About a year ago I had a night I'll never forget. It started when I got into a fight with my boyfriend Joel. To make a long story short I kicked him out of my house. I was really pissed off at him but upset for other reasons too. Not that he was such a great guy - actually he was a jerk, but because of all of the lousy relationships I'd had over the years, starting with my ex and continuing on after I'd divorced him.
I was just sitting on the cold tile floor for about an hour, feeling sorry for myself, when Samantha came home. Samantha's my daughter, the only good thing that came from my marriage. She was staying with me for awhile, visiting from college.
"Hey Mom, why so glum?" she asked.
"Oh, Joel and I..." I started softly.
"I don't want to hear anymore," she interrupted, waving her hand for me to stop. Her face now had a scowl on it and she went to her room. I knew Samantha hated Joel, she had never made an attempt to hide it, but Sam usually listened to my problems anyway. She and I had grown to be a lot more like sisters than mother and daughter. And if I can take a minute to brag, I look a lot younger than my 38 years, enough so that often people think Sam and I are sisters. I guess she'd finally had enough of hearing about Joel though. Still, I wanted someone to talk to and was feeling pretty down. After a few minutes Samantha came out and stood in front of me, her arms crossed in front of her, the frown still very prominent on her face.
"I'm sorry Mom. I just can't stand listening to another story about that idiot Joel. I don't know why you put up with men like that, why you let them treat you like crap and, most of all, why you always end up taking them back," she said.
"I don't why either, honey," I replied, my eyes still wet from my tears. Sometimes I wished I could be more like Samantha. She was such a strong girl. Beautiful too; she been a bit of an ugly duckling as a child but had really blossomed into an attractive young woman. I guess we had that in common as I still catch men regularly checking out my curvy but still trim figure. Unlike me however Samantha never let those men get the best of her and was always in control. She'd had a few boyfriends but nothing serious. Samantha was young; she wanted to enjoy the freedom she had now rather than get bogged down in a long-term commitment. I, on the other hand, had gotten married and pregnant at a very young age. I had wanted stability; instead I gotten a rotten marriage. Ever since the divorce I guess I'd still been looking for that special someone to grow old with but had come always come up empty. Maybe if I'd been a little more like Samantha in my youth things would be different for me now.
"Can I make a suggestion?" Samantha asked.
"Sure sweetie, what?" I replied.
"I think you need to live a little, Mom, get away from overbearing assholes like Joel. Just have some fun for the sake of having fun," she answered.
"What do you have in mind?" I asked.
"How about we get out of the house for a while, check out some of the clubs. Forget about that jerk. We can have a good time, just the two of us. What do ya say?" she smiled.
It was Saturday night and I had planned on going out with Joel before we got into our fight. "Well, I suppose I'm not doing myself any good just wallowing in self-pity, am I?" I replied, happy at Sam's offer.
"Come on, let's get ready," Samantha said excitedly, her mood now upbeat. She reached out her hand down to where I sat on the floor and I took it, smiling. She then pulled me up and we went to change.
Samantha took me to one of her favorite clubs and we got settled in with our drinks. I go out to bars occasionally but had never been to this place before as it was more suited towards a younger crowd. It was fun to be out with Samantha though. She was right; we could have a good time just being with each other.
A few times during the night guys would try to approach us but Samantha would always politely brush them off. I must say I liked getting all this attention from these much younger men as some of them were really cute.
"I thought you wanted me to have a good time?" I asked Sam, a little annoyed with her for not letting any of the guys sit with us. Samantha wouldn't give in, however, reminding me that tonight was supposed to be 'man-free.' I thought she was being rather prudish; after all she was the one who suggested I needed to have some fun. But I also thought she was being very sweet, trying to protect me from getting involved with yet another jerk.
Luckily Samantha's rule of no men didn't stop us from checking out the hot guys there though, and there were some really sexy ones there that night. As I said they were younger than I was, closer to Samantha's age, and when I saw the affect I was having on some of them I couldn't help but get a little turned on. Samantha caught me paying particular attention to a well built young hunk and, giving me a little nudge, said, "Not bad, Mom, not bad at all. Looks like he's packing quite the pistol too." I've never been a crotch watcher and finding out that Samantha was surprised me somewhat. Maybe the alcohol loosened my inhibitions because it didn't bother me too much, and I even took a glance at what she was talking about. She looked at me with a grin, waiting for me to say something and returning her smile I said, "No, not bad at all Sam."
We stayed for another hour and I could tell Samantha was starting to get tired. Just as I was about to ask her if she wanted to head back home I heard a man calling her from behind us. Sam turned around and ran excitedly towards him, seemingly full of life again. I lost her briefly when she ran way, but now she was heading back to me. Behind her strode two very tall and powerfully built young men. I didn't know too many of Sam's friends and admit I was a little startled that these two were black but I could tell from their demeanor they were friendly. They were well-dressed and groomed and I must admit I found them both quite attractive.
"Mom! This is Lewis and this is Raymond, they're friends of mine," Samantha said, a giddiness in her voice.
"Pleased to meet you," they both said with distinctly Jamaican accents.