“Last call,” the bartender shouted over the loud dance music. I looked down at the drink I had been nursing all night and sighed. Having been abandoned earlier by my friends for members of the opposite sex, I wasn’t quite ready to go home alone again.
I looked out on the dance floor, watching happy people moving to the pounding beat, and shook my head. Maybe one of these days that would be me out there. I wasn’t going to hold my breath, though.
I was almost to the door when the music changed. A soft slow song I hadn’t heard in years poured from the speakers, and I stopped… unable to move. I found the nearest bar stool and sat there, letting the melody wash over me and wishing somehow I was in someone’s arm. I closed my eyes, letting my imagination carry me away with the daydream.
“Excuse me,” a familiar voice said, a warm hand resting on my shoulder. “Would you care to dance?”
Startled out of a lovely daydream, I caught a faint smell above the tobacco and alcohol. After so many years, I’d know that smell anywhere. It was imprinted on me like my own DNA. Not quite sure to believe it, I looked up … right into your eyes. The smile on your face lit up your eyes, and I was stunned. Unable to do anything but nod, you grabbed my hand and led me to the dance floor.
We danced out there, swaying to the music and not saying anything. I looked up into your eyes and saw you smiling. The smile was breath-taking, and it was all I could do to make myself look away.
The music changed – another slow song coming on – and I was about to walk away when you pulled me tighter to you. I smiled softly and rested my head on your chest while we danced, sighing to myself about how short-lived some dreams are meant to be.
The rhythm washed over us smooth as a piece of watered silk, and I couldn’t help but look up at your face. You were smiling down at me – one of those thousand watt smiles that I feel all the way to my toes – and leaned down, barely brushing your lips with mine.
I could not believe it! I had just been daydreaming this exact moment minutes earlier, and here you were, kissing me on the dance floor. My pulse raced, and I lost myself in thought on the dance floor.
As the song faded, you brushed your lips to mine again. I smiled at you and sighed, turning to go grab my coat. The look on my face was on of utter defeat, and I made my way towards the door – dreams of what the night might have been flashing through my mind.
Your hand on my shoulder, spinning me around to face you, brought me back to that moment. “How are you going to get home?”
I started to answer and then remembered my ride home had left. “I don’t know. I’ll probably take a cab.”
You smiled again – damn it, why did your smile effect me this way – and said, “Would the lady allow a gentleman to escort her home on such a chilly night?”
I looked around and chuckled. “Lady?” I smiled at you and nodded. “This lady would love for the gentleman to escort her home.”
We went out to your car and headed for my place. Upon arriving, you hurried around to the passenger door and opened it for me, allowing me to exit easily. Holding out your hand, you walked me to the front door.
As I fumbled with my keys – god, I was so nervous – I tried not to look at you. Just one look would belie what I was feeling. I located the keys in the bottom of my purse – of course, they would have to be hidden under everything else – and as I was pulling them out, the contents of my purse spilled onto the porch.
Mortified, I quickly knelt down to pick up the various bits of clutter that always seem to accumulate in a woman’s purse. You bent down to help me, smiling and chuckling as you did.
I went to grab my hairbrush, and my hand brushed yours. I inhaled deeply and looked up… right into your intense gaze. I stared for only a moment, but it was one moment too long. I had fallen right there and then – fallen into those deep pools and knew there was no rescue.
“Uh, um,” I stammered as I stood again, unlocking the door. “Would you like to come in for a drink or something?” I gazed down, not daring to look you in the eyes.
“I would love that.”
We went inside, and I closed the door behind us, locking it out of habit. “Name your poison.”
“Do you have any coffee, actually?”
I grinned. “One cup of coffee coming up. You take anything in it?”
“Just black.”
I set about making a pot of coffee, the familiar routine settling my nerves a bit. Once it was percolating, filling the small house with its inviting aroma, I went back out into the living room with you, sitting across from you on the couch.
Silence settled in the room, like the chill of an autumn fog. Deafening as it was, I just could not bring myself to speak. My pulse was racing, and my blood was pounding in my ears. The one question I wanted to ask – what about her? – would not come to my lips.
“So, uh – uh, what brought you out there tonight?” I gazed at the wall behind you, knowing one look in your eyes would be my undoing.
“I ran into your friend. She said you were still there by yourself, and I thought you might need a friendly face after they had all deserted you.”
Defeated, I sighed, allowing my shoulders to slump forward a bit. So that was it. He only came out because I might need a friendly face. “Well, thank you. I do appreciate it.”
Silence came once again, as if neither of us trusted to say anything. What seemed like an eternity passed, just the two of us sitting across from one another without saying a word, before you moved over to sit beside me.
My heart skipped a beat. What were you doing? I couldn’t quite figure it out because I knew you had feelings for someone else – we had discussed it many a time before.
“What do you…” my voice trailed off as I looked into your eyes. They were intense and unguarded. The look was too inviting to resist.
I leaned forward, placing my hand on your cheek, and kissed you. At first it was just the barest brush of my lips but soon it deepened into something raw and passionate.
When I finally realized you were returning my kiss, I sat up. I looked at you, why already poised on my lips to ask, and suddenly knew. There had been no one else – you had been trying to find a way of telling me without knowing how.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“I didn’t know how,” was followed by a soft, shy smile. Your gaze came up to meet mine, and I was gone – lost forever in the depths of those pools.
