A Life Less Ordinary

by Bernadine, Victoria

  ~~~~~

  An hour and a half later, Manny was at the bar watching Zeke play pool with the three young women who’d been sitting by the tables for most of the evening.

  The bartender watched her with a sympathetic air, and Manny shook her head and said, “It’s okay. We’re just travelling together.”

  The bartender gave her a skeptical nod but said nothing.

  She shook her head and turned back to watch the pool game.

  Zeke’s pool partner was leaning comfortably against him as one of their opponents took their shot. His partner was tall, slender but curvy, with long chestnut hair. Manny had to admit she was quite stunningly beautiful, easily the most beautiful woman in the room. She certainly didn’t look like a woman one would expect to find in such a small town.

  Then again, Manny thought ruefully, she’d grown up with Rebecca who had also been quite stunningly beautiful and tucked away in a town even smaller than this one.

  Good God - again?

  Manny snorted into her beer. She turned a ruefully amused grin to Harvey, who was standing with a stunned expression beside her.

  I guess he’s just one of those guys who can’t be alone on a Saturday night.

  It’s Friday.

  Whatever.

  She’s quite something, I have to admit.

  I was just thinking that.

  He shot her an amused glance from dark eyes, his eyebrows raised. She groaned.

  Forget I said that.

  Done.

  Harvey glanced around the bar. Not much eye candy for you, though.

  Oh, I don’t know. There are a few rather nice looking boys over there.

  Harvey glanced at the table she’d indicated and studied the four rather stolid looking farm boys sitting there.

  I think they’re younger than Zeke, he mused.

  I think you’re right. They’re definitely working boys, though. Look at those arms.

  Harvey looked at their arms, then glanced down at himself.

  I like you just the way you are, Manny assured him, then frowned a small, puzzled frown.

  He grinned at her then asked, What?

  Nothing. It just seems like it’s not as easy to change you anymore.

  Don’t worry about it, Harvey urged. You’re sitting alone at the bar while Zeke is over there and probably about to get laid - again, damn it. I also see there’s going to be a band tonight, he nodded towards the dance floor, and when was the last time you watched a live band in a bar?

  Maybe once or twice since my groupie days, she replied thoughtfully, watching the bar staff and band members setting up.

  Wonder what circuit this bar would be on? This town barely shows up on the map – how’d they manage to book a band?

  Manny motioned the bartender over.

  “Where’s the band from?” she asked.

  “They’re local boys. They play every Friday night, mainly for beer on Saturday. But they’re actually pretty good, and can play pretty much anything you can think to ask them to play.”

  “Beethoven’s Fifth?” she asked.

  The bartender grinned and he suddenly looked ten years younger than what Manny guessed to be his fifty-something. “If you’ll dance to that, I’ll buy you a beer.”

  She slowly smiled back. “Well, if they play it, I’ll try it,” she promised.

  “All right,” he said. “Let me talk to them.”

  He made to walk out from behind the bar and she stopped him, laughing, “Don’t you dare! I was kidding!”

  He winked and moved to serve a group of people further down the bar.

  “Making another conquest I see.”

  Manny yelped and turned to face Zeke, a hand pressed to her chest.

  She gasped for breath, then said, “I could say the same for you.”

  She glanced significantly at the pool tables where the young woman was talking to her friends as she picked up her purse and beer. Manny raised an eyebrow as the woman swayed towards them.

  I thought people only walked like that in the movies.

  Hush.

  Zeke leaned closer and murmured in her ear, “Come on, Auntie Em – look at her! Who would have thought a girl like her would be hiding in this little hole of a town? And her name is Babe – how appropriate is that?”

  Manny shook her head ruefully, her eyes on the stage as the band members began to take their places and complete the sound check. She turned her attention to Zeke’s pleading eyes and grimaced.

  “Please,” she groaned, “you’re drooling in my beer. Go – have fun – play safe.”

  That sounds familiar.

  Hush, I said.

  Zeke grinned.

  “Oh, I will,” he said softly, his hazel eyes burning as Babe walked up beside him and slid an arm around his waist.

  Manny briefly introduced herself to the other woman then watched them leave with their arms around each other.

  She turned back to the bar when the door closed behind them and met the bartender’s raised eyebrows and sympathetic eyes.

  “Another?” he asked.

  She checked her bottle and shrugged.

  “Sure. Why the hell not?”

