The bar was quiet despite all the laughter, loud conversation, background music, and various sounds of glass and cutlery coming together. It was quiet because my brain was quiet, separate from the vitality around me. I felt like a spectator watching the world go round as my mind retreated into a passive disenchantment, like I was metaphorically sinking deeper and deeper into the cushions of an overused couch as I watched mundane images flutter on a television screen. The hum of boredom filled my ears and a blank stare kept my eyelids heavy.
A drunken man in a checkered shirt walked up to me; I saw him coming and rolled my eyes before he arrived, hoping that a signal of my utter disinterest would discourage him. Of course, it didn't.
"Hey, little lady."
Little lady. Indeed, that's what I was. Small in size, lean figure, lady-some attire. I was wearing a skimpy black dress and sleek heels, overdressed for the casual bar I was sitting at. The job interview I'd just come back from had made me feel out of place on so many levels; I'd walked out of the office and into the first alcohol-serving place I'd found. Might as well continue feeling out of place.
Shitty day, please get better.
It didn't look like it was going to. "No," I replied harshly to the man with the beer belly and bottle in hand, whose beard was dripping either saliva or alcohol or both.
"No?" He slurred, his breath informing me that he was way too drunk to get rid of with words.
"Leave me alone."
"But you... pretty girl... yeaaahhh..."
At least, I think that's what he said. As I'd expected, verbal abuse wouldn't unhook this hopeful drunk. He leaned in and I shuddered as I got smothered with smells. It was like slow motion, his unbalanced approach.
What is he doing? Is he trying to kiss me?
I wasn't about to wait and find out. I grabbed the dirty martini I'd just ordered and triumphantly emptied it onto his head. He let out a strange sound of surprise and contempt, looked at me with rage in his eyes, and stumbled as my right fist made contact with his jaw. "I said leave me alone, asshole."
This is not my fucking day.
I stood up and thanked the bartender, who was staring at me aghast, his jaw loose with surprise. Beer-man had been thrown off balance and made a mess of the bar, like a plane crashing through an unprepared runway. He then slowly and comically sunk to the floor.
If only my punches were this effective on sober men, too.
I took a quick look at the damage I'd inflicted on the bar and the bastard to see if anything was broken, hoping I would not be held up by complaints and compensation -I wanted to get home as soon as possible and get this dreary day out of my system. I hastily pulled a $20 bill out of my purse, left it on the wooden slab, and turned before I could notice any further comment. My heels made too much noise as I left, and I noticed I was a little shaken up by the sudden onset of action and the multitude of gazes and expressions that followed me out. As I stepped over the threshold, I couldn't resist one last look inside.
My eyes met something beautiful and I lingered before I registered what I was looking at. A guy I hadn't noticed, sitting in the far corner, was staring at me with... intensity? Some kind of intense expression, one I couldn't quite put my finger on. He was handsome: dark hair and seemingly colored eyes decorating an angelic face.
How did I not notice him before?
My attention was usually quick to be captured by attractive men. But this one seemed to have a knack for going unnoticed.
Not wanting to complicate my escape after having successfully walked out without any repercussions, I pulled my gaze away and embarked on my half hour walk home. I'd only taken about ten steps when I heard a door open and close. I looked over my shoulder and there he was, the black-haired man, walking towards me, just as I'd intuitively expected.
His expression struck me as alarmingly strange. I still couldn't put my finger on it, but it unsettled me; so I turned away despite myself and kept walking, my heart beat irregular in my ears. I took a sharp breath. As much as I wanted to be followed home by this pleasing specimen, my instincts were telling me to ignore the aesthetics and pay closer attention to the sirens going off in my head.
There's something not right about that look.
I kept walking. He kept walking. I started to panic.
Should I change my route? I don't want him to know where I live. Should I address him? Should I run? Should I scream? Should I hit him, too?
Should I embrace it?
No, I should not embrace it. If he's following me to fuck me, that's one thing. If he's hoping to bury me in his backyard, that's another. Those brilliant eyes will do me no good if I'm dead and dismembered.
Then it occurred to me that I was being exaggeratedly silly. I had assumed this man to be a serial killer because of a 'feeling' I had about a 'look' on his face. I slowed down my pace.
Fuck it; he's hot, I'm bored. If he's a creep, I've got pepper spray.
He walked right into me and almost knocked me over; I would have fallen flat on my face if he hadn't reflexively grabbed my arms at the last second. Bewildered, I turned and looked at him to find his cheeks burning with embarrassment as he began apologizing all over the place.
"Holy shit! I'm so sorry! I have no idea how that happened..."
My only reaction was to burst into loud laughter. He was even more stunned than I was that he'd almost flattened the girl he'd obviously been hoping to hit on.
"That's ok! What happened? Distracted?" I asked him, with a slight flirt in my voice that I was hoping he'd pick up on.
He looked down, shuffled his feet, and mumbled something.
Shy boy!
I didn't have time for shy boys. I giggled and touched his chest, "that's cute."
He looked back up at me intensely, his eyes burning into mine. "I'm so sorry," he repeated.
There was that look again.
So weird.
It was like he was spacing out, staring at me but seeing something else.
I figured I'd get straight to the point.
"What do you see when you look at me?" The question caught him by surprise. Snapping out of his daze, his eyes came back into focus and he looked at me silently. Deciding to take it further, I asked "Is it the same thing you were seeing when you accidentally walked into me?" Something about his expression was so creepy it turned me on.
I want him to give me that look as he nestles his face between my thighs.