Carla had paid her lease through the end of the month, so I had a couple of weeks to find a new place. So after I watched her leave, standing on the sidewalk looking like something out of a scene in some chick flick that would have made me make gagging sounds and annoying other moviegoers if I had seen it, I went inside, opened a beer, and moped for an hour or so.
"Oh, Jesus Christ, knock it off," I said aloud and laughed. I had reruns of
Murphy Brown
on the television and realized, when I actually laughed at some of the inanity I was watching, that I needed to get moving. So I went into the bedroom,
my bedroom
I realized and got a little weepy again, stripped off my clothes, and took a shower. I took my time, going through my regular face, hair, and ass sequence and then just standing, letting the water, as hot as I could stand it, run over my body.
I stood there until the water started to cool.
"Move your ass," I said, again aloud.
So I stepped out of the shower and dried off.
I padded, the towel wrapped around me, through the living room to the kitchen, seeking sandwich makings and a beer.
Well, let me revise that sentence.
I started padding, the towel wrapped around me, through the living room to the kitchen, seeking sandwich makings and a beer but jumped, yelled, and turned, assuming a fighting stance, the towel dropping to the floor, when a voice said, "God, I thought you'd never get done."
The big blonde sitting on the recliner, her feet propped up, was grinning, you had to think of the phrase "ear-to-ear," her eyes where the towel had been.
I relaxed. I knew her. Well, I had met her and danced with her. I stood silent, trying to think of her name.
"Geez," she said, "I had expected some reaction. I guess I'll leave."
Valerie, that was her name, Valerie.
"No," I said, "don't go. You just scared me, well, startled me is all."
She chuckled, a throaty sound coming from deep down, using her diaphragm I thought and wondered if she had training as a singer.
"Carla thought you might need some company," she said, smiling, a good smile I thought, "so why don't you get dressed and I'll take you to dinner."
She smiled and said, "If I knew of any clothing-optional restaurants I'd say don't bother with clothes but, well," and she let the sentence die.
This made me aware that I was standing here naked since I lost my towel so I reached down and picked it up, wrapping it around me quickly and, to my everlasting embarrassment, blushing.
"Oh, fuck," I said, kind of laughing and definitely feeling foolish, "give me three minutes."
She laughed, another pleasant sound making me think of music conservatories and choral groups. "Take five," she said, "you're a bit of a mess."
So I did. I ran a brush through my hair, found my khakis and a button-down shirt, pulled on shorts, socks, and loafers, and went back into the front room in the allotted five minutes.
She stood as I came into the front room, smiling, and came and kissed me.
Valerie is an odd combination. She's blonde, and her pale skin and eyebrows made me think she was a natural blonde, and pretty in that straight-nosed Roman way you have seen on statues in history class. Her cheeks were red, and it looked to me like that was natural, not makeup, and her mouth was red but that was clearly lipstick.
She was dressed in a way to both show-off and hide her size. A modest top was opaque, buttoned to the neck, and sleeveless showing that she was one of those women who deposited fat cells in the big pad behind her upper arms. Her slacks were casual, loose-fitting, and did nothing to hide the size of her magnificent hips. Her oddly long, narrow feet were in sandals with a high heel, her long toes, looking almost like fingers, were on display, the red polish on the nails drawing the eye.
I guess I was staring, at least, well, inventorying. When I met her eyes again she was smiling.
"Do I meet your approval, David?" she asked.
This time I took the step and kissed her.
"Thank you," I said, smiling, "where are you taking me for dinner?"
She laughed at that, a full belly laugh, and I liked that too. Her voice was powerful and I was more certain that she had vocal training.
"Welllllll," she said, looking me up and down, "not to Theta Cubed. I don't want the competition."
"Huh?" I said, demonstrating that I'm not always the sharpest knife in the drawer.
She giggled.
"Theta Theta Theta," she said, "get it? Theta Cubed"
I chuckled and said, "gotcha."
"Come on, sweety," she said, taking my arm in that two-hands-on-the-arm way some women use to demonstrate that her man has been claimed.
At her size, I had expected something like a Ford F-150 or maybe a full-size Yukon. I was surprised when she walked me to her little Mazda Miata.
I held the door for her and wasn't surprised when the car sagged a little under her weight. I didn't completely balance it when I got in the passenger side.
She was smiling, the only thing I didn't like about her. The tooth bleaching made her look like a plus-size mannequin. I could almost picture the guy at the final stage of the manufacturing process selecting
Appliance White
for the teeth.
"Not what you expected?" she asked.
"Not really," I said.
"I was always a tomboy and, if we're being honest here, a gearhead," she said, "and when these came out, the closest thing to those old English sports cars, you know, the MGs and Jaguars and Austin-Healeys that were around in the '50s and '60s, well, I had to have one. It's silly and I don't really fit," she giggled and patted her hips where they encroached on the console and door panel, "but it's fun, and what the fuck, I deserve it."
"I like it," I said.
"Soooooo," I drug the vowel out, "where ya takin' me?"
"A place I know," she said.
"Hey," she said, reaching over and working a lever and then pushing a button retracting the soft top of the little car, "relax. I ain't gonna rape you,"
She started the car, backed out of the driveway, and started down the street.
The car stereo was loud, playing some sort of music I didn't recognize at all, the word "indy" came to mind but I can't really say that's what it was. It was loud enough that conversation wasn't possible unless we were willing to yell at each other.
She drove fast, putting the little car through its paces. In town, it was like she was a teenager again, drag racing street light to street light. As we got to the outskirts of town and then to the twisty two-lane roads she really let it out. She was a good driver, I'll give her that, but that didn't stop me from being a white-knuckled passenger as we passed through one little one-stoplight town I didn't think I'd ever been in before and she slowed, hitting the breaks hard enough that I reached forward to brace myself against the dashboard.
The big neon sign over the building proclaimed that we were at the
OK Corral
, making me laugh. I mean, hell, I've been to the movies.
I waited while she got the top up and latched and then got out and went around to help her out of the car. It turned out, she didn't need help. She spun in the seat with the grace of experience and stood easily. So I settled for taking her hand while we walked into the place.
It was a scene from that movie
Road House
. Well, the live band wasn't actually behind a barrier of chicken wire, but it had that same rowdy feel to it. On the dance floor, as the band did a passable version of Blake Shelton's