Men are fascinating.
She needed no other entertainment, content to spend entire evenings observing them; conversing with them. So uncomprehendingly 'other', the more complicated ones were disturbingly good at keeping their thoughts to themselves. She sensed them roiling behind carefully managed expressions, just out of reach. All that was initially said in her presence was "Yes", "No" or her personal favorite, "It depends...". There was no mistaking that whatever fueled their urges was of primal origin; but she refused to believe...no that wasn't right...she knew that it was not all - or even only - about sex.
At 5 feet 8 inches, with shoulder length wavy hair, she had the graceful, athletic figure of a dancer. Eschewing tight, form strangling body wrappers that only a contortionist could appreciate, she preferred clothing with looser, more fluid lines; unaware that they accentuated her form in a way that heightened male attention. Sincerely and overtly friendly, she rarely lacked a companion (specimen?) for her evening perusals. Most made the mistake of being enamored only of her facade; completely oblivious to the purpose behind every witticism, every gesture, every slightly shocking utterance. The unexpected was her advantage; throwing her selected prey off his game long enough that he revealed more than he intended.
In single-minded pursuit, she spent hours...days...weeks coaxing a man into lowering his guard. But instead of claiming victory when he did, she wandered on to a new one; leaving the last unsure of what had happened. It wasn't that she meant to leave a trail of unfulfilled promises behind her, it was just that she was searching for the one; sure that she would know him when she found him. She cared not at all that those left behind suffered unanticipated pangs of rejection, hardening their hearts.
Who's next?
Very interesting character sketch and commentary on relationships. I love the line about it not being all about sex. Is this something you'll be expanding later? Or already part of a bigger story?
ReplyDeleteHi Shelli, she's a character - but not the heroine - in the novel I'm currently rewriting. Soemthing new I'm trying. At Sea (hero), The Glass Box (heroine) & Master of the Game (main antagonist) are also sketches of characters in that novel. This lady is one of the heroine's friends.
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