I had rented the place for the summer. A studio apartment, overlooking the pool, with the Atlantic Ocean two blocks away.
Actually, I shared it with my friends Larry and Pete, but they were there on weekends, while I was there weekdays because I tended bar Friday through Sunday.
The town on the Jersey shore was called Margate, just south of Atlantic City, and on weekends it rocked with folks from Philly and New York flocking to beat the summer heat. The bars were jammed with hotties in bikinis, drinking Shooters and shaking their booties.
On weekday, not!
It was like a ghost town. In fact, out of the 20 apartments in the complex, only 3 were occupied Monday through Friday, so I got a lot of reading and writing done around the pool.
One of the other tenants was Jackie, a slim woman from Brooklyn. She was about 5'7, with short brown hair, high-lighted, and light green/grey eyes. She and her fiancee Carmine, who were both about forty, had rented, but his job demanded he be in New York, while Jackie was a teacher on summer break.
Each Sunday night, he would leave with the masses and each Monday morning, i would show up. I had only seen him once, and he struck me as a real Guido type, while she seemed much more subdues and sophisticated.
Jackie and I got to know each other, but only slightly. I have rules about Married women: Why have an irate husband after you when there were so many singe women?
To my thinking, that rule holds true for engagements too.
A few times I felt as if Jackie was waiting for me to make a move, the tension was in the air, the way her eyes would look at me, inquiringly, but I convinced myself that it was my imagination and horniness, and that if I made a move, Old Carmine would be pounding on my door, so I always demurred, catching what looked like sadness in her gaze.
One club had pretty good crowds on Thursday, warming up for the weekends, so I frequented it. While dressing, I heard a bunch of cackling outside my room, women laughing and talking loudly. I heard one yell my name, then some others chimed in, singing, "Harry! Haarrryyy!" followed by a bunch of giggles, then they were gone.
Jackie was the only other unit on this floor that I knew of, and wondered what that was all about, but went back to dressing.
When I walked in the joint, I saw more strangers than usual, and moved to the center of the bar. I came face to face with Jackie, along with four of her friends.
We said hi and she blushed, and one who was clearly the ring leader said, "This is Harry? Oh, he's cute, Jackie!"
To me, she said, "Hi, I'm Lori, and I'm single!"
The other girls giggled and Jackie blushed, said to me, "I'm sorry, don't mind her!"
I smiled, said something about "No Problem", and went to leave them to their fun.
Lori grabbed my arm. "So, are you gay or what?"
I was shocked, that's not your typical first question.
"No," I said slowly, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
But she wasn't mean about it, just asked, "Then why haven't you hit on Jackie?"
I looked at Jackie, who turned away. I guess I'm on my own to answer this.
"Well, she's engaged, for one thing."
"Not for long! Her wedding is Sunday. You don't have much time."
I didn't know that, I just assumed they were one of these couples that stay engaged for years. I looked to Jackie for confirmation, and she nodded.
I fumbled for the right words. "Oh...I didn't know... Congratulations, he's a lucky man."
Lori chimed in again. "This is her bachelorette party, honey, so it's your last chance!"
I was tongue-tied, couldn't think of a witty reply to leave on, simply said, "Well, then let me buy you all a drink," which I did, relieved to be talking to the bartender.
I ordered the drinks, got myself one, then passed them around, toasting, "To Jackie and Carmine. I wish you all the happiness."
We all drank and I slipped away, ordering another for myself, trying to put some distance between us so they could enjoy themselves, and hopefully I would meet someone myself.
After a bit, Lori came over. The band had come on and she tugged me from behind. She was younger than Jackie, about 35, closer to my 27, and cute. Tiny, about 5'2, long.dark hair, parted in the middle, blue eyes and a tight body, with nice sized boobs for her height.
"If she wasn't Jackie's friend, I'd take a chance on her," I thought. She smiled up at me.
"Go ask her to dance."
"Huh?"
"Jackie, it will make her night, come on, be a sport, please!"
I said, "I'm sure she'd rather not."
"Are you kidding? We've been hearing about you all summer, and then you show up here? Come on, it would be great."
"Hearing from who?" I asked.
"You're kidding, right? You really don't know she has this huge crush on you? What are you, dense?"
"But she's engaged," I said.
"But not married, right? Come on, even if you don't like her that way, just dance with her, don't be a party-poo per."
Heaven forbid!
So, I took Jackie's arm, and she was surprised, and the girls went wild, razzing her, and we laughed and danced, although I'm pretty bad at it.
The song ended and they began a slow dance as we walked off. Lori wouldn't hear of it. "OH, no, not yet! You two just got out there, come on, have fun."
Jackie looked at me, and I gave her he inquiring glance and she nodded, we danced, and she felt good against me, her scent filling my head.
"So, this Sunday, huh? Sorry, I didn't know."
