“Oh shit, dude she replied! No thanks to you acting like a fucking thirsty ass.” My buddy Chace says as he holds up my phone he’d stolen from me to stop me from acting like, as he so eloquently put it, a thirsty ass. “In five messages, you told her she was gorgeous and beautiful. Might as well have just asked her if you could fuck a baby into her.”
We sit at the somewhat crowded bar where there seems to be a shortage of women. It makes me wonder what the hell Chace was thinking suggesting we stay here when he thinks with his dick ninety-nine percent of the time. “I wouldn’t say that.”
“You don’t have to. You reek of desperation and I’m ready to get married and start a family vibes.”
“Women love that.”
“Not twenty-two year old, hot Italians that have a bikini pic on a dating profile. Join Match or I don’t know, Christian Mingle for that shit.”
“I didn’t want to join this in the first place. You invited me, took my phone and created my profile all in the span of a shower. Why’d I even invite you here for the weekend?” I groan. I had stupidly thought that having my best friend here my second weekend in D.C. would make this transition easier. After the nasty break up with my now ex-fiancée that resulted in her breaking half of my stuff and kicking me out of the apartment we’d bought together, this teaching job at CGU couldn’t have come at a better time.
“You need to get out there. You’ve been fucking what—like one girl the past four years?” An incredulous look finds his face as if he can’t fathom the thought.
“Well yeah, that’s kind of what being in a committed relationship means.”
“Monogamy is for the fuckin birds.” He sighs as he rubs the heel of his hand into his eye.
“You just haven’t met the right woman,” I tell him as I down the rest of my beer with an ABV that is close to pushing me into dangerous territory.
Do not fucking call Corinne.
“And evidently neither have you.” He swings his eyes towards me. “Or I’m sorry, you and Corinne…?” He narrows his eyes curiously as if he’d missed the last few months. Missed me moping around like a sorry asshole as I mourned the last four years of my life. Years I spent with a manipulative bitch that was undoubtedly the best sex I’d ever had. With a woman who, despite her flaws, had gotten in deep and made me fall in love with her. With her chestnut brown hair and icy blue eyes that could get me to do just about anything. Fuck, I miss her.
NO.
“Fuck off, Chace. Is this you helping?”
“I’m here for tough love. If you’re looking for someone to throw you a pity party, call your sister or maybe James. But this ain’t my lane.” My sister Beth was still in Boston currently dating my other best friend James. I’m not going to say I have a problem with it, but I’m not going to say I don’t either. That asshole better watch his back.
“I’m here to get you laid,” he continues. “Or at the very least a blow job. Because frankly, dude, you need it. How long has it been anyway? Like seven months?”
“We’ve only been broken up for three.”
“My question still stands. James said y’all stopped fucking months before you broke up.”
“God, you guys gossip like girls, I swear to fuck.”
Chace holds his hand up and motions for the bartender. “We are losing focus. I need to reply to hot Bella.”
“Don’t call her that,” I growl, and for some reason it does piss me off. Maybe because I’m thinking once we get there, I’ll pussy out and Chace will end up taking Bella home. Well, not back to my apartment. Fuck that.
I find myself wondering where Bella lives and a part of me hopes that she lives alone in case things were to escalate to a private party.
“Testy.” He hands the bartender—a woman that for some reason Chace isn’t making eyes at—his credit card.
“Thanks,” I tell him as he pays for our drinks. “You’re not into the bartender? She seems like your type?” Strands of thick jet black hair fall from her bun and dance along her mocha skin. She’s stacked like a fucking supermodel, complete with curves that you only saw on a select blessed few. Her full lips, that have a hint of pink, quirk up, revealing a deep dimple whenever Chace talks to her.
“Girl is my type. But your obsession with monogamy didn’t peep the ring on her finger?”
“Oh…I guess not.” I rub my face, scratching the facial hair. “Thought it wouldn’t stop you from flirting though.”
“I don’t believe in going to a buffet if I can’t eat.” He looks at me and then back to the bartender who is heading our way with his card and receipt. “Can we focus? Are we going to Lush or nah? It sure beats the hell out of this place.” He looks around at the bar that is clearing out by the second.
The bartender sets the receipt down and the dimple pops out in full force. “I get cut in twenty.” She smiles and Chace raises an eyebrow at her.
“As flattered as I am, I don’t do other guys’ girls.” He points to the band on her left ring finger.
She flexes her left hand. “I’m not married. Or engaged. Or seeing anyone. I wear it on this hand to keep guys from hitting on me. It works like twelve percent of the time.” She rolls her eyes before she leans forward. “Usually on the guys that I want to hit on me.” A giggle leaves her lips and I watch as Chace shifts in his seat. I can already see how this is going to go down.
“Care to come with us to Lush? I’m playing wingman for my boy here.” He wraps an arm around my neck and I shake my head.
“I never said we were going.”
He lets me go and nudges my shoulder. “You asked her to meet up!”
