical features. While seated, the dress stopped a little above the knee exposing her lower legs and feet. He was especially attracted to how her feet looked in those shoes and how her lower leg tapered toward her heel and how her perfectly square toes were highlighted by the red nail polish. Trisha noticed Chuck's glances and spontaneously began to slip her left foot in and out of her shoe in rhythm.
When they arrived at the restaurant, South City Kitchen, which was located on a side street near the Woodruff Arts Center and Georgia Tech, Chuck did something he had never done before. He got out of the car and told Trisha to stay seated while he walked around and opened the car door for her. As he did, he reached out his left hand to take her right and helped her out of the car like a princess out of a carriage.
They walked through the courtyard into the restaurant - a quaint little place with high tables and stools and a mixture of small and larger tables. Tonight, most of the diners were couples. The maitre’d seated them and a nice two-person table near the narrow staircase that led to the second floor.
“This seems like a nice place. Have you been here before?” Trisha asked sweetly while hooking one slide’s heel onto the footrest on the stool that seemed to be designed for her - it was at just the proper height.
The waiter came to take their drink order before Chuck could utter a reply.
Once the waiter was gone, Chuck stammered and gave a simple “Yes” reply, knowing that he had taken Anita there 3 or 4 times. He did not want to bring up that bad memory of a relationship gone bad.
As Trisha lifted her dangling leg to cross it over the one that was secured on the footrest, she added, “You brought Anita here, didn’t you?”
“Well, it is so close to Tech and…”
“You don’t have to explain anything. It’s okay. If a restaurant is good it makes sense to go there again. Let’s don’t worry about it.”
The waiter came back with their drinks - a couple of iced teas - and took their appetizer order.
Chuck did the gentlemanly thing and placed the order, “We’ll split some fried green tomatoes and a bowl of Old Charleston she-crab soup.”
Upon the waiter’s departure, Chuck looked a little sad and he tried to change the subject, “So tell me about Wachovia.”
Trisha gave the “nickel tour” so to speak and gave a basic description of her duties and some of her coworkers and of course Mrs. Hudson, her boss. She declined to mention Don the Loan Officer, but she didn’t think he was important enough to mention anyway.
“That sounds like a fun job,” noted Chuck while catching a glimpse of Trisha’s foot which was visible off to the side of the table - the shoe was dangling a little and bouncing off the bottom of her foot.
Trisha noted the strained conversation and said, “Hey if you want to talk about Anita, I don’t mind. Whatever will help you is okay with me.”
Chuck began to explain, how Anita had been a good girlfriend for a while, but she soon began to become too possessive of his time, as his schoolwork became more difficult.
Again, the waiter interrupted and placed their appetizer and soup on the table. He then took their meal order. Chuck again ordered for both of them. “She’ll have the Sautéed Shrimp & Scallops and I’ll have the Jerked Pork Tenderloin
Before allowing Chuck to continue, Trisha excused herself to the ladies room upstairs. Chuck watched as she gracefully walked up the narrow passage making a loud clicking sound with her tentative slides. He loved how graceful her feet maneuvered in them.
While Chuck pondered over in his mind what he wanted to tell about Anita, Trisha finished her business and was about to walk down the stairs.
As Trisha reached the top of the stairs, her right heel caught slightly. As she stepped out with her left foot, her pretty red pattern slide performed up to its namesake and slid off the soft, silky, wax-treated foot and began to fly down the stairs. It hit near the landing and bounced to the right with a loud chukka--chukka---chukka, presumably to the floor below.
Trisha stood at the top of the stairs, placing the toes of her bare left foot on the floor next to her still-shod right one. She looked down the stairs in embarrassment, but fortunately, no one was looking at her when the mishap occurred.
During her delay, Chuck heard the noise and saw her cute slide land on the floor a few feet in front of him. It was immediately obvious that it was Trisha’s. He waited with anticipation of “Cinderella” Trisha to walk down the stairs and claim it. After 15 seconds of silence, mischievous Chuck reached out his long left leg and pulled the shoe towards him. He picked it up, expecting to hear Trisha’s departure down the stairs; he looked at the shoe and touched the inside - noting how smooth it was and how light it weighed in his hand. Then, finally, he heard Trisha’s click...soft…click…soft unbalanced stride down the steps. In fear of being caught investigating her shoe, he placed it, toes first into his left breast coat pocket.
Trisha reached the bottom of the stairs and continued to casually scan for her fallen shoe - it was nowhere in sight. She could not imagine it simply disappearing into thin air so her first hunch was that Chuck had picked it up so he could give it back to her. Trisha returned her one heel hooked on the footrest and placed her now bare foot with the toes behind the heel in a hiding position. Chuck seemed nervous at this game he was secretly playing but he tried to resume his story about Anita.
