The light rock music that played over the speakers blended with the crowd’s chatter as everyone in the bar conversed. The waitress strolled over to the high top table, Damon and his friends perched at, carrying their order on a tray. She brushed against Damon as she served the table, but he paid no mind to her nudges for attention. Gary and Jen stared at him as he looked around at the clutter that decorated the bar’s walls. When the waitress left, she eyed Damon with a questioning look.
“Seriously?” Gary said, glaring at Damon.
“What?” Damon asked, pretending not to understand him.
“She’s cute,” Jen said, swirling her glass of red wine. “You could go home with her, no problem.”
“But I don’t want to,” Damon said, taking a sip of his mojito mock-tail, wishing they’d drop it.
“Why?” Jen asked, almost offended.
“He’s always been like this,” Brad said. “Girls are always falling over themselves only for him not to be interested.”
“It’s not for me,” Damon said, trying to find a way out of this conversation.
“You mean girls?” Gary asked, taking a swig of the thick foam from his glass of lager. “Cuz it’s fine if you swing the other way.”
“No… I mean, I like gir – women,” Damon said. “And if I was gay, I’d tell you, but I’m not.”
“So what’s the problem, man?” Brad asked, lifting his beer bottle up in annoyance.
“What I meant was the whole casual dating scene,” Damon admitted with a sigh. “I did all that during my first four years of college, before I met you guys. It was exhausting. I discovered that I’m more of a serious relationship kind of guy.”
“And you can’t have a serious relationship with the waitress because…?”
“It’s hard to describe,” Damon said, taking another taste of his mojito. He grimaced a bit at the overpowering lime flavor that hid the cool taste of the mint.
“Try?” Gary pleaded.
“When women come up to me, they seem to insist I give them attention because they think they’re entitled to it.” Damon downed the rest of his drink, taking note not to get another one. “It’s a huge turn off for me.”
Gary sighed. “Jen, on a scale of one to ten, where does Damon stand?”
Jen looked him up and down. “A solid nine.”
“What? I’m not a ten?” Damon asked, leaning on the table towards her with a coy smile.
“You’re not Henry Cavill, so no.” She sipped at her wine. “I mean, almost, but not quite.”
“Oh, so you go for those tall, dark and handsome beefcakes, huh?” Brad teased.
“It’s more that I want to have my way with his nerdy side.” She smiled at the thought. “I’d draw every character he dreamed up any day.”
“Didn’t you used to sell character portraits to gamers on-line through an art site in high school?” Gary asked. “I could have sworn you said something like that back when we met.”
“That’s right!” Brad shouted with a laugh. “That was some cringy stuff.”
“Hey!” Jen snapped. “Those pictures paid for my first drawing board.”
“Anyways,” Gary said, pulling the conversation back. “My point is, women are going to approach you and if you keep pushing them away and not taking the lead, then you’ll miss out on a lot of opportunities.”
“It’s killing us to watch, man,” Brad said. “All those girls and not one look at us when we go out with you.”
“Yeah,” Gary added, slinging an arm around Brad’s shoulders. “The two after thoughts!”
“Shut up.” Jen sipped her wine. “Gary had a date last week after Damon rejected her, so don’t blame him that you can’t keep anyone. Look inward.”
Gary grabbed his chest. “Ouch.”
“I’ll go get you guys some shots,” Damon said in a desperate attempt to get out of this topic of conversation.
The music over the speakers died down and the voices throughout the bar increased as Damon made his way to the bar. The band members entered the stage and began plugging in their instruments to their sound system of amps and stage speakers. The bartender was in the middle of making drinks, so Damon leaned up against the bar top to wait. People mingled through the area to their tables with drinks in hand to get ready for the band to start. A few people entered and filtered into the chaos, but then a splash of deep blue and raven hair caught his eye.
A woman in a fitted blue dress and wavy black hair walked in with a tall blond woman in a short green dress. Her ivory skin glowed against the midnight blue of her outfit and her hair spilled over her right shoulder. The wavy locks caught the wind of her movement, flowing and bouncing around her face with an ethereal grace. Her outfit clung to her every curve, accentuating her rounded hips and full chest. She turned when her friend pulled her attention about something and Damon’s eyes grew at the sight. A fire ignited in his lower stomach as he stared at how the dress cupped her ass and sculpted her back. His fingers tingled at the thought of seeing for himself how grabable it was.
Her friend held up her phone, indicating a call and went back outside while she continued towards the bar. Shifting as if uncomfortable, her hands kept pulling at her clothes, as if afraid of her skirt riding up on her. Moving her way between the groups of people, she stumbled. Damon stepped towards her on instinct to reach for her before she fell, but another guy grabbed her hand to balance her. She smiled up at him in thanks for the gesture. Damon’s chest lurched. Her wide mouth and luscious lips spread into a heart stopping grin that actually made his breath catch. He kicked himself mentally for not responding faster or at least not moving to approach when he noticed her. Now she was chatting with some other guy with slicked back hair and a loose Hawaiian shirt carrying a beer. Damon cringed as he held her hand and led her to the bar as if he already owned her.
Damon leaned up against the corner, watching them in irritation. He motioned to the bartender when he became free and ordered the drinks for his table. The guy did the same with the other bartender and seemed to ask her what she wanted. She shook her head to decline, but he seemed to insist. Nodding, she ordered something that he did not agree with before dropping it when she wouldn’t relent.
Suddenly, there was a tap on his shoulder. “Hey, man.”
He turned to see Gary looking confused. “What’s going on?”
