El stared at her calendar. It was now only two weeks until she would get to see Mike and have what she hoped would be the time of her life at the Star Wars convention with him. She had examined the entire website dedicated to the con and was well aware of what Mike had spent on her ticket, but she would chastise him for that in person. She felt touched that he would do that for her without ever having met her. Mike was a special guy.
It was early evening. El had worked late and was now waiting for Max to get home with dinner, which would most likely be pizza. El's phone rang.
"Hey, Dad! What's up?" El's voice seemed happier than usual.
"Hey, kid. How's my girl? You sound happy." Her dad laughed.
"I guess I am. Dad, I kind of met somebody. He's... he's really awesome."
"What do you mean kind of met?"
"Well, I met him online but I've never actually met him in real life yet. We're both going to a Star Wars convention in a couple of weeks. He even bought my ticket. I'm flying to Indianapolis the morning of June 6th."
"Online? El, I don't know that I like that. He could be anyone. Are you sure you know who you're talking to?" El's father, the Chief of Police in Kennebunkport, Maine, sounded very wary.
"I'm sure he's who he says he is. We've Skyped and we talk every day, dad. If you want, if it will make you feel better, I can give you his name and you can do a background check on him. He's the most amazing person ever though, so that's all you would find out."
"That sounds like a good idea. What's his name and where is he from? How old is he. You don't have his Social Security Number do you?"
"Dad! No, but I'll tell you what I know. His name is Michael Wheeler and he's 26 years old. He's from Hawkins, Indiana, and he went to school at Northwestern. Graduated in 2012 because he's super smart and doubled up on his classes. I guess let me know if he turns out to be a serial killer but I'm not sure I'll care at this point."
"That bad, huh?" El's dad snickered.
"So bad, Dad." El felt herself smile just because she was thinking of Mike.
"Okay, I'm still going to see about this guy though, El. I can't be too careful with my little girl. Is Max going to take you to the airport? Do I need to drive up and make sure you get there?"
"I'll be fine, Dad. Max will drop me off and I'll take a taxi to the hotel once I get to Indianapolis." El informed her father.
"I want you to text me at least every other day while you're there. And how long will you be there? I want to see pictures of this convention. I like Star Wars."
"I know. The convention is June 7th through 11th but I'm flying in on the 6th so I can get settled and get my convention badge and I'm sure there will be lines for that. I don't want to spend the first day of the con standing in line to pick up my ticket. Oh! Max had the coolest idea. I'll send you a pic when we get off the phone and show you what we did with your Star Wars figures. She was at her wit's end with them sitting around everywhere, citing them collecting dust, and had the best idea of what to do with them. I think it's really cool."
"I can't wait to see it. I'm serious about that background check though so I'm going to get that going now. If I do find something off, I want you to reconsider this trip, El. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you. I'll call you when I get the results."
"Okay, Dad, but I believe what he says. I think you'll be happy with who he is." El looked up as Max walked in with their pizza. "Dad, Max just got home with dinner. I love you and I'll talk to you soon."
"Right, kid. I'm going to see who this Michael Wheeler actually is. Love you too."
El rolled her eyes. "Bye, Dad." She quickly texted him the lamp picture before helping Max get plates and drinks.
As the girls sat on the sofa with their food, Max spoke first.
"So I guess you and Mike are on the same page now?" She asked.
"What do you mean?" El sprinkled Parmesan cheese on her pizza.
Max swallowed. "I wasn't eavesdropping, I swear, but when I went to the bathroom the other night I passed your room and I heard you, um, well, you weren't just talking."
El's face reddened. Ever since the first time they'd had phone sex they couldn't keep themselves from messing around at least a little every night that they talked, which was almost every night.
"Yeah, you could say we're on the same page. We both wish we were closer. It's the only thing we can do, Max. It's so frustrating being so far away from him. I'm kind of scared of what it's going to be like for me when the con is over and I have to come home after spending a week with him. I'm dreading it already and I still haven't even ever touched him."
"I've thought about that too. I mean, if I was in the same situation. That's tough. He has a great job from what you've told me but you want to work in the library at UMaine, you always have, so I don't know what you should do. Maybe it's another one of those things where you just have to take one step at a time and see where the path leads."
El chewed her food in silence. She knew Max was probably right. She wouldn't get to talk to Mike tonight because he was on a long shift and she didn't want to make him lose concentration. She would talk to him tomorrow, he was always home on Friday nights.
