1 Destiny or Lust

There the old man sat on a bench in the park that he visited every day. The newspaper that sat beside him untouched, was the New York Times. He has lived here his whole life, despite one plan to get out.

"The time I spent wishing it was different, that may be the love story would just disappear, the time is endless. My name is Steven Gear. At this point I am seventy-four years old, the hourglass of life never lets me forget it. The story of my love and my lust begins where every story should, New York City. The year was exactly, 1950, and I was just eighteen years old, with a whole life ahead of me. I will now tell you the story of the greatest love of my life, and the only. It was the same old bar. You could see the holes in the wall, but a lot of classy people showed up every night."

"Bartender set me up with another round. What do you say?" Steve said from the barstool directly in front of the bartender. Now, the bartender looked about the same age as Steve, but with a little bit more life experience. The stubble on his chin, brown hair with, already, a receding hairline.

"You better cool it, bud. Life ain't worth living if you're dead," he said in a jokingly serious manner. You could see the exhaustion in his eyes. This had been his fourth night straight in the bar. For a kid that young, with no one else in his life, work is all he had.

"Life? What a notion. Barkeep, tell you what. I'll stop drinking for the night if you can tell me who that lovely blonde is over there." Steve moved his attention to the middle of the bar, where there she sat. She had the beauty that poets write about. The hair that women spend their whole lives trying to imitate. She was sitting in the middle with three other men.

"Well, that is Julianne Masters. You'd be better off sticking with drinking. You might live longer." the barkeep said.

Steve motioned his head back towards the bartender. "Say, what's your name anyway?"

"Don," he said with misty eyes and cough in his throat. The room started to spin, at least to everyone that was listening to the piano. "Well, Don. Nice to meet you. I am Steve Gear." he stuck out his hand in an effort to shake his.

"Tell me, what's so special about her anyway?" Steve asked Don as he looked back in the direction of Julianne

Don looked at the back of Steve's head and said, "She gonna be in the picture shows one day. She is only nineteen and every guy here to Heaven knows her name."

Steve chuckled, "Well apparently not everyone." It became uncomfortably quiet. Steve looked over at the underpaid piano player as he sips on his freshly served scotch.

"Look at him over there. He plays his heart out, and for what? A measly ten bucks a night with a few tips. And believe me, these snobby people aren't good tippers." Don says as he wipes the bar down with a dirty rag.

Steve quickly turns his head and glares at Don. "I want to be that man. He puts his heart out on the line when he plays that ivory tickled piano. Every night he comes in and smells the microphone as he whistles along with the tune. That man could get any woman in this place."

They both share a look trying to figure out what just happened. Don goes and starts to refill Steve's glass. "You know, I use to play." Steve continues.

Right now, Steve had all kinds of emotions. Both players and both very good at the games they played. Who was playing who at this moment?

"It's not that easy," Steve said motioning back to the piano. Don started to smile and laugh under his breath. "It is if you let it be. You know, I was drafted in the war, and the one thing I learned is that when faced with what you want and what you can't have, you'll always pick the greater of two evils." Steve looked confusingly impressed at this moment. He felt a sense of pride for some odd reason. "You want that girl?" Don points to Julianne Steve dumbfound, shakes his head yes. "Well, you get over there and you play us a song that captures all of our souls and wins you something you shouldn't have," Don says with some conviction in his voice.

People say that in moments of truth and bravery, something takes us over. Guides us in moments of weakness and fear. For Steve, none of that took place. You see, he was already arrogant and believed without a fraction of a doubt, it was all part of the plan.

So, Steve gets up and proceeds to walk over to the piano. He looks around as if to scope the room. The lighting was somewhat dark and the smoke was heavy and only getting heavier.

As he approaches, he taps the player on the back of the shoulder and points to Don, as if only to say, "Get a drink on me." Steve sat down and began to play Gershwin's classic tune from 1924 "Rhapsody in Blue." All those classy people that inhabited the bar that night, started to get up and dance along.

Don was enjoying the music coming out of the piano, with his eyes closed, when he heard someone, "Who is this kid​?"

Don, being ever so good with words, "A Romantic of the highest caliber." Don finally opened his eyes and smiled at the man. He motioned to pour another scotch and soda but was waved off by the man. "What's he doing in a dive like this?" Don decided to play along and try to get the kid some sympathy. "Playing his heart out for a crowd that doesn't want to hear it." Don keeps his attention on Steve over at the piano. "Can you give him my card?" the man said as he pulled out one of his cards and hands it to Don.

"Sure. See you, John." Don says, knowing full well who it was the whole time. His eyes quickly go back to Steve playing the piano.

The middle of the bar was now full of classy people, shedding their skin and dancing to the classics coming out of the ivory tickled piano.

"Who is that player?" The three men that surrounded Julianne Masters look at each other in confusion. "That rich sound just makes me want to dance. What about you boys?" she continues. The three men look at each other again in complete and utter shock that they are sitting with this beautiful woman.

"Honey, I could dance with you all night." the man on the far right said. Julianne didn't blush nor did she smile. "Just all night? What am I supposed to do in the morning?" she asked still trying to be seductive. The other two men couldn't let this go on, and they shared a look of contempt for the one on the far right. "Hopefully, wake up beside me." the one on the far left said. All three men looked unshaven and unkempt. The one in the middle looked as if though, he could be a handsome man, or maybe is, but time has been unkind. Julianne at this moment didn't care. She was getting the attention she wanted in the form of three older men.

