The Fight
"Why don't you keep your eyes to yourself, before I rearrange your face?"
Michael was getting tiresome. We were supposed to be celebrating his raise, and I wanted to give him a treat by wearing his favourite outfit: a simple black top, a miniskirt that shows off my legs, and a pair of heels that were a bit too expensive, but what the hell, a girl needs to treat herself sometimes. He
loves
my legs - it's one of the reasons he asked me out in the first place - so he should have been enjoying the view, and maybe even resting a hand on my knee under the table. Instead, he was sending dirty looks toward any man in the bar who glanced in my direction. He was spending more time watching them than looking at me.
He's a great guy, don't get me wrong, but sometimes his jealousy gets tiresome. I had been looking forward to a fun night out, then going back to his place where he could take this skirt off and have his way with me. And, sure, yes, I had also been looking forward to the glances I knew I'd be getting from other men. Nothing wrong with enjoying a bit of lascivious attention, before going home and slaking that lust on my boyfriend! But instead, I found myself trying to finish my drink as quickly as I could so we could get
out
of there, and he could stop glaring at every hetero male in the bar. But he was too busy glaring to drink
his
drink, so it didn't matter how quickly I guzzled mine, we were going to be there for a while.
Most guys in the place started to realize what was going on, and just averted their gaze. It might be fun to look at a nice pair of legs, but not if it's going to cause drama with a jealous boyfriend.
As anticipated, I finished my drink long before he finished his, and decided to go up to the bar for a refill. Probably not a smart idea - now the legs would be in motion! - but I was too pissed at him by this point to care. He could growl all he wanted, but if I was going to put up with his macho bullshit, I needed alcohol in my system!
I was at the bar long enough to down a shot of J.D. and get a refill on my appletini, then I was heading back to the table. I was
slightly
unsteady on my heels, due to the fact that I was drinking faster than usual, but mostly OK.
And then I heard the voice behind me:
"Well I'll be damned! Her ass is as fine as those sexy legs!" Apparently someone in the bar
hadn't
gotten the message about the jealous boyfriend. Or didn't care. As I got back to the table I was blushing with embarrassment. (Mostly.)
Michael was immediately on his feet. "Who said that?" he barked. "You wanna go outside, asshole?"
"Drop it, Mike," I said, as I took my seat. "Let's just finish our drinks and get the fuck out of here."
"No," he responded, "I want to know who's perving on my girl!"
"'Your girl.' Right. Jesus Christ," I muttered. "What a night."
"Why don't you calm down and shut up, kid, before someone gets hurt?" It was the same voice that had praised my ass a few seconds ago, and when I got a look at him I was much less flattered at his "compliment." The guy was a douchebag. No, not a douchebag; what's the white trash equivalent of a douchebag? Redneck? He was one of those.
He was in a pair of dirty jeans, a white t-shirt, and, honest to god,
had a pack of cigarettes in his sleeve!
Whatever you'd call him, I didn't like the idea of him ogling me the same way he'd beat if off to some cut-rate pornstar in
Jugs
magazine.
Despite the warning, Michael was having none of it. "Let's go outside, and see if your fists work as well as your eyes!" was his brilliant reply. I made one more attempt to calm things down by putting a hand on his arm, but when he shook it off I gave up caring what happened to him. If he went outside and got beat up, it was his own damned fault. Sure, I'd end up hearing about it for the rest of the night - probably even tending his bruises - but maybe he'd learn to stop being a dick when we went out together. If you're gonna have a hot girlfriend you should
enjoy
it, not spend every minute in public airing your lack of self confidence for the world to see.
To my surprise, the redneck decided that yes, he
would
like to go outside and teach Michael a lesson, and Michael was stupid enough to go through with it. I mean, he was in pretty good shape, but had he ever actually been in a fight? And were two men really going to go outside and fight, in this day and age, because one had "looked at the other's girl"? I sighed, took a final gulp of my drink, and followed them out.
A crowd was already gathering, and to my surprise it didn't seem like anyone was going to bother calling the police. I was tempted to glance at my phone, just to confirm we were still in the year 2017, but instead I tried to figure out how I was supposed to handle this situation. They were, after all, fighting over me - or at least the right to
look
at me - so should I have been supporting my man? Or playing it nonchalant, as if this happened all the time? ("Of
course
two men are fighting over me! It's Thursday!")
The only one who actually did seem nonchalant was the redneck who'd been looking at my ass. To look at him, you wouldn't have assumed he was about to engage in fisticuffs on a public street; he was calm, cool, and collected, with just the hint of a wry smile on his face. And it didn't help that he was egging Michael on, either.
"So you don't like guys looking at your girl, eh? What happens if I win? Do I get to keep her? Or do I just get to borrow her for a night, and send her back to you tomorrow, spent and broken?"
"Keep talking, asshole, because you're about to get a lesson in manners."
"Enough, Mike," I said. "Leave it alone, and let's go inside." I was hoping that this would give him an excuse to stop the nonsense; maybe he could walk away if it was clear he was only doing it because "his girl" was making him. (The more I thought about it, the more that phrase "my girl" was really bothering me.)
It didn't work.
"Shut up," he said. "I'm handling this."