10
Gavin
Crystal and I had enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and even though it was time to leave the restaurant, I didn’t want the evening to end. I could have stayed there all night, chatting with her as we enjoyed a few more bottles of wine. However, it was near closing time, as evidenced by all of the other couples who were leaving.
So after picking up the check, I invited her back to my place.
By the time we arrived at my mansion, I knew that I was starting to fall for her. The two of us seemed to click so well over dinner, and she hadn’t reacted badly at any of the personal things I’d blurted out to her, and her reasons for trying to refuse the car were practical. Whenever I told a woman that I had graduated high school at fifteen-years-old, they always looked at me as though I were a geek.
Not Crystal, she seemed to understand.
After discussing my lackluster childhood, which was a topic that I often tried to avoid, she wanted nothing more than to comfort me. I hadn’t even planned on talking about it on the first date, but there was something about her presence that made me feel completely at ease. I didn’t know that I was talking about it until the words had escaped my mouth.
That’s how much I enjoyed being with Crystal.
I also loved that she laughed at my jokes, which I had always thought were on the corny side. It was one of the reasons I was so reserved around those I didn’t know. As a businessman, you’re always trying to put your best foot forward. Crystal made me feel like a normal human being for a change. All of the other women I had dated had only been after my money, even when they insisted that wasn’t the case. Yet Crystal had seemed apprehensive about dating me in the first place, which actually impressed me.
We walked through the front doors, and she seemed impressed by my home. “I assumed your place was bigger than mine, Gavin, but this is beautiful! My God, the living room is so spacious! I think it’s five times the size of my apartment!”
Crystal twirled around, her head facing the ceiling and her arms outstretched, revealing her free spirit. I pictured her running through a field of daisies barefoot, her long, red hair blowing in the wind, as I chased her around.
After her third twirl, an overhead light nearby turned on. “That’s a motion-sensor light. I guess it picked up on your movements.”
Crystal giggled and walked back over to me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Can you show me what other gadgets you have hidden in here?”
I took her hand and instructed her to sit on the nearby couch. “Now, take your shoes off and put your feet on the coffee table.” As soon as she did, two motorized hands popped up and began to massage her feet.
“What the hell! Those feel like real hands!”
“I promise they’re not.” He chuckled, “I commissioned a technician I went to college with to create them since he also built me this coffee table.”
She closed her eyes and let the hands massage her feet, letting out little moans with every rub. “I’m officially moving in,” she giggled.
After letting her feet get a good massage, I grabbed her hand again and walked her into the kitchen. “See these kitchen chairs? They’re designed to conform to your body shape and keep your body at an even seventy-degrees.”
Crystal didn’t believe me, though. “What on earth are you talking about, Gavin? How could a kitchen chair know your body temperature?”
“It’s pretty hot in California, right? Go ahead and sit on one and see how you feel.”
She sat down on one of the chairs, and in less than a minute, her eyes lit up. “How the hell does it cool me down? This chair is amazing!”
“It gets better. Say you’re sitting there and enjoying your meal when suddenly you decide you want to watch a movie.” I pushed a button on my mobile phone app, and an eighty-inch television screen slid down in front of her from the ceiling.
With her mouth wide open, she kept looking at the screen and then back at me. “I have to watch movies on my tablet because my TV is broken.”
“Before we go outside, Crystal, I have one more room to show you. Come on, follow me.”
I stretched out my hand and led her into my nearby yoga studio. It was something that I was dying to show her as soon as she told me that her job was teaching yoga. We walked into the room, which I had painted a calming green tone, and her eyes went straight to the yoga mat.
“Oh, my God! You practice yoga, too? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Crystal got down on her knees and felt the yoga mat with her fingers, appreciating the texture and quality. I loved how she went to each of the plants, smelled them, and made her way around the room while taking it all in.
“I’ve traveled to India several times and have trained with a yogi.”
I didn’t think she could be any more excited. “Do you have any idea what I would do to practice with a yogi in India? My God, Gavin! That’s every yoga instructor’s dream!”
“I knew you’d like it, Crystal. Now follow me.”