Julianne giggled and played down the last comment made. She turned her head back to the piano and the mysterious stranger making love to it.

"Keep dreaming. Tell you what, I'll dance with you sweetheart." the modest-looking man in the middle with the bourbon breath offered. Julianne looked over towards the man as she flipped the golden hair out of her eyes. The smoke now turned to fog, you could barely see what was in front of you. "I don't want to dance with any of you," Julianne said as she ran her fingers through her hair.

All three of them look at each other in confusion once again. "Then who?" the man on the far left asked.

Remember when love strikes, it consumes you. Takes hold of your every being and makes you understand what poets dream about. "Him" is all Julianne said as she pointed over to the piano.

"The piano player?" the man in the middle wondered. Julianne shakes her head yes. "Honey, he doesn't deserve to be in the same room, let alone dance with you." the man continued.

Julianne was biting her upper lip at this point in time. "Something tells me he is more than a run-of-the-mill piano player," she said fully aroused at this moment. Maybe it was the music, or maybe it was fate.

"Whoever is telling you that, doesn't know what they are talking about. He is just a piano player and that's all he will ever be." the one on the far right finally says something again in a last-ditch effort.

"If he is just a piano player, then why have I never seen him here before?" Julianne tries to rationalize with the three men. "Maybe he just got hired." the one on the far left butts in.

"And plays like that? I don't think so." Julianne gets up and makes her way to the piano, leaving the three men to finish all those drinks by themselves. They now had to sit in the loneliness of knowing they failed in their conquest.

As Julianne makes her way to the piano, whistles ring out from every direction. The smoke now so heavy, you couldn't distinguish a whole lot.

Steve looks up from his playing but does never stop playing. "Can I help you, madam?" Steve looks up from his pine and questions her. The lighting has seemed to dim even more than it was before. The smoke, still heavy. To be honest, if this weren't a usual occasion, everyone's eyes would be watery. "I noticed you were watching me with quite a vigor." Steve continued.

"Pretty confident for a lounge player," Julianne stated as she batted her overdone eyes at Steve. "Dollface, I'm no lounge player. My father taught me how to play this thing when I was young." Steve quickly retorted back.

Julianne looked quite puzzled and interested at this moment. "So, you're not young now?" Steve shakes his head as he continues to play. "Listen skirt, I've been around this town since I was in diapers and I know a thing or two about surviving. And that is something that no kid knows how to do." Steve said with a raspy voice.

"Skirt. Don't you mean, dame?" Julianne asked with curiosity. "Honey, every girl is a dame. But you, you are a skirt." Steve says while he licks his upper lip. He was getting undeniably confident in this moment. "And I take being a skirt is a good thing?" Julianne asked.

Steve stopped playing and turned around to face her. "Don, I need two stiff drinks," he says without taking his eyes off of her. Lust is something that takes over your body, and the rush radiates through your being.

"You got it, kid," Don shouts from across the room as if Steve was paying attention to anyone else but Julianne

"So, is it good?" Julianne asked Steve as she flips her blonde hair out of her face. "You better believe it is. Say, how about I push you across this dance floor?" Steve answered and then questions her. Julianne is the kind of woman that would never blush at a simple request. But, at this moment, she found herself red and overjoyed at the suggestion. "I thought you would never ask." Julianne shyly muttered from her bashful stare.

Steve gets up from the piano and holds his hand out to reach for hers. The magic at the moment radiated throughout the whole room, though no one, besides these two noticed. The lights, while dim, set the mood for love, or lust.

She gladly handed him her hand and winked in his direction. The piano player slides in behind Steve and begins to play. Steve leads Julianne through the sea of smoke and onto the dance floor. There were maybe four couples all together dancing, but to Julianne and Steve, they were alone.

Don, got to the piano and looked in their direction. He chuckled and sat the drinks down onto the piano, "I guess they couldn't wait."

"So, what made you come over and dance with me, anyhow? Steve pushed for the answer. "To be honest? I don't know. I love the way you present yourself, confident, and self-motivated. Like nothing in the world can slow you down." she said. There was a moment of blissful silence as they danced and the world faded behind them. "What made you ask me to dance?" Julianne asks. Steve thinks of his answer carefully. He then proceeds to bite his upper lip. "I could see it in your eyes. You were sitting with three men...." Steve gets interrupted. "Ah, so you did notice me?" Julianne quickly asks. Steve smiled at this moment because he knew he had her on the hook. "How could I miss you? As I was saying... I saw you and knew right away that those aren't the kind of men you are after, no." Steve answers masterfully. "Oh, and you are?" Julianne asks as Steve smirks. "I don't know much, but I do know when women want me or not" Steve answered with his smirk still all over his face.

"So, did I want you?" Julianne asked with a very aroused voice. Steve begins to open his mouth to answer, but the music abruptly stops. "Sorry honey, one dance for tonight," Steve says as he walks away and over to Don to pay off his tab. "Hey, how much I owe you?" Steve asked Don. "On the house," Don says as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the business card. "Steve, this man gave me this for you and told me to tell you to call him. Steve takes the card and tips his fedora, "Thanks."