NERDLY YOURS
DB#8
Edited by: Pat
Just a male fantasy.
****
CHAPTER 1
Daniel and Yaron were standing in a dark corner of a well-known hookup nightclub called 'Lustful Desires', trying to absorb the atmosphere of the place, meaning they were dateless and too shy to approach a girl. Their clothes and look were completely out of place. They stuck out like a couple of sore thumbs.
Yaron had a T-shirt with the words "Nerd Shrink" printed on the front. Believe it or not, he was a therapist, a great one actually, even when his methods were far from being orthodox. He got his Ph.D. in four years and earned a reputation working with married couples. He was also Daniel's best friend.
"Thanks for coming with me," Yaron said raising his voice. "I know you hate this kind of music."
Daniel didn't reply. He was tall and thin and was wearing sneakers, jeans, and an old T-shirt that read, "you read my shirt, that's enough social interaction for the day" across the front. He didn't like nightclubs, and he hated the music they were playing.
His freshly scrubbed hair was dark brown, and his glasses perched on the end of his nose. He looked more as if he were on his way to a chess club than in a nightclub. He was twenty-five, but he looked like someone who had refused to grow up.
Both men had survived elementary school, puberty, and high school together.
Two young women sitting on stools in the bar took a look at them and giggled. Daniel was certain that they were laughing at them.
Daniel would rather be playing
World of Warcraft
than being there, but Yaron had dragged him to this club because a DJ he liked was playing that night.
Daniel was looking around, bored. And then he saw her.
It was like watching Sandro Botticelli's
The Birth of Venus
for the first time. Except that Venus was a brunette and she was wearing a short red dress instead of being naked.
The woman was tall with a hot body, big breasts, well-toned legs, and a long spill of black hair.
Daniel couldn't tear his eyes away from her. He admired the lady in red with his mouth wide open. She was the kind of woman Daniel used to have sex with, in his wet daydreams.
She looked a little lost as if she hadn't found what she was looking for. Daniel wondered what would happen if he went up and introduced himself. Probably she would just stare at him and laugh. Or maybe she would just ignore him and pretend he didn't exist.
"DJ Spinner is doing an exceptional job tonight," Yaron shouted in Daniel's ear.
Daniel rolled his eyes and didn't bother to answer. He hated DJs and trance music. He was more into classic rock, medieval music, and country-rock. His attention was focused on the lady in red. Through the darkness, smoke, and artificial fog, her red dress was shinning out like a ruby.
"Meanwhile," Yaron added, "I wanted to tell you that I'm sleeping with your mom. I thought you should know."
Daniel nodded absent-mindedly. The lady in red had made her way across the dance floor and he lost sight of her. Then, some part of his brain finally registered what Yaron had just said. He faced his friend and shouted, "What?"
Yaron laughed. "Relax. I was just trying to get your attention. Not that your mom isn't a very attractive woman for her age," he added.
Daniel shook his head, murmured something about Oedipus, turned around, and raised himself on tiptoe, trying to see over the crowd. The lady in red had just sat down at a booth.
He suddenly felt paralyzed, doubting about making a move or not. All he could think of were horror scenarios of what might happen if he did.
"Approach anxiety... It had literally happened to every single man on planet Earth. Don't think too much, Daniel. Just do it," Yaron explained reading his best friend's mind as usual. He gave him a gentle push on the back.
"Do or do not. There is no try," Daniel said to himself.
"That works too," Yaron approved.
Daniel took a deep breath and walked towards the booth where the lady in red was sitting. His knees felt weak and his hands were getting sweaty.
Why was he doing this? He really couldn't tell. Probably because he didn't want to go home and feel bad about himself once again. He was tired of regretting things he had not done out of fear. It was time to leave his comfort zone.
He kept walking across the dance floor, mesmerized by her beauty. He was attracted to the lady in red slowly, like a magnet. Maybe she was his polar opposite.
He couldn't tell what it was, apart from the obvious, but something just clicked inside him. A connection. Like he already knew her, or something. He couldn't define that 'something', but he didn't resist it.
CHAPTER 2
"What's your name?"
The woman in red looked up and smiled at the man standing beside her.
"Georgina."