“Not too much,” he began, lifting his eyebrow. “Been calling your name for a minute with no reaction.”
“Oh, sorry,” Damon said, turning back to watch the guy flirt with her. “I didn’t hear you over the music.”
“Despite me standing right next to you and there being no music right now?” Gary said, crossing his arms. “What’s got you so focused?”
“Nothing,” Damon said, looking away, only for his eyes to draw back to her, betraying him.
Gary followed his gaze. “Oh, I see.” He grinned. “I don’t think anyone else more your type could have walked into this place.”
“How do you know my type?” Damon asked, shooting him a glare.
“I noticed the ones you’ve actually talked to over the years,” he said. “Despite nothing ever happening, you still go after the same ones. Small, cute with a little extra to grab.”
“Then why did you insist that I go after the waitress when she was none of those things?” Damon asked, shooting him an annoyed look.
“You’re such a workaholic that all us are trying to push you to get your feet wet for once,” Gary said. “You seem to have forgotten how to live.”
“I’m living by running my own company and doing what I want to do without anyone’s input,” Damon said.
“We want to see you happy,” Gary said, patting him on the shoulder. “And to not turn into a Corporate Bro who thinks of nothing but money.”
“That won’t be me and you know it,” Damon said, turning his attention back to them and ignoring Gary’s sigh of irritation. Damon avoided eye contact, but kept glancing over in her direction. He wanted to hide it to avoid more discussion about his love life, but he couldn’t help it. Everything about her drew his eye. How she fiddled with her hair. How she smiled shyly when the other guy’s pickup lines failed. Or how she shifted when he got too close.
“Wait,” Damon said unintentionally. She was shifting away from his touch, clearly uncomfortable and yet that guy was not getting the hint. Damon’s blood boiled and he resisted the urge to go over and physically separate them.
“You okay, man?” Gary asked, as if he didn’t notice his friend’s reaction to the situation. “You seem to be getting a bit tense about something.”
“Might be,” Damon admitted.
Gary leaned in closer and nudged him. “Then go fix it.” The drinks arrived and Gary grabbed them while giving Damon a leading look.
However much Damon wanted to intervene, he instead held his spot while twirling his drink in his hand. After the last disastrous round, he decided on a julep mock-tail where the mint flavor came through well. He watched the two of them as their conversation continued, hoping her friend would show back up and shoo him away. The woman seemed to be wishing the same thing as she kept looking back behind her towards the door.
Damon gritted his teeth. How can he not notice that he’s creeping her out? Every time she shifted away from him grabbing her, Damon’s impulse to do something increased. It’s not my place to insert myself like that. I’d creep her out just as much. There was no guarantee that she would prefer his company over anyone else’s, but he wanted to at least know her name.
Damon watched as the guy kept looking her over and making comments that made her face fall. He’d then say something else that made her smile uncomfortably, as if she was forcing herself to. Damon’s arms flexed. He wanted to go over and punch that guy in the face. He tried to calm down by telling himself that it wasn’t his place and that if he went around hitting every creep he saw, he’d have a rap sheet a mile long.
He decided instead to wave the bartender over. “The couple at the other end, doesn’t he seem a bit creepy. And it looks like he’s making her uncomfortable.”
“It does, but unless she says something, I can’t do anything.” He seemed as upset as Damon was.
“That so?” He was a bit disappointed, but understood his position as an employee.
“I’ll keep an eye on it, though,” the bartender assured.
“Alright,” Damon said. “So long as she’s safe.”
“Yeah,” he said, before going back to his list of drink orders.
Damon continued to stare at them with growing anger that he kept having to push down. As he looked the guy over again, he noticed something odd. The creep took a quick look around before pointing over at something, pulling her attention away from him. He placed his hand over her drink and something plopped in causing it to bubble up a bit.
“Excuse me!” Damon shouted at the bartender, making him rush over.
“That guy put something in her drink,” Damon whispered to him.
“Are you sure?” the bartender asked.
“Yes, One-hundred percent!” Damon insisted. “He put his hand over it when she looked away and something plopped in. He checked to see if someone was watching first. Do you have those test strips?”
“Yes, hold on.” The bartender rushed over and snatched the drink away causing the creep to yell at him. He pulled out a package with the strips and tested it. He looked over at Damon and nodded before calling for security. The creep stepped away as if he was planning to run, but Damon pushed his way over.
“Hey! Long time no see!” He had grabbed the guy around the neck tightly, preventing him from running out.
“Get off! I don’t know you, asshole!” he cried, trying to push Damon off.
“That’s true, you don’t. But you’re about to get to know him very well,” Damon said as he released him. He shoved the guy towards the bouncer who appeared out of the crowd.
“Let’s go, buddy,” the large man said, dragging him to the back of the bar towards where the offices were. The bartender was already on the phone with the police, giving Damon an appreciative nod. It was then that the band began testing their guitars, drowning out any explanation he had for rushing over at her or how he knew the about the spiked drink. How can I show her that I’m not also a creep?
To his surprise, she looked up at him with the biggest, most beautiful brown eyes and smiled. “Thank you,” she said, making his heart stop at the music of her voice.
“You’re welcome,” he said, almost at a loss for words. Not knowing what to do next, he extended his hand to shake hers. “I’m Damon.”
Taking it, she replied, “K…Kylie.”
“Now that is a beautiful name,” he said with a half smile. She turned away, her cheeks coloring. His heart leapt. He thought she couldn’t be more beautiful, but he decided that he was glad to be wrong. “It’s nice to meet you. Do you mind if I join you for a drink?”