“No. You asked her to meet up,” I correct him with a scowl.
“Tomato tomahto. It’s your name and your face. Don’t ghost her. She’s cute.” I go to protest when he beats me to it. “I never said she wasn’t gorgeous or beautiful, I said you didn’t need to tell her that.”
I huff. “Fine. Tell her we’re coming. I’m coming.” I look over to see that Chace is already typing out a message. He hands my phone back to me and I roll my eyes.
Aidan: Be there in twenty. I’m coming with a few friends. I hope you like tequila.
“I don’t even like tequila.” I look up from the message he sent her.
“And that’s a problem in itself. Man the fuck up.”
“The last time I had tequila I woke up forty minutes from my apartment in a sombrero and my underwear.” I grimace at both the memory and the horror of that Uber ride home.
“Ah, Cinco de Mayo 2017, good times.” He nods as he remembers.
I scowl at him, remembering the only reason he wasn’t right next to me where he belonged, when it was his idea to go to a party on the other side of town at 2 AM, was because of course, he had met a girl. “I’m not drinking tequila.”
“Oh, well this is awkward.” The bartender smiles as she sets two shot glasses of a clear liquid in front of me and Chace.
Chace’s eyes light up and he grins. “Oh God, I think I just fell in love. What’s your name again?”
“Taryn. Now drink up, buttercups. If we’re going to Lush, you’re going to want to be drunk. Trust me.” She points between the two glasses as she wipes down the bar around us and heads back to the other side.
“I hate you so much right now.”
“What, because my good looks and charm got us free tequila shots?”
“No, because you’re hell bent on ruining my life.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. Do you want to be stiff and awkward around Bella?”
“No. Well…wait, I’m not stiff or awkward.”
“I am not even going to dignify that with a response,” Chace says before he downs the shot. “Oh, and the good stuff too. It’ll go down like water. Trust me.” He nods at my shot. “Come on, buttercup. Bottoms up.”
“Fuck you.”
“Hey, if I swung that way, I’d totally help ya out. God knows you need it to help pry that stick out of there.”
Taryn leads us towards Lush, and I’ll admit I actually like her. Perhaps if Chace doesn’t fuck things up with her by acting like a complete dick we could be friends or whatever. She gives Chace her fair share of sass and I can tell that he’s enjoying keeping up with her.
“Here we are!” She shimmies as she goes to the front of the line, bypassing the line of people down the block.
“Umm…” I start when Chace gives me a warning look telling me to shut up.
“Hey, Kyle.” Taryn high fives the bouncer and points over her shoulder at us. “I’ve got some D.C. bar virgins. Let me in!”
“I am the furthest thing from a virgin.” Chace wraps a hand around her and tugs on a lock of her hair that she’s long released from the confines of her bun, while growling in her ear. I roll my eyes at his innuendo as Kyle waves us in.
The bar is dark; the only light in the hallway is from my phone as I stare down at Bella’s last message.
Bella: Okay! Let me know when you’re here! *smiley face*
I have to admit I was glad that Chace forced me to come here. Maybe he was right. A night with a gorgeous woman underneath me screaming out my name may be just what I need. Despite my lack of sex towards the end with Corinne, I did know what I was doing in bed. And before Corinne, I had a very good track record of making women come. Corinne was just a frigid bitch.
EXACTLY.
Aidan: Just got here, where are you?
We push through another set of doors and it’s significantly lighter. I suddenly feel like I’ve stepped through the door to my past. At thirty-two, I’m definitely the oldest person here. Holy fuck.
“Told ya you needed to be drunk,” Taryn says as she takes in my expression. Chace, who is the same age as me, is probably salivating and also regretting that he’d RSVP’d to this college girl party with a plus one.
“Wow, is there anyone here over the age of twenty-one?”
“This is the college bar. A lot of CGU kids,” she informs me as I follow behind her and Chace towards the bar.
Great. Just what I need, running into a future student of mine. I let out a breath, relieved that I only had one person in mind to talk to tonight and she was a twenty-two year old grad student. She’s still a bit young, but at least I don’t have to worry about her being in here with a fake, or being in my Monday morning Social Justice lecture.
Taryn orders our beers and Chace all but knocks her hand out of the way when she tries to pay, shooting her a warning glare, and she raises her hands in defeat. “So, where’s Bella?” she asks as Chace pays for our drinks.
“No idea, I asked and she hasn’t replied.”
“Well, look for a short, tan, blonde-ish girl.” Chace takes a sip of his drink and looks around the room. He’s a few inches over six feet like me, but has me by an inch something that he never lets me forget.
I’m in the process of scanning the room for Bella when I hear a shrill voice from a few feet away over the music thumping through the speakers. “Four shots of fireball!” I turn slightly to see a blonde girl in a crop top leaning over the bar as she shakes her ass to the beat slightly. I am way too old to be here.