"Such a nice name for a gorgeous lady. I'm Randall." The guy sat at her side without invitation. He was impeccably dressed. "I think I've seen you here before. Can I tempt you to share dessert?"
Georgina rolled her eyes and said nothing. Usually, she wouldn't mind his boldness, but she was tired of playing the same old game. She had stopped having one-night stands more than two years ago when she started chasing a fellow teacher from her school called Steve.
She was thinking about taking root, starting a family, and having kids. However, Steve hooked up with someone else, a newcomer English teacher called Diana. They announced their engagement earlier today. It hurt. It hurt too much to stay at home all by herself.
That was the reason she was here tonight, back playing the old game.
The guy at her side kept trying. "Well, I'm here. What are your other two wishes?"
Georgina sighed. "
He's too cocky, too confident. Clearly a player. The kind of guy I should avoid at all costs.
"
He leaned down placing a hand on her knee. "Are you new in Portland? I could show you around."
"I don't live here, but in a small town. I haven't come to this club in a long while," she took his hand off her knee using two fingers.
Georgina had been in this very same situation more times than she could count. She already knew how the story went. They would dance and rub against each other, while she drank enough alcohol to numb herself. It would be followed by a heavy petting session, and they would end up renting a room in a hotel or going to his place. The next day she would wake in a strange bed with a man whose name she couldn't remember, asking herself: "
How the hell did I let this happen again?"
When she was a child, she used to play "Old Maid," a card game consisting of matching up pairs of cards until the loser was left with the only card that had no mate, the old maid card.
And now, here she was, an old maid herself. Granted, in the strict sense of the word she was not old (she was 27) and she was not a maid, but she was still all alone. She had felt alone all her life. Pretty soon she would be the only woman of her age left without a partner in town. Steve was one of the last decent single men left. She would have to pair with Irv, the other gym teacher in Middletown High, and he was a sexist pig. Being around him made her skin crawl.
When she was a teenager, the models she had of older single women were not much more appealing to her than the old maid card. Her high school education was delivered to her almost entirely by spinsters. Like her Junior High Principal. Georgina used to see those ladies as utterly sexless beings. Being a callow teenage girl, she never wondered if they were lonely on Saturday nights.
Now she thought of those teachers with affection and sadness. It was hard to be a woman of a certain age without a partner.
Georgina looked at Randall and said, "I'm not interested. Sorry"
"Look, maybe I came on too strong..." he said with a look of disappointment.
She didn't let him finish, "No, you didn't. Two years ago, you would have been the kind of human dildo I'd be looking for, but I've realized I'm tired of all this. Sorry."
"Maybe next time," the guy said trying to save face. He took a napkin and wrote a number on it. "Here's my number, in case you're in the mood another night."
Georgina nodded but didn't take the napkin. The thing was she had lost all interest in playing this foolish game again. She felt emotionally drained.
"I'm just so tired of being alone. I don't care about looks or money or status. All that can fade over time. What I want is a genuine, kind, and caring man,"
she wished.
CHAPTER 3
Daniel had stood directly behind the lady in red, and wondered what her life was like.
Was she as lonely as he was? He was not the type to approach a woman. Certainly not in a nightclub. And this woman was so far out of his league he didn't hold much hope that she'd ever want to talk to him. Hell, she didn't even know who he was.
As soon as the man who hit on her left, the lady in red's head dropped, and she let out a soft sigh, Daniel knew what he had to do. He had overheard the short exchange between them. He knew how she was feeling. He gathered all the courage he could muster up and stepped to her.
"Lady? I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with that man. Are you okay?" he stared unblinkingly into her eyes. Daniel's voice was full of care and empathy. "I know how it feels being alone."
His dark brown eyes were curious as they rested on her.
"I'm not okay," Georgina shook her head without saying another word. She was too sad to lie. She felt far from okay. In fact, she felt like she would never be okay again.
Daniel handed Georgina a Star Trek hanky he always carried with him.
She didn't realize she had been crying. She wiped the tears from her eyes and did her best to compose herself. "Thank you. It's not like me to cry like that. At least, not in a public place. I'll be okay, thanks for caring."
Daniel nodded. "Do you mind if I join you?"
Georgina eyed the man and nodded to the seat in front of her. He was obviously a nerd. Harmless. His T-shirt and his look gave him away.
