Celtic Magic (3 page)

Jasmine looked at her oddly then finally
asked, “What’s the matter? You look weird.”

Abby shook her head and replied, “Nothing,
I’m fine.”

Jasmine shrugged her
shoulders and walked away to help a customer who had just come in.
Just then her cell phone beeped and she looked down at it and saw
that it was from Tom.
Hey, want to do
something this weekend?
Abby looked up and
saw that Jasmine was still talking with the customer and answered
back.

Sure, pick me up at my
place on Saturday at around 8?
She hit the
send button then stuck the phone back into her pocket as the
customer came up to the counter with a load of items. Jasmine was
really a good sales person; people always bought lots of things
when she was through talking with them. The phone beeped in her
pocket while ringing up the customer, but she knew she had to wait
until the customer was gone to check the message.

After finishing up her
sale and watching the customer walk out of the door, she looked
around for Jasmine, but she wasn’t in the front room, so she
figured she was in the back. She pulled the phone out of her pocket
and opened the message.
A.M. or P.M. and I
don’t know where you live, but sounds good
. She giggled as she tapped her reply. P.M. silly, I don’t
leave the house that early.
Call me on
Saturday and I’ll tell you how to get to my apartment.

“
Was that Tom?” Jasmine
asked, suddenly standing right next to her.

She jumped and gave a yelp, “Sorry, you
scared the crap out of me Jasmine, but yes, that was Tom. He wants
to go out again this weekend.”

Jasmine smiled, “Well that is good news, the
first date must have gone well then.”

Abby nodded, “Yes, it did.” Jasmine patted
her on the shoulder and went about her day, and Abby never once
stopped smiling.

***

The next Saturday came around fairly fast as
she continued to learn the ropes at Celtic Magic and was beginning
to actually enjoy working there, and talking to all of the people
that came in looking for different things. She even had a woman who
was actually looking for banishing oil, and just as she was about
to tell the lady to stop watching so many movies, she found it with
the other spell ingredients.

This store was really making her open her
eyes to new people and a new way of looking at things. The best
part of the week though was when she got her first paycheck on
Friday. She cashed it immediately and hit the stores, looking for
the perfect outfit for her date. She found a dress at a small
boutique the next block down from work, a very cute yellow sundress
with white flowers on it. She then had to have a purse and some
shoes to match the outfit, and nearly spent her entire first
paycheck on a very nice pair of yellow wedge heels.

It was worth it though because when Tom
finally rang the bell that Saturday night, she had her blonde hair
pulled up halfway, and makeup on that was supposed to make her
green eyes bright and sparkly.

She answered the door and her mouth gaped
open, there was Tom with his hair as curly as ever, wearing a
button up white shirt and grey slacks.

He cleaned up very well, and Abby looked
down at her sundress, “I think I’m underdressed” she said.

He shook his head, “No way, you look great,
I really like your hair like that.”

Abby blushed, every time she wore her hair
even partially down people always told her it looked better that
way, but she mostly just pulled it back into a ponytail or messy
bun. It was just too hard to wear down and took way too long to
straighten and fix it every day.

“Thanks, you look good too. Where are we
going?” Abby asked him as she stepped out into the hallway and
locked the door behind her.

“
Well, I made reservations
at Nobu, and then I thought we could take a stroll in the park and
just talk.”

Abby looked over at Tom with her mouth
hanging open. “Nobu? I have heard of that place, isn’t it really
expensive?”

Tom shrugged his shoulders, “It’s really
good, I have been there a few times and their sushi is the best
around. Plus they have this special called Omakase where they bring
out tons of different dishes for you to try. It’s really good if
you have never been” he told her.

Abby looked down at her clothes again, “Are
you sure I’m not under dressed? This place is fancy and I don’t
want to stick out like a sore thumb.” She asked.

Tom laughed, “No way, you look great.”

Abby nodded as they made it to the lobby and
walked outside. Tom put his hand on the small of her back and led
her to the most beautiful car she had ever seen. It was black and
shiny, as though it had just been washed and waxed, and he already
had the top down showing light grey leather interior. He walked her
around to the passenger side door and opened it for her and she
slid inside, feeling the leather as she went. It was the softest
leather she had ever felt, and it smelled great inside the car.

She took another look at Tom and wondered if
maybe she didn’t know enough about him, and that she really needed
to keep her guard up with someone that could afford something so
exquisite. They rode to the restaurant in relative silence, both
enjoying the warm air and the lights of the city at night.

When they pulled up to the restaurant there
was a man there who opened her door and helped her out of the car.
She looked around and noticed how bright the place was. There were
even beams of light coming from the top of the restaurant shining
into the sky. Tom gave his keys to the man who had helped her out
of the car and grabbed her hand, pulling her forward into the
restaurant. When they walked in there was a woman at a podium that
was dressed in a black skirt and white shirt with a little black
bow tie. She looked around and noticed that this was how the entire
staff was dressed and was quite impressed.

She had never really been to an expensive
restaurant, as Chili’s was her favorite and it was comparatively
cheap, and she found she liked how fancy even the servers were.

Abby looked up as the hostess who smiled and
asked Tom, “Welcome to Nobu, do you have reservations?”

Tom nodded and replied, “Yes, Murphy, party
of two for the VIP room.”

The hostess’s facial expression instantly
changed to one of complete respect, “Yes sir, right this way, we
have a table for you next to the fish tank, just as you asked.”

Tom nodded, “Thank you.”

Abby tried not to look out of place as she
walked to her seat, but she couldn’t help but gawk at all of the
beautiful decorations there were around the place. The ceiling
looked as though it was made from bamboo and the tables looked as
though there were topped with solid gold, and they shined under
lights. They passed through a door that was lined with wooden
bamboo and had a gold plague next to it that read, VIP, and if the
front part of the restaurant was beautiful, this room was heaven,
with large columns that appeared clear, but as she looked closer,
noticed that they had hundreds of colorful fish that she had never
seen before.