The girl in question must have felt my gaze because she peeks over her shoulder and her eyes light up. I’m used to that look, and although she’s cute, she isn’t exactly my type. The tequila shot from earlier, mixed with all of the other drinks I’ve had, has me thinking that I want to at least meet Bella and see that gorgeous smile.
And okay maybe more than that. I mean she is pretty fuckable.
I give her a tight smile when her hand finds my bicep. “You’re the hottie from Boston!”
“That’s usually my nickname,” Chace interjects and looks at me as if to say, Who’s this?
She giggles and bounces on her heels. “Oh my God, Wes totally owes me twenty bucks. He said you catfished Sky.”
I shake my head completely at a loss at what the fuck she’s talking about. “Catfished?”
“It means pretending to be someone else on the internet. Watch TV dude,” Chace says.
“Oh. Um. No,” I tell her, as I look down at the hand she still has on my arm.
“Come on. We have a table.”
“Oh, I’m meeting someone—”
“Yes, I know. Skyler.” She puts her hands on her hips and looks behind me at Chace and Taryn. “When you said you were bringing friends, I was hoping they’d be single guys. God, really!?” She rolls her eyes. “Oh, I’m Peyton.”
“Peyton. I’m sorry, but I’m so lost. And a little drunk. So speak…not girl.”
She purses her lips and then her eyes seem to focus slightly and she slaps a hand over her head. “Oh! Right, alias name or whatever. Skyler is Bella. That’s her real name. The girl you’re talking to on OC. Also, you’re welcome, because she wanted to stay in tonight and like sleep or whatever.” She starts walking away and I follow slowly behind her with Chace and Taryn behind me.
“Is she for real?” I hear Chace whisper. “She’s hot as fuck though.”
“Aren’t you…” I shoot him a look, my eyebrow quirked at him as I think about Taryn who is following behind us. I know she didn’t hear him, what with her being a good foot shorter than us both, but damn Chace.
“I’m just sayin’.”
We make it through a throng of people and it’s as if my body senses her before I see her. As we approach the table I see she’s seated with one other girl and two other guys, bottles and glasses stacked along the table. I watch her suck a lime between her lips, her eyes squeezed shut as she cringes slightly.
“Whew, that was bad.” She shivers slightly as she opens her eyes and drops the lime in the empty shot glass. Her brown eyes find mine instantly and for a moment it feels like no one else is there—certainly not the guy that seems to be seated just a little too close to her.
“Look who I found!” her friend cheers, and Bella—Skyler—stands. I’m taken aback both by how stunning she is and how short she is. Fuck. Visions of fucking her petite body against the wall move to the forefront of my brain and I begin running through the states and capitals, Bill of Rights, periodic table of elements. Something. Anything—that would will my dick down faster as she moves towards me. Her teeth are pushed into her bottom lip and that is definitely not helping. “Aidan!” She smiles. “Holy shit, you’re so tall!” My eyes roam down her body and I notice she’s in flats but she’s standing almost on her tippy toes…to get closer to me, I assume.
I don’t know what’s gotten into me or what prompts me to do it, but before I can think I have her in my arms, my large body engulfing her tiny one in a hug and lifting her slightly off the ground. I press my face into her neck inhaling her sweet scent. “Bella,” I whisper in her ear and she shivers again. I’m pleased that this has nothing to do with a bad shot. I set her down and give her a smirk. “I mean, Skyler?”
She nods before shooting a look at Peyton who’s staring at us like we’re her only source of entertainment with a dreamy look on her face.
“My mom calls me Bella.”
“I like Skyler,” I tell her honestly. It suits her.
A hint of pink finds her cheeks. “Thank you. I’ll pass your praise off to my parents.” Her lips quirk up.
Her vibe is infectious and I find myself smiling as well. “Can I buy you a drink?” I ask her, wanting nothing more than to get away from the prying eyes that are watching our interaction.
I feel a hand around my neck and I groan inwardly remembering I didn’t come alone. “My friend has no manners. I’m Chace.” He smiles at her and she nods.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” She holds her hand out and I’m pleased that she doesn’t try to hug him even if I do think she’s friendly.
He looks at me. “Dude, I think we’re going to take off.” He looks back at Skyler. “Little lady, I assume you can make sure my friend gets home safely?” He raises an eyebrow at her and she giggles.
“Yes, of course.” She nods. “I’ve only been in D.C. twelve hours though. I basically only know where this bar is and my apartment.”
“Well, I didn’t say which home.” He grins and I resist the urge to punch him. Can you not make me come off like I’m a complete fuckboy?
“Okay, bye, Chace.” I push him away and nod at Taryn.
“Text me if you’re coming home tonight,” he whispers in my ear before he disappears.
I’m left alone with Skyler and her friends, and I have to admit I only feel a little bit awkward. They look young as well, but I guess twenty-two really is ten years younger than me.
I manage to catch the look Skyler gives Peyton before she turns to me. And if my assumption is correct, she’s pleased with how the evening has played out so far. “Let’s go get that drink.”