Tainted Heart

Kelley was impressed. Not only by the view, but by how fancy the restaurant looked to be.

"Wow the view is amazing," Kelley whispered, enraptured at how beautiful the city looked.

"The view is way better at night," Hope said, "maybe I'll bring you another time so you can see what I'm talking about."

They were seated by a young man who was smiling way too much at Kelley for Hope's liking. He took their orders for drinks and walked away.

"Wasn't expecting this to be like a fancy restaurant, I feel a little under dressed," Kelley said not taking her eyes off the menu. Hope rolled her eyes at the younger woman.

"It's not that fancy, what you're wearing is prefect." She paused, visibly looking Kelley over, "You look good." She complimented her.

"Thank you," Kelley said, a slight blush forming. "So what's good here, any suggestions?"

"The grilled wild king salmon is a must, it's one of my favorite things to eat here." Kelley set down her menu.

"That's what I'll have then." A smile starting to form on her lips. Hope looked up from her menu only to see Kelley staring at her. She was about to say something when the waiter interrupted them.

"Ladies, are you ready to order, or should I give you a little more time?" He asked looking directly at Kelley. Hope really didn't like the look he was giving her.

"We're ready, I think. Kell?" She cast a glance over at Kelley.

"I'll have the grilled wild king salmon please." She handed her menu to the waiter with barely a glance in his direction, choosing to lock her eyes on Hope's across the table.

"I'll have the seafood fettuccine carbonara please." She handed her menu to the guy without looking away from Kelley and her intense stare.

"OK I'll be back with your drinks in a little bit." They both barely mumbled a thanks to the waiter, which he noticed, so he just walked away.

They found themselves smiling and staring at each other for what felt like a long time, but it was merely a few seconds.

"So," Kelley broke the silence between them, "tell me about yourself. What's your story, Hope?" She leaned forward in her chair, putting her hands under her chin. Hope loved the way her name sounded when Kelley said it.

"My story mmm let's see... I'm from Richland. I'm thirty years old. I went to the University of Washington. I work at the Seattle Time, I'm a journalist. I moved to Seattle since I started going to college here, and I've been living here since then. I look at Seattle more like my home than any other place really." Hope smiled and looked over at Kelley. "Your turn. What's your story, Kelley?"

"Let's see, I'm from Fayetteville Georgia. I am twenty three years old, which you already knew," she winked over at Hope, "I was going to University of North Carolina but that's postponed for now. You know where I work at the moment, and well I haven't decided if Seattle is a place I really like to be honest." She finished before the waiter came back and placed two glasses of water in front of them.

"I hope I can help with that," Hope said.

"You're already helping," she looked at Hope to see what her reaction would be, "I mean I could get used to this, fancy dinner at the top of the space needle." Hope let out a laugh.

"Well don't get used to it, I'm only trying to impress you. It is only the first date." she said before she could think about what that implied. Kelley looked surprised at what Hope had just said.

"Does that mean there will a second date?" She raised her eyebrows waiting for an answer. Hope was internally slapping herself for insinuating there would be more. She wanted there to be more but for all she knew Kelley would hate this date and never talk to her again.

"I mean... I umm,"she stumbled with her words she didn't know what to say. She heard Kelley laughing at the other side of the table. "Ugh! Stop being such a jerk" Hope playfully growled at her. "Guess there won't be a second date after all..."

"Oh come on! You can't tell me my southern O'Hara charm isn't working on ya!?" Kelley was laughing at how easy it was to get Hope all worked up.

"Southern O'Hara charm?" She questioned Kelley.

"You'll be so smitten by me at the end of the day that you won't be able to resist me," she winked and Hope felt herself blush a little by how openly Kelley was now flirting with her. 'Get your shit together Hope' she said to herself.

"Who says I was trying to resist you?" It was now Kelley's turn to blush a little.

They kept their flirtatious banter going until the waiter came back with their food. Hope was having such a good time, Kelley was easy to talk to about anything and everything. After eating and some more small talk, the waiter came back to take their plates away.

"How about dessert for you ladies today?" He asked. Hope gave Kelley a look as if to tell her to choose.

"I think I'll save that for later," Kelley said with the biggest grin on her face. She was proud to have come up with that one. Hope rolled her eyes and just turned to the waiter and asked for the check.

"Here let me..." Kelley was taking out her wallet when she felt Hope's hand stop her.

"No, I got it," she said "It's the least I can do." Kelley gave her a nod and put her wallet away.

"Well thank you, this was delicious," she smiled, "but the company was even better."

