Little obs, (m) and a few lovestruck musings

[Mistress Quickly]

This is going to take a LONG time...

I've been going to this same hotel down in Northamptonshire for about a year now, alternatingly with friends and my mother. It's a good rendezvous spot particularly for me and my friends to meet, being so central, and is also a nice place, just the right level of swanky sophistication without the people being stuck-up bastards.

In fact, the staff in particular are great. I mean, whether they're spitting in our tea behind our backs doesn't count; they're lovely and sweet and feel like friends now, what with us all coming and going so often. And this is the rub, kids; there is this guy, I'd say late twenties, who works on reception, most likely the concierge as he seems responsible for all the technical nitty-gritty running of the hotel and is in charge of most of the staff, aside from just being charming to arriving guests. Now the first time, he was cute, I seriously liked him. He was the sort of person I could imagine really getting along with. The second time, I noticed how adorable his smile was, how his accent was just the right side of Essex to make him sound faintly mischievious without being annoyingly wide-boyish (no offence to anyone from Essex; all accents can be pretty hardcore sometimes ). The third time, it began; I started to out and out fancy him. To describe him would do him an injustice; all the comparisons that come to mind are totally off and ridiculous...like the fact that he reminds me in a funny way of the chef Jamie Oliver (who for the record I don't fancy), but FAR, FAR better-looking, with infinitely more dignified, beautifully drawn features, like his eyes, which are green and so used to smiling that they crease at the edges, a smile that brings the most adorable dimples to his cheeks. I think the Jamie Oliver thing mainly comes from his slightly scruffy, sandy hair and the fact that he has some of that rather cheeky, playfully friendly Essex charm thing going on. BUT (god, I really am obsessed), he also has this absolutely delicious and sexy serious professionalism (you know how sexy people who are efficient and capable at their job can be) and a certain gravity, a very solemn expression sometimes when he's concentrating or talking about something serious. And I DO like a man in a suit, you know...he's very smartly turned out. He's just...inexplicably, indescribably exquisite.

Now yesterday I went down to meet one of my friends who's at university in London. So I go to check in...and he's there, yummy and gorgeous and adorable as ever. And after the usual hellos, he steps away from me behind the desk and says, 'I won't come near you because I've got a cold'.

I think you all know that feeling, when the object of your affections is in THAT predicament. I felt that thrill of nerves in my chest but managed to extend my commiserations and tell him to dose himself up on echinacea with admirable casualness . I immediately check his face for signs of the cold (it's this sort of thing that makes me think I'm a total weirdo), and notice for the first time that the edges of his nose (which is longish, but not too much, and rather sharp) are ever so slightly, delicately pinkened, as is the area of skin just below his nose (the filtrum?).

I'm in bits.

So I reluctantly pull myself away and spend the rest of the day with my friend (who I love but who I'd very possibly lock in a cupboard if it meant her place could be filled by you-know-who). Every time I walk through reception my eyes stray to the desk. I'm an idiot; I usually get on with boys better than other girls, but give me a man who turns my insides to jelly and I find myself regressing to the mentality of a fourteen-year-old. And the fact that the object of my desires now had a cold turned me into more of a moron than usual. I actually think this question has cropped up on this forum before; does the fetish ever actually contribute to you finding someone attractive? I adored my boy before, but his cold very possibly made me adore him just that little bit more. And I feel bad about it.

But there was more to come...

I'm sitting in the bar area that looks directly into reception, and I have a good view of the desk. He's there, chatting to someone, being generally gorgeously efficient but sweetly charming. He reaches in his pocket, takes out a tissue, and blows his nose, and it's just so adorable, the way he continues talking whilst wiping his nose. I can't hear his voice, but I know that it will be muffled in that cute way.

But that's not the cream. The real cream comes that evening, last night, when I'm hanging around in the foyer waiting for my friend to finish getting ready so that we can head out for dinner. I'm talking to Gorgeous Concierge, and he's telling me about his plan to one day build his dream house that he sketched ideas for whilst studying design at school. He's mid-sentence, his voice falters, I catch just the barest, infinitesimal glimpse of his lifting eyebrows and parting lips before he turns completely away, cups both hands over his nose and mouth and sneezes. The most exquisite, wet, deliciously full-bodied sneeze, difficult to describe but a kind of 'heh-Chhhhssssssshhhhhh!', bending him at the waist. He turns back to me straight away, with that slightly congested, dazed expression that people with a cold sometimes have after a sneeze, and excuses himself with perfect politeness. I manage to bless him, even though I'm usually weird about that, but I couldn't ignore that sneeze and besides, saying it gave me a thrill. I even manage to convince myself to get a little conversation going about his cold, asking him how long he's had it, etc., and he says that incredibly tantalising thing that I often see people here complaining about: 'I haven't been able to stop sneezing today'.

OK. A day full of sneezing, and I see ONE?

