“I don’t care as long as it’s strong and will make me forget today.”I told him, resting my elbow on the bar and my chin on my hand.
“You got it, two memory melting shots coming your way!”
The bartender was so busy at the other end of the bar that Freddie decided to walk over and order our drinks instead of waiting.He comes back with a small tray and four shot glasses filled with an amber colored liquid.Before he even sits down to offer me the tray, I grab a shot glass and down the liquid, scrunching my nose as a burn makes its way down my throat.
“Ugh, what was that?”I ask, shaking my head.
“Fireball.”He says grinning and downs his first shot.I can tell he has a tongue piercing when his mouth opens to reveal a flash of silver, catching the dim bar light when he speaks.We both grab the second shot and clink our glasses together before lifting them to our lips.
“I like it!”I say, slamming the glass down on the bar.He laughs and sits back down on his stool, spinning to face me.
“What’s your name?”His hands are on my knees, steadying me as I spun again to face him, feeling dizzy.
“Not telling.”I shake my head.“Buy me another drink and I might though.”I put my finger up, indicating I want another one.
He hesitates but then disappears and comes back with four more shots, only this time, they’re filled to the brim with a pale yellow concoction,Lemon Drops,apparently.We cheers and empty the glasses just as quickly as the last round.I listen as he talks, but I’m not really hearing anything he’s saying through the sounds of glasses clinking and laughter from all the drunk college girls hoping to land a guy tonight.I notice he’s watching me as I sway to the music, definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol.
“Dance with me.”It’s not a question he asked because he’s grabbing my hand and pulling me off the barstool.I let him lead me to the middle of the restaurant, where the tables were pushed to the sides to create a dance floor.The music is pumping through my ears, and I can feel my heart pounding in rhythm with the beat as he takes my hand and spins me around.My head is buzzing, and the floor feels like rushing waves under my feet.He’s laughing and the sound of it is intoxicating –or is it just that I’m intoxicated?– I don’t care, whatever it is, is making me smile and I’ve forgotten who I’m here with when I lean in and kiss him on the cheek.
He pauses for an instant and then kisses me on the mouth with slow, methodical intensity, his teeth pulling in my upper lip in a lingering moment of ecstasy.And he brings me closer, enveloping me in his arms.
“What do you say we get out of here?”he whispers into my neck, planting small, soft kisses where his breath left a warming chill.
“Yeah, let’s do that.”I say, leaning into him, not really sure if I needed the support in order to stay upright or if my longing to be held right now just pulled me toward him.
He hails a taxi from the line of cars waiting outside the crowded place, and we climb into the back seat where he moves in to kiss my neck.I turned, instinctively grabbing his face in my hands and I kissed him back, letting his tongue flirt with mine, his piercing becoming a game of play between our mouths.When I couldn’t breathe anymore, I pulled away from him and sucked in a long, hot breath and he opened his eyes.“Watermelon.”He licked his lips.
“What?”That caught me off guard, I didn’t expect him to talk.I didn’t want him to talk.
“Your hair smells like watermelon.”I kissed him again because I didn’t want him to tell me what my hair smelled like.I don’t want him to remember me after tonight.He pulled away from me and looked at my face like he was memorizing me.Then he asked, “Whoareyou and where have you been hiding?”
I put my finger to his lips and shook my head, “No strings attached.”
The taxi stops outside of his apartment building, and I stumble out of the car, walking backward toward the building as I watch him finish up with the driver.He jogs to catch up to me and puts his hands on my waist, leading me to the door of his apartment.
“I need to know your name.”he tells me, his lips grazing mine, his hands caging me in against the door.
“You don’t want to know my name; I’m dangerous.”I tell him.And it’s true,God if only he knew.
“Okay, then.I don’t have to be your tomorrow,” he says, closing the door behind us and walking me through his house, into his bedroom.“I’ll settle for being your right now.”He lays me down gently onto his bed and crawls over me, pinning my hands into the pillow above my head with one hand while the other is busy unbuckling his pants, and reaching up the hem of my skirt to move my panties out of the way.I feel him thrust into me hard and needy and I wrap my legs around him, while I look up at the ceiling.He crashed into me over and over again and I found myself calling out Lee’s name as my hips rose to meet his.Then I realize I’m not with Lee when he stops moving and looks down at me, his voice a raspy whisper against my cheek, “What’s the matter, baby, are you here with the wrong guy?”
The tears start to stream down my cheeks again as he finishes and rolls off me, stumbling his way to the bathroom.When the door closes, I roll over onto my side and cry myself to sleep, disgusted and wonderingwhat the hell am I doing?
When I open my eyes and see that first glow of the sunrise breaking through the window in his bedroom, I get up, find my shoes and walk out the door of the apartment where I had just destroyed my soul.
I walked to the nearest payphone and called for a taxi to drive me to the airport.I don’t even care that I don’t have my suitcase or any of my belongings, as long as I have my purse with my ID, which I did remember to take before storming out last night.
The woman at the ticket counter was able to look up my information and print me a replacement ticket; she was even able to get me on an earlier flight.She looked around me, ready to check my baggage and I cleared my throat, “No baggage to check, just me and my purse.”I patted my bag that hung across the front of my body and thanked her for her help.Then I made my way to the gate and waited for the plane to arrive.I hoped Steff wouldn’t try to make it here before my flight; I really didn’t want to face her after the events of last night unfolded the way they did.I didn’t want her to take one look at me and be able to see the shameful part of me that just committed the biggest mistake of her life.
I just wanted to move on.
I just wanted him to move on.
Even if we weren’t moving on together.
Chapter Twenty-One
LEE