  ~~~~~

  Babe kissed Zeke the second the bar door closed behind them and they stumbled across the paved road, laughing between deep, searching kisses, their hands fumbling at the other person’s clothes.

  They finally made it to Zeke’s motel room and Babe pressed him against the door, devouring his mouth and then his neck as Zeke fumbled for his room key, which Babe seductively removed from his fingers and used to open the door, all without losing their grip on each other. Zeke stumbled backwards into the room, laughing as they almost fell to the floor.

  Zeke retained enough presence of mind to remember to take the key from the lock as the door closed behind them.

  It was the last rational thought he had for awhile.

  ~~~~~

  Manny nursed her beer for a half hour, listening to the band warm up and chatting idly with the bartender and the people on either side of her. She noticed people were still coming in and as far as she could tell, there were no longer any empty tables or chairs to be seen.

  She regretfully swallowed the last of her beer and lowered it with a sigh. She began to fumble with her purse, motioning to the bartender for her tab.

  “You can’t leave now!” he protested loudly, and Manny froze, her eyes wide as everyone within earshot echoed his sentiments.

  “Ladies and gentlemen!”

  Manny twisted around to look at the stage as almost everyone else burst into loud, raucous cheers and whistles, stomping their feet and clapping.

  Shit. Have we dropped into the middle of a Stephen King novel?

  I sincerely hope not.

  Let me tell you, I’ll be seriously pissed if we have.

  Manny swallowed.

  The emcee waited for the noise to die down before he asked the crowd, “What night is it?”

  Everyone roared, “Friday!”

  “I can’t hear you! What night is it?”

  “Friday!”

  “That’s right! And you know what that means!”

  The crowd burst into a cacophony of noise.

  “That’s right! It’s time for -”

  The entire crowd shouted, “Last Dancer Standing!”

  The emcee waited for the cheers, whistles and applause to die down before he continued.

  “All right, for those few of you who are new to our little town and our little bar – and I can see a couple of you – Last Dancer Standing is our Friday night dance contest. We sort everyone in the bar into twenty teams. Each member of the team then takes a turn in a line dance. Those who dance the best get to stay for the next round. Those who don’t, are eliminated. We continue until we have the -” he pointed to the crowd.

  “Last Dancer Standing!”

  “Exactly! The team with the -”

  “Last Dancer Standing!”

  “- gets two free dr
inks for every member of the team, and an appetizer to share with their teammates. The next four teams get an appetizer to share with their teammates. Now, there are two things that new people need to know. Number one: the teams are randomly assigned. And number two: no one sits out this contest. No one! If you can wiggle a finger – hell, if you can wiggle your nose – you’re in the contest! Now, at some point tonight, your bartender or waitress will have given you a little square coaster. On the back of it you’ll find the name of your team; there’s a matching centre-piece on one of the tables in this bar. When I say “go” - find your teams!” He paused dramatically.

  Manny could see Harvey from the corner of her eye. He was leaning against the bar beside her, munching on popcorn. A huge grin split his face and his dark eyes were bright with interest.

  Oh, this ought to be fun!

  “Go!”

  ~~~~~

  Zeke stared up at the ceiling, Babe’s head pillowed on his bare chest. She was dozing lightly, her breath ghosting across his skin, one long, shapely leg draped over his. He frowned as he lightly stroked his fingers against her shoulder and back.

  “She’s fine,” Babe said sleepily.

  He started and met Babe’s half-closed eyes.

  “I thought you were sleeping,” he murmured.

  “Just dozing.”

