"She's just too...I don't know. I like a lady to be a lady," Tim told me, holding his beer bottle with the fingertips of both hands and turning it slowly on the table in front of us. "She swears like she's in a Tarantino movie. And she's kind of..."
He bugged his eyes and showed his teeth.
"Aggressive?" I asked. "What wrong with being with a woman who wants to tear your clothes off?"
"See? That's what I mean. She's perfect for you."
Tim was a great guy, a football buddy and someone who would never hesitate to buy a round when I was a little short. He'd given up on trying to get me to attend his church and probably prayed for my heathen soul every Sunday. He was also tired of being single and had signed up for Match and ChristianMingle in the attempt to find his perfect mate. LaraLynn wasn't it.
He liked her, he said, she just wasn't feminine enough for his Teaparty taste. And since he was a good Christian, Tim felt obligated to introduce her to his one single friend.
That would be me.
So we sat in the bar, nursing our drinks, waiting for what I suspected would be a very scary woman to join us.
I hate fix ups. I hate blind dates. And I fucking hated taking Tim's cast offs because he felt bad about rejecting them.
I sat where I could see the door. The bar was one of our favorite watering holes, nothing chic or swank about it. Urban professionals didn't come here for appletinis and there were no booming, bass-driven, melody-challenged dance tunes for the club-hopping crowd. It was a casual place where everybody knew your name. So she immediately seemed out of place.
Tall, tan, blonde, shapely in the right places wearing a lavender silk blouse and modest black skirt, she stopped at the door and looked around.
"That CAN'T be her," I said.
Tim turned, caught her eye and waved her over.
"Fuck," I managed before she got to us. "And I didn't get you anything."
Tim introduced us and I stood as I shook her hand. She had a firm, businesslike grip and a gorgeous smile. She settled in next to Tim and asked a passing waitress to bring her a Conona with lime. "Sorry I'm late," she said. "Just got out of court."
Tim had mentioned she was a lawyer.
"Murder trial?" I asked.
"Divorce," she said.
"Same difference," I told her.
She laughed. "Especially when I'm around," she said.
"I have a voodoo doll at home with several pins stuck in it. He doesn't look like you though."
"Too bad." She winked. "Been awhile since anything's been stuck in me."
Tim gave me a look. "See?" it seemed to say.
"I find that very hard to believe," I said, wanting to continue this line of conversation.
"Aren't you sweet?" She took her beer from the waitress, squeezed the lime wedge into the neck and pushed the peel into the bottle. "Work has been a bitch lately. I mean, I love my work and I love the money, but Jesus Fucking Christ."
Tim winced.
She wiggled expensively manicured fingers at me. "I mean, I've been thinking about cutting these off just so I don't injure myself when I cum."
Tim was clearly uncomfortable. I was laughing out loud. LaraLynn touched Tim on the arm. "I'm sorry, Sweetie, am I making you shrivel in embarrassment again?"
"No," Tim said. "I'm fine. Or I will be when I get back."
LaraLynn stood as Tim slipped out of the booth. She touched his shoulder as he walked off toward the bathroom, then slid back in across from me. "He's so sweet," she said. "Fortunately, he realized it wouldn't work out fairly quickly. It's my fault. I go to eleven."
I had my beer almost to my mouth when I stopped and my jaw dropped.
"What?" she asked.
"You're smart, funny, gorgeous AND you like Spinal Tap?"
She leaned across the table. "I LOVE Spinal Tap," she whispered.
"What else do I need to know about you before I break the Bro Code and ask you out?"
LaraLynn smiled and pulled her iPhone from her purse. She pulled back a rubberized case protector and slid a business card from between the sleeve and the phone. She placed the card on the table in front of me.
"Three important things," she said, tapping her name on the card. "It's not Lara. Do not think of calling me Lara."
"Ok," I said.
"It's also not Lynn. Do not think of calling me Lynn."
"No Lara. No Lynn. LaraLynn. Gotchya. And Number Three?"
"Don't even think of not calling me."
"Calling you?" I said. "I was hoping to just nudge you in the morning."
LaraLynn smiled. "He warned me you were a bad boy."
"Bad boy?"
"I think he said 'lost soul.'"
"That sounds more like our Tim."
"So you're a total heathen?"
"Not at all," I took a pull on my beer and swallowed while she waited for me to elaborate. "I'm a Dudest. In fact, I'm an ordained Dudest Priest."
She spit a little beer when she laughed and grabbed a napkin to cover her mouth. "Nobody fucks with the Jesus," she said.
My jaw dropped yet again. "Holy shit," I said. "I'm in love."
"I've seen that movie so much, I've got it memorized." She leaned in and her voice dropped. "'I would have fucked you in the ass Saturday. I fuck you in the ass next Wednesday instead.'"
"'Wooo!" I said, leaning in until my lips were inches from hers. "'You got a date Wednesday, baby!'"
We hadn't heard Tim return. "What have I walked in on?" he asked. LaraLynn leaned back and laughed as Tim settled into the booth. I couldn't tell how much of his disgust was an act and how much was real.
"I like your friend," LaraLynn said.