Section Two: A Middle, and New Start

Part Seven: "I'm sorry, that was mean. I just
wanted to see what you'd do."

One year and eight months. Lexis had traveled
the world for that long. She had gone to places she never imagined, like India,
South Africa and Brazil. She had only ever dreamed of going to places like
this. This day she was in New York City for the ninth time in a span of six
months. She loved it here. Even though she loved nature and walking through the
forests, here she seemed at home oddly. She bought a camera earlier and took
pictures of every place she went. That day she decided to go and get coffee and
just walk around the city. Within five minutes, she bumped into a man and
coffee spilled into him.

"Ouch!"

Lexis looked shocked and started apologizing,
"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I am so clumsy! I am sorry!"

"It is no problem. This shirt cost nothing."

"I insist in buying you another one. I will pay
whatever price!"

The man looked at her in shock, "no, no that is
not necessary. I insist in you not buying me an new shirt."

Lexis looked at him and did a small smile, "if
you insist. Can I at least pay you if you need to buy a new shirt?"

The man gave a giant smile, "I do not need you
to pay me. I have enough money to buy a shirt factory."

"Oh...Well at least let me buy you a meal,
unless you have already eaten?"

The man looked her up and down then said, "or I
can take you to lunch, and pay for it. Unless you feel that bad for spilling
coffee on me?"

"I insist on buying," she said as she thought
that she should tell him her name, "my name is Lexis, by the way."

"I am Vladimir."

"Oh, are you Russian?"

"Only a little bit. I am Irish."

"So am I. What a coincidence. Lets go get
lunch."

She thought that he was very good looking, but
every time they looked at each into each other's eyes, she got a weird feeling
in her stomach, one that she could not explain. Was it love? She did not think
so, but she had never been in love before. She just had a weird feeling about
it.

…...…

They arrived at a small Irish pub. It was a bit
shabby looking, but whatever Vladimir wanted, she would pay for. As they
entered it smelled just like a pub she went into when she was in Ireland. That
same old smell had somehow been transported into this pub. On the inside, the
pub had Irish paraphernalia inside all over the walls. There we Irish jerseys,
licence plates, and much more. Lexis looked at all the things in awe.

"Like this place, Lexis?" Vladimir said after
they had gotten a table.

"It is...beautiful. It reminds me of an Irish
pub I was in about six months ago. It has the same scent. Which seems odd, but
it does."

Vladimir looked at her in awe as he responded,
"Same scent...I guess in a way you could say it does. So you went to Ireland.
How was it?"

Lexis' eyes glowed as she spoke. Being with
Vladimir was making her like a schoolgirl with a crush on the teacher, "It was
amazing and much more beautiful than any of the travel brochures and TV
specials show."

Vladimir interrupted her, "you use travel
brochures? You do not seem like the type."

"I got into the habit with my father. Whenever
we travel, he always grabs a few. It helps me remind myself of my family. And
helps me keep track of all the places I go, even though I carry a camera to
every place." She shrugged as a waitress came over and placed their order. When
she left they continued talking.

"What did you go see?"

"Well, I went to Belfast, and I saw murals
there. I went to Blarney and when and kissed the stone. I also visited other
castles in other cities. The cathedrals there were amazing, and I saw many
different ones. When at Donegal, I went to Grianan of Aileach. It was so cool

there. I went to Dublin and saw basically everything there...," Vladimir looked
bored, "am I boring you? I am sort of rambling." Lexis got this sad, yet upset
look not to frighten him away.

"No, no. I enjoy hearing your voice, but I lived
in Ireland for the first fifteen years of my life, so I sort of know all of
this."

Lexis looked embarrassed, "well, why did you not
tell me that first?"

"Just wanted to hear your voice. It is very
lovely. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Lexis was now blushing hardly, "no. No one has
told me that before."

She was so glad when their food came. He had
only known her for minutes, for sure less than half an hour and he was already
complementing her voice. Who does that? She thought. She started
eating so that he could not really ask questions, but that was not successful.

"So where are you from?"

Lexis did not want to give an exact city,
"Wyoming."

"Wyoming? So you are a country girl?"

Lexis hated being called that, "I guess. I did
not really live in the country. It was rural, but we were only a couple of
miles away from a city. It was nice." She hated having to talk about Wyoming.
It always gave her a sick feeling in her gut. Her leaving must have really
upset her parents, she knew her mom was disowning her.

"That sounds lovely," as soon as he said that a
waitress accidentally spilled a pint of Guinness on his lap, "Cacamas!"

The waitress was screaming and then started
crying and ran to the kitchen. Lexis tried to help but it was in a particular
region that she did not necessarily want to touch. When the catastrophe was
over, Lexis continued the conversation in Gaelic.

"Ní raibh a fhios agam gur labhair tú Gaeilge."
She said that she did not know that he spoke Gaelic.

"Tá. Leanaí an chuid is mó in Éirinn a fhoghlaim
ag aois óg . Tá do Gaelach den scoth." He said yes. Most children learn at a
very young age and that her Gaelic was excellent.

"Go raibh maith agat. Bhí mé ag múineadh bhean
grumpy d'aois in Éirinn." She said thank you and she was taught in Ireland by a
grumpy old woman.

He gave out the loudest laugh Lexis had ever
heard in her life. Once the laughing was done he apologized.