"I will have to agree," Hope said smiling back at Kelley, "thanks for still coming with me on this date. You could have just said no after what I did but you still came and I'm really glad you did."

"How could I not?" She looked over at where there was a clock. "So what's next? I mean you did promise me a whole day of touring."

"Well we're not done here yet, come on let's go out there and enjoy the view for a bit." They got up walked over to the door.

They spent a whole hour just enjoying each other's company. Hope made Kelley put down her name on the visitors board, which had Kelley rolling her eyes. They even ended up taking a picture, per Kelley's request, claiming that a picture was a must since it was her first time there. Hope had argued about how no normal person ever took pictures with their dates on the first date. Kelley's response was that they weren't normal. Hope knew she had lost at that point so with a roll of her eyes, she stood next to Kelley so they could take a picture (or four).

After the tour of the space needle Hope lead Kelley out. She had a lot planned to show Kelley they were going to have enough time to do everything she had planned to show Kelley

They went to Chihuly Garden and Glass, another one of Hope's favorite places in Seattle. In her opinion, everything was so beautiful, yet so fragile. There had been times when she would go and spend an hour or two just contemplating the works of arts on display.

The art was just one of those things you don't get tired of seeing. Like Kelley, she thought, she didn't think she could ever get tired of seeing her, and that was kind of scary for Hope. Kelley had only been in her life not even a week and she couldn't picture her life without her. She felt that it would break her.

She wasn't in love, she couldn't be. She was sure she wasn't but there was just something about her that she couldn't quite yet understand but was willing to put in the work to understand. She only hoped that Kelley felt as strongly as she did about their connection.

And Kelley did. The first thing that crossed her mind when she had first seen Hope was love at first sight. What else could have been right? Those icy blue eyes had captivated her, the way she could smile without actually smiling. She was sure that Hope was going to be someone special to her, and she was already on her way to getting there.

Kelley let people in really easy, she wore her heart on her sleeve, and that had gotten her heartbroken many, many times. Not that she was about to change, she'd never change that about herself. She simply was more careful about letting people in but she still gave them the benefit of the doubt.

Kelley will always choose to see the best in people. Unlike Hope who, until Kelley, would have never let anyone in as fast, or as easy, as she had let Kelley in. Hope still had reservations about her past that she was scared to let Kelley know about. It was a feeling both of them had. Yet the past was exactly that, the past. They weren't gonna let that ruin the present. The beautiful present they were living at the moment.

After leaving the garden and glass museum they headed to Pike Place Market. Hope was so excited about taking Kelley there. When she had free time she would go there to buy fresh fish, fruits, flowers and most importantly, her wine. A few people knew her by name, she had been going there since she had gotten her first apartment in the city after graduating from college.

Kelley was so excited to get to know Hope. Hope would just get lost in talking about coming here in her free time. Her eyes would light up everytime she talked about stuff she liked to do. They spent almost two hours just walking around. The only purchase was a bracelet from a lady that had insisted it looked good on Hope. Kelley bought it.

"So it's getting late and I thought we could maybe make one last stop?" Hope asked hoping Kelley would say yes.

"I would love to, lead the way." She smiled at Hope and walked right beside her to Hope's car. As Hope drove they made small talk. It was starting to get dark and Hope knew it was the perfect time to take Kelley there.

They parked a little far from the Pier 57 so they had to walk there. It was nice, Kelley thought. She was definitely not regretting her decision to move temporarily to Seattle.

"So why did you move to Seattle if you don't mind me asking?" Hope was curious to what could have made Kelley put her college on hold to move across the country.

"Long story short, my brother lost his wife not too long ago. My brother was having a really hard time dealing with everything. He has two kids to take care off and he's always been there for me, no matter what. So I decided it was my turn to be there for him." Kelley had a sad smile on her face, which Hope quickly decided she didn't like it there, "so here I am, being here for him."

"Wow I'm sorry for his loss. It's never easy loosing the one you love, it must be hard to move on from something like that. You know I think you're amazing for doing that for him," she said looking at Kelley with admiration. "I'm happy I met you."

"I'm happy I met you too," they fall in to a comfortable silence. That's when Kelley noticed where they were going. She let out a not so quiet squeak of excitement for what they were about to do. She loved ferris wheels. They got in line and waited a while for their turn to get on it.

Kelley was so excited and Hope was proud about the whole date/tour she had come up with. It wasn't everything she wanted to show Kelley but it was some of her top favorite spots to go to. Once it was their turn, they got on and decided to sit side by side this time. More like Kelley decided to. They started to go up and enjoyed the sight before them once high enough.

"I had a really good time today," Kelley put her hand on top of Hope's.