But I think I did hear him sneeze again later on, when I was walking down the corridor away from the reception area, that same perfect, wet, explosive but impeccably contained sneeze. I couldn't really turn around and run back into the foyer, though, sadly... ...despite the fact that I wanted to jump his bones on the spot.

I came home this morning, and I didn't see him again before I left. He was either off, being Saturday, or maybe too ill to work. I think I'm in love (or lust, whatever...). I feel pretty heartbroken because he lives so sodding far away, but I also think, how much of this feeling is tied up with the fetish? Can it really have that much of an effect as to elevate someone into a figure of such desire? Previously, I seriously did fancy him and would have died of blissfulness if anything had happened between us, but only now do I feel this sense of longing. I was very down on the way home, because I couldn't stop thinking about him. And I'm sounding increasingly like a nutjob here

This is even longer than I'd intended, but I needed to vent and excorcise some feelings. I could get a bit philosophical and say: how much does the fetish influence your attractions to people? Is there an actual definition between the two?

[count tiszula]

A very fine description, of course, and I love the way it builds through the various stages to the climactic sneeze.

It seems to me that this is an example of the classic sneeze-driven hopeless passion, which I suspect most of us have experienced, and which in my view is to be savoured as such, in an almost detached manner. A good way of getting over it, although why would one wish to, is to conceive at least one other at the same time.

I feel that there are two equally irritating possibilities; one can have a grand passion for someone and then, when the ineviatable sneeze occurs, feeel that it is elevated to greatness simply because of the identity of the sneezer; or, one can not really have any feeling for someone and then, as soon as they sneeze, suddenly realise that they are the most wonderful person in the history of the universe.

Of course there is the third and most devastating kind, which may be present here; the person who is utterly wonderful; and when it just happens to turn out that they enjoy the sneziest possible kind of allergies for nine monthes of the year, it just seems the unexpected culmination of the wonderfulness.

If you sail through it and avoid the pining, it will all be all right.

[Aisha]

Thank you for sharing that, it wasn't too long at all. (and if it's well written like that, I prefer it long anyway!)

Irresistible guy with cold.... I can imagine just how you were feeling!

As for the question of how much the fetish influences attractions to people...

For me, the fetish can't make me become attracted to someone, but if I was already even a little bit attracted to them, seeing them sneeze or have a cold like this will instantly increase the feelings I have towards them into a lustful kind of desire, but only temporarily.

If I am already attracted to the person a LOT, (such as my bf), seeing him with a cold means it is impossible for me to concentrate throughout its whole duration, I can hardly keep my hands off him to say the least! And if I know he has a cold or is sneezing alot when I'm not around (such as when they keep the air conditioner on at his work), I feel an unavoidable sense of longing to be close to him... which is purely sexual in nature.

So yes, the fetish can definitely elevate someone into such a figure of desire! Now go find an excuse to stay in that hotel again!!

[Sneesee]

Wow, that was such an amazing observation. THNAK YOU! I absolutely went crazy over your description of his sneeze. I think I would have been in love (er, or lust), too!

Here's the thing, kind of like Aisha said, a sneeze or a cold won't make me find someone attractive. If I'm already attreacted to them, then it just makes me turn into a crazy lovestruck teenager too! If I'm not attracted, then a cold or a sneeze doesn't really change the way I feel, except maybe I feel mor sorry for them.

This has happened to me before and it's happening again. I have a little bit of a crush on a male cashier at work, Scott, and have seen him sneeze a few times. His sneezes are absolutely adorable. Here's the kicker, I was talking to him at work yesterday, and he mentioned that he might be getting sick. He was rubbing his nose a lot and said he had a sore throat. So, here's me, all in comfort mode asking him if he needed anything, water, tea, chicken soup, ya know? He kind of laughed at me and gave me the biggest grin, which made me melt even more! I told him I'd call him on Monday before I came into work to see how he would be feeling, and if he really did need chicken soup. I think he liked the attention I was giving him. And it's just like, damn, I already had this crush, and if he gets sick, I'm doomed!

[threedaysofrain]

This was an amazing observation- beautiful descriptions of everything...the object of your affection, the situation, his sneeze (mmmm). VERY well written, thank you so much for sharing! Even just reading of this man makes me understand why you feel so strongly about him...he is absolutely delicious!

I agree with most of what has been said....except in certain situations, a person's sneeze will help me realize I'm attracted to someone more so than I would admit to before. However, if I have NO feelings or attraction beforehand, the sneeze won't do much for me. If I am already lusting after someone, or even just have a small attraction, then it will def. be intensified in a situation like this, when they get sick or I see them sneeze. No reason to feel bad over it- although I know it may be hard not to. Doesn't mean the fetish is controlling your affections- just enhancing them.

And Sneesee, keep us up to date on Scott! Haven't you written obs about him before?Rubbing his nose and sore throat... sounds like you may be in trouble....