"Max, do you think this whole thing is crazy? Do you think something like this could ever work out? We live in different states, we've never met in person, is it all a fantasy? Am I just wanting it so much that I'm missing the big picture?" El asked her friend.
Max was thoughtful for a moment, "I think that the way things are today, distance isn't as much of a problem. Technology has brought the world closer together. We're not a bunch of countries vying to be the best, despite what our government would have us believe. We're one world, one people, one collective working together to make our lives better. We can have friends in other countries who we might be closer with than our own family, we can meet the best people online and share ideas, we have information at our fingertips and don't have to rely on superstitions passed down by our parents because we can research from scores of scholars and come to our own conclusions. I think being a few states away won't be a problem for you if you both really want it. You will find a way."
El hoped that Max was right. Before she went to sleep that night she sent Mike a text. He might not get to respond until almost noon the next day but she still wanted him to know she was thinking about him.
I'm going to bed now. I hope you can get some rest tomorrow. I know you have a busy day but then you can relax. Call me when you get in? It will be May 25th in a couple of hours. The real Star Wars Day! I can't wait to see you, Mike.
El went to sleep with a smile on her face thinking about what the convention would be like.
Around 2:00 the next day, which was Friday, May 25th, El was at work when she got a text from Max.
Good thing I'm home today because you just got a delivery that I'm going to have to put in the fridge. You also got a package.
El hadn't ordered anything. She couldn't think of what it might be so she asked.
What is it? I still have three hours of work.
Max sent back her reply.
I'm not saying. I think you should just see when you get home. Have fun with your overactive imagination! :-)
El pouted in frustration. Max had done that on purpose, knowing that El wouldn't be able to stop guessing what might be waiting for her at home. She watched the clock slowly tick away the minutes. At 4:30 she asked her supervisor if she could leave a few minutes early since she was caught up on her work and it was Friday. She was granted her leave, feeling elated that she was on her way home and would get to talk to Mike later.
When she arrived at home Max was in the kitchen. She looked at El with a smirk on her face.
"Look in the refrigerator. There's a card too."
El opened the door of the refrigerator. Sitting on the middle shelf where there was more space height-wise was a bouquet from Edible Arrangements. El could see pineapple slices shaped like suns, watermelon skewers, kiwi, blueberries, chocolate covered strawberries, and she didn't know what else. It took up almost the entire shelf. There was a card attached so she took it off and read it.
Thinking of you, I am, on this the real Star Wars Day. I can't wait to see you. Love, Mike
"We had a thing like that for one of our corporate luncheons and I saw the bill. He spent a lot on that fruit, El."
El was still speechless. She knew that the Love, Mike part was probably just customary but it made her feel warm inside to see it written. And she loved fruit. Had they even talked about that? She couldn't remember.
"You got this too. Though it's probably just coincidence. Have you ordered anything?" Max handed El a package in a medium sized Amazon box.
"I don't remember ordering anything recently." El turned the package over in her hands. It wasn't particularly heavy.
"Well open it and see." Max was like a kid on Christmas morning, even her eyes were sparkling.
El carefully used the box cutter they kept in the junk drawer in their kitchen to cut through the tape on the box. As she opened it she saw a piece of paper folded in half on the top. Her excitement getting the best of her, El quickly removed the items in the box, momentarily forgetting the slip of folded paper. She held in her hands two different action figure sets. One was old, like from the late '90s and was Han Solo and Princess Leia in their Bespin outfits. Han was a little more buff than in reality but El really liked that it was the costumes she and Mike were going to wear. The other set was newer, it was Han and Leia from A New Hope and the set had been released as part of The Force Awakens toys. The sculpts were much better, but they should be since the figures were twenty years newer than the other set.
El finally looked away from the toys in her hands and saw the piece of paper sitting on the table beside the opened Amazon box. She set the figures down so she could read the note.
El,
I saw these and wanted you to have them. I can't think about Han and Leia anymore without thinking of you. I planned for you to get them on May 25th so I hope you did. I wish I could have given them to you myself but I hope they made you smile. You make me smile, and I'm a scoundrel. But I'm a scoundrel who can't wait to see you in twelve days.
Love,
Mike
El immediately grabbed her phone and texted Mike.
I got your gifts. Mike, I LOVE them! You are the best! Call me as soon as you can tonight, okay?
El and Max munched on the fruit as El admired her new action figures. A little while later El took a shower and got ready for bed. It was still a bit early for sleep but sleep wasn't what she was planning on. Mike called her around 8:00 and they talked until the wee hours of the morning. By 3:15 a.m. they had done everything they could do over the phone line and were both wishing they could be holding each other for real.
