Love Unexpected

by Anne Leigh

  My dad’s voice rang through my ears, “What do you want for your graduation?”

  “Nothing dad,” I honestly said. I felt that I had everything.

  “Really sweetie? You’re graduating Summa Cum Laude in Nursing, Minor in Chemistry, a consistent President’s Honor awardee, loyal tutor to the masses. Oh did I fail to mention, you’re my most, cherished daughter? Come on, you can ask me for anything you want and as your proud dad, I will do my best to make your wish come true.”

  I sighed softly, “Dad, I have everything. I have you, Kieran, Tanya, and Nalee. I can’t ask for anything more.”

  His voice was happy and sad at the same time, “Your mom would be very proud of you. You not only have her beauty, you also possess her wonderful sense of self and goodness. I love you, sweetie.”

  “Love you too, dad.”

  We talked for almost an hour and a half. Thank God for free video and voice calls over the internet. After hanging up with my dad, I continued working on my thesis draft.

  At 6:30 PM, I was all set to go for our Ladies’ Night Out. Tanya had heard of this new upscale bar, that had opened a week ago, from one of her sorority sisters and we were checking it out tonight to mark the end of Junior Year and start of Senior Year.

  I thought my black, skinny leggings; under my purple tunic dress was a good casual look. However, I cringed when Tanya’s eyes landed on me. She ordered me to take the leggings off and keep the dress on. With my 5’7” frame, the size 4 tunic dress looked like a mini skirt. Tanya said it highlighted my body and the purple tunic dress made my eyes look more dramatic. She also told me to dab on lip gloss on my full lips to complete the ‘sexy’ look. I kept to myself because our reservations were at 7:15 and if I kept objecting, we would all be late. I had never been late at anything.

  Chapter Two

  “In a moment of weakness, take a deep breath, pull yourself together, and rise up.”

  Sedona

  I glanced at the clock on my phone, it was 7:10 PM. Whew! The place was packed with customers. It was a good thing Tanya called in to make reservations or there was no way we’d be getting in at this time. Traffic was extra heavy into downtown San Francisco. All the universities and colleges around the area had finals and break around the same time so majority of the college population was concentrated in this area tonight.

  It didn’t help that Tanya, my crazy, high-flying, thrill-seeking girlfriend, drove like a grandma touring the country roads at 20 mph! By the time, we arrived at Green’s; I was ready to scream “Out of the way people, my bladder’s about to give birth!”

  After our server guided us to our table, I rushed to the bathroom. My mind was focused on one goal - reach the bathroom before making a mess somewhere else. Just as I was rounding the corner, I hit a brick wall, face first then I slipped on my 2 ½ -in. Franco Sarto pumps and fell bottom first. I knew it was the stupidest idea to have worn these heels. I should’ve listened to my inner voice and not Tanya’s!

  “Whoa! You okay, miss?” The brick wall started talking.

  “What? Ohmigosh, I think I just got wet!” I screeched while trying to get up, realizing that the wall was too far from me to lean for support.

  Mr. Brick Wall offered his hand to help me up and I took it.

  I looked up, up, and up. Mr. Brick Wall was a tall guy! When my eyes met his, my thoughts were exactly this, holey guacamole!

  I’ve never been rendered speechless in my life. If you asked me at that precise moment in time, what an isosceles triangle or a Pythagorean Theorem was, I would have looked at you with a blank face.

  This was a man whose face could grace covers of magazines. He had clean cut hair, with sideburns inches away from his earlobes. His lips were full, jaws well-defined, and a small scar grazed his right eyebrow. He was gorgeous. But it was his eyes that set him apart. His eyes were the colors of the ocean – when the waters reflected the blue skies and the lush greenery around it. I couldn’t tell when the blue ended and the green started.

  As much as I wanted to keep exploring his face, I really had to go to the bathroom. I broke out of my momentary shock. I caught him staring at me with a bewildered look.

  “I really have to go. Thank you.” I hurried past him to the women’s bathroom. I didn’t even remember putting on my heels. I was glad I had them on because I was so not stepping in that restroom with my bare feet. That was just purely unhygienic!

  I fixed my ‘wet’ mess in the bathroom. To my horror, some fluid actually escaped from my bladder so it was a blessing I was wearing a panty liner. I also used a couple of tissues to dry the mess. I took my travel-sized BerryPeach Body Mist out my bag and sprayed some on me to help mask the scent. I thought everything was good until I turned my back to face the full-length mirror against the wall.

  Aarghh! I wanted to disappear right there and then. I saw a circular wetness in the back of my purple dress. I tried to put my butt against one of the hand dryers but the hand dryer was too low. There was no way I was taking off my dress and stand on my underwear to dry some slight wetness on my butt in this 4-stall women’s bathroom. I wanted to go home; but, I was so hungry and if Tanya drove back, I’d end up with a dextrose IV on my arm because my sugar would be critically low by the time we actually got home. As much as I hated it, I sucked in air, breathed in and out, recited Avogadro’s law of identical chemical gases in my head, and walked to our table.

