Hey I just realized I forgot to mention some things at first, so I went back and re posted; Ok, for anyone who is reading; Olivia is not a character from Sex and the City, she is just really based on the character from the show; and let me remind all of you that the title of this story is Sex and the City, so expect sex, not to tawdry, but there none the less. And yes, I believe Erik would be quick to take up an offer of bed time fun; poor guy has been a virgin his whole life! As always thanks for reading and reviewing! Keep it up!

The Concrete Jungle

Erik ended the call. It had taken him all day, and quite a few random accidental calls to various listed Chinese takeout places to fully master the art of telephone-ary.

He had been picking up his coat from the floor when he realized it held something which was not his. Honestly, he had been glad to have a reason to talk to me, as he had spent the whole day alone and quite perplexed. He still did not understand so many things.

However now faced with the prospect of actually going out he felt quite skittish and wondered if he should not have been so hasty in calling me. He thought he knew enough to get to the restaurant, but now he was facing the prospect of going out into public alone where everyone would stare at him. He had gone out like this on the first day he had been in New York, but that had been different, he had been so stunned, how could he not go out?

This seemed like a much worse prospect that he was facing now, and what if he got lost? He could use my money to get to the restaurant; he felt bad about using it, but I had told him to come down to the meet me…

The other problem was that he had been wearing the same clothes for almost three days, and that was certainly not acceptable. He opened the closet; the rows of expensive men's clothing intimidated him. He had seen the people walking on the streets the day before and noted how unlike their mode of dress was to his; and as he had not been exposed to the wonders of modern media he had no idea how to dress.

He took a stab in the dark, and just grabbed something black. He had no idea he was playing into a classic rule; black is always always in style. Erik changed in the room with the toilet; and to his horror he discovered he smelled like death; ironically not a smell foreign to the streets of New York.

Erik stared around the room; everything looked weird. The shining silver knobs meant nothing to him. He approached what he would later find out was the shower. Reaching out, he stepped into the vertical tailed chamber and turned one of the knobs. To his unpleasant surprise he got a stream of cold water on his head.

All this considered it was no surprise that we were nearly finished with dinner and he still had not come yet,

"God, Liv, you have been looking at the door every five minutes, he will come when he comes," Rebecca said

"Maybe he got lost;" Susan said worriedly, "New York is like a jungle if you don't know your way around,"

"I don't see how he could have," I said, checking my watch, "I told him were to go," but I knew there was a very good chance he was lost or turned around somewhere. Erik was not a native New Yorker; he was not familiar with the indigenous tribes; the hookers, the cult of crazed cab drivers, the pan handlers, the muggers…oh God what if he was getting mugged?

"Well, I have to go," Susan said, and a giddy smile came over her face, "I am meeting John for a late movie," John Grove was Susan's latest knight in shinning armor; he was a wealthy businessman with an expensive town house which Susan already thought of as her dream castle,

"I should go to," Jackie said, "Deadline looming," she stood and put money down on the table and patted my shoulder, "We will meet Mr. Wallet Slip some other time,"

"You are going to?" I asked Rebecca, who was standing as well,

"Yes, you see that waiter over there; I have been eyeing him all night and he just got off, so now I can take him back to my place and he can get…" Rebecca began,

"I don't think any of us here need you to finish that sentence," Jackie said wryly, "Night Liv,"

All three girls left money on the table and me sitting waiting for the man to come out of the jungle.

Erik was not having an easy time of it; he had spent fifteen minute figuring out how to work the shower, ten getting dressed, and then twenty working up his nerve to go outside. Once he made it out to the street; it took him fifteen more minutes to catch a cab. And then the cab took him to the wrong place, which he did not notice until the cab pulled away.

Half an hour later, he arrived at the front of the restaurant. The host greeted him,

"Ah, do you have a reservation?" he asked, and Erik noted that this man spoke in the same tone as the man at the restaurant the night before. He sighed; he was in a different time, but people were still the same species of mean when it came to him,

"My…friend is already inside," he said, hoping he would be admitted into the room beyond,

"I am sorry, but the restaurant is very full and…"

Erik stopped listening to what the man was saying and began to think; he had had this problem before, and he had seen how the problem had been solved; it stood to reason that it could be resolved it the same way. And so, Erik participated for the first time in a native New York City ritual; intimidating the hell out of the host to get a table,

"I said my friend is already inside; Olivia Moss," it was enough to use my name; I was a regular at this place and the host knew my job, and that I really did know someone at the health department,

"Oh! Ah…" the host said, but Erik was no longer listening to him; he was walking past him and into the restaurant; he had survived his first New York experience, getting in the door.

I saw him from across the room through the mess of other tables and waiters and groups of women going to the bathroom and I smiled; he saw me and came over,

"Well look who made it! I was beginning to think you were lost," I said, and I have to admit I was relieved; if I had been responsible for calling him out on a suicide mission in to the deepest dark of New York City I don't think I would have been able to live with myself,

He sat down next to me; for the second time in two days we were out to dinner; in any other situation this would have been a rapidly progressing relationship. I stared at hi for moment; impressed with his attire; quite New York for a non native.