"I can't wait to see you." El whispered. It seemed right to do so since it was so late and the apartment was so quiet otherwise.
"I'm glad you're coming in on the 6th. Want me to pick you up at the airport? I kind of want to." Mike said.
"You kind of want to?" El kidded him.
"Okay, I really want to. I know I can't be at the gate but I'd love to meet you when you get into town. We could do one of those sappy airport meetings where you jump into my arms." Mike chuckled.
El could imagine that. The idea of jumping into his arms upon seeing him was tantalizing.
"You can pick me up then. I'll text you the details but I'm on Delta flight DL4036. I'm going to have a layover in New York for the better part of the day and it doesn't look like I'll make it to Indianapolis until 6:23 p.m. if everything goes according to schedule. Ugh. I wish it could be a nonstop flight."
"It'll be okay, El. I'll pick you up and we'll still have the whole evening. Maybe we could get some dinner."
"I was hoping to pick up my ticket and stuff so I don't waste the first day standing in line." El sounded disappointed.
"I'll take care of it, El. I ordered it so I have to be there to pick it up anyway. I'll have it done before I come get you and we won't have to worry about anything. I promise."
El loved it when Mike said he promised. He always sounded so confident and sincere.
"Okay, Mike. I like it when you promise me."
"Stay on the line and fall asleep with me?" Mike asked.
"I'd like that."
They listened to each other breathing, having said goodnight after going back and forth for five minutes arguing about who would say goodnight last. Mike had finally given in and let El win, hearing her say 'night, Mike and feeling his own butterflies.
June finally began and even though summer in Maine was beautiful El couldn't stop wishing she was in Indiana of all places. She had less than a week before she would leave for the convention.
On the third day of June, El's father called with the results of the background check he'd done on Mike.
"I know all about him, El." He sounded stoic.
El was instantly worried. "What did you find?"
"Well, he graduated second in his class at Northwestern in 2012. He was the valedictorian of his high school class in Hawkins, Indiana. He helped organize a blood drive after the 2008 flood in Indiana when he was a junior in high school. Got certified as an Anesthesiologist Assistant from Emory University in Atlanta and then moved back to Indiana where he works at Indiana University Academic Health Center. He moderates a Star Wars forum on and currently lives alone. I hate to say it, but I think you've found yourself one of the good ones, El."
El beamed with pride after hearing Mike's accomplishments. She had known he was who he said he was but there were some things he hadn't mentioned and her feelings for him were growing even stronger than she'd ever imagined.
"I told you so." El almost whispered.
Later that night El called Mike. She was still feeling awestruck from hearing her father describe what he'd found out about the man she couldn't stop thinking about. He answered quickly.
"In three days we'll be together." El was already letting her voice do that thing she knew Mike liked so much.
"Three days. That's like 70 hours now. I'm counting," Mike said. "You sound so good to me."
"Yeah? I like it that you like my voice."
"I like your everything." Mike offered.
El was feeling mischievous. "Mike," she purred, "do you want to video chat right now? Because I do."
Mike was more than willing to video chat with her. He had wanted to for a while but didn't want to be the one to suggest it.
"Yes, so much."
"Call me then. I'm waiting," El breathed, hanging up the phone right after she instructed him to call her.
When Mike called El could see his entire bed from where he had set his laptop. He was sitting near the headboard but she could still see him as though she was sitting on the bed herself.
"Hey." He said.
"Hi. Should I put my computer like you have yours? Can you see me?" El asked. She had wanted to see him like this for the first time when they were actually together but she couldn't wait anymore. This would have to do.
"Yeah." His eyes were locked on her. "I like what you're wearing."
Mike was shirtless, wearing only some black boxer briefs, and El could see his chest. He was built like a runner, thin and toned. She thought he looked sexy in the tight boxers.
"I like what you're wearing too. Or not wearing." El smiled.
"Will you show me what you do when we talk at night?" Mike asked. El could see that the bulge in his boxers was already starting to grow.
"You want to see me touch myself?" She asked, a smile forming on her lips.
"Uh huh. I want to see what your face looks like when you do it."
"Well I have to take these off first." El stood up on her knees and pushed her panties down, making sure to do it slowly to tease him. She sat back and removed them from her ankles. From where she had set her computer, she knew Mike could see everything. "Is that okay?" She asked.
"You are so beautiful, El. Fuck. Show me what you do."
