I Wanted That Spark

We all remember the noise, that funny sound coming from our computers when it was attached to the home phone line in the early 90’s. The good old days of dial-up internet. E-mail was a new thing to the average American household. In the evenings, I would wander over and sit in front of the computer, waiting for it to dial up, eagerly anticipating those words, “You’ve got mail.”

Most evenings, I would dial up and view my e-mail, then log off the computer. Too afraid I would break something, I didn’t dare click on any other buttons. One evening, though, I accidentally clicked on a file folder. I thought, Oh shit, I broke something.

A strange “chat room” menu dropped down on my computer screen. I thought, What the heck is a chat room? Curious, I double-clicked the window, and another drop-down menu appeared with a selection of different types of chat rooms. You mean to tell me with my mouse I can click on one of these and chat with people from all over the world? I thought. Holy shit! A whole new world just appeared before me on a twenty-two-inch computer screen. Wow!

I scrolled through a wide variety of chat rooms but paused when I came across “Adult Chat,” not sure what that meant. My mouse hovered over the Adult option for a minute or two. I was a little nervous about selecting the adult chat room, breathing heavily like I was about to watch an adult film for the first time. Finally, I gathered enough courage to select the chat room. Another drop-down menu magically appeared with the options Straight Chat, Gay Chat, Lesbian Chat, Bi-sexual Chat, and Dominatrix Chat.

So far, my sexual experiences had all been with men, so I selected the straight chat room. I was really looking for that spark, that hot chemistry all my friends talked about. When prompted, I gave a brief description of myself: My name is Lauren, age 25. I’m a single, white female, five-foot-five, with dark brown hair, green eyes. My body type is athletic. I run and do yoga several days a week and enjoy almost all water activities. Being from the Texas Gulf Coast, it is hard not to enjoy the water.

Giving my real name and brief description of myself so quickly was a big mistake. Out of nowhere, these little windows exploded all over my computer screen. Yikes, I thought, what the hell just happened? Did I break something? The windows included all sorts of screen-names, like 9inchCock, sohard4u, and NakednWaiting, with messages that read, “I’m horny for you,” and “Do you wanna suck my cock, baby?”

These people didn’t even know me. How could they ask me such perverted questions? Then, it dawned on me—this was a hidden world. A secret society of sex. A hidden place behind the computer screen where no one would know who you were or what you were doing. I was fascinated.

After a few evenings of exploring the straight adult chat room, I connected with a man whose screen name was BoatGuy. At least his screen name was decent. He approached me with, “Hi, how are you?” That seemed like a normal introduction to me, making me feel less apprehensive to chat with him. “Would you like to join me in a private chat room?” he continued.

“How do you enter the private chat room?” I typed back.

“I’ll send you instructions.”

“Ok, thank you.”

With his guidance, I was able to find my way into the private room. We started out with some very formal conversation. He said his name was James. I said mine was obviously Lauren, as my non-coded screen name showed. I asked James what he looked like, and he described himself as being handsome and five-foot-ten, with dark brown hair, a nice smile, blue eyes, and a nice body. I was finding it difficult to trust his description without an actual photo.

James asked me where I lived, and I replied, “I live in Corpus Christi, in Texas.”

“You don’t live very far from me. I am about thirty minutes north of Corpus. Are you in college, Lauren?”

“No, I dropped out after my first semester. Presently, I am studying to be a real estate agent. Are you in college, James?”

“No, I work at a marine shop.”

“Does that mean you work on boats?” I asked.

“Yes, on boat engines.”

After about thirty minutes of general chatting, we called it a night. James asked if I’d like to chat with him again, and I said sure, so we made plans to talk the next evening.

We chatted for several nights in a row and even exchanged photos via e-mail. In his pictures he was cute, with a nice smile and pretty eyes, but in each one he was sitting down, so I couldn’t see how tall he was, still doubting he was five-foot-ten. I also noticed James always had on a hat, so I couldn’t really see his hair and had to trust it was dark brown, like he said. Online, he seemed like a really nice guy.

After the photo exchange, James said, “Wow, you are a very pretty girl.” Then he asked for my phone number.

Having yet to meet James in person, I felt unsure about giving out my phone number, so I replied, “What is your phone number? I feel more comfortable calling you.”

He sent me his number and said, “Can’t wait to hear from you, Lauren.”

Our first phone conversation was pleasant. It was our third or fourth phone call when James said, “Lauren, would you like to go on a date with me?”

Feeling anxious about saying yes, I hesitated before I replied. I did not know him other than what I learned on the phone. He was not a friend of a friend, he was a complete stranger. After thinking about it, I finally gathered my courage and said, “Yes. I will go out with you.”

“Awesome. I have some free time this Saturday during the day, what if we meet around two o’clock?”

“I can meet at two o’clock. Just tell me where?”

“How about we meet at the Grand Hotel bar? You know, the hotel on the bay?”

“Yes,” I said. “During the summer, my mom used to take us to the pool there.”

“I love that place, it is a great spot to watch the boats motor in and out of the harbor,” James added. “I’ll see you on Saturday.”

As Saturday approached, I started to get nervous, but I also had an excited feeling in the pit of my stomach. Meeting up with James had that forbidden-fruit feeling, and it was amazing to think that my real life would soon clash with my online life.

Walking into the lobby of the hotel, I was flooded with all sorts of emotions and memories. Nervous to meet James, but I was also excited to be back in a place that reminded me of my childhood. I had not been to the hotel in several years. The lobby was updated a little bit but looked the same as it did when I was a child. People were scurrying about everywhere. It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon, and The Grand was the place to be.

After weeding through all the people, I finally spotted James, recognizing him easily from the photos. He was sitting down, wearing a baseball cap, already having a drink. Anxiously, I walked over to him.

He looked up and saw me, and as a gentleman should, he stood up. His initial politeness made me smile. I immediately noticed that he wasn’t very tall, just a hair taller than me, clearly not the five-foot-ten he’d claimed. Also, his definition of a “fit body” was different than mine. He had a little bit of a tummy.

“I’m guessing you’re James?” I asked awkwardly.

“Yep, that’s me, and you must be Lauren. Would you like to sit down?” He pulled a chair out for me. “What would you like to drink this afternoon?”

“I’ll take a margarita on the rocks with no salt, please.”

While James placed my drink order with the cocktail waitress, I studied his face. He had a nice jawline, a good nose—so far, his looks were winning, but I recognized immediately that he was balding. I could easily see that his brown hair was more of a crown around his head. Not the full head of hair I was led to believe.

We drank and talked for about an hour. We kept the conversation light, even as the discussion moved to family.

“Does any of your family still live here?” he asked.

“No, just me. My parents were killed in a car accident when I was eighteen. That’s when I dropped out of college. The grief was too hard to deal with and go to school at the same time.”

“I am sorry to hear that,” he said with a shocked look on his face.

“Thank you,” I replied, staring down at my drink. “I have had a long time to deal with those emotions, but I still don’t like to talk about it much.”

“I understand.”

“Do you have any family here?” I asked.

“My aunt and uncle live in Corpus. I see them a few times a month.”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“I have a brother. What about you?”

I smiled. “I have three siblings, two brothers and one sister. I am the baby of the family.”

“Wow.” He leaned back in his seat. “That’s a lot of...