My name is Tricia. I don't know if I'm the luckiest young woman in the world or whether I am heading for disaster. I'm 21 and have a boyfriend named Josh. We met in college and have been dating now for 3 years. I do love him. I know I'm lucky and I've always wanted to get married. I had even picked out a dress and the place and the color for our wedding. I've told Josh a little about all this, just in hopes that it would move him along towards proposing.
But life has taken such a turn now. Josh is not at his place so I take out my key and enter. I know his roommate is not there right now as well. What I'm looking to find should be in his room. Either in his night stand or in the pants he would have worn when he saw me last. I start going through them.
Josh is good to me, he's been working a retail job and I've been working as a bartender-server at a country club. It's there that I came across someone. This one day, I'd seen him at different times throughout the day. It was very odd. First I saw him in with the directors of the country club, then sitting outside eating lunch. But it was when he was at the gym that I really tried to put it all together.
He was definitely over 40. While he wasn't in perfect shape he still had a very manly presence. His muscle had tone, he seemed to have a purpose, though I didn't know what that was just yet. At dinner time, he plopped down at a table by himself in my serving area. He was going over something on his laptop when I came to take his order. He smiled at me and already knew what he wanted when I arrived there. After he gave me his order, he asked me how I liked working there. I said it was fine and it paid my share of the rent and a night out here or there. Then I couldn't resist asking any longer. I asked him what he'd been doing around the country club, knowing that then he'd know that I'd taken notice of him.
He said that his name was Sean and he worked for the IT company which systems ran the club. It's really quite sophisticated in that it tracks the members, where they are, who their friends are and even what their favorite drinks and food are. He was dressed nicely, definitely a professional. And while I didn't really know what he was talking about, I felt the presence that he had in the gym also came across when you met and spoke to him. He looked you in the eye, and took an interest in you as well.
By the time I was settling his bill, he'd asked me what was going on that evening.
I'd said that one of my friends had just had a breakup and we were going just the girls to a dance club to let loose. I was just finishing right now and one of the friends was going to stop and pick me up as the club was almost an hour away.
He wished me a fun evening and we parted ways, him to the lobby of the club to read, me to wait outside.
And I waited, and waited. I eventually came in to escape the heat and I noticed Sean still reading. He looked up in surprise as I entered and asked what happened.
I explained that my friend had ghosted me and was not responding to call or texts. I later learned that here work needed her to do a rush order and she had to drop everything... literally. Including her phone.
Sean stood up without hesitation he said "I'll take you, wait out front" I was going to say no thank you, but he was already walking away and... I really needed the ride. The other 2 girls were already at the club! And I just learned what would be normal for Sean and I for this evening. That being he doesn't ask and I don't stop him.
When Sean pulled out front, it was a really nice car. Not an exotic sports car, but I certainly knew he was not working for minimum wage, either. Far from it. He smiled as I got in and asked which club.
On the way, we just talked about normal things. My school, his job & life on the road, vacations and our plans for the summer. It's funny that the fact that I had a boyfriend never came up. He asked me a lot of things, but not one question where I'd even thought about inserting Josh's name into the conversation. He made me laugh with some of the stories of his dogs who stayed with his family while he traveled, and I could finally meet his eye contact when I smiled.
But the conversation turned when he asked what we were doing after the club. It had just struck me then that the friend who had not showed up was to take each of us home in her car. The others had gotten rides there from family. At this point, Sean said he'd not had anything to do this evening and he would read at the bar while we enjoyed ourselves. Again, didn't ask and I didn't stop him.
I didn't make any deal of it, I just smiled and blushed and said that I was definitely not going back to my place tonight and would stay with my friends.
As we entered the dance club, my friends were all very cordial and I explained to them how gracious Sean had been. Of course as soon as Sean was walking away on his way to the bar, the girls were teasing me about him. Not bad for an older guy or.. oh, Josh is going to be jealous. But it soon faded into the background. We got a few dances in - just enough to get the blood pumping before we made our way to the bar.
Sean had taken up a small table, one of the few on the far side, so I gave him a little smile and wave as I stepped up to the bar and unzipped my purse to find a credit card. We put in our order and upon returning with the drinks, the bartender said that all 3 of us had been opened a tab by Sean and could use it as we like.
My 2 giggly girlfriends each went over to give a shrill eek and a hug for Sean. He smiled and said "No problem." then we went back to see some friends that had unexpectedly come to the same club. It went on this way for several dances.
Having an open tab took it's toll on my girlfriends. They were certainly going downhill before long. I was more reserved. I was so gracious to Sean that I didn't want to do anything stupid.
As it got later, of course guys started to make their way my way. One who danced with me was very good. And when you're with a good dancer your mind often wanders to sex. But it wasn't the man dancing with me who came to mind when sex invaded my brain. It was Sean. I thought about what I'd seen of him earlier in the day at the gym. I pushed the thought out of my mind for a while, I was with Josh after all!
But the thoughts kept coming back. I noticed Sean was smiling a small wry smile as I caught his glance. But it wasn't until i made my way back to the bar that he approached me to say "You know, it seems you and that guy got something going on if you want me to take the other 2 girls home."