  Zander

  In football, as a quarterback, I called out the plays to my team. My offensive line protected me from being cornered with a tackle, a fumble, or a sack. I protected myself by being focused and alert of my surroundings. Outside of football, I was the same exact person – always focused and alert.

  So, when this girl bumped into me out of nowhere, I was caught waaayyy off guard. She careened into me. Before I had any time to react, I heard a thud on the floor, and I said, “Whoa! You okay, Miss?” I saw long, dark locks cascading down the back of her head. A high-heeled shoe was misplaced a few inches from where she fell. I was going to move but I stayed put because she might bump her head onto my chin or other parts of my body, the least I could do was offer my hand.

  She took my hand and her face turned up towards me. And, what a face it was! I could not remember where I was going or why the hell I was standing on this spot. She was saying something but my senses were blocking out her words. My mouth was probably hanging open but hell, there was nothing I could do about it. Her face was full of soft contours; pinkish, full lips; and, a well-defined nose. All these formed an angelic face; but the focal point of her face was her eyes. I could get lost in those. Overlong lashes framed the startling violet irises of her eyes.

  I lost contact with her eyes because she looked down again and was helping herself up. She was mumbling something but I couldn’t catch it. Before I had the chance to say anything else, she had risen up to her feet and scrambled towards the women’s restroom.

  I didn’t know how long I stood there. I debated on waiting outside the women’s restroom to make sure she was ok. Common sense won as I left my spot and headed towards the men’s room.

  Sedona

  With a single-minded focus, I didn’t notice a blue-green gaze tracking me as I awkwardly walked to our table.

  Nalee asked, “What took you so long? Did you have to pee that much?”

  Refusing to relive the memories in the bathroom, I simply shrugged, “Let’s order.”

  Once our orders were filled, Nalee started unloading to us about her guy problems. It turned out her boyfriend, Jerome, didn’t call for 2 days and changed his password on Facebook. Nalee liked to check his Facebook friends and status updates. This morning, when she couldn’t log on to his account, she called him. He only returned her call just as we were leaving our apartment tonight.

  Nalee looked really upset and was teary-eyed. “I really don’t know why I put up with his crap. He’s such a loser. Granted, he’s such a good-looking, smart loser.”

  Jerome was a 7 year Med
student at UC Berkeley. Yeah, sure, he was a good-looking guy. His good looks did not excuse his being a big-time player though. He and Nalee broke up countless times during their 2-year on and off relationship. Once, because she caught him sexting a mutual friend. Another time was because he hit on a girl while he was on a date with Nalee. And other times, well, he was just a player! Tanya and I advised Nalee to tell Jerome that he should specialize in OB GYN so he can have an assortment of “lady parts” and maybe he would actually give up on being a player when he saw the disgusting array of sexually transmitted diseases that women and men can have.

  Nalee loved him though. Unconditionally. Maybe even to the point of stupidity. I shuddered at the thought of that kind of love. Ugh, that would never, ever happen to me. I would never want to be in her position. She was on the verge of crying again.

  Our server, Tom, came into view.

  Tom said, “Excuse me ladies, but an admirer requested me to bring this to your table”, he paused, “This is for you, all paid for.” He slowly placed the bottle of 2004 Cimarossa Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon in the middle of the square-shaped, wooden table.

  Tanya asked Tom, “Oh wow, whose attention did we catch?”

  Tom said, “One of those guys over there,” pointing to the other end of the dining area which was closer to the bar. There were about five guys huddled in conversation. We couldn’t really see their faces because of the dim lighting but from what I could tell, they looked like hulking men. Tom handed a note to me, written in one of the table napkins.

  “To a gorgeous, wet lady,” Tanya read the note for me, her green eyes turning mischievous.

  I gasped! Mr. Brick Wall had sent us the wine. I didn’t know the guy. I swear this to my dying day; this guy would never know where and how I got wet.

  I didn’t want to take advantage of him. Especially, after I rudely left him. The wine looked expensive. I said to our server, “Please return it to whoever asked you to give it to us and tell him thanks, but no thanks.”

  “No way, girlfriend,” Nalee interjected, “You do not refuse a nice gesture. And, this is probably a $75 bottle of wine; I really would like to taste it.”

  “Now, Tom, please tell the gentleman thank you and we wish him a good night.” Tanya instructed Tom.

  Heeding Tanya’s directive, our server uncorked the wine, poured some in our glasses after asking for I.D., and left our table.

  “Ok, Ms. Wet….when, where, what, and HOW did this happen?” Tanya exclaimed, her hands flying up in the air. Nalee’s hazel eyes were also focused on me.

  “Ummm, it kind of is an embarrassing story,” I said.

  “Embarrassing? What are you talking about? Because of this ‘wet’ incident, we are now drinking a rare bottle of wine on a night like this. So please, however embarrassing it is, you made a big impression to some generous guy!” this coming from Tanya, her expression incredulous.

