Ali Vali - Love Match

Emily watched her as Parker took a bite out of only one of the jumbo shrimp before fishing her wallet out of her front pocket. With a quick mental addition Parker left enough for the items she had ordered but wasn't sticking around to eat plus the tip. With as much dignity as she could, Parker pushed away from the table and walked out with out gracing Emily with another word. The pilot was torn on whether to break out into tears over the fact Parker didn't care about her, or the fact she had made a complete ass of herself in front of a room full of people.

"You know, Parker, one of these days you will have to learn that honesty is not always the best policy. Next time take a clue, from let say President Clinton. You look them right in the eye and say 'I did not have sex with that girl.' End of story, since it's no one's business anyway." Most of the people walking around the entrance to the park that took you to Tavern on the Green looked at the tennis player and wondered if she was on something as she walked along the street covered in chocolate and talking to herself.

Parker walked for a while then sat on low stonewall that surrounds Central Park to get her thoughts in order. Emily didn't have the right to be mad at her. If she had cared enough about continuing where they had left off, she would have called. "It's not like I didn't think about her at all this summer, or try to get in touch with her. She was all I thought about."

"That's nice to hear, but I would have still preferred that you hadn't slept with Alicia again. I missed you, Parker, and believe me, you have taken up more than your share of time in my head as well. You forgot your book." Emily sat beside her on the wall holding the damp book Parker had left behind.

"Not the way to treat a first edition Frost," said Parker holding up the chocolate sodden book.

"No, I would imagine it's not. I'm sorry for throwing that on you, I don't know what came over me."

"I know exactly what came over you, call it experience, but tell me, Emily, what are you hoping for here?"

"I want to spend time with you, Parker. This past summer, for a couple of days I thought we had started something that was special to both of us. If you had asked, I would have stayed with you for a few more days to see if something was there."

"Why didn't you, stay I mean? I wouldn't have thrown you out."

"A girl wants to be asked, Parker. If not it makes us look desperate if we just move in." Emily moved closer and reached out for one of the big hands she remembered holding the night they went out to dinner.

"And you think I'm going to ask you anything now? You bathed me in hot chocolate in front of a restaurant full of people. I have enough problems with people thinking I'm an ass to women without any outside help."

Emily looked at her feet and let go of Parker's hand thinking she had lost before they had even begun. The summer was just a fluke that wasn't going to repeat itself or continue where they had left off. "I'm sorry, just send me your cleaning bill."

"Captain, do you think you are getting off that easily? If you do, then you're delusional as well as forgetful about leaving phone numbers so people can call you."

"What do you want?" asked Emily letting her smile show for the first time in weeks.

"I want lots of things, but first I want to know if you kissed your date good night?" Parker smiled at her and Emily's heart started to warm up.

"Yes, against my better judgment I did."

"Good, now tell me why you didn't call me this summer?"

"I thought it would make me look clingy."

"I see, would you mind terribly if I were to kiss you now?" Parker leaned further into Emily until their shoulders touched.

"Yes."

"Yes, you want me to, or yes, you would mind?" Parker stood up and towered over Emily after the woman had not given her the answer she was expecting.

"Yes, I would mind." Emily smiled and moved closer to the scowling woman before she went on. "This is a new dress and I don't want to get chocolate on it." Parker smiled back before crushing the smaller woman to her chest making sure that some of the chocolate got onto Emily.

"Send me yourcleaning bill, Captain." The kiss surprised Emily because of how quickly Parker had scooped her up.

It was similar to the one Parker had given her the night they went out to dinner and she left her at the guestroom door. Only this time Emily parted her lips and invited Parker in. Emily could feel the calluses on Parker's hands as they came up and framed her face, but instead of concentrating on their roughness she thought about how the strength of Parker's hands made her feel safe. The contrast was in her lips though, in that they were silky soft and they touched hers with just the right amount of pressure to keep her wanting more.

"I missed you too." Parker kissed her again before taking Emily's hand and started the walk back to her hotel.

"Where are we going?" As they walked Parker told her about her pre-tournament tradition of eating alone and laughed at the slight frown that had taken over Emily's face. She thought it was a brush off from Parker not two minutes after they had kissed.

"Well I thought that this was the only city in the world where that tradition of mine doesn't work, so I thought I would change my tactics just this once. Did you get to eat tonight?"

"No I was busy becoming fodder for the tabloid news. How about I treat you to dinner, and then you'll have to give me joint custody of the trophy if you win the Open?"

"How about I pay, and you just go along for the ride?"

Emily sat on one of the chairs while Parker stripped out of her soiled clothes in the bathroom. She just stared at the bed and imagined Parker rolling around on it with Alicia. There was no way in hell she could compete with someone like that, or any other girl Parker had been associated with over the past couple of years.

"My dress is stained." It was a poor excuse to get out of the room but Emily didn't want to be there anymore. She wanted to be back in that library in Press Cove with Parker reading her something from the hundreds of books that lined the shelves.

"I thought we could stop at your place and you could change and maybe drop that in cold water or something so the stain won't set." Parker pointed to Emily's dress feeling bad now that she had stained it.

"You don't mind?"

"Mind what?" Parker's brows came together in confusion over the question.

"Leaving here." Emily waved around the room that had all of Parker's stuff thrown about. Parker figured this had more to do than just the room.

"I want to have dinner with you. I've actually wanted to have dinner with you since the last time I took you out to dinner, and the time you cooked me breakfast. Abby and I have been pining away for you, Captain, so don't disappoint me now that I got you back."

They took a cab to Emily's new apartment that had no furniture and just the bulk of the clothes she didn't need at Bobbie's. Parker walked around and looked out the windows in the front room as Emily went to change. When she walked out of the bedroom she was dressed similar to Parker in jeans and a casual shirt. She smiled when she stepped out and saw Parker holding the book that Barnaby had given her when they had stopped in the night before they had gone out to dinner. It was a collection of love poems and sonnets by Shakespeare, Barnaby's favorite author. Since it was his favorite, Emily had appreciated and enjoyed it that much more that he had thought enough of her to part with it. With any luck she could convince Parker to read some selections out of it tonight.

"How about take out and we'll come back here and eat?" Emily had just gotten Parker back and wasn't ready to share her just yet. The apartment only had a bed that she had taken from the place she had shared with Gail. It was the one thing that she had taken from home when she moved out, and only because it had the sentiment value of having been the one she had had since she was a child.