by Jade White
There was something about the style of the suit he was wearing that was different from everyone else’s here and unlike anything that she had ever seen before, but it was impossible to say what it was. His jacket had a high collar and he was wearing a vest that reminded her more of a waist coat than anything else, but she wasn’t sure what it was for sure. It just felt right for him though, unique and beautiful.
His build was lean, but it was muscular beyond anything that she had seen or experienced before. There was something about his body and build that made her think he would look incredible shirtless. She could practically see his defined pecs, arms, shoulders, and abs through the clothing he was wearing and she liked it a lot. This was a man she wanted to spend some time getting to know.
“I’m sorry to stop you if you’re leaving,” he said nervously, but his voice still sounding so charming that it was unbearable. “But, if you’re not, I was hoping that I could ask you to come have a drink with me. You’re the only person in this place who doesn’t seem absolutely desperate and dreadful. I’d love to share a drink with you, if you’re willing.”
He gestured over to a table for two and she wondered where the heck this guy had been hiding the entire night. The fact that he didn’t think that she was desperate almost made her laugh, but she nodded to him like she’d completely forgotten how to speak. She felt like a total spaz and he grinned at her.
“Can I buy you a drink?” he asked her.
“Yeah,” she said, turning to the bartender who looked at the man behind her with a sort of fixed gaze that she thought was strange. “Fizz Toddy,” she said to him as he nodded and went to work on the drink quickly, ignoring everyone else around them.
“Excellent choice,” he said, like every word behind his perfect lips was crafted exceptionally before being released. “I’m Victor,” he said to her, holding out his hand.
“Shawna,” she answered.
He took her hand in his and she immediately noticed how cold it was. It was strangely so, but when he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles, she felt herself blush, not expecting that from him.
“Wow,” she whispered.
With any other guy, she would have found that weird and creepy, but it was just so right for Victor. It seemed like something that he would obviously do. It seemed right to her.
“Thanks for having a drink with me, Shawna,” he said with that familiar smile she thought was so sexy it was driving her crazy.
She wanted to scream at the sight of it and demand that he come home with her, but she knew this was the desperate side of her flaring up. No, she needed to play it cool. She needed to play it smart.
“Everyone has been pretty disappointing tonight.”
“I know what you mean,” she said.
“Glasses guy?” he asked her with a teasing smile. “I was nervous that he would make a move on you and rob me. I’m not very good at this and I was worried that you’d end up going home with him.”
“You think I’m that easy?” she asked him, lifting an eyebrow.
“No,” he said, shaking his head very seriously. Suddenly, she truly believed that he didn’t mean what he had, possibly accidentally, implied about her. “I think that you’re an exceptional woman, because all night long, you’ve had your pick of the boys here and you’ve only focused on a few. Not only have you focused on a few, but you’ve focused on those with the most real-world potential beyond this place. I think that’s fascinating. Tell me, what are you looking for, Shawna?”
“I don’t know,” she said with a shrug as a waitress dressed in shorts so short they could see her ass and a shirt cut so low that there wasn’t much left for the imagination, but Victor never glanced at her. He simply thanked her while looking at Shawna the entire time. “I’m just looking for something entertaining.”
“Well, I hope I’m that,” he said with a smile that revealed his perfect, white teeth. It was a strange sight that made her nervous.
“What do you do for a living?” she asked him, taking a sip of her drink.
“Oh, we’re going to discuss the boring things?” he asked her with a playful voice.
She shrugged. She honestly didn’t see why not. Wasn’t that what people did when they were getting to know each other?
“Why not?” she pressed, wondering what he could possibly want to talk about instead. “Do you have something else that you’d rather talk about?”
“There are loads of things that we could talk about,” he said with a grin on his face. “You realize that there are a certain number of questions you could ask anyone that are so profound and so intimate that they will make you fall in love with them? They’re a fascinating read and I absolutely love them.”
“Really?” she felt suspicious about that. “Do you know some of them?”
“Do you really want me to fall in love with you?” he chuckled. “I’ll be helpless if I ask them of you. By the time we’re done with all thirty six of them, I’ll be pining over you for the rest of my life. Is that what you want?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer that. She felt odd about it and she felt off about the whole thought. It felt wrong and worrisome.
“I think I’d like you to fall in love with me,” she said with a crooked smile of her own, feeling dangerous and exciting.
She liked the way he was so forward with his intentions. She liked how he made her feel alive. Yes, she was all about him right now and the fire he had ignited inside of her.
“You’re an incredibly attractive woman,” he said to her after a moment of silent contemplation.
