"I was driving there for work, and was thinking I could live out there, until I went through that one little town."
"Why? What's wrong with driving through there?"
"There was a guy out there once that I... sort of dated."

The conversation was veering dramatically, in a manner I'm known to enjoy. My time with my weekend morning friend was about to expire, but I was to be treated to something before I went. I like when she's happy to see me.

"Well, I'm not going to get into definitions with you," I replied, knowing full well I was wrong.

She paused and looked toward the ceiling. Enjoying her memories, the search for words, and the display of the lines of her neck. After just long enough, she proceeded to define:

"I had kind of a huge crush on a guy out there, and then my fantasy sort of came true." She smiled slightly, releasing a gleam of springtime sun from wherever her thoughts had gone back to. Just enough warmth for us both, with overtones of several kinds of heat.

It seemed like too much to bring up definitions again, especially with others approaching to step into my sunbeam. So I met her eyes while handing her a chance to wrap up, as if we'd only been talking about driving.

"So, driving though, did you slow down, or speed up?"

A wry little motion of the mouth, before she began reconfiguring her smile to fit the person who'd come in behind me. I toasted her and turned to walk away as she finished: "Sped up."

From there it was just pleasantries as I moved, first to the street and then to my car. Richer by the essential parts of one story, warmer for reasons I didn't have to understand.

I believe I'll be overcareful with the accelerator now, until I can get that story out of my head.