  She smiled, leaned up and gave him a quick kiss, followed by a slower, deeper one. She dropped her head back to his shoulder.

  “You were worrying about her, weren’t you?” she continued sleepily, “your Auntie Em?”

  “Well, I did leave her sitting alone in a bar in a strange town,” Zeke muttered guiltily, shaking his head.

  “This is Ringo,” Babe laughed. “Trust me, she’s probably safer in that bar than if she was sitting in her own living room.”

  Zeke huffed a chuckle. “Well, she was pretty tired. We’d walked a long way today. I suspect she left almost immediately after we did.”

  He paused, remembering their walk to the motel, and flushed a little.

  “Well, hopefully not immediately after us,” he amended.

  Babe laughed huskily. “Too bad if she did – it’s Friday night.”

  Zeke frowned down at the top of Babe’s tousled head.

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s Last Dancer Standing.”

  Zeke laughed. “Last Dancer - what?”

  “Every Friday night. Everyone who’s in the bar has to participate. Well, except staff, of course. Everyone’s put on a team and has to take at least one turn line dancing. Trust me, it’s a great time.”

  Zeke blinked at the thought of Manny sitting in a bar alone and having a dance contest – with mandatory participation – suddenly rear its ugly head. While she’d certainly proven herself open to new experiences and meeting new people, his mind boggled at the thought of Manny, with her tightly bound hair and prudish-maiden-aunt face actually unwinding enough to dance, line or otherwise.

  He would have loved to have seen her expression when she realized what was going on, though.

  “Zeke?”

  “Hmmm? Oh – sorry. That sounds...cool,” he said and tried to give her a sincere smile.

  “It really is a great time and it gives everyone something to look forward to during the week.” Babe lifted her head and looked at the bedside clock. “They should be getting to the top ten in about thirty minutes. Do you want to go watch?”

  Zeke yawned and shifted into a more comfortable position. “I don’t know...it’s been a long day. And strenuous,” he added with a wicked grin.

  Babe smiled seductively and purred, “It’ll help me get my second wind...”