It was something that she really liked to hear from him. It was easy on her ears and it sounded genuine and honest. As she looked at him, she realized how incredibly attractive he was as well. He was a man that she could get used to looking at.
“Thank you,” she said, with a sweet smile on her lips.
“Very modest of you,” he joked.
She laughed at that and as she looked at him with a shrug. “I’m modest,” she said, looking around the room at all the other women who were present, clearly more comfortable with themselves than she was.
He smiled at that and she knew he was playing with her. She knew that he was having a good fun, laugh at her and all she could think about was that she wanted more of this than he realized. He was calling to her.
“What about you? What made you interested in talking to me?” She changed the topic, pressing him.
“Honestly? It was your fiery, red hair. I’ve never seen hair like it before. You wear it so proudly in a world where red hair is foolishly looked down upon. I’ve never understood why people bash it so much.”
Shawna had gained her tough skin when she was a teenager at the height of Ginger-Hate that was spreading across the country because of YouTube videos and other similar phenomena. However, as she grew older, more and more women voiced their envy for her fiery locks. It was good to have someone interested in it in an alluring sense. It was nice to have someone interested in her, period.
“So where are you from?” she asked him with a coy and kind smile on her lips, looking to know more about this mysterious man that had just entered her life.
“Not from around here,” he said with a kind of boast that made her wonder what that meant. Did he meaning that he wasn’t from this neighborhood? This borough? This city? Was he not even from this country? She didn’t know what that meant and it was so enigmatic, she couldn’t help but feel completely entranced by it.
She wanted to ask him more about it, but something told her that she should hold back and revisit it at a later time. If he didn’t want to talk about it right now, then she shouldn’t push him about it. She shouldn’t dig in deep and demand to know more from him. That was just rude and more than she should hope to push for. She took a deep breath and looked out at the dance floor, wondering where this night was going to lead her.
“You like to dance?” he asked her, following her eyes out to the dance floor. She was
n’t sure how to answer that. Yeah, she did like dancing, but she never really did it in public. She wasn’t about dancing in front of people unless she was thoroughly intoxicated and had the courage to get other people out there with her so others wouldn’t think she was a lone psycho on the dance floor.
“I do,” she said, feeling that the scales were successfully tipping in that direction. “Do you like dancing?”
“I find it helpful,” he said honestly.
“For what?”
“Finding out the truth about someone’s intentions,” he said with a grin on his lips.
She wanted to know more and he knew that she wanted to know more. It was an unfair advantage he seemed to have with all of this deep insight that she didn’t have. It was like she was playing against someone in a different league.
“You see, dancing tells you exactly what the other person wants from you. You can find out if they’re holding back and if they’re suspicious of you or you could find out whether or not they’re interested in you and want to know more about you. You can tell all of their intentions just by the way they’re dancing.”
“You could just ask them,” she said, picking up on the subtle hints that he was dropping for her. Yeah, she was picking them up and she was more than willing to play but she didn’t like games. She liked the more direct and dangerous approach that he had been taking. Having someone bold in her life was refreshing. It was something that she was more than willing to explore.
“I suppose that I could just ask them,” he said with a smile. “But where’s the fun in that?”
“It’s only fun for you,” she assured him, seeing right through his ploy and attacking it. “It’s not fun if you don’t know you’re playing. It’s not fair either. If it’s not fair I’d say that it’s cheating.”
“That’s a rather bold accusation,” he said with a raised eyebrow. “Do you think I’m playing to win?”
“Absolutely,” she said knowingly. She knew for a fact that he was here to win, but she didn’t know what winning meant to him. She wanted to know more. “But what’s at stake?”
“You,” he said with a smile on his face. “I really like you, Shawna. Do you want to play the game where we beat around the bush, dancing around our intentions, or are you a bolder and direct woman? From what I’ve seen, you strike me as a particularly brave and daring individual. I’d like to know how I should proceed. I can do either if you’d like, but I think you know which one I’d favor.”
“You just want to take me home, have sex with me, and disappear from my life?” She stabbed at him, knowing exactly what a man like him was interested in. There was something very familiar about all of this.
“Not unless that’s what you want me to do,” he said with a mischievous grin. “But if that’s not the case, then I’m going to stick around with you for the rest of your life and have the greatest relationship that anyone has ever had.”
Part of her believed he was telling her the truth and she wasn't sure if she liked that or not, but there was something different about this man. He seemed like an old soul who was tired of the games and he wanted something that was close to a connection.