[Mistress Quickly]

Thanks for the sympathy, everyone. I still feel a bit strange today. Looks like the general conclusion is, that if you have a crush on someone and they sneeze, you're pretty much a goner. The trouble is, as the Count said, I am pining for him quite a bit. The good news is that I'm going back down on the 15 December for the WHOLE weekend, so I'll get to see him again. But then I wonder if I'll be torturing myself unnecessarily. Thing is, nothing can realistically happen between us, not just because we live such a long way apart, but because we're basically still on the surface strangers and what's more, there's probably some sort of code of honour than means hotel staff can't consort with guests. And I can't spend the whole time hanging around the reception, even though I wish, oh god, I WISH I could. Unrequited love sucks. Isn't it pathetic how you can fool yourself into feeling like you're actually in love with someone you've only met three or four times, and barely had a conversation with?

And his sneeze was perfect. Of course, his cold will be gone by the 15th. Maybe I'll be able to be more sensible about him then. Or maybe I'm mad. Thanks anyway, you guys. It's good to have folk who understand. All my non-internet friends would think I'm genuinely, howl-at-the-moon insane.

[threedaysofrain]

Unrequited love sucks. Isn't it pathetic how you can fool yourself into feeling like you're actually in love with someone you've only met three or four times, and barely had a conversation with?

And his sneeze was perfect. Of course, his cold will be gone by the 15th. Maybe I'll be able to be more sensible about him then. Or maybe I'm mad. Thanks anyway, you guys. It's good to have folk who understand. All my non-internet friends would think I'm genuinely, howl-at-the-moon insane.

That's why we all get along so well- we're all insane!!

And yes, it's strange how you can convince yourself you're in love with a near stranger- but then again, maybe not so pathetic, as it happens to so many people! It's frusterating, and the pining is no fun, but you never know...there could be a reason behind it all.

I'm sure it makes it ll the harder, knowing he has a perfect sneeze (or YOUR perfect sneeze.) Poor thing. I'm a hopeless romantic, I'm pretty sure if I was in your situation I would be at my wit's end.

[Triosk1]

Unrequited love sucks. Isn't it pathetic how you can fool yourself into feeling like you're actually in love with someone you've only met three or four times, and barely had a conversation with?

Well, I can't really say about sneezing, but I know exactly how you feel nonetheless. I remember feeling a total idiot when I decided after maybe 3 weeks that I was totally in love with a guy I'd maybe had 4 full length conversations with. He might have been a complete and total idiot, but I was convinced. And he's not, and oh....10 and a half months with maybe a 2 month break when I decided someone else was the positive incarnation of heaven...I still adore him, but I know a hell of a lot more about him and adore him nearly as much, but yes, anyway, back to relevancy. I was in the same sort of situation in that I fancied him because I found him more attractive than I had thought I'd ever find anyone attractive, and then I got to know him a bit better and found out what a nice guy he was, and I felt really guilty about the fact that I only started liking him for his looks. But, when you think about it, however it starts, if it helps you get to know a lovely person, does it matter?

Lovely obs by the way, and I know, oooh so well, the sudden change from a perfectly normal human being into a small pile of melted goo when someone you fancy says they have a cold (even the thought of my crush doing that, when he's never said that to me, is a wonderful thought).

[Sneesee]

And Sneesee, keep us up to date on Scott! Haven't you written obs about him before?Rubbing his nose and sore throat... sounds like you may be in trouble....

Well, here's one little thread about him:

http://www.sneezefetishforum.org/forums/in...showtopic=19220

And there was perhaps one more that was dated before that one. And then there was an e-mailed obs from my friend Trish about him, too! So, yeah, he's a cutie!

[Mistress Quickly]

Even just reading of this man makes me understand why you feel so strongly about him...he is absolutely delicious!

Girlfriend, he seriously is.

You know, you lot really are great. I appreciate the understanding and support, and it HAS made me feel better...

...BUT I've decided that it really is true love ( no, no, don't worry, I haven't lost it, it definitely is lust), and it's certainly worth pursuing, in a totally realistic, non-deranged-stalker type of way. Who cares if he lives three hours away and I hardly know the boy... ...he likes me, I REALLY like him, and if anything's meant to happen, it will. He's definitely worth cultivating, I'd say. It's just a case of being friendly and non-mad around him, and not coming over all tongue-tied. See what I mean about the fourteen-year-old mentality?

See. This is what happens when a girl goes for nearly six months with No Boyfriend.

[tma]

Oh my word!! I would SO go for a guy like that. And I adore your descriptions and I totally understand and I am glad to hear that you'll get to see him again.

Oh... and I understood what you meant about the sf situation coming in and just being like "kahaghgkhfdgakdh" type of thing.

I had that happen with someone. I really fancied them even before and then I think that they had some type of summer cold and sneezed and sniffled a bit during the time I was around and I was a total utter useless pile of goo. The sneeze wasn't why I liked him but it sort of "bumped it up a notch"ish.

Anyway- am probably not making sense but I *do* understand what you were saying and I wish you the best of luck. And thank you for writing that- it was lovely.