It's kind of gray and cold out there today. How about a tumble with a willing woman? I'm smart and attractive, and looking for something to cheer me up on a dreary day.
The clouds of depression have dogged me since my teens, and a move from snowy Vermont to mild San Francisco hadn't done anything to stave them off that rainy winter. I'd done my best to cheer myself up with breakfast and a couple of bong hits with my friend Cal, who I used to work with and who lived around the corner. A sweet boy of twenty-four, he was sympathetic to my situation, but pretty clueless when it came to knowing how to deal with me when I was this down. It was about one in the afternoon when I left his place and trudged back to my own.
I had posted this before heading to Cal's for breakfast, and was not expecting to hear from anyone fun from it. Fun was going to be a hell of a reach for me that day, but I was again casting about for comfort wherever I could find it. My in-box was full of the usual dreck in response to that morning's postβgot-a-pics, you-want-this-babys, I'm-gamesβthe usual bullshit. I was inclined to crawl back under my covers and sleep off another day of deep blues.
Returning to my desk overlooking Valencia Street, I glanced at Clooney's Bar across the street. Standing out front was an energetic blond. Pacing and prancing, he held a cigarette cupped in his hand against the pervasive fog of the day. His hair gelled into a modest Mohawk of sorts, he and a companion were full of happy energy and sound.
I impulsively went downstairs and crossed the street, and followed the pair into the bar just as they finished their cigarettes. Hot Guy was bouncy and cheerful, long-legged and fit. Not So Hot Guy was younger, taller, not as attractive, but with an open face and smile.
I was wearing a short skirt and sweater, anticipating a clearing and warming to the day that wasn't happening. But my legs looked great, if a little goose bumpy from the cold. I bought myself a Corona and took a stool near the pool table where they were playing. Hot Guy was feeding quarters into the juke box: Red Hot Chili Peppers, AC/DC, Counting Crows, loud and raucous. He wore sunglasses even in the dark bar; Not So Hot wore a baseball cap, never a big pleaser here. They were speaking to one another in what I thought was Spanish.
I watched them play for a few minutes before saying hello to Not So, who bravely spit out a broken hello of his own.
"Where are you from?" I asked, realizing that his English was going to be near useless.
"Brazil." Oh. Not Spanish, then, Portuguese. With seriously hot Brazilian Rob already notched on my bedpost, this news, coupled with the first few sips of Corona, cheered me some. I finished my beer as they finished their game, enjoying the cat-like grace of Hot Guy as he pranced around the table, posing and preening, hitting the balls hard with a little jump with each shot. He was a pleasure to ogle, for sure, and he knew it.
When they finished their game, I formally introduced myself to them as we headed to the bar. Hot Guy took off his sunglasses, and showed me astonishing green eyes, framed by some wrinkles that told me he was at least 35. Not So was clearly younger. Hot Guy introduced himself as Andre, and told me that his friend Jack didn't speak any English. Andre was a little hard to understand, but offered me a beer in the universal language of alcohol. I declined, saying I needed to go home and change into warmer clothes, but promising to come back.
I didn't know how I would feel once I hit the apartment, and wasn't entirely sure I would return, but jeans, socks, boots and a jacket revived me, and I was back in five minutes. They had waited for me to start another game, and asked me to join them.