"I had a really great time with you too," Hope says looking down to where Kelleys hand rested on top of hers. When Hope looked up again, her eyes flickered slightly to Kelley's lips. She was having trouble reading her. She didn't want to lean in, only to have Kelley pull away. But then Kelley's eyes did the same thing, they looked down to Hope's lips. That's when Hope decided to lean in half way to give Kelley the decision to lean in all they way. And she did.

Their lips met half way and it was a kiss neither of them had ever experienced before. Hope had never felt so much emotion in just a kiss. And Kelley was sure that cliche about seeing fireworks when you kiss someone for the first time was happening to her right about now. Their lips started moving together slowly, absolutely no rush. It was just them getting acostumed to each other.

Hope brought her hand up to Kelley's neck to deepen the kiss and Kelley brought her hand up to Hope's cheek. They fit so perfectly together. As much as they wanted to keep kissing, they had to come up for air. Their lips separated but Hope kept them close enough to place a chaste kiss to Kelleys lips before letting her hands fall to Kelley's lap. There, she was met with her warm hands, which she grabbed a hold of, squeezing them slightly.

"Wow that was-" She was cut off by Hope.

"Amazing?" Hope asked.

"I was gonna say perfect but that works too." She was blushing a little and the look Hope was giving her wasn't helping at all. Hope noticed Kelley's blush so she broght her hand up to her cheek and leaned in for a second kiss. This one didn't last that long, it was more lazy but still with purpose.

"Yeah amazing is the right word," was all Kelley said before they reached the bottom where they had to get off. Hope was still holding one of Kelley's hands intwined with her own. Kelley thought she was going to let go as soon as they got off the ferris wheel. She didn't. She held on to her hand until she had to let go for Kelley to get in the car. Kelley put her brother's address to put in to Hope's GPS.

They made small talk again as Hope drove to Kelley's house, well more like her brother's house. And the small talk was more like Kelley talking about how she had a great time and how Seattle is really a beautiful place. Hope smiled at how happy Kelley looked, and she's glad that maybe it has something to do with her.

When they got closer to Kelley's house, a comfortable silence settled between them. Neither was saying anything, just enjoying the other's presence. Kelley can't help but feel a little sad about the day being over soon. Hope is having the same feeling, she doesn't want it to end. She had enjoyed her time with Kelley.

"Well this is me," she turns to Hope, "I really did have great time today. Thank you."

"It was my pleasure, I had an amazing time with you," Hope said grabbing Kelleys hand that was resting in between them, "so about that second date?"

"I'll sleep on it and get back to you soon." She teased and Hope just rolled her eyes and turned to get off her car. Kelley was about to do the same but Hope stopped her.

"Wait there," she said walking around to the passenger door. She opened the door and put her had in front of her for Kelley to take.

"Come on I'll walk you to your door," Hope said grabbing Kelleys hand. They walked up to Kelleys door.

"Well have a good night. Thanks for an amazing day," Kelley said turning to look at Hope in the eyes with a lazy smile on her face.

"Thank you!" Hope leaned in, and again Kelley met her half way. It was a quick kiss, as soon as their lips met they backed away from each other. Kelley went in for a hug, which Hope happily returned. She buried her face in Hope's neck and couldn't help but feel like she belonged there in her arms. They let go and Kelley turned and walked the short distance to the door. She turned around go meet Hope's eyes again.

"Goodnight Kell," was all Hope said before she turned around and headed for her car and drove away.

It was a perfect date Kelley had thought. It might have started on the wrong foot but Kelley was happy she made the decision to go. She was more sure now that Hope was somebody that was going to be a constant in her life. The way she had felt in her arms was beyond amazing. She had never felt that safe with anybody before. She couldn't wipe the smile off her face.

Hope on the other hand was kind of freaking out at how perfect it had felt. She bearly knew this woman that was making her feel things she thought she would never feel again, and more. What was going on with her? She needed to talk to Carli about this. Was it possible to like someone so much after only going out on one date? She wasn't so sure it was, but here she was, feeling too much for this girl she didn't know at all.

But she did know her, Kelley had told her so much about herself and her life today, Hope felt like she knew her. All Hope wanted to do is go talk about Kelley with Carli, she needed her friend to tell her it's okay to feel what she was feeling. But for now she would just let her mind replay the date with kelley.

The kiss, the perfect kiss, she had with her. It had been the best kiss she had ever shared with anyone. It didn't feel like a first kiss, but rather as if their lips had finally found each other after so much time apart. Hope liked Kelley, she could admit it to herself. She just wasn't sure how ready she was to let herself be truly happy for once.