Character Relationships: First Meetings

Give us the story of how your favorite written characters got together and what makes their relationship strongest.

My favorite characters... It's really difficult for me to decide who to be writing about in this post. At first, my gut instinct was to write about Nick and Audrey because they really are my favorites. However, their story about how they met is really uninteresting. Audrey moved over to the US and was introduced to Jimi by her boss and then, at the same time, she met Nick. There's a little more to it then that, and they definitely have a lot of bangs, bumps, and bruises along the way, but their initially meeting was definitely nothing to write home about.

So, digging a little deeper, I figured I would tell the story of how Lindsey and Aaron met because it makes me giggle a little bit. And there's no better way to do that than by sharing the scene in which it happened. So long as you promise to keep in mind that this is writing from 2009 and mostly unedited, feel free to read and be amused by a silly little romance.

Lindsey was sitting on the porch swing watching the sun go down over the few acres of the fifty her family owned that she could actually see and dangling her thin white sandal on her big toe. The shoe that belonged on her left foot had long since fallen to the ground and was being ignored as she floated lazily above it. The phone in the kitchen began to ring. It was a piercing sound in the thick, moist pre-dusk air. Lindsey let her other shoe drop to the ground before she stood up. She walked across the porch, feeling the soft worn wood below her feet, still holding in excess warmth from the brutal afternoon sun. She pulled open the screen door that covered the back door and reached her hand in, feeling around on the wall for the phone. She knew it was hanging just inside somewhere. Finally her fingers brushed across the familiar plastic of the receiver.

             “Hello?” she said.

             “Hey sweetie! It’s Mom,” the voice on the other end said. Lindsey smiled and took a few steps so she was inside the house completely.

             “How’s Florida?” she asked, hopping up on the kitchen counter to talk on the phone. She knew the call would be long, since it was her mother and they hadn’t talked in a few days. Lindsey was secretly hoping that she was calling to spill some great and offensive secret about Tiffany that no one had known until it was unearthed on the trip.

             “Hot. If you think it’s hot at home, you should come here! I feel like I should be swimming through the air there’s so much moisture in it. I just wanted to call and see how things were going,” she said.

             “As good as they can be with everything considered,” she said. That was it. No news about the secret transvestite life her sister had been living, or the fact that Kyle was really Kristy, or even that they were going to be a few days late getting home. Just checking up on her, but probably more on the house and animals, since they knew Lindsey could hold her own.

             “Good to hear. Have you thought any more about what you want for your birthday?” she asked. Lindsey smiled, glad to have the attention focused purely on her again.

             “A boyfriend,” she started, “a good looking one about my age—more than a year difference would be weird—with blonde hair and blue eyes,” she said.

             “I’ll work on that one,” she said, laughing. “Actually, there’s a good looking blonde boy right over there, I can’t guarantee the blue eyes right now though. I’ll go find out.”

             “No! Mom, no don’t! I was kidding! It was a joke! Don’t talk to him!” Lindsey said. There was no stopping her mother now that she had already started on her little adventure.

             “Hi there, sorry to interrupt you, I just have a few questions to ask you, if that’s okay,” she said. Lindsey held her face in her hands; she was blushing even though she wasn’t there to actually witness the event. Over the telephone might have actually been worse. “Do you have a girlfriend? Now, before you get weirded out, I’m not asking for myself, but for my daughter. She’s about to turn eighteen, and well, the only thing she asked for was a boyfriend. You just so happen to fit her requirements,” her mother said.

             “Mom, stop please. This is embarrassing!” Lindsey said. She could hear the guy laughing in the background, but it didn’t sound like he was laughing at her, but rather that he was actually entertaining the idea.

             “I’m single, actually. Where’s the daughter? Can I at least meet her before you put a bow on my head and call me purchased?” he said. Lindsey’s mouth fell open; she could not believe that this might actually work.

             “She’s back home in Mississippi, but she’s on the phone right now. If you want to talk to her, that’s okay. I have a few photos too,” her mother said.

             “Mom, no! Stop, don’t give him the phone. Do. Not. Give. Him. The—”

             “Hello?” he said. He voice was low and manly.

             “Uh, hi. I’m really sorry about my Mom. She sometimes takes jokes a little too far, and yeah. Sorry,” she said.

             “If you’re as cute as your voice, I don’t mind. Even if you aren’t, I could handle that,” he said.

             “I, uh...” Lindsey stuttered. She had nothing to say.

             “You have a name, pretty lady?” he asked. “Can I keep this even if I don’t date her—you’ve got a gorgeous daughter,” he said, presumably to her mother.

             “Lindsey,” she mumbled.

             “Lindsey,” he repeated, “I’m Aaron and I’m from California originally, but I’m moving around the States right now looking for a place that I fit in,” he said, “hopefully it’ll be in Mississippi.” Lindsey heard her mother inviting him to her birthday party at the end of the week.

             “Birthday party. Sounds like as good a time to meet you in person as any,” he said, “especially since it sounds like I’m the gift you’re most looking forward to,” he said. Lindsey stayed silent, not sure what to say to the boy her mother had just picked up for her. “You still there, Lindsey?” he asked.

             “Yes. I’m still here,” she said. Her southern accent was starting to show more than it normally did now that she was so nervous. “I just don’t have much to say right now,” she said.

             “Tell me about yourself,” he suggested.

             “Why don’t we wait and save that for the party, that way we know we’ll have something to talk about when you get here and we won’t just be staring at each other uncomfortably while the entirety of my family watches us interact,” she said.

             “Good idea. I’ll see you soon, Lindsey,” he said.

             “Good bye, Aaron,” she said, more embarrassed than ever about what had just happened. Aaron handed the phone back to her mother and Lindsey heard them exchanging important information before ultimately deciding that they would just talk more after Lindsey got off the phone.

             “Well, you can’t say I never get you what you ask for,” her mother said.

Apologies for the slightly wonky formatting and not the best writing, but I think that's an amusing first meeting story.

Written for the WriYe Blogging Circle February 2014 Post.