There was an entire pack of the younger variety when Colleen and I decided to eat at this famous St. Louis style pizza place. She cautioned that her out-of-town friends described the pizza like "snot on a tortilla." I figure it couldn't be much worse than cafeteria food, plus I just wanted to be near her.

Things were still really awkward between us. She'd smile alot and then laugh about something, a deep red blush steadily moving up her neck and cheeks. I couldn't keep from constantly smiling. She has this passion about her that deeply touches me. Every time she smiles and looks at me I feel life in-between my fingers. It's been a long time since anyone made me feel so wanted.

We snuggled for a bit after coming back, watching animated vegetables sing to each other while her year old daughter whined and laughed occasionally. After everyone else was asleep we moved to her bed to cuddle and talk. I was finally close to someone again. We lay there in a spoons position, whispering into the night. I ended up falling asleep next to her. I felt whole.

Saturday came around and her daughter woke us up at 5am. We attempted to appease her, but a one year old knows who's boss and likes to take a few hours around dawn to prove this. After watching more talking vegetables and feeding her oatmeal, we finally fell back asleep.

Later on she took me by Main Street in St. Charles. There we walked up and down this orange pathway, taking turns strolling her daughter Christabelle while I told her about my past. Stories about my mom and I scraping by when I was a youngin', how we moved around, the martyr complex I had when I was younger and how I helped people by solving their problems, it just came out. She looked sympathetic and mentioned something on occasion. We were still getting used to each other but things were easier now.

We went over to Main Street then. It's this historic block or two of mid 19th century style storefronts that hide all sorts of stuff (and more corpulent good Christian folk). We entered into this specialty photo place that does tinted old style photos. At first she wanted me to style with her daughter, but eventually she and Christabelle got a shot in Victorian garb. She later told me the reason why she was smiling in the photo was because of me. I don't know why but that deeply moved me.

We spent the next few hours juggling 'Belle and stuff we bought, including this industrial sized rubber ducky. 'Belle keeps stealing Daniel's so we figured it'd be a good replacement. We even let it ride on top of the stroller. People thought we were weird. Hee.

Oh, I should mention her folks place. Before St. Charles we stopped over to say hi but stayed to eat some really excellent chili. Her mom didn't pay much...ok any attention to me for a good 10 minutes, but eventually we were introduced. She referred to me as "oh, another one of those people from the internet." Mentioning I'd known Colleen for five years, she repeated it with a smile. Sure I felt like crap, but her chili really was damn good.

So after St. Charles I laid around and rested. Colleen bounced now and again, asking me what I wanted to do, where I wanted to go. It wasn't really insistent, though. She's always...so caring about everything she mentions or brings up. And then there's the tendency to rush to various topics and coyly jab at me with words and smiles. It's like a thousand sharpened flower stems running toward me, weaving off to the side and leaving me confused, elated, sometimes weirded out.

But we eventually decided to go out and get my hotel room booked. That's when things got interesting. Heh, no, not quite in that way.

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