The Night Continues

I woke up on the Saturday morning after Nostalgic feeling like the strongest lunch lady in high school hit me over the head with a steal lunch tray. But I woke up smiling.

Once I realized the cute boy at the bar was probably straight, I could feel the energetic butterflies in my stomach. I turned to Ryan who had been standing right next to me. "Okay, so this guy is straight. I'm going to work on this if you don't mind." Ryan laughed and rolled his eyes at me.

"I'll catch up with you over there," he said while motioning to his coworkers across the dance floor. As he walked away, I turned back to the guy. He was snapping his fingers over his friend’s head at the bartender. I took a step closer and lightly graced my fingers over his arm. Hello, muscles!

I normally would never be so forward with a man. I was always extremely introverted in romantic contexts. I was a late bloomer, so I feel like I didn’t learn the skills of flirting during my teenage years like most kids. To be honest, the only reason Mike and I even ended up dating was because he was so persistent with me. He enjoyed the chase so much that my tendency to avoid uncomfortable dates with him simply drove his desire.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

His name was Alex and he had the most intoxicating accent I had ever heard, even though I couldn’t quite place what country he was from. The bartender finally answered Alex’s subjectively rude snapping and he ordered a Long Island Iced Tea. He turned to me and asked what I wanted. Oh, such a gentleman.

“I’ll have the same,” I said with confidence even though I knew it would be too much for me after what I already drank. “We should do a round of shots, too.”

Alex smiled at me and nodded at the bartender. The bartender asked what kind of shots we wanted and without hesitation, Alex said tequila. My gag reflux kicked in at the mere mention of the word, but I kept a poker face.

I lifted the shot and smiled at him. “To new friends,” I said.

“To new friends,” he mimicked in his beautiful, sexy accent. Seriously, I cannot stress the charm of this accent.

The nice thing about being newly single is you don’t care. I just didn’t. Even though I was lonelier than ever, I wasn’t ready for a boyfriend and I knew that. All I wanted to do was experiment with my singleness again. How will a guy react if I say this? Or do this? How far can I go without him thinking I’m a total psychopath? Will he find this funny or absolutely insane?

Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. While I would never date a smoker, I didn’t care that Alex smoked.

“Would you like to join me outside?” he asked. There was an outside bar, but I it remained closed when the weather was below 50 degrees. They kept the patio open for smokers.

I nodded and grabbed my Long Island Iced Tea. Alex took my empty hand in his and led me through the back entrance. It was cold out and I was never happier to be wearing a sweater. We stopped a few steps past the door and I looked over at Alex. I forgot he was wearing a cardigan with nothing underneath. This was the characteristic that led me to believe he was gay in the first place, so now it seemed a bit strange.

“Okay, what’s going on with this?” I asked motioning to his upper body.

“My friends bet me I couldn’t rip open my shirt, so I had to prove them wrong,” he responded with his cigarette hanging out of the side of his mouth. I suddenly noticed underneath his cardigan was a completely ripped t-shirt. If I hadn’t drank so much, I would have probably thought this was juvenile, but it seemed sexy to me that night. Again, the accent worked in his extreme favor.

“So you’re strong, huh?” I asked putting my left hand on my hip. Before I could blink, Alex bent over and reached around my waist. I let out a scream as he lifted me over his shoulders. I almost spilt my drink on his back.

“Yes, I am!” he said while twirling me around. When he placed me down, I was still laughing. I didn’t even realize he was bringing his face close until his nose was inches from mine. “Do you like that?” he rhetorically asked before kissing me.

He kissed a little sloppy, but I attribute that to the alcohol. It felt so weird to kiss somebody new. I hadn’t kissed anybody other than Mike for over two years. I tried not to think about that in the moment.

When he pulled away from kissing me, he was smiling. “You’re the cutest little American girl. I can’t wait to take you out sometime.” While I still didn’t know exactly where he was from, he was giving me a serious case of the giggles. I continued to kiss him despite his cigarette breath. We alternated between kissing and talking for a bit until Jessica appeared behind Alex.

“Hey, Caroline,” she said, shivering. “Sorry, but we’re leaving in a few minutes.”

“Stay!” Alex blurted out. “You can come home with me.”

I declined and he completely understood. He pulled out his phone and had me enter my number under, “Pretty American.”

“I’ll text you tomorrow,” he said before kissing me on the cheek.

By the time I got home, he had texted me saying that he was so glad he met me. I went to bed feeling giddy. I couldn’t wait to make plans to see him again. I knew I would never date him, but it was nice to feel wanted. Sometimes a girl just needs that.