Two sides to every story

Chapter One
 

by Dina

Jill Explains How She Met Bryan

Bryan and I met in the grocery store. All those years of reading articles about the grocery store being a great place to meet singles and it turned out to be true!

We got stuck in line behind a woman with a loaded cart and a ton of groceries. To make matters worse, one of her items rang up 10 cents more than she said it cost.

I was digging in my pocket to give her a quarter to speed things along, when Bryan spoke to me.

‘If I say that my food costs more than I thought it did, will you pay for mine too?’

His blue eyes crinkled as he smiled at me. Forgetting all about the woman and her argument with the cashier, I smiled back and we began chatting.

Twenty minutes later, I was finally all checked out. I hung around the register, supposedly re-arranging the bags in my cart, so I could continue the conversation.

Bryan quickly paid for his items and then we walked out of the store together.

It wasn’t until we were at my car I realized that he only had 10 or so items.

‘Why didn’t you just go to the express lane?’ I asked, unable to believe that someone would stand on a line like that when they didn’t have to.

‘I wanted to talk to you,’ he said, ‘I’ve seen you in the store before but never managed to wind up at the registers at the same time.’

I smiled, wondering if it was silly to be flattered that someone would be willing to stand in line for almost half an hour just to talk to me.

We stood by the cars and talked for almost a half an hour more, before I started to worry about the ice cream I had bought. Bryan asked if I would like to go out on Friday and when I said yes, asked for my phone number.

I took a jug of water out of my trunk as he walked away and opened the hood of my car.

I had barely seen him move, but all of a sudden he was back by my side.

‘What is the problem?’ He looked around the engine, poking at hoses and wires.

‘Nothing,’ I smiled, ‘Just the radiator. I just have to keep filling it with water or it overheats.’

Bryan straightened up and I handed him a tissue to wipe his hands with.

‘Have you had it looked at?’ He seemed very serious now; not at all like the pleasant man I had just spent the last hour or so chatting to.

I shrugged, not willing to answer. The truth was, as long as it still ran if I filled it with water, I saw no point in wasting good money taking it to be fixed.

But sometimes men are funny about cars; my father took his ‘baby’ to the station every time he heard a strange noise.

I dropped the hood and smiled again.

‘I will see you on Friday,’ I said, taking my jug back to the trunk. Slamming the trunk down, I went around to open my door.

‘Jill,’ Bryan said, holding my arm before I could get into the car, ‘I asked you a question and I would appreciate a response.’

I frowned a little, looking up at his face.

Suddenly he did not seem so friendly, he was vaguely threatening. Not ‘call 911’ threatening, but he had the look my father had gotten sometimes when I was little and I had done something he didn’t like.

I tried removing my arm and he only tightened his hold.

‘Jill.’ He only said my name, but still I shivered, the resemblance to my father when he was about to bare my bottom for a good spanking was even more pronounced.

I stopped trying to get away and explained that I hadn’t had the car looked at yet, but that I was planning on doing it tomorrow.

Let him try and prove how long it’s been busted, I thought, smiling to myself.

He still was frowning, but he let me go.

‘I’ll drive behind you to make sure you get home.’ I opened my mouth to protest, but a glare from him made my mouth snap shut again. He gave me an approving smile and went to get into his car.

As I drove up the road to my house, I couldn’t believe that I had caved like that. I was used to being the one in charge in my relationships. The guys I dated didn’t seem to mind at all that I called the shots. But here was a man who had reduced me to a naughty little girl who was trying to get out of a spanking with a few words and a stern look.

Once I got into my driveway, I had managed to forget his look and stern demeanor, concentrating more on the fact that a good looking guy had picked me up at the grocery store and asked me out.

I waved as he drove by, beeping his horn. I unpacked the car and went into the house.

 

Bryan Explains How He Met Jill


I had seen Jill around the grocery store a couple of times before. She seemed to fly around with her cart, always just a little ahead of me. I never seemed to be able to catch her, and that made me all the more determined to do it.

At last the day came when I happened by as she was at the register. I was nowhere near done with my shopping, but I promptly got into line behind her.

There was a woman holding up the line, arguing about the cost of something, and Jill seemed like she was going to bust a gasket or something.

I spoke up, making a joke, and it worked. She turned to me and we began talking like we had known each other forever.

She was a good conversationalist, having an opinion on everything, informed or not. She made me laugh several times while we were waiting, and walking her out to her car, I resolved to get to know her even better.

We arranged to go out on Friday and I turned to go to my own car, planning on returning to the store to finish my shopping once Jill had left.

Then I noticed that she was opening the hood of her car. I went over to see if I could help.

I poked around the engine a little bit, but couldn’t see anything obviously wrong.

‘What’s the problem?’ I asked her, wiping my hands off on a rag she handed me.

She rather airily explained about putting water in the radiator. I only knew the minimum about cars, preferring to leave the maintenance work up to someone else, but even I knew that this was not a good thing.

I couldn’t believe that not only did she not see how this was a bad way to deal with a problem with the car; but that she also seemed to think I would just smile and go on my way, leaving her to deal with this on her own.

I took her arm to prevent her from leaving. She fussed a little, but calmed down once I gave her ‘the look’.

I knew that if we were in a relationship, that look would signify a good old-fashioned spanking was going to be coming her way; apparently she understood the look well enough to not give me a hard time.

I talked to her a bit about the importance of taking care of her car, but I could tell by the expression on her face that it was going in one ear and out the other.

She would be in for a surprise on Friday, I vowed to myself, if I found out that her car still hadn’t been looked at.

I wanted to get to know her better, but not at the cost of being someone I wasn’t. And I believed that when a girl behaved badly, she should be disciplined. And the only discipline that I considered effective was carried out on a bare bottom with my hand or, in extreme cases, an implement.

As Jill would find out on Friday if she didn’t attend to her car the way she said she was going to. And I had a feeling that if this did develop into a relationship, she would be over my knee very often; she was the type who leaped before they looked.