Erik looked around the room; a panicked expression on his face, as though he did not belong,

"Did you bring my wallet?" I asked,

"Yes, here," he handed it to me,

"Thank you for brining it all the way down here," I put the wallet in my purse, "I hope it wasn't a big inconvenience,"

"I was not occupied," he said shortly, and by the way he was constantly looking around he still felt out of place; but then I wondered, where wouldn't he feel out of place?

"Are you hungry?" I asked, I was full but I thought it was rude to ask him to come all the way down here and then just make him leave with out eating,

"No," He responded, I was not aware of the fact that this man hardly ate anything; although I could have guessed it because he was very thin,

"Well then, let's get out of here," I said, standing and throwing money down on the tale. I led him outside,

"Where are we going?" he asked; I had planned on just going home, but than I realized he was expecting more, and I think I owed that to him. I had asked him to come to me, and besides, it was not as though I had some other, wonderful plans,

"It's a good night for a walk," I said; we began in silence, and I did all I could to break it,

"So, what did you do today?" I asked him,

Erik felt his stomach churn; he did not want to appear stupid or crazy in my eyes, and he figured that if he said, 'trying to figure out how to work the phone and the thing that shoots out water,' he would sound just that. So instead he said, "Nothing,"

Damn him; sometimes his responses were so short it was like talking to a wall, "You must have done something," I pressed,

"I have a job interview Monday," Erik said, remembering,

"Where?" good, I thought, get him talking…

Good, Erik thought, I can have her help me figure out where this place is, "Mont Building and Design,"

What he didn't know was that he had just named one of New York's top architectural firms, "I didn't know you were an architect; I thought you were a composer," I said,

"I do both," he said as we continued to walk down the street, glancing here and there at the various signs of another night in New York, "Do you know where Mont Building and Design is located?" he asked me,

"Actually yes," the place was not far from my own work, "We can chare a cab there on Monday," It occurred to me that I was being extremely nice to this man I hardly knew, but he had helped me first, and in everything we had done together he had been a perfect gentleman. I had attributed his good manners and tendency not to act like an ass hole to the fact that he had not been in the city long enough to adopt the traits of the native species of men.

Now, I don't mean to say that all men are jerks; just the one's I dated. The New York City social scene can be like a dangerous tropical jungle at times, and you need to be familiar with all the types of life to keep from getting poisoned or getting eaten alive. I did not see Erik as the type who would, in the end, leave you feeling as though you had just been mauled by a wild cat.

So we walked together, and gradually he became more relaxed; no one was staring at him, one because in the dark it was hard to see the marred side of his face, and two because really, no one passing on the street gave a damn.

"So where did you study architecture?" I asked him,

"In Rome," he responded,

"That must have been incredible," I said, "Do you speak Italian?"

"Not very well anymore," He said, "I am out of practice; I used to be better,"

We came to a street crossing, and he continued to walk although the light had not yet changed for us to go; I quickly pulled him back by the hand, "Watch it!" I said as I grabbed him by the wrist, and for reasons of my own, I kept my hand in his. He felt a little cold, but I attributed that to the slightly chilled night, and it quickly warmed in mine.

"I always wanted to go to Italy," I continued,

"Are you interested in architecture as well?" he asked me,

"No…shoes," I admitted, laughing slightly,

"All the beautiful things in Rome and all you care about are shoes?" He squeezed my hand,

"No…I hear the food is good to," for the first time he laughed; not a long, loud laugh, but a laugh none the less; and it was sweet.

There is really nothing quite like walking alone with someone you really like; you walk lighter, you smile more, and you don't notice how far out of your way you have gone until you realize you are kind of lost;

"I think we should head back," I said, "I don't think I know where I am anymore," the truth was I was talking about more than location; I did not know where I was with Erik; I liked him, he was different, he was sweet in an old world sort of way. I had known him for two days, it was a fairly short time, but…I felt…lonely sometimes. It was hard being all alone all the time.

We took a cab home, and he walked me to my door; well actually I was still holding his hand and I pulled him to my door. We stood awkwardly for a moment, and I felt my mind sinning. I could let him go and spend another night alone watching crap on late night TV or I could…

"Good night," he said, and he turned to go and I decided; I pulled him back to me, my back pressed to the door, and my lips pressed to his. Only this time it felt different; this time he kissed me back. He didn't just lightly touch me, he pressed hard against me, and he wrapped his hand around the back of my head and kissed me deeper.

What I didn't know was that this had been what Erik had always wanted, and had always been denied. Now, it was being offered to him, and he saw no reason to turn it down.

I blame passion for turning my head completely; and I figured, even if he did turn out to be just another toxic bachelor in the jungle, I was ready to risk it all over again. I broke our kiss briefly to unlock my door and let us both in. That night, unbeknownst to me Erik made love for the first time. What I did know was that a man had never made me feel better, and my other neighbor called twice to complain about the noise.

Afterward, he lay next to me for awhile, but then he started to get up to leave,

"You can stay here if you want to," I said,

"Do you want me to?" he asked, and for some reason he sounded like a beaten dog who was begging to come back inside,

"Yes," I smiled, "Come back,"

He did; and I slid up next to him. It was strange, for the first time in a long time I felt relaxed, and safe in the concrete jungle.