She could see it in his eyes that he was looking for something more than sex, but he was afraid of something else. He was clearly afraid that this wasn’t going to be it. She wanted to know what he was looking for and if she could be what he was hungry for. She wanted to make him intrigued and excited.
“Are you brave enough to take a risk, Shawna? Going into this, knowing that there’s a 50/50 chance that I’m going to be gone tomorrow or that I’m going to be there, trying my hardest to make this work, are you willing to take that chance on me? Are you willing to be brave?”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly, but she was strong. She wasn’t going to roll over for this guy. “Are you brave enough to be more than just a douche who sleeps with a girl and vanishes before the sun rises?”
He laughed at that. “Some of us are creatures of the night,” he assured her with a strange sort of certainty in his voice that didn’t sound like they were talking about the same thing. “But, I think I’m brave enough to try and be the guy who is true and honest with you. There’s something about you, Shawna. I think you’re the kind of woman that’s worth all of that, that’s actually worth all the romantic notions that have failed in the past. I like that about you. You’re a pure soul. You’re the kind of goodness that the world needs.”
“You’re very smooth,” she laughed, wishing that she could believe him, but there was something in the back of her mind that kept clicking on the emergency light and the flashing red lights that wailed were stronger than ever. There was something off about this guy. There was something dangerous and wrong with him. He was going to break her heart and she knew it was going to be painful, but she was jumping in with her eyes wide open. She knew exactly what was coming for her.
“You want to get out of here and do something risky?” he asked her with a smile on his lips.
She knew that she did. She knew that there was something about all of this that was tantalizing to her. She knew that there was something about him that made her want to take that risk. Maybe it was the fact that she was jumping in with her eyes wide open and realizing that if they were on equal playing grounds, then it might be something she was interested in. No illusions, no borders, just a risk with honest outcomes. That was something that she was definitely interested in.
“I think I might,” she said with a grin. Yes, this was something that she was very interested in. This was something that she was definitely going to play at. This was something that she was going to get involved in, because right now, she felt like taking advantage of him and herself.
Why not? They were both attracted to each other and life was short. There was nothing in the world made more sense to her. She wanted to have fun and cut loose. She grabbed her clutch and took his arm as they headed for the door.
The night air was brisk and breezy. It was something that told her that they were alive and that the city was full of energy they were waiting to tap into. It was something that they could harness and take advantage of, if they were willing to do so. This was a new birth for her and she felt like she was capable of anything. She smiled at him as the wind kicked up her hair and she combed it back into place with her fingers so that she could see his smiling face in the nocturnal world of the city.
“Ready for the question?” he asked her.
“Hit me with it,” she said playfully.
“My place or yours?” he asked nervously, like this was painful for him. “Would you like home field advantage or would you like to keep that a mystery from me until you’ve decided that I’m not an unsavory character?”
She thought about it for a moment and knew exactly what she wanted.
“My place,” she said with confidence.
She liked her home and she trusted it. She knew where her secrets were hidden and she knew that if she needed to kick him out, Reggie next door would happily come to her aid. Reggie had a soft spot for her.
When they made it back to her apartment, it was a relief that she knew Reggie was home and that she had picked her home as their retreat. She loved her apartment and she loved that she had the kind of job that could pay for a larger, nicer apartment than most of the other people she knew.
It was a nice apartment that she had taken care to decorate beautifully and cleanly. She didn’t believe in clutter and she liked showing off her home. When they walked inside, Victor looked around with a smile on his face, appreciating it as he looked around at the art on the walls and the décor that she’d bought to make the place more inviting and more alluring to those who came to visit.
“This place is fantastic,” he said, sitting down on the sofa that actually matched her
room and was comfortable. It was a one of her greatest prides in the apartment.
“Thanks,” she called to him, walking into the tidy kitchen that was nicer than most oth
er kitchens that her friends or her siblings had. She was the envy of most. She grabbed two glasses and selected one of the red wines she had on hand and poured it for the two of them, watching him as he looked at her bookshelves.
“You’re a fan of the classics,” he mused, looking over the leather bound titles that she had hunted down at used bookstores and at small shops where she discovered them like treasures. “That’s something that’s hard to find with people these days. It’s all about Fifty Shades and pop psychology trash.”
“Couldn’t agree more,” she said with a smile. “What’s your favorite?”
“War and Peace,” he said quickly.
She smiled and handed him the glass of red that she’d selected. She had not expected that from him. War and Peace was an excellent choice and she was glad that he had mentioned it. It was something that was very unique to him. She’d never found anyone who liked War and Peace before, at least not that much.
