The next hour flew by. I couldn’t recall the last time I’d had such a great conversation with a guy. Justin and I chatted, but he made an effort to include Ashley and Katie. The conversation flowed easily and he was funny. Really funny. I laughed a lot and so did my girlfriends.
The closer it got to eight o’clock, the more reluctant I was to leave, but we rarely stayed past happy hour because the bar tended to get rowdy as the night went on. Also the $4 margaritas became $8 margaritas and I had no interest in paying that tab because the girls and I could drink when we put our minds to it.
Eventually, Ashley noticed the time and suggested we should pay our bill and arrange for our ride home. Justin nodded as if he understood, then got up from the table.
“I’ll be right back, ladies.”
The three of us watched him walk to the bar, all loose-hipped grace and latent strength. I turned back to my girlfriends.
“Oh my God,” I whispered. “Am I imagining it or is he into me?”
Ashley shook her head as though she thought I was hopeless. “Girl, he is way into you. Are you seriously that blind?”
I shrugged. “Well, hell, I don’t know. I’ve had five margaritas. Or was it six? I don’t know.”
Katie giggled and leaned over the table toward me. “You should let him take you home,” she whispered loudly. Although her drunken whisper was more like a yell.
“Jesus, Katie, I may be tipsy, but I’m not reckless or stupid. I don’t even know him.”
Ashley nodded, shoving Katie’s shoulder. “She’s right. No sleeping with guys you just met.” Then she looked at me. “Now, after he’s taken you out to a nice dinner, then you can take him home and boink his brains out.”
I rolled my eyes. “Y’all need a refresher in single women’s safety,” I muttered, taking a sip of my drink.
“Girl, you need to see if that bulge in his pants is real or not,” Katie retorted. “The sooner the better. It has been a while for you, remember?”
Her outrageous statement made me choke on my margarita. Coughing, I leaned over, trying to suck in some air past all the liquor that was suddenly clogging up my windpipe.
“Jesus, Katie,” I snapped. “Are you trying to kill me?”
She smirked. “I’m just saying you should take advantage of that while you can. You need to get laid, it’ll relax you.”
I shook my head at her. “Not everyone finds one night stands and fuck buddies relaxing, Katie.”
She laughed. “Hey, I’m only twenty-six, I intend to live it up until my biological clock starts ticking so loudly that I can’t ignore it.”
We all laughed. Katie liked to pretend she was worldly and sexually adventurous, but her last dry spell was almost as long as mine.
“I’m not going there tonight, Katie,” I stated firmly. Then I looked at Ashley. “And I’m not going there on the first date either, Ash.”
I drained the last of my drink, shooting a look over my shoulder to see Justin sauntering back toward us.
I faced my friends. “However, I might consider it after the third date.”
We all burst into laughter, and were still guffawing when Justin sat back down at the table.
“What’s so funny?” he asked genially.
“N-n-nothing,” I stuttered, gasping for breath.
As we all started to calm down, Ashley said, “We should pay the tab. Our ride will be here in about five minutes.”
Justin shook his head. “No need. It’s taken care of.”
As one, the three of us gaped at him.
“What?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I took care of it.”
Normally, I would have found this type of behavior charming in a man that I was dating, but I didn’t know Justin and it was presumptuous, which annoyed me. I was gearing up to say something, when Ashley gave me wide eyes and shook her head slightly.
With a single look, she basically told me to shut the hell up and accept his generosity with a smile.
“Thanks, Justin.”
He grinned at me when I thanked him, and the irritation in my belly died. He looked so genuinely happy that he did something nice that I couldn’t be upset.
Facing Ashley and Katie, he asked, “Do y’all mind if I borrow Jena for a minute?”
“Take her!” Katie squealed.
I barely managed to control the roll of my eyes. Jesus, she was a cheap drunk.
Chuckling, Justin helped me out of my chair, grabbed my hand, and led me toward the hall at the back of the bar. The hallway split, one side going toward the restrooms, the other corridor leading to a door marked ‘Employees Only’.
He pulled me down the hall that led to the employee door. When we reached the end, I noticed a small alcove on the left, about three feet deep, and another door. Justin guided me into the alcove, maneuvering me until my back was against the wall and he was leaning over me.
“I wanna see you again,” he whispered.
Standing this close to him, I could smell his cologne and it made my head spin. He smelled amazing, like citrus and herbs. It reminded me of sunshine.
“Okay,” I answered.
He smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Then you need to give me your phone number so I can call you.”
“Okay.”
His smile widened and he reached into his back pocket to pull out his phone. I watched as he fiddled with the touch screen.
“All right, what’s the number?”
I gave him my cell number, repeating it twice to be sure he got it. However, I didn’t ask for his. I knew if I had his number, I wouldn’t have the discipline to wait until he called me. I understood that some men really didn’t like a woman to make the first move, but, in his case, I didn’t think I’d be able to resist.
I was the type of person that saw something I wanted and went after it. While I wouldn’t call more than once or twice, I wouldn’t hesitate to contact a man before he called me.
This aggressiveness probably had a lot to do with why I didn’t date much. A lot of men, especially Southern men, were turned off by women who horned in on the chase. They wanted to make all the moves and couldn’t deal with a woman who expressed honest interest and acted upon it.
I decided to try something different with Justin and see where things went.
After he entered my number into his phone, he tucked it into his back pocket. Then he leaned in closer, close enough that all I could see were his golden brown eyes.
“Okay, this may be too forward, but I’m gonna kiss you, Jena,” he murmured.
My eyes widened. It was forward. Still, I liked it and I liked him, so I didn’t say anything. I wanted him to kiss me.
Slowly, he leaned forward, his lips gently touching mine. He didn’t try to shove his tongue down my throat or put his hands all over me. Instead, he nibbled at my mouth, his lips tugging at mine. His tongue touched my bottom lip, sweeping across it lightly.
My hands lifted and clutched his biceps, clinging to him for balance. Gradually, Justin lifted his head, his eyes on mine. My head fell back against the wall as I stared up at him.
For a split second, I thought I saw the gleam of triumph in his eyes, but it was gone so quickly I decided it must be a trick of the dim light in the hall.
“Your ride should be here by now,” he said, his hand lifting to touch my cheek.
“Yeah,” I breathed, still a little dizzy.
Justin took my hand and walked me down the hall. When we returned to the table, Ashley and Katie were staring at us, both of them grinning like idiots. Obviously they knew what we had been doing.
As we said our good-byes and I picked up my purse, Justin stood next to me, his hands tucked in his pockets. My girlfriends moved away, heading toward the door, and he grabbed my arm.
“I’ll call you soon,” he stated softly.
I smiled. “I’d like that.”
Going on impulse, I rose up on my toes and kissed his cheek lightly before I walked away. As I was about to step outside, I glanced over my shoulder, but Justin was gone.