  “More like a big mess,” I muttered to myself.

  Knowing that my friends weren’t going to let me go scot-free without telling them what happened. I let out a huge sigh and told them the short version of the incident.

  “So basically, you had a leak-” Nalee giggled.

  Tanya added, “Well, at least we know you’re not incontinent. You had a leak because you bumped into him and that made you go….you know.”

  We all started laughing.

  We were truly having a great time. About two hours later, we were ready to leave when Tanya’s eyes lit up.

  “That is one fine guy heading to us!” she loudly whispered.

  Nalee said and looked up ahead, “Oh yeah!”

  Tanya’s ‘likes’ in men were across the board. She has proclaimed herself to be an equal opportunity girl. She has dated short, tall, medium, smart, dumb, basically a ton of guys. So when she said, ‘fine’, I really didn’t know what to expect. However, when Nalee chimed in eagerly, I was curious as to what ‘fine’ was.

  “Shhhh,” Nalee hushed.

  “Good evening, ladies. I hope you enjoyed the wine,” boomed a masculine voice behind me.

  I turned my head to see whom the voice belonged to.

  Was there some ‘good-looking people convention’ going on tonight? From Mr. Brick Wall to this brown-eyed, shaggy blonde hair, athletic-looking guy, this place was packing all the good-looking guys!

  But then again, this WAS San Francisco. I was not sure if this guy liked the ladies, guys, or both. From the way, Shaggy Blonde Hair was eyeing Tanya; I safely concluded that he was into the ladies.

  Tanya responded, “We thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so good, especially since it’s free. And now, knowing it came from you, makes it even better.” We were going to send a ‘thank you’ note back to the guy who sent us the wine through our server.

  Mr. Shaggy Blonde Hair stood by my side and said, “Actually, the bottle was from my friend, Zander. He’s kind of shy. I hope I’m not disrupting your convo.”

  Convo? He was so disrupting our conversation. Who the hell was this Zander, a friend of his? Was he Mr. Brick Wall?

  I said, “Thank you, Mister. We really appreciate the wine. Please tell your friend our sincere thanks. It’s getting kind of late and I think it’s time for us to go.”

  Yeah right, late as in 9:40 PM. I had to be in bed before midnight or I would not get my full 6 ½ hours of sleep even on winter break. I did not function on anything less than 6 ½ hours of sleep.

  Shaggy Blonde Hair did not move an inch. Instead, he reached out his hand to me and introduced himself, “I’m John.”

  I might not like a person, but I would never be rude to a person who reached out his hand. I shook his hand and said, “I’m Sedona. These are my friends, Nalee and Tanya. How can I help you, John?” John’s eyes stayed on Tanya. With a crooked smile, he looked at me again, “My friends and I were actually wondering if you ladies would like to join us at a club?”

  Nalee asked, “Is it 21 and over?”

  John looked confused, “You mean, is the club 21 and over?”

  Nalee nodded her head.

  “Yeah, 21 and over, why?” John said, “You guys are 21, right?” His face lined with worry. Uh oh, he was probably thinking, “Shit, what did I get myself into?”

  Nalee explained, “Yes, of course we are. We just don’t want to get stuck with a bunch of teenagers if the club is 18 and over.”

  John seemed to relax with Nalee’s explanation. He asked again, “You guys cool with hanging out with us?”

  Tanya answered for us, “Of course, why not? Finals are over and we’re in the party mode

  tonight. Let’s go join them.”

  Tanya knew my routine so she avoided my eyes. Nalee whispered to me, with her pleading hazel eyes, “Please, Sedona! Can we stay out for a bit? I don’t think I can stand moping around, thinking of Jerome in the apartment.”

  I didn’t have the heart to say no to Nalee. I got the feeling that she wanted to forget about Jerome and his drama, even just for a night, so I remained silent.

  A shriek almost escaped Tanya. She looked like she was really enjoying Mr. Shady Blonde, err, John’s attentions.

  “Ok, let me tell the guys,” John said.

  “We’ll meet you out front,” Tanya suggested. She had mentioned that she wanted to go to the ladies’ room before we left.

  Zander

  John was freaking’ awesome! He got the ladies to agree to go with us to the club. I got game. Really good game when it came to the ladies. For some reason, knowing SHE was there made me clam up. WTF?! I was going to introduce myself but before I could stand up, John was walking to her table.

  He must have heard me ask the server to bring a bottle of wine to their table. I thought I was inconspicuous. John must have had his ultra-hearing on high alert because he knew exactly where to go. I could have followed him but it be kind of to have 2 guys approach a table when the ladies seemed engrossed in their conversation.

  Dom was quiet, watching the events with a smirk, he said, �
�Dude, at this rate, if you keep watching John walk to those ladies’ table, you’ll be asking John to fuckin’ put a condom on your dick,” to the raucous cheers of the other guys.

  Xavier also stood up to follow John. I put my arm out to block his exit.

  “No dude. John’s there already.”

  My message was clear. Firm, direct. Don’t mess with it.