El slowly moved her hand down until she was covering herself with her palm. She could see Mike watching her so she spread her legs a little wider than she normally would so he could see better. She watched his eyes follow her fingers as she ran them up and down the outside of her lips. "I like to start slow and listen to what you say. You know your voice turns me on so much." She said as she continued to play with herself.
"Does it? Do you like it when I tell you what to do to yourself?" He asked, fire kindling behind his eyes.
El saw him push his shorts down. It was the first time she had actually seen him and she felt another wave of lust run through her. He was exactly how she had hoped. She licked her lips without realizing it.
"I do like it." She whispered. Her fingers had moved more inside her and she was gently rubbing circles, feeling how wet she was getting from just talking to him.
"Let me see you do it. Make yourself feel good while I watch you, El. I will too. You make me so hard." He was slowly stroking his cock. El watched his hand move slowly down the shaft and then back up. She wanted to be the one doing it. Soon, she thought.
El tried to keep her eyes on Mike's as she slipped one and then two fingers inside her, keeping her thumb in place where she liked it. After a couple of minutes though she had to close her eyes and throw her head back against her pillow as the sensations were too overwhelming to maintain eye contact with Mike. She could hear him though as she kept pumping her fingers into herself.
"That's it, El. You look so sexy doing that. I wish I was there to do it for you. I want to kiss you so bad."
El looked back up at him. He was staring at her with a look of wonder on his face. She could see him massaging his cock, could see how it would twitch occasionally. It looked to her like she could put both of her fists around it, one on top of the other, and still there would be three inches extra. She wondered what that would feel like.
"Mike," El uttered, "I think I'm going to want to do this for real in a couple of days. Would that be okay with you?"
"Are you kidding, El? It will take all of my willpower to not throw you on the bed as soon as we walk into the hotel room. I want you so bad." Mike continued to pump his shaft as El worked her fingers.
"I want you do to that. Promise me you'll do that. Oh, I need you to do that, Mike." Her breathing was getting heavier and she was whispering, all her energy focused on her hand and imagining what she and Mike could do together. The images in her mind were about to push her over the edge.
"Do you want me to fuck you, El?" He was getting close. Hearing her say that she wanted him was almost enough to make him burst.
"Uh huh." El was imagining him throwing her onto the bed and lying on top of her, their mouths melting together as they ripped at each other's clothing until they were no longer wearing anything. Her fingers sped up. "Mike," she could only whisper, "I'm, oh, you're gonna make me come."
Mike loved the sound of that. "Me too, El. But don't hold back. I want to hear you while I watch you." He was starting to leak but wanted to hold out until she was ready.
El looked him in the eyes as she pushed her fingers all the way inside her. "Mike! Oh, fuck, I like watching you do that. You look so hot. I'm, shit! I'm coming, Mike..." She let her head roll back as she felt herself let go.
Mike could see her body convulse slightly. Upon hearing her declare that she was coming he had given in to his own climax. "El, I'm coming too! Fuuuuck!" His eyes were closed and his hand kept pumping. El opened her eyes in time to see him come all over his chest. She thought it would never end, there was so much.
They stared at each other for a few minutes, both wanting to remember how the other looked after such an occasion.
"Hours now." El said. She sounded sleepy but was smiling.
"Hours. Do you have like a checklist or something of everything you're bringing?"
"I do. I can't pack until the night before but I have the costumes and I know what clothes I'm bringing. Is there anything else I'll need?"
"Just you I think. That's all I need you to bring." Mike winked at her.
'You're sweet. But seriously, if you think of anything else I'll need let me know." She yawned.
"I know you're tired. You don't have to call me if you don't want to. I can fall asleep by myself." Mike said.
"Maybe you can but I might not be able to. I'm calling you in ten minutes. Go get ready for bed."
"I'm already in bed." Mike joked.
"You know what I mean. Let me brush my teeth and then I'll call you back on my phone, okay?"
"You know I love falling asleep talking to you, El."
They got ready for sleep and began their usual bedtime routine of talking about silly things until one of them really started to sound sleepy. Then the other would talk soothingly to the sleepy one until they fell asleep. It was usually Mike who got sleepy first but tonight it was El. She listened as Mike's voice gently rocked her to sleep. When he was certain that she was out he whispered, "just a few more hours. I think I love you, El."
A/N: Thanks so much for the positivity on my previous chapter. The next chapter will be the start of the convention, so heads up, there will definitely be some very adult situations. Celebration, indeed.