After dinner they moved to the bar. The new server, Melanie, had to learn how to mix drinks, and Laura indicated that the guys could have whatever concoctions Melanie mustered. There was nobody else left in the American diner by now, and through Thomas' connections with the waitresses, the atmosphere quickly got cozy and familiar.
Melanie turned out to be a natural, and her drinks were passed down the bar. While Peter was keeping Astrid company on her smoking break in the courtyard out back, Jonathan and Thomas were talking to Laura and Melanie. Laura was plain and slightly plump but had the charisma and energy of a true socialite. She had a good rapport with Thomas and spent most of the time talking to him, leaving Jon to direct his attention at Melanie.
The new girl was fit and short - a bit shorter than Jon in fact - and had messy, short blonde hair. It was probably dyed but had certainly been light to begin with. Her face had a classic beauty to it, but with a streak of something unusual in the features around the eyes and lips. She also had a ring in the lower lip and a piercing in her left eyebrow, which cemented her in Jon's mind as more exotic than the girls he was used to.
They got on, and by the time the girls had to close the diner, Jon felt like he knew Melanie pretty well - she was between educations, her ex-boyfriend had been "super boring", and she dreamed of going to the US at some point but couldn't afford it right now. They kept chatting as Laura counted the money in the registry and put it in the safe, turned off the lights, and locked the door.
Outside in the parking lot, Melanie checked her watch. "Oh God," she pouted, "I have to be at work again in 7 hours. I live half an hour away from here by bus."
Jon managed to produce a sympathetic sound.
"I have to go all the way home, go straight to bed, and then wake up and come directly back to work." There was something in her voice that gave Jon an idea. He wouldn't usually have had the guts to say it, but he was exactly tipsy enough to bypass his insecurities right now.
"You could just crash at my place if you want."
She knew he lived a minute down the road on foot, he'd told her as much. "In your apartment?"
"My couch unfolds into a reasonable bed," he explained. She hesitated, but he could tell she was considering it. "I promise I won't make any moves. No ulterior motives."
"Your couch, huh? Yeah, sounds pretty good, I'll be totally trashed tomorrow if I don't get enough sleep."
Thomas, Peter, and Laura got into Thomas' car and drove off, Astrid walked off towards the bus stop and Jon and Melanie set off in the other direction, towards his building. They didn't say a word to each other on the way, and Jon's uncertainty grew along with the awkward silence. Eventually he decided she wasn't interested in sleeping with him, so there was no reason to be worried. He was just being a nice guy. She would sleep on his couch, and he'd get to know her marginally better over a bowl of cereal in the morning and then probably never see her again.
He closed the door behind her and motioned towards the kitchen. They both dropped their coats and shoes there and she followed him into the living room. "There's the couch," he said, helpfully gesturing towards it. She sat down while he went to the wash room to prepare for bed. While he was brushing his teeth, he inevitably tried to play out what to say to her when he came back out, and eventually settled on an opener he thought would give her an easy exit that would let both of them keep their self-confidence intact.
When he came back, she was idly flicking through some advertisement she'd picked out of his paper bin. She threw it back in and got up. "So..." he started, and second thoughts immediately crowded his mind. He didn't want to be a creep, but... nothing ventured, nothing gained. Inaction had been his problem his whole life. "Where do you want to sleep?" He smiled what he hoped was a shy and charming smile, "the couch or the bed?"
"Where are *you* going to sleep?" she asked. He tried to analyse her facial expression, but it told him nothing.
"I'm sleeping in the bed either way." He was so relieved that he'd managed to say that without blushing that he almost didn't care what her reply was going to be.
Again, she was thinking. When she made up her mind, she said nothing. She simply smiled the most incredibly mischievous smile Jon had ever seen in his life, took a step towards him, and kissed him.
Jon wrapped his arms around Melanie's waist and she put hers around his shoulders. A 5 year dry spell was about to be broken and Jonathan almost couldn't believe it. He'd forgotten the feeling of a kiss, and now he savoured the sensation of her piercing against his lips, his tongue toyed with hers, awkwardly at first and then more securely. When they pulled apart at last he was almost out of breath. "The bed, then" he said. It wasn't a question.
He led her into the bedroom, thanking his past self for bothering to make the bed this morning. They stopped to kiss again and his hands explored her back while hers played with his blonde hair. He moved his right hand down to her ass and squeezed it through her jeans a few times, then he moved it up under her top while his left hand slid down inside her pants to feel her soft buttocks. She was wearing something that felt not quite like a g-string, but pretty close.