Serena
by Arty

2.	When First We Met

How do you talk to a Goddess? Others seemed to have no
problem, but here I sat tongue-tied while the smooth-talkers
each tried their hand with her. I'd said 'Hello', obviously,
when Alice had introduced her to everyone. I didn't quite
catch her name and I was now too embarrassed to ask. I'm
useless with names. If I'm introduced to you at a party I
can guarantee that I'll have forgotten your name 10 seconds
later, even if I've been talking to you all that time. So
now I was reduced to generic greetings and pronouns as in:
'Did you have a nice weekend?'

Still at least she hadn't sent me away, like she did the
others. It was a few weeks before I realised that none of
the office Lotharios had managed to get her to go for an
after-work drink, let alone a date. What was even more
amazing, I never heard any complaints. Usually when a new
woman successfully repels the advances of some of our more
enthusiastic womanisers, you can be sure that the odd rumour
would soon be circulating concerning the sexuality of the
new recruit. Nothing overt you understand, the company had
some stiff sexual harassment policies; at least one person
had been dismissed under them. Even so, to hear nothing on
the office jungle drums was quite astounding - she must have
had the diplomatic skills of an Eleanor Roosevelt.

Somehow we drifted into eating our packed lunches together
in the meeting room that the management let us use for this
purpose. Having lived all my life with my 'name blindness',
I was adept at conversing intimately with someone without
actually knowing the name of the person to whom I was
talking. Eventually she called me on it.

"You've forgotten my name haven't you?"

"No." It wasn't quite a lie; I hadn't known it in the first
place so I couldn't forget it could I?

She smiled at me and I could see her thinking furiously.
Meanwhile I just admired the curves of her face, the
breathtaking blue of her eyes and the way that her nose
wrinkled when she was deep in thought. Suddenly she smiled
in genuine pleasure, I was dazzled, delighted and dizzy all
at once.

"Oh you're a tricky one aren't you?"

"I am?"

"Yes. You didn't know my name in the first place so you
can't have forgotten it!" 

She spoke triumphantly, but in the manner of someone who has
worked out the answer to a tricky problem, not someone
gloating over another. I could take no offence at being
discovered.

I smiled ruefully and prepared to own up. "You caught me
out; I didn't quite catch it when Alice introduced you. You
can ask anyone though, it wouldn't have mattered if I had.
Unless I use a name constantly, I forget it within the first
10 seconds. Now, at least, I can ask you what I've been too
embarrassed to ask, for the last six weeks: what's your
name?"

"What would you like it to be?" For some reason that I
couldn't fathom, I sensed that this was not just a bit of
witty banter, so I gave it some thought. One of the things
that had attracted me to her in the first place, was her
serenity and the more I thought about it the more I knew
what I would like her to be called.

"Serena. I'd like it to be Serena." If I'd thought her first
smile was dazzling, then the one she gave me now would have
blinded me for a week. She reached out and held my hand, a
shock in itself, and gazed into my eyes.

"Then that's what you shall call me."

From then on that's what I did. She was Serena; eventually I
noticed that the rest of the office joined me in using it.
At first I was a little put out that something I had thought
was a private thing between the two of us was now common
currency, so I asked her about it.

"Why is everyone calling you Serena? It's not your real
name."

She blushed a little. "I like it. I've never really owned
anything of my own and 'Serena' is the first thing that's
been truly mine. I told everyone that you gave me the name
and I prefer it to my real name. I asked them all to use it
from now on. You don't mind do you?"

Of course I didn't mind; how could anyone deny a Goddess
anything? Especially when she looked at you wide-eyed with
eyes so blue you could drown in them. I stammered out my
denials.

"N..n..no of course not."

She leaned across and kissed me on the cheek. "You're so
sweet." I must have blushed seventeen shades of red. I don't
remember finishing my lunch or walking to my desk or
anything much of the rest of the day until she stood before
me as I walked across the foyer to leave the office. As
usual, at this time of day, there was quite a crowd all
leaving at once.

"Where are you taking me for a drink then?"

The sound of collective jaws dropping, mine included, was
the only thing that could be heard. I struggled to find an
answer that wouldn't make me, and her for that matter, look
stupid. Luckily, she saved me from myself by continuing
almost without pause.

"Never mind, I'll find out when we get there, won't I?" With
that she slipped her arm through mine and we walked
arm-in-arm out of the front door. When we were a few yards
down the road she turned to me. "I hope you don't mind me
doing that, but I'd be old and grey before you gathered the
courage to ask me out, so I thought I'd take matters into my
own hands," she looked up at me and winked, "so to speak."

"How could I refuse you anything?"

She kissed me again; this time more forcefully on the lips.
"You are a real sweetheart, you know that?" She hugged me
and rested her head on my chest for a while. My arms
automatically returned the hug and she sighed blissfully as
I cuddled her and kissed the top of her head. "So where are
you taking me?"

"As it happens, my little minx, I do know of a very nice
Italian restaurant just down the road a bit. Would you like
to try some authentic Italian food?"

She wriggled with delight at my calling her a 'minx'. "I'd
try anything as long as you were with me." She laughed and
released me from her hug and we continued down the road to
the restaurant.

After that first date, which went swimmingly, we were
inseparable. We would meet up for lunch, then eat dinner
together after work. After a while, she insisted that we
cook for each other, as eating out all the time was just too
expensive for me. Since she was still a student, I refused
to let her contribute to the bill. Gradually we seemed to
spend more and more of our free time together until I
couldn't conceive of doing otherwise and so I began to
broach the subject of our future plans.

