THWACK! The dart entered the center red circle and my opponent groaned in defeat. I had closed out everything and had about 100 points on top of it. Not bad for a female at almost 2:00 am with about ten mudslides- with- an- extra- shot- of- vodka wreaking havoc in her system.
I had come to this dirty little biker bar in the weirdo- hippie- punk- rock- freak section of town looking to take home some horny man for a night of meaningless rough sex and had ended up talking about the damned snow in Vermont with a bespectacled woman that I had taken for uptight but who was actually turning out to be quite a firecracker. We had sat at the bar for a couple of hours talking about Vermont because we had both lived there, loser men because we had both had them, and french erotica because we both had a passion for Anais Nin and Georges Bataille. She was drinking straight vodka and I was guzzling the aforementioned concoctions like there was no tomorrow. Not a single man had approached either of us all night, and in addition to finding it hilarious (we must have looked like a couple of dykes, talking and laughing loudly, pounding down hard liquor), it was nice to have a break from the usual pickup procedures. Funny how things happen - like I said, that was exactly what I had intended to attract when I set out for the evening.
Her name was Courtney and she had just moved to Atlanta from Tucson, Arizona. She was attending Georgia State University, working towards a masters degree in child development. Like me, she had moved around a lot as a child, living in pretty much every region of the U.S. She had grand hopes for Atlanta but was already dreaming about where she would move when school was over. I, too, had come to Atlanta to find "something" and was in the process of moving to some tiny town on the east coast of Florida. She was dressed plainly in jeans and a black t-shirt. I was decked out in a tight black dress with a severe slit up the side. Something attracted us to each other, though, and I was loving the company.
"Damn!" She pretended to sulk as she pulled the darts out of the board. "I'm horrible at this game anyway."
I slurped the last of my drink from the glass and set it down with gusto, drawing an annoyed look from the bartender. "Too bad they don't have cards here, I'd whip your ass at gin too." She grinned at me and shook her head, cheeks flushed from the alcohol.
I announced my need for a trip to the restroom and she said she was going to go order us more drinks. I stumbled to the back of the bar and into the bathroom. Closing the door to a stall, I hiked up my dress and sat down. I leaned back and closed my eyes, feeling everything swimming and churning and spinning in my head. "Toooooo much alcohol.." I sighed, finished my business, and lurched out and to the sink. I looked into my own leary blood-shot eyes and smiled. "Hey, Courtney, I'm no dyke, but I'd like nothing more than to run my hands up your thighs and drive my tongue down your throat." I chortled at the stupidity of what I had just said to my reflection. It was true though. I was attracted to her in a way I had never felt about a woman. I kept trying to brush it off as the inebriation speaking, but the warmth between my thighs whenever I thought about her lying nude on my bed was impossible to dismiss.
The door slammed open and I jumped at the sound. Courtney stood there, slightly swaying, a drink in each hand. "Are you going to come out or should we just bring the party in here?" She took a few steps towards me and let the door close behind her. We giggled as she held my drink out to me and I spilled some of it on the floor. "Cheers, dahling!" With that she tipped her glass back and downed it in a single swallow. Her cheeks turned bright red for a second, her eyes watered. "Whew!" She cupped her hand under the faucet and drank some water from it. I sipped my drink through the straw as she stood up, wiped her face, and declared that the last drink of the night.
We went back out and sat down in a booth. Looking at each other across the table, we started grinning. "What?" "What, yourself?" "I asked you first!" We broke into a fit of snorty laughter and I thought I was about to just tell her I wanted to spend the night with her.
"Too bad none of these guys are my type - I really feel like a fuck right now." I was a bit taken aback by this comment, but I murmured a shared sentiment.
Damn it, Courtney. I sat back and closed my eyes for a second. My heart was beating like crazy and my palms were sweaty. What was I thinking? I had never been with a woman before, and this girl could turn out to be a good friend and I was actually going to fuck it up by propositioning her?!?
"I am soooooo drunk." I looked at her from slightly raised eyelids as she nodded agreement.
"How far away do you live?" Shit, that's right! I had a LONG drive ahead of me.
"Um, like 20 miles." I smiled sheepishly as she shook her head.
"You are NOT going home like this. I live just up the block. You can sleep on my couch or something." She stood up and got the check from the bartender.
As she sat back down she tossed it on the table. "$82.50." We cracked up at this for some reason, left $100 on the bar, and walked out into the night.
"Do you realize for that amount we could have bought ten times as much liquor at a store?" I asked. "That's insane."
She finished lighting a cigarette and pointed out, "Yeah, but then we never would have met each other..I don't go out much. I almost stayed home tonight."
We walked in silence for a minute, listening to the gravel crunch under our feet. I heard her inhale then breathe the smoke out. It was difficult to keep walking but my body went on automatic pilot or something and I managed a pretty straight path. After a few minutes she flicked the half-smoked cigarette into the road and said, "It's just up here, the blue house." She pointed a few houses up the road to a partially-hidden Victorian surrounded by trees and bushes. The landscaping was immaculate, the house well-kept.
"It's beautiful!"
