She saw him sitting there on a bar stool at the counter, his long legs stretched out in front of him. He was looking at a screen in his hand. He didn’t see her looking at him.

He looks relaxed, not tired and stressed. Happy, even, she thought to herself.

When he looked up, he saw her watching him. Slowly his eyes moved along her body, absorbing her curves.

Is he remembering the selfie she took, the one she sent him?

It felt a little exposing, letting him take his time to study her.

And yet, she marveled at how much she liked that part of it. This isn’t how it used to be for her. Before, she was shy, worried about some imagined flaws.

Turns out men rarely see the flaws that women worry about.

When his eyes reached her face again and they made eye contact, she shivered a little. He had that effect on her, this man whom she barely knows.

She let him look at her, liking how he made her feel, even from afar. Not as far as usual though. This time, they were mere steps apart instead of the insurmountable geographical distances they struggle with regularly.

I want to reach out and touch him, she found herself thinking. Feel the stubble on his chin. Run my hands along his face. Let my hands wander a little, down to his arms, his chest.

She longed to feel the definition of the male body against her palms.

She stood there daydreaming about a moment that cannot be. But she was on a roll now, there was no stopping the dream.

She closed her eyes.

I want to take his face into my hands and pull him in, she continued. Bring him close to my face. Close enough to let my lips touch his.

She opened her eyes and blinked. Looking straight ahead, she expected him to still watch her and desire her.

But he was no longer there. The bar stool was empty. He was gone. Vanished into thin air.

Just like a dream, she thought.

* * *
*This was an experiment with romantic flash fiction which I had posted elsewhere and then taken down a few months ago. It was part of a character development study…somehow this scene just popped into my head, so I wrote it down. The original piece is different from this edited version I have posted here. Thank you for reading.