"I am truly sorry. I do not know why that was
funny."

"It was funny watching you laugh. And now you
have made a fool out of your self."

After that, they finished eating and Lexis paid
for the meal. They walked out of the pub together.

"Well it was very nice to meet you Lexis. I hope
we meet again."

"It was nice to meet you too." They both walked
in opposite directions; Vladimir looked back, but Lexis did not. She liked him,
but he was a bit weird...

She went back to her hotel and took a very long
nap. She was suddenly awoken by a knock at the door.

Knock, knock, knock...

She got up and went to the door and looked
through the peephole. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Lexis thought as she looked
through the peephole at Vladimir. She quickly opened the door.

"Hello, Lexis."

"Vladimir...what are you doing here?"

"Visiting. Are you busy?"

Lexis wanted to say yes, but she knew she could
not, "no I am not, but how did you find me? You did not know I was in a hotel."

Vladimir smiled, "I followed you..."

"Dude, that is creepy. Do not do it again."

Vladimir got a sad look on his face, "it kind of
my job to be creepy like that. Sorry."

Lexis got confused, but she suddenly saw a flash
from a camera and the peeling out of a car. "Vladimir, where do you work?"

He sighed as he knew that he had to tell her,
"I...I...work for the...Irish Mob. I did not mean to lie to you."

"Hey, you did not lie, we had only known each
other for like an hour, tops. It is not your fault. And who was your friend
over there? The one with the camera, who peeled out?"

"Probably an undercover police officer, I always
have someone on me. Sorry."

Lexis looked around Vladimir for anyone else and
roughly shoved him into the hotel room.

"What was that for?" Vladimir looked upset, yet
pissed off at the same time. They looked into each others eyes and her heart
started hurting, not the bad hurting, but good hurting. She had never experienced
feelings like this before. Vladimir on the other hand had been ordered to find
someone to be included in the Mob, and maybe he had found her. He did feel some
feelings for her, but this was his job to find her, and if something happened
between them, then it was just damage done by trying to find 'the one.' Lexis
getting more and more excited and nervous walked towards Vladimir.

"I...I..."

"Shhh...it is okay..." Vladimir looked at her
mouth and leaned in closer. He could now smell her sweet breath. Vladimir put
his hands on either side of her face and lightly put his lips on hers. Lexis
leaned in more and kissed him lips harder. She put her hands too on his face
and they kissed for what seemed like hours. Lexis stopped kissing him and they
looked at each other. Vladimir, full of emotions, scooped up Lexis. She now had
her legs around his waist and Vladimir went to the desk in the room and had her
sit on it. Now they were madly kissing, like two teenagers full of endorphins.
Lexis reached down to his waist and pulled off his shirt. For a second they
stopped kissing and Lexis saw that he was very sexy without his shirt on. His
abs looked amazing and strong, just what she wanted. Vladimir took off her
shirt and then undid her button on her jeans. He pulled down her pants as they
kissed roughly. She got off the desk and undid his belt and pants. They dropped
to the ground and she went and flopped herself on the bed as she gave a giant
smile to Vladimir.

"Come here mister!" She said as she waved her
hand to come over. Before he reached the bed, he pulled off his underwear.

"Now honey, can I have the honor of taking the
rest off?"

Lexis laughed, smiled and nodded at the same
time. Vladimir ran over and got on top of her with his legs on either side of
her. He carefully reached under her and undid her bra, and flung it across the
room, which made them both laugh. He decided to wait a bit for anything else to
come off. He kissed her on the lips and kissed her neck. She held the curvature
of his back as he kissed her chest, then her stomach and then right above her
underwear. She giggled as he did this. He then slowly pulled down her
underwear. Lexis thought in her mind that this was all wrong, but she just
could not help it. He was so damn gorgeous and sexy. She could not help not
doing it! He laid on top of her again and they were both in paradise. They
breathed hard and forcefully pressed their bodies against each other. He kissed
her neck again.

…...

Lexis woke up with Vladimir still next to her
with only a sheet over him. She too only had a sheet over herself. They were
looking at each other; Lexis scooted closer to him and touched her nose to his,
which woke him up.

"Hello, angel." Vladimir looked sleepy and
tired.

"Hello, dear. How are you?" Vladimir grabbed
Lexis' back and pushed her closer to his body.

"I am just splendid. And you?" He smiled as he
waited for the right answer.

"I am fantastic. You know you are amazing. Has
anyone told you that?" Lexis smiled as Vladimir blushed.

"Actually no. No one has. Oddly."

Lexis was dumbfounded, "wait. You mean that you
have not...with anyone?"

Vladimir gave a small smile, "that is true...I
have not found the right girl, I guess."

Lexis whispered in his ear, "do not worry. I
have not either. I guess the first time is the charm, huh?"

Now Vladimir was looking at Lexis dumbfounded,
"that is so weird. I would have thought that you would have. Not just because
you are a woman, just because you are so beautiful. But I guess in Wyoming,
there are not many good lookin' guys like me. Right?"

Lexis gave him a look of 'I don't know.'

"Lexis right?," he paused and she did not say
thing, just gave him the look again, "right?"

She did not respond so he decided to tickle her.
She screamed, squealed and laughed at the same time. He jumped on top of her
and kissed her on the lips, then the neck.