This story is for Frances.
It was a true anomaly: one of those warm nights in March that almost made the winter seem like a distant memory. The scent in the air was all spring-alive and vibrant, even exciting somehow. The kind of something in the air that sends a shiver up a girl's spine: something was going to happen tonight. I could feel it.
It had been two months since I started dating the new guy in my life. For now, let's call him Willy. Don't ask me why I would choose Willy as a fictional name. It just seems appropriate. Unfortunately, Willy had to go off on business for the weekend and was probably on a plane right now, watching some bad Hollywood movie with a pair of earphones on-waiting for the stewardess to bring him another double scotch. I missed him already, but not enough to stay in on a Friday night. Pining over long distances has never been my strong suit.
I'm also not a promiscuous girl. Honest. I was just going out to meet my friend Claire for a few drinks. A girl's night out, if you will, and sure-I guess there would be some boys out there at the bar and one or two of them might be good looking enough to flash a smile or two, but I would never actually cheat on Willy. I'm just not that type of girl. Besides, there was no reason to cheat. Sexually, Willy did it for me. He engaged my fantasies and pushed my buttons and made me feel as sexy as a girl could feel. On top of it all, he was pretty easy on the eyes. And so when I was getting ready to go out it didn't even occur to me to "slut" it up. Not that I could slut it up even if I wanted to-I just didn't buy those kind of clothes.
I mean, I guess Willy had mentioned it a couple of times. Once, when we were going out for dinner with some of his work friends, I remember him asking me if I didn't have anything tighter to wear. "I want my friends to know what a nice piece of ass you are," he said jokingly. But we both knew it wasn't a joke. He was willing to accept my subtler fashion statements because at the end of the night he knew he could strip me down and have me and treat me like his whore, even if I was wearing a nun's habit. But I guess I knew the truth: every once in a while he wanted me to slut it up. "You got an amazing body, Frances. Show it off. Watching guys watch you is my second favorite thing to do."
I quickly slipped into a pair of jeans and a sweater, threw on a light jacket and was out the door by 10 o'clock.
The bar that I was supposed to meet Claire at was one of these dirty places that I guess you could call 'bohemian.' It's patrons were a mixture of artists and musicians, writers and actors, and intellectual-types who liked to play pool and cruise for one night stands. It's actually the same bar that I met Willy at back on New Year's Eve. The bar was divided into it's four distinct areas: bar, lounge, pool tables and dance floor. It also had a back patio and a couple of grimy bathrooms down in the basement.
When I arrived the bar was a bit crowded but I managed to find a free table, where I plunked down, ordered a beer and waited for Claire to show up. After about half an hour, however, Claire was still MIA and the place had become packed. Every table was overflowing with people and I had been asked more than a few times if the chair in front of me couldn't be used by someone else. I must have looked like a little island, stranded alone in the middle of a sea of 30-somethings, all trying their best to get drunk. Eventually enough was enough: Claire was still nowhere to be seen and I had to go to the bathroom. By leaving my table I would have to give it up.
As soon as I stood up, several guys looked over, coveting not me, but the seating I was about to offer them. That's when one guy asked me, "Are you leaving?" I wasn't sure what to say. "I'm waiting for a friend who hasn't shown up."
"Oh," said the boy. He smiled anyways and then looked around the room for plan B.
"If she's not here in 5 minutes, you can have it," I said.
The boy turned to me and with a mischievous grin, said "Have what?"
I smiled at his boldness.
"The table."
"Oh," he said.
I looked behind him and saw that his two friends were looking a me and trying to hear what their friend was saying to me.