  “Let’s go.”

  ~~~~~

  Zeke and Babe walked into the bar just as the emcee was introducing the top ten.

  “This has been a great night! A record number of participants with lots of great – and not so great – dancing.”

  The emcee paused as the crowd laughed and everyone looked towards one table where one young man hid his face, then stood and gave the crowd a sweeping bow as they applauded.

  Zeke glanced at Babe, one eyebrow raised.

  “That’s Mikey,” she shouted into his ear above the noise. “He’s always the worst dancer here, but he’s always willing to try.”

  Mikey sat down, the crowd quieted and the emcee continued.

  “And now we’re down to the top ten! They’ve been given ten minutes to rehearse a line dance for their chosen song. When this dance is finished, we’ll determine the top five who will then do one more dance after which there’ll be the -” he pointed the microphone at the crowd.

  “Last Dancer Standing!” the crowd yelled, including Babe.

  Zeke grinned at Babe’s enthusiasm. The crowd quieted as the band walked back on stage and picked up their instruments. They started playing a country song that wasn’t familiar to Zeke but was apparently very popular with the ladies in the crowd, judging from their whistles, catcalls and laughter.

  He crossed his arms and leaned casually against the wall, looking around the bar with interest. This was going to make a great story for his blog, he thought. He smiled indulgently at Babe who was moving to the music and singing the lyrics beside him. He blinked as the chorus began and the crowd erupted into even louder screams and applause and whistles. He looked at the dance floor and his grin widened as he watched the ten women gyrating suggestively to the music – at various levels of coordination and grace. If these were the ten best dancers in the bar, he thought, he would have hated to have seen the others.

  His grin disappeared and he abruptly straightened when he realized the second woman on the left was Manny – with her hair hanging down, her shirt tied up and moving her shoulders and wiggling her ass like no prudish-maiden-aunt he’d ever seen.

  He didn’t like it.

  He didn’t like it one bit.

  He watched, scowling furiously, as the dance finished to the cheers and hoots of the crowd and he watched grimly as Manny bounded off the dance floor towards two tables of people he assumed were her teammates judging from their cheers and pats on her back.

  He met Babe’s quizzical look and he quickly smoothed his face into a smile.

  “Manny’s over there,” he said tilting his head and taking Babe’s hand. “Let’s go say hi.”

  They threaded their way through the crowd and came to a stop behind Manny just as two waitresses delivered tequila shooters and small glasses of 7-Up to the group. Zeke watched with an unhappy frown as the drinks were distributed.

  They all lifted their shot glass, shouted “Slammers!”, tapped the glasses twice on the table then drank the shot and chased it with 7-Up.

  Zeke waited until Manny put her glass back on the table before he leaned forward and growled in her ear, “Isn’t it past your bedtime, Auntie Em?”

  She shrieked and spun around with a hand to her chest. She gaped at him, her eyes wide with shock, her cheeks flushed with exertion and tequila. Then she caught her breath and grinned.

  “Zeke!” she cried expansively, spreading her arms wide and almost hitting the person on the other side of her. “Hi! Did you see me?”

  Zeke smiled coldly. “Oh, I saw you.”

  “Wasn’t it awesome? What a great idea for a contest! This has been so much fun!” She spun back to the table and staggered slightly.

  Zeke quickly steadied her, his hands on her shoulders.

  “Whoops,” she said, laughing a little. She looked over her shoulder at him through her curtain of hair and grinned. She leaned slightly towards him and whispered conspiratorially, “Thanks – I’ve had a little bit to drink.”

  She turned her face back to the people at the table, leaned forward and cried, “Hey, everybody! This is Zeke! Remember I told you about him?”

  Zeke was suddenly the focus of eight pairs of eyes and he hoped his face wasn’t showing his growing anger with the situation, made even worse by the fact that Manny was definitely more than a little drunk. His Auntie Em who
only ever drank one or two beer before primly calling it a night. Or the occasional glass of wine with dinner or, he conceded, at a wedding reception.

  This Manny was shooting tequila like a pro and seemed perfectly comfortable with her shirt tied at her waist over low-slung jeans that left her tummy exposed, a tummy, he noticed, that poofed out a little above her waistband but was otherwise surprisingly flat, considering how plump she was.

  He shook his head and quickly switched his attention to the other people at the table who were loudly greeting his and Babe’s arrival.

  Manny spun back to him and said, “I wasn’t expecting you back tonight after you left with...um...” She blinked at Babe, her brows furrowed as she searched her memory.

  “Babe,” the woman in question offered with a gracious smile.

  “Babe! Right, right, right.”

  “You’ve been having fun, I see,” Zeke drawled, watching as the waitress delivered another round to the table.

  “It’s been a blast!” Manny nodded emphatically then quickly shushed him as the emcee called for the crowd’s attention.

  “We have the final five! The Margaritas! The Rummies! The Morgans! The Slammers! And the Martinis! Send up your dancers!”

  Manny and her team burst into wild cheers when their team name was called. Manny was off her chair and bouncing with excitement. Her team clustered around her, patting her on the back, pulling her into group hugs, and high-fiving her before shooing her back to the dance floor.

  Manny grinned at Zeke.

  “Sorry, duty calls!” she said, then bounded back to the dance floor where she joined the other four dancers and the members of the band.

  One of the women moved around the table to stand next to Zeke while Babe chatted with some of the other members of the team.

  “She’s having so much fun,” the woman chuckled, her attention on Manny, “it’s just too cute.”

  She smiled at Zeke and held out her hand. “I’m Rosa.”

  Zeke shook her hand.

  “Nice to meet you,” he said, his scowl deepening as he watched Manny and the others confer with the band then head to the back and out of sight.

  Babe turned to Zeke and Rosa and said, “See? Didn’t I tell you it was a lot of fun?”

  Zeke swallowed and nodded, and smoothed his expression with an effort.