Chapter Two

Walking back to my seat my eyes wander around the colorful room. In the back of the rosy fluorescent room stands a tall man who I haven't seen here before. He is tall and lean, but his arms look a bit filled out.

The man's hair is cut short and he has dark eyes lingering beneath the mask. He glances at me with his warm dark brown eyes, they glide over my body as he takes a sip of his drink. Once he notices I have caught him, he stares off somewhere else. But then his eyes inevitably fall back on me, like a moth to a flame.

Dark eyes have always been a weakness like Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves. Brown eyes are where it is at. I look away from the man I am drawn to. I grabbed my drink and took one big swig and then I think about asking for a refill. On the house of course.

The bartender tonight has always had a thing for me. That is why this is our favorite bar, complimentary drinks thanks to what Thema calls my pretty privilege. I shift my whole body around to get another look at the good-looking man wearing all black, including his mask. But he isn't there standing where he was. He must have gone home or found someone else.

Thema has already abandoned me, she is normally not by my side before I finish my first drink. She is on the hunt for a new man to fuck. She has a routine, I call hump and dump. If their dick is worthy of her pleasure then they will be around for about a month and a half.

"Hello, Ms?" I hear a man with a British accent say behind me, blushing as my thoughts were just on dicks. I turn to see the man from before. He is holding a beer now, and a smile that shows off his gorgeously white teeth. He has a delicious tan, so he must have had a lot of sun rays hit him. Most guys are pretty tan or scorched during this time of year in Arizona.

"Would you care to dance with me?" he asks, I take his hand and think to myself hell yeah!

"Why of course," I say and another smile shows up on his face as the words of rejection don't utter from me. He has gorgeous teeth that look like they could be in a Colgate commercial. Tucking my hair behind my ear I follow him to the crowded dance floor that has formed.

We danced and talk.

"Where are you from?" he asks as "Work" by Rihanna plays in the background.

"I have always lived here," I explained to him as we sway back and forth to the music. This song would be amazing to twerk to, but I will leave those types of moves to Thema. She can pull them off with little effort. The most I can do with my ass is clench my cheeks.

We go back to the bar and get two beers. As we pass by the bar, I notice Thema grinding on a tourist. A poor biker who is probably just riding through town. She will treat that poor man like a digital camera. She gets all the footage, but it never develops.

We get to talking more and then we get right back to dancing.

"What is your favorite color?" He asks as I take small drinks of the beer because I can't stand the taste of it. Should I have told him I don't like beer when he ordered me one?

"Yellow, what is yours?" I ask as we move a bit awkwardly to the music. Both of us are not having much rhythm when it comes to dancing.

"I like green. Did you know you have specks of green that show up in your eyes when different lights shine in them?" he questions, looking at me like I am adored. His eyes sparkle with the different colored lights.

"No, I didn't." The music slows down, we begin to dance closer. It's a random remix of Michael Bublé songs, super calming and smooth to dance to. This is the closest I have been with a man in over a year and a half, thanks to a pesky global pandemic.

After a slow dance, the music picks back up again. Somehow awful first dates are brought up in our conversation.

"One girl asked where I worked and then spent the full date treating it like a job interview saying how much she wanted a career in IT."

Rookie Experience. I think to myself ready to chime into the conversation.

"Oh, you think that is bad? I had been texting a guy for ages and I was so excited about our first date. He said he'd planned something outstanding but wanted it to be a surprise, and he was enthusiastic to take me on it. The day of the date arrived, and he came to pick me up. We drove to a random parking lot, and his "special date" that he'd planned was having sex in his car. Needless to say, we didn't have a second date. He's a famous hockey player now. I wonder if his dating strategy has improved?" We both laugh in unison at our horrible dating history. My belly aches a bit from it.

"We have both been on strange dates then." His nostrils flair and it looks like he is studying me when he speaks. The way he is looking at me takes my breath away for a second. He smells so warm, like cinnamon and mandarin oranges.

He then leans in to kiss me after about an hour of dancing and laughing, telling stories about each other's past. Everything is so easy with this man. It's like we have known each other forever. Was he falling as well? Or was he simply taking what he could get from me?

Moving my lips against his soft mouth, wanting more, but more of what, I cannot say. He pulls me closer until our bodies crash into each other, then his other hand comes up my body. The warm fingers of his left hand are gripping my small waist in a way that sends a flutter to my heart.

His hands are rather large and warm. He pulls me even closer to him. I am lost in his kiss, and all my defenses give way before this hot, hungry mystery, fills the air between us. He pulls away, slowly, as if he loathes to do so. He pushes through the crowd of people before I can get his name. Our magical night is ruined by him running off.

And though we never were, I am still thinking about him, because somewhere in an alternate reality or dream, we became more. We were not two strangers dancing, we were people so close to falling we had to catch ourselves, he caught himself and left me to fall.