They finally came to their table and it was
the only one next to a wall that was basically one large fish tank.
She looked into it, trying to find more fish, but there were none
in there. She sat down in the chair that was being held out for her
by Tom and waited until he sat.

“Why did you want to sit next to this tank
when there are no fish in it?”

He chuckled, “This isn’t a fish tank, it’s a
dolphin tank, look” he said, pointing to an area behind her, and as
she turned she finally noticed the large grey dolphin swimming
right towards her in the water.

She put her hands up onto the glass and
watched as the dolphin swam over and put its nose up against the
glass, right where her hand was.

She heard Tom say in the background, “Wow,
I’ve never seen it do that before.”

But she barely heard him, it was as though
she was one with the dolphin, and he was the only thing that
mattered. How she knew the dolphin was a he, she had no idea. She
moved her hand from left to right and giggled as he followed her
and never let his nose come off of the spots where her hand touched
the glass.

Suddenly the trance was broken and she
pulled her hand away from the glass and the dolphin swam away as
though nothing had happened, and she knew it was time for him to
eat, and he was hungry. She shook her head, nearly laughing at
herself for being so stupid and looked back over to Tom who sat
looking at her with an odd look on his face.

She shrugged her shoulders, “Well that was
weird huh? I’m starving, did you order?”

Chapter 6

After dinner, Tom took her to a beautiful
park downtown and they walked, holding hands. She thought about
what she had learned about him so far today; first he had a great
car, second he could afford expensive restaurants’ and had great
taste, third he said his last name was Murphy.

She looked over at him, “So Tom, you said
your last name was Murphy, are you related to Edison Murphy, the
man who started the Murphy Hotel?” she asked him.

He nodded, “Yes, he is my grandfather. He
started the hotel before I was born, but he has retired, and now my
dad runs the chain.”

Abby’s eyes grew large, “Wow that must be
where all of this came from then, huh?”

“All of what?” he asked.

“The fancy car, the fancy restaurant, the
VIP room, the way the waitress looked at you when you told her what
your name was” she answered back.

He nodded, “Yeah, but I don’t usually tell
people my last name when I first meet them, so that they don’t date
me just for my money.”

Abby nodded, “Yeah, I can see where that
would be a problem. Luckily I could care less about money. Are you
going to be the boss once your father retires?” she asked him.

He looked at her with an odd expression and
she realized at that moment how that must have sounded. She threw
her hands up in surrender and laughed.

“That didn’t come out right, I just wanted
to get to know you a little more, I really don’t know anything
about you. I promise I’m not after your money.”

He shrugged his shoulders and continued as
if nothing had happened, “I don’t know, it is expected, but I don’t
know if that is what I want to do. They don’t know that though, I
even went to school for Hotel Management, but I hated every minute
of it.”

Abby looked over at him, “You shouldn’t do
anything that you don’t love, you will never be happy that way.”
She told him.

Tom sighed, “Can you keep a secret?” he
asked her.

She smiled, “Of course.”

He stopped walking and turned her around to
look at him. “I have been taking art classes, but I have been doing
it under a fake name so that nobody knows who I am. I love art and
I know my father would be very angry if he knew I was taking
them.”

Abby was quiet for a minute, trying to get
the words completely right before she said them, “I think that if
art school makes you happy, you shouldn’t be afraid of what your
father says, but I do understand why you wouldn’t want him to know.
It’s something that you will have to figure out eventually.”

Tom stared at her for a moment with an odd
look on his face as though he was seeing her for the first time. He
put his hands on either side of her face and looked into her eyes
and she quickly got lost in the soft blue of his eyes. Leaning
forward he touched his lips to hers softly, making her heart pound
and her stomach jump.

This was the first time anyone had ever
kissed her, and it was more wonderful than she had ever imagined.
He pulled away from her slowly, with a look on his face that said
he wanted more, but didn’t want to push her too far.

Finally he smiled, grabbing hold of her
hand, “It’s getting late, I’ll take you home now.”

She nodded, not knowing what to say.

***

Back at her apartment, she unlocked and
opened the door; turning around to look at Tom she whispered,
“Thank you for such a lovely night, can you do me a small favor?”
she asked him.

He nodded, “Of course, anything.”

She blushed and looked down at the carpet,
“Can you kiss me again?”

Without a word, he pulled her chin up making
her look at him before he leaned in and kissed her once again. This
time he opened his mouth and slid his tongue out and touched her
lips with it until she opened her mouth so that he could slide his
tongue in so that their tongues could touch. As soon as their
tongues met, the kiss deepened, and she wrapped her hands around
his neck and he lifted her up walking into her apartment, shutting
the door behind him with his foot.

He carried her into the living room and laid
her down onto the couch, laying himself on top of her, all while
never letting his lips leave hers. She felt as his hands slowly
slid up her body, making her skin tingle where ever he touched. He
moved his hand onto her breast and rubbed her hardened nipple with
his thumb over the top of her sundress.

She gasped as a pleasure she had never felt
before rolled through her body until it reached the area between
her legs, where she suddenly felt a wetness pool inside of her
panties. Suddenly her hands started to feel hot, as though she were
touching a hot stove. She pulled her face away from Tom and looked
down at her hand noticing that it was bright red and had a weird
shimmering quality to it.

She tensed up, scared of what was happening
and Tom pulled away from her looking at her with concern.

“Are you okay? He asked her.

She didn’t want to tell him about what her
hands were doing, so she told him the only truth she could think
of.