** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1
#lookingforlove 11/?
Turning over in bed and sighing heavily Sandra glanced at the LCD clock display by the bed. It was almost 1am and for the last hour since Esther and she had parted company and she was alone in the silence of her bedroom her mind had been working overtime. Since she'd signed off the chat with her internet dating guy she'd not been able to get him out of her head. Actually if she was honest she hadn't been able to get the whole situation out of her head and she couldn't decide if that was a good or a bad thing. Donny, as she and Esther had nick named him because of her teenage crush on Donny Osmond, seemed almost too good to be true. She'd never been good with the concept of "too good" and this wasn't any different she was sure there would be a hitch somewhere along the way.
Once Esther left and she'd spent some time clearing up she hadn't been able to shake the odd feeling in the pit of her stomach that there was something special about the man she'd just been talking to was someone who would turn out to be very special in her life. She'd gone into the whole internet dating thing as a complete sceptic and even when she'd arranged to chat with "Donny" that night she'd not really thought it would be anything other than a walk on the weird side. Now though there was definitely something about him that as starting a flame of hope that she really prayed wasn't going to be extinguished. He made her feel like he understood her even though their conversation had been brief and already she couldn't wait until their next chat "date" which had been arranged for Sunday night.
Clicking absentmindedly through the profiles in front of him Gerry tried to do what Emily had suggested as she left. She'd told him that while she agreed that it had all went well he should at least look through the rest of the site and check any new matches he had rather than putting all his eggs in one basket. At the time he'd agreed but the more he'd scanned through the other profiles the more he realised that he couldn't think about anything but her. He knew it seemed ridiculous that he should feel so in tune with someone after one online chat but he couldn't ignore the fact that he did.
When they'd ended the chat and arranged to speak again on Sunday night he'd found himself feeling like two whole days was too long to wait. He wanted to speak to her the next day and find out more about her in a way he'd never expected when talking to someone he'd never met. Closing down the other profiles he opened his control panel again hesitating for a second with the pointer of the mouse over the message button.
"Man up Gerry just grow a pair and message her. If you'd met her in a pub tonight and like her this much you'd not be worried about calling her!" He scolded before opening the message box and thinking carefully about what to write.
To: LONDONLADY779
FROM: USER2267
SUBJECT: Tonight
Hi,
I hope I don't come across too pushy but I wanted to tell you I really enjoyed tonight talking to you was great (even if my typing was a bit slow) and I'm really looking forward to Sunday night.
Resisting the urge to sign the message with his name and break the spell of anonymity that that he still considered important he hit the send button and sat back in the chair trying to clam the nervousness in his stomach.
Sighing heavily as her phone alerted her that she had an email Sandra briefly considered ignoring it and continuing her effort to sleep. After all she told herself, it would only be spam mail that she could wait until the morning to delete but as it chirped again the second reminder slightly louder than the first she sat up and grabbed the glowing iPhone off the bedside table and opening the mail. Reading quietly as it told her she had a new private message waiting on the dating site from USER2267 she felt her pulse race as she closed the email and opened the ap on her phone that linked her to her match profile on the go. Going to her inbox and opening the message she read in silence her smile broadening as she did.
If she was honest she'd been concerned that the excitement she was feeling was entirely one sided and when the message alert had first come through she'd been convinced that he was messaging to say he'd changed his mind about their Sunday night chat. Now that it seemed obvious that he had enjoyed the evening as much as she had she felt a surge of courage and hit the reply button.
TO: USER2267
FROM: LONDONLADY779
SUBJECT: re: Tonight
Hi
I really enjoyed tonight too and thought we had a great connection. I'm looking forward to Sunday too but if you wanted we should chat tomorrow night too. Only if you want to of course if not Sunday is still great.
Quickly scanning the message for typos and to make sure she really wanted to suggest an earlier chat she hit the send button setting the phone back on her bedside table. She knew she ran the risk of coming across as pushy and might scare him off but something told her that wasn't going to happen. She was sure he was as keen as she was and she couldn't wait to see what he was going to reply.