Trisha waited for Chuck to return her shoe, assuming he had it, and wondered if she should worry. Certainly Chuck heard the shoe fall and would have said something by now. Then she noticed a strange lump in his sport coat. A careful look revealed it was indeed her missing shoe, but she refrained from saying anything and decided to wait and see how long Chuck would wait to mention it.
Chuck was amazed that Trisha did not panic and look around for her other shoe. He decided to delay returning her shoe and see how long she could hold out without asking for it - setting up an intriguing game of ‘cat-and-mouse’.
Trisha then returned to her earlier seating position with her leg crossed revealing her bare foot to the side of the table against the wall - not in obvious view of the other diners. She decided that flashing her well-manicured foot at Chuck for a while might distract him and she was right.
Chuck concluded that Trisha was onto his game, so he decided to see how long she’d be willing to play along. The entrees came and as they enjoyed their food, Chuck resumed his story, “At first, Anita and I went out once a week on Saturday night and maybe we’d meet once during the week and talk on the phone a couple of times. Even though I tried to explain that that was all the time I had available most of the time due to school, Anita continued to press for more time. After dating a year or so, she wanted to get together almost every night. She’s pretty smart and was able to get by with little studying. I have to dig for everything I learn so my grades began to suffer.”
Trisha continued to flash her foot, waiting on Chuck to make a move. “So what eventually happened?”
Chuck continued to enjoy Trisha’s game of not asking for her shoe back. It gave him an extended view of her foot. “Back in February, we had a fight on Valentine’s Day and I told her how I felt. She did not understand my point of view at all and 3 weeks later, she was dating someone else.”
Over dinner, the conversation gravitated to the issue of “them.”
“Chuck, let me ask you something?”
He nodded his head, thinking Trisha was finally asking for her shoe, but instead, she continued, “Are you interested in dating again, or do you just want to see each other casually?”
Chuck was surprised at her straight-forward question and began to answer, then he felt a rumble in his stomach and with apologies, excused himself upstairs to the restroom.
Trisha uncrossed her leg and returned her bare foot behind the other one. It was getting cool without anything covering it. Ten minutes later, Chuck came back with his sport coat draped over his left shoulder. He placed it on the chair. Sticking each armhole over one of the rounded chair-back edges. About the time he got seated again, the waiter came by and took their dessert order. By now, Trisha had been without her shoe for about an hour and now she could no longer see the shoe in his pocket.
Chuck again, ordered for the two of them, “We’ll split a piece of Peach Crumb Pie with ice cream.”
Trisha repeated her “Define the Relationship” (DTR) question to Chuck.
“I think we should go slow, but I’d love to continue to date you this summer. I do have school this summer and that will take a lot of my time, but I think you’re great. You’re a very pretty young lady and I really enjoy your company.” Chuck got all of this out without fainting somehow - such an emotional outpouring was not his usual style.
Trisha was very happy and replied, “ I feel the same way about you. I’d love to keep going out with you but I will respect your time demands and I agree to move very slowly.” Although she was happy, she now had to plan what to do about Tim and Jay come September, should things with Chuck become serious again.
Chuck leaned back in his chair and felt the heel of her left shoe poke him in the back, which reminded him of their little game, again. He decided it was time to end it. They had reached a special moment and it seemed like an appropriate time.
“Trisha, I think I have something that belongs to you.” Chuck reached behind him and located the heel of her missing shoe in his coat pocket.
Playing dumb while flexing her toes of her crossed bare foot she replied, “Oh really?”
“Rest your left foot on my knee and you’ll see.” Trisha obliged and Chuck slipped the
stylish slide on her now cool bare foot almost as a symbol of their new-found relationship.
Soon after that, Chuck and Trisha finished their dessert, Chuck paid the check and they left the restaurant. The two of them never did discuss the reasoning behind their shoe game, but both of them had their theories on what the other was thinking.
In the car on the way back to Trisha’s house they reminisced about their dating history and talked about some fun plans for the summer. Trisha caught Chuck glancing down at her legs and feet when he stopped at traffic lights and she obliged by shuffling her feet inside her slides and making him take even more notice.
Upon their arrival at the house, Chuck walked Trisha to the front door and they exchanged a kiss on the front porch, before Trisha entered and said goodbye for the night. Chuck returned to his dorm room at Georgia Tech and glanced over at the pink slide she had given him for a souvenir back in the spring. He had no doubts that getting back with Trisha was a great idea.
NOTE: This story can also be found at Dangling.Com.