At the office we were considered a single unit:
Serena-and-David or David-and-Serena depending on to whom
you were talking. I couldn't remember a time when I was
happier. As the weather improved, our lunches migrated to
the park nearby. Since we were away from the office, eating
our lunch became the secondary purpose. The majority of the
lunch hour was spent with her on my lap kissing and
cuddling. This always led to a certain stiffness on my part.
By now our lunchtime trysts were just a form of extended
foreplay before our evenings together where she would make
sure that no residual stiffness remained before we would
fall asleep in each others' arms.

She'd told me early on that she was still a virgin. Of
course that led me to assume that she would be naive about
sex, but if anything I was more uptight than she was. She
gave enthusiastic but slightly inexpert blowjobs. She wasn't
in the least bothered about swallowing and she would spend
hours just gently suckling on me. In return, she seemed to
delight in all of my caresses and such was her
responsiveness that I took positive delight in eating her
out and driving her to multiple orgasms with my fingers and
tongue. I never felt the lack of intercourse at all and she
was happy to spend nights with me in bed together, secure in
the knowledge that I would never force her. Truth to tell,
most nights I probably wasn't capable of an erection, let
alone having penetrative sex.

Every now and then she would assure me that she couldn't
imagine giving her virginity to anyone other than me. I
assumed that she was waiting for a positive commitment from
me before considering it, but by now I knew that I loved
her. I was willing to wait until we were actually married.
So I plotted and planned the perfect date as a prelude to
asking her to marry me.

She was dressed in a simple bias-cut silk dress, which left
one shoulder bare and clung to her in all the right places.
The hemline was asymmetric and the back scooped dangerously
low and it wasn't apparent how the dressed stayed on her at
all. It was clearly impossible for her to wear underwear
with the dress. Of course, I knew that she never wore
underwear. She said she felt that it was too restrictive and
she liked that fact that me knowing that she was naked under
her outerwear kept me lusting after her. I always felt like
a frog to her princess, though she never treated me as
anything other than a king. Tonight she was so gorgeously
sexy, I almost abandoned my plans right there. But I hadn't
put all this effort in just to throw it all away, so I
handed her into the limousine for the short drive to the
Italian restaurant that had been the scene of our first date
and had since become our favourite.

When we arrived the restaurant was dark.

"Oh David! I'm so sorry, it seems to be closed and after
you've gone to all this trouble too."

"Don't worry Serena, I think we'll be okay."

The limo stopped and the chauffeur was far too quick for me
as he helped her to leave the car. Taking her arm, I led her
to the door and pushed it open.

"But it's closed."

"To everyone but us."

She gasped, "But that must have cost a fortune! You can't
afford to buy out the whole restaurant!"

In truth she was right, but when I'd told Antonio what I was
planning he insisted on arranging for me to come when the
restaurant was ordinarily closed. He promised me a meal for
lovers; all I had to do was bring the girl and he would
ensure that she couldn't possibly say anything but 'yes',
when I popped the question.

Antonio greeted us like long-lost family and led us to a
cosy table, off to one side, out of view from the street.
The table was set in the grand manner; the highly polished
silver of the cutlery reflected the light from the candles
set to either side of our seats. We sat facing one another;
a noiseless waiter filled our champagne flutes from the
bottle chilling by the table. We clinked our glasses and
drank the wine; Serena giggled as the bubbles went up her
nose - she always did. It was one more thing that I loved
about her.

"David this is wonderful! How can I ever repay you for such
a wonderful thought?"

"I'm sure I can think of something."

She blushed a little as I chuckled to myself; she was in for
a surprise tonight!

Each course was a delight. Antonio outdid himself; finally
neither of could eat any more. We were drinking our coffee
and sipping a fine brandy when Antonio himself arrived with
one more plate covered in a small silver dome. He placed it
with a flourish in front of Serena.

"Antonio, I'm so sorry, but if I eat another morsel I'll
just explode."

I was irresistibly reminded of the restaurant scene from
'The Meaning of Life' and I chuckled - Serena was also a
great Monty Python fan and realised what she had said and
laughed also. Antonio just looked injured, I gestured an
apology to him as I assured him that, no we weren't mad, and
yes we had loved everything. When we had quite recovered,
Antonio whisked the dome from Serena's plate and retired
silently.

"I'd rather you didn't eat this course darling."

Serena stared wide-eyed at the ring that nestled in the open
box on the middle of the plate. I slipped out of my seat,
knelt beside her and took hold of her left hand in both of
mine.

"Darling, will you marry me?"

She smiled brilliantly, while tears of joy ran down her
cheeks and wordlessly nodded yes. I took the ring and placed
it on the appropriate finger. Still silent, she held her
hand out in front of her and gazed at it. Then she yanked me
from the floor and held me to her in fierce hug, followed by
an equally fierce kiss.

"Darling David, please hear me out before you answer."

I started to say 'yes of course', but she silenced me with
her fingertip on my lips.

"I've waited for you to ask me to marry me for months. As
far as I'm concerned, I'd marry you tonight, but there are
things that you don't know about me." She paused and buried
her head in my chest. "And when you know them you may wish
to withdraw your offer." She kissed me gently; to forestall
anything I might have to say. "My answer is 'yes', and I
won't ever change my answer, but I won't hold you to it
should you change your mind. Please don't say anything now,
I can't tell you about it here. We shouldn't spoil things
for Antonio, since he's gone to so much trouble."

I'd paid in advance for everything, so I asked Antonio if
he'd get our coats and get the limousine. We both thanked
him profusely for the wonderful evening. But even though she
still wore my ring, he could tell that there was something
not quite right.

In the limousine she took off the ring and made me put it
back in its box.

"It would make me so happy to wear your ring, but I can't
let you give it to me until you know the full story."

After that we had sat in silence while my mind was a-whirl
with speculation about what the terrible problem was. Never
in my wildest dreams did I imagine the reality with which I
was presented when she sat me down and made the revelation
that she did last night.

-Continued-

-- 
/~arty