She looked like cherry pie.
That was my first thought. My second thought was, what the hell was a woman like that doing stumbling around a dark street on a Friday night?
"Excuse me, miss..." I started, trying to stop her as she wobbled near the edge of the sidewalk.
"Fuck off," she said, soliciting a picket fence for support. Her blonde hair had tumbled out of whatever had been holding it together, one strap of the dress was hanging precariously off her shoulder and she had a small smudge of mascara across her left cheek. Her lipstick matched the short red dress she was wearing and the sky high heels she was just barely managing to stand on.
She swayed a little, digging through her purse looking for something. A few tubes of something clattered to the ground as she pulled out her phone and look at it in confusion.
Ace, my German Shepherd, glanced up at me and whined a small sound of distress.
"It's okay buddy. Look," I took a step towards her, "it's a little cold out here, why don't you let me help you get home? Where do you live?"
She looked up at me with a scowl.
"Here."
I glanced around, at the restaurants and bars lining the street.
"Hmm," was my comment.
Unimpressed, she moved to strut past me, then her shoe caught on something and she stumbled. Reflexively, I reached out to steady her. Ace barked.
"I'm fine," she said, but held onto me.
"What's your name?"
"Charissa," she said, sniffing.
I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"Okay, Charissa. How about we go inside for a second?"
She looked around, as if seeing her surroundings for the first time. Then, as if just realizing she'd lost track of where she was, seemed to acquiesce.
"All right."
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He had nice eyes. That's all I could think, when I finally got a decent look at his face. Deep brown, with crinkles at the corners. One of his eyebrows had a break in it, I was trying to decide if it was because of a scar or if he'd maybe done something to it to make it look that way on purpose when I missed half of what he was saying.
"-on your ID?"
"Huh?" was my undignified reply.
"Is that your current address?" he clarified, motioning towards my driver's license sitting on the countertop. I'd ordered another glass of wine, disregarding the looks from him and the bartender, and against my own better judgment. I knew I was a mess. I didn't care. I'd recently lost my job, so I figured I was entitled.
"Uh huh," I leaned into him. Or more accurately, he helped prop me up on the bar stool so I didn't go toppling off.
"Mind if I...?" he motioned for me to give it to him.
I became preoccupied with the light smattering of freckles across his nose. Why should that be so sexy? I reached out a fingertip to trace from the tip of his nose, down to the corner of his mouth, which had quirked into a half-smile.
"Ah..." he grabbed my hand, gently pushed it away. "Listen, why don't I call you a ride?"
I nodded, his voice was a pleasant rumble as the room started to swirl a little again. Butterflies bloomed in my stomach and I felt his arms come around my shoulders snugly. Something wet brushed my hand and glanced down towards the floor. The dog glanced up at me and whined again.
"Hey, pal, we ain't really supposed to have dogs in here," I heard the bartender say in a low voice.
"We're leaving soon. Give us a sec?"
I felt myself being pulled upright and struggled to get my legs under me. I giggled, leaning into the male smell of leather and spice. My head, heavy at this point, dropped to his shoulder.
"Take me home?" I murmured to him.
In response, his arm tightened around me. The ground tilted.
"You sure?"
"Mmmhmm," I nibbled on his ear. What was wrong with me? Then again...why not. I breathed in his smell, letting my nose trail his neck. Yum.
How we got from the bar to my apartment became a blur. In what seemed like only seconds, we were at the front door to my apartment. At least I recognized it.
I fumbled with my keys and he helped me push the door open.
"Come on in," I heard myself say.
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Technically, she'd invited me in. Was she capable of making sound decisions at this point? Probably not, I admitted. Then again, I had a beautiful woman in my arms so who was I to argue. Doubting my resolve, I hitched her up against me and we made our way through the dark apartment.