Page 28 of Colors and Curves

“Let’s see how dinner goes first.” She kisses my neck, not knowing that she has me wrapped around her finger already.

An hour later, we’re stuffed and sipping on our drinks in a quiet corner, watching sushi dishes pass us on the conveyor belt. We angle our bodies so we can see each other better without cramping our necks. We’ve been sharing stories.

“So Lacey is actually your stepsister.”

“Yes and also one of my best friends. I’m an only child, so when my mom told me she’d met someone and he had a daughter my age, I was really excited. I didn’t expect us to become as close as we are, though.”

“And her boyfriend… or are they engaged?”

“Boyfriend, but to me they’re already married. They’re so in love it’s sickening. They give me hope, since I’ve never been lucky in that department. Forever hopeful, but always let down…” She takes a sip of wine. I wonder what that remark was about. Probably the reason she snapped at me the other day. “Guess how long they’ve been together.”

“No clue. You’re asking a guy.” I rub my chin. “A couple of years?”

She laughs. “Nope. Nearly four months. Love at first sight can do that to you.”

Yeah,I know.Wait, no I don’t.

“Lacey and I went to St. Thomas in April. Oh, wait!” She grabs my hand, sending tantalizing sparks up my arm that find their way to my pounding heart.

Does she have any clue what she does to me? She’s tying me in knots—brain and body. I have to pull myself back to what she was saying.Love at first sight?I push it out of my mind.

“Do you remember that snowstorm in April? Apparently it was total chaos here.”

“Sure,” I say with a scratchy voice. “How could I forget? We were scheduled to shootThe WaveandThe Bowthat week. Several models canceled due to travel issues.” I laugh, remembering. “You think I’m a control freak now—you should’ve seen me that day. But in the end there was nothing I could do. We went ahead with what we had, and the photos came out even better than I expected. It all worked out in the end.”

“It sure did, sinceThe Wavesold first… just like I said it would.” She leans over and kisses my cheek. Her chest rubs against my upper arm. It’s good that we’re in a public place. I don’t know if I could keep my hands off her otherwise, or at least my lips.

“Anyway,” she continues, “because of that storm, my flight from Boston to JFK was canceled. Will got my empty seat on the plane from JFK to St. Thomas. I flew down later.” She continues to tell me about their trip and how Lacey and Will got together. She’s genuinely happy for them. I love listening to her talk when she’s passionate about something. I wonder if I talk about my job like that.

“Tell me what colors you are.”

“What?” She looks at me quizzically. “What do you mean?”

“Describe what you look like. The color of your hair, your eyes, your skin… I can guess by connecting your colors to other objects, but I want you to tell me. Like my eyes. Everyone says I have brown eyes like chocolate or coffee.”

“Hmm. The first time I saw you, I thought dark redwood or a really rich cognac. So beautiful and unique. I’ve never seen brown eyes with a slightly red tint to them.”

Time to open up a bit. I don’t want to, but I need to. “The reason they have that tint is because I have to wear special red contacts for my color blindness. My eyes are very sensitive to bright light or sunlight. I wear them during the day and sometimes switch to regular contacts in the evening. When I was much younger and didn’t have contacts, I had to wear special sunglasses all the time.”

“Even inside?” she asks.

“Yes. Now with these contacts, I’m fine when I’m inside. I only need to wear regular sunglasses in addition to my contacts, outside.” She moves closer to me, then searches my eyes.

“Yes, I can see them now. It’s so interesting.” She leans back. “What about your photo shoots? All those lights…”

“It’s not a problem most of the time. If it gets to be too much, then I use my sunglasses. The models look at me funny, but hey. I’m eccentric.” I laugh. “I’m actually very lucky because my sensitivity and vision could’ve been so much worse. These contacts improve my vision drastically, but I’ll never have perfect eyesight.”

That’s enough about me for now. Time to focus on her. I nudge her arm with mine.

“So what color are your eyes? My guess is a light blue or green. But I’m going to go with green.”

“Good guess. They’re light green… like a four-leaf clover or a lime. Or sometimes like a green apple. The color of my outfit is similar. Lacey always tells me this color looks good with my olive skin.”

“Oh, nice. Olive skin?”

“Yes, I have an Italian background. So I have a nice tan all year round.” She holds her arm up against mine. Her skin is slightly darker than mine and still sparkles. But it’s hard to compare with the hair on my arm. Her skin is flawless. Hardly any freckles or birthmarks.

“When I look at your skin, it sparkles.”

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