She walked into the dance club, her warm brown eyes scanning the smallish crowd for a familiar face. She didn't see anyone that seemed familiar and her it settled her nerves but did not make them go away. She decided to walk over to the bar and have a seat to wait. Upon doing so the bartender took her drink order and then left her alone with her swirling thoughts.
She was supposed to meet him here tonight and she couldn’t help but be nervous. He'd left her a year and a half ago with out much of an explanation and the parting had been somewhat strained. She had found different friends to stay with during the final days when he packed his things and moved out of the apartment and out of her life.
She smiled at the bartender, paid for the drink and was again left alone with her thoughts as he departed to take another order.
He had called out of the blue a year and a half later telling her that he wanted to talk, asking her if he could take her to dinner. At first she refused, her heart was finally healing and her life was finally back on track and was afraid all of it would shatter if she opened her heart again. Eventually curiosity had given way to caution and she had agreed to meet him here at the club to talk over a few drinks and now he was late.
She pressed a stray lock of hair behind her ear and out of her eyes as she glanced across the club again. Still no sign. She continued to wait, as the club started to fill up, the music teasing dancers out onto the floor as chatter started to get louder and more excited. She politely declined an offer to dance from some stranger and returned to her waiting. She held her drink glass in her hands, dark painted nails tapping lightly on it.
"This is stupid, and I'm stupid, and what was I thinking?" she thought to herself as she stood up, pulling her coat up and getting ready to slip it on in order to brave the chill outside on the way home. A hand reached out and took hold of the collar on her coat, stopping it from sliding up on to her shoulders. She turned in surprise to look into the blue eyes from her past and her breath caught in her throat.
He looked her over. She was stunning. He’d stood near the back of the club watching her while she waited for him. Even after all this time she could still take his breath away. She was dressed in a black pair of heeled boots. The pair of jeans she wore hugged her curves much in the way his fingers had done in the past. He liked the shirt she wore. It was thin and he could catch a glimpse of her skin through it. The front had a white false tank top under the black shirt. It was unsnapped a bit in the front to show her off, the material of the tank top clinging to her. Her long black hair hung in loose curls around her shoulders and down her back, it was swept back out of her face and held by a black flowered pin.
She still hadn’t managed to say anything as his eyes moved over her body. She shivered a little under his intense gaze and tried to speak up.
“Can you let go of my coat now?” she asked, still frozen in his grip.
“I’m sorry, I just saw that you were going to leave and I’m sorry for being late. I got caught up helping a friend of mine,” he let go of her coat and dropped his hand down to his side, his eyes still glued upon her face.
“I figured that you had changed your mind and just decided not to come, to leave me hanging…again,” the last word spoken softly enough for her ears only as she looked at him. She had hoped that he didn’t look as handsome as she remembered, that life hopefully hadn’t treated him well, that hopefully, just hopefully he had been miserable with out her. She let out a soft sigh, no such luck. He stood before her with ease and confidence. He looked as handsome as ever in his jeans and dark blue shirt, hands now tucked into his pockets, his short blonde hair tousled stylishly.
He turned his gaze towards the crowded dance floor for a moment before looking back at her.
“Care to do a little dancing before talking? Loosen up?” He asked hopefully, his blue eyes searching her brown ones. She looked down to her finished drink and out to the dance floor, thinking for a moment before nodding softly.
He led her out into the crowd of people dancing to the thumping music.
“I normally don’t dance unless I’m a bit more drunk,” she confessed as she started to move hesitantly to the beat of the music.
“How could I forget? You would never venture out anywhere near a dance floor unless half comatose,” he chuckled softly as he started to dance in front of her.
She nodded and then started concentrating on the music that surrounded her like a warm blanket. She knew that she’d changed since he left and she hoped that she was strong enough to not fall again. It would be harder to get back up this time around.
She closed her eyes and felt the bass of the music swirl about her body, teasing it into motion. She rocked her hips in time to the beat, letting her head roll on her shoulders, mouth parted slightly. He watched her, almost mesmerized. He wanted to touch her again, run his fingers through her hair but he knew better. He’d heard how things had gone after he suddenly left and he wasn’t proud of it either.
After another song they both threaded their way from the dance floor, breathing heavily and fanning themselves. They arrived back where she had left her coat and looked at each other in the awkward silence that followed.
“So what did you need to talk to me about?” she asked, looking up at him.
“I wanted to say that I was sorry. Sorry because I know things between us didn’t exactly end that well and I know it’s been tough,” he told her.
She thought for a moment then looked up into his searching blue eyes, “Do you feel better now that you’ve gotten that off your chest? Is your conscious appeased now?” she asked quietly as she played with a napkin from the bar she stood next to.
“It’s not like that,” he insisted as he placed a hand on her arm. “I never meant to hurt you, it was just something that I felt that I needed to do. I lost my job and it felt like I’d lost my direction. I needed to find it again, to find where I belonged.”
“I would have went with you, you know. I would have left everything I had, everyone I knew to be with you. I thought that, god forbid, that we might even have gotten married…” she trailed off softly shrugging his hand away.
He reached out with a gentle hand to turn her face towards him and away from the napkin that was bearing the blunt of her sorrow. He could easily see the tears in her eyes but she held them back and he made no mention of them, giving her that small victory.
A thousand thoughts raced through her mind. “Traitor!” her mind screamed at her. “We’re supposed to hate this man, he made you miserable when he up and left.”
She felt so cold and very stupid for having agreed to this in the first place. She felt his gentle fingers on her chin, willing her to look at him and reluctantly she did. She looked into his eyes and could not see anything there. No window to the soul, no special emotions, just the vivid color of his eyes as he looked over her face.
She turned out of his grasp and started to put her coat on once again, this time, he didn’t stop her. She pulled her hair free of the denim duster she now wore and started to move towards the exit of the club. A few feet away from him she paused and half turned.
“Are you staying here or walking me home?” She simply asked before continuing her trek towards the door.
Out in the parking lot she started walking home. He came up beside and started walking with her, quiet and lost in thought for the moment.
“You live near here? You moved again?” he asked after a little while.
“Well I couldn’t stay where we had lived. I had to move. I like my new place, it’s a new start,” she replied not looking up from the sidewalk as they walked.
“Are you seeing anyone?” he asked, trying to make conversation.
