Her long legs and her short skirt were doing wonders to his already somewhat tepid heart. He could feel the heat creeping up the sides of his neck and a stirring in his pants.
"Are you going to keep walking? Or are you coming inside? There's only two hours until the night crowd comes in."
He turned around and saw a pretty blond girl standing by the pub doors. His eyes darted across her figure and landed on the sign above her head. The sign read 'The Fall'. Jeremy realized he was staring at her cleavage again.
"Ah, yeah...I'm just...going to, um..." Jeremy turned aside and entered the pub. It wasn't his original destination, but it was a pub, and he couldn't resist the lure of the pretty barker who invited him inside. He didn't really think he had a chance with her. Not really. But he lived most of his life in Walter-Mitty-like fantasies anyhow.
"Hello, welcome to The Fall. What would you like to drink today?"
It took all of three seconds for Jeremy to come to a decision. "What have I got myself into?"
A warm smile spread across the bartender's beautiful lips. She was a beautiful brunette, long and lithe, her modest bosom was amplified with a pushup brassiere and was almost spilling out of her low-cut shirt. "Well, we have Guinness, whiskey, beer, cider, and wine. If those aren't your thing, we have a couple of different options for those. We also offer a variety of soft drinks, and a few more types of cocktails." But this girl was hot. And cute. So Jeremy figured she was worth the risk of getting shutdown. Maybe he'd get lucky and find himself falling head over heels for her, he thought, knowing that that process had already begun.
The bartender handed him a frosty beer and a slip of paper with her phone number on it. "My name is Sarah, by the way. Don't forget to give me a call later tonight. My shift ends at nine."
Jeremy was nonplussed, and the surprise was evident on his face. His emotions alway announced themselves on his face no matter how hard he tried to stop them. He was a horrible poker player for just that reason.
Sarah smiled, a genuine smile that made the sun look dull beside her. "I mean it. I'll be expecting your call. I promise you won't be disappointed." She winked.
"Uh, yeah. Thanks." Jeremy grabbed the paper slip and tucked it into his wallet for safe keeping. He sipped his beer and wondered if he had wandered into the fabled Twilight Zone. He smiled to himself as he heard the voice of Rod Serling in his head saying, "You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into... the Twilight Zone."
His thoughts continued on as he watched Sarah walk away to wait on other customers. His brain kept repeating that Twilight Zone image over and over. His mind conjured up images of a gorgeous young woman in a tight red shirt, her chestnut hair blowing gently in the wind and her pale skin glowing. He imagined running his hands through her hair. He imagined kissing her. And he felt so many other things too. All of them naughty. He sighed deeply, downed the rest of his beer, and went home. As he walked away from The Fall, he knew he didn't have the courage to dial that number Sarah had given him.
*
Later that night, when he arrived home, Jeremy found his mother sitting in the living room drinking a glass of red wine.
"Some young woman named Sarah left a message for you to call her. She said not to worry about waking her, but to call as soon as you got home.""Jeremy, I am a little disappointed that I had to remind you to call. I thought you and I had a connection," Sarah said without sounding too much like she was scolding him. She actually sounded a little hurt.
"Sorry. I, uh. I've been having a rough week."
There was a small silence on the other end of the line before he heard Sarah sigh.
"That happens every Friday, doesn't it? Your weekend's always terrible."
"Yeah," Jeremy said sheepishly. "It's why I rarely go to parties anymore." He chuckled, trying to lighten up the mood.
"But tonight is the night that finally changes!" Sarah said encouragingly. "If you want, I can come by and spend the night with you. We can snuggle, or... whatever you want. I am yours for the asking. Just say the word."
"You would do that?" Jeremy asked hesitantly. Why was she being so nice? And did she just offer to have sex with him? She didn't even know him! There was only that very brief encounter at the pub. What the hell is going on?
"I would love to do that," she purred. "I'm actually a bit lonely and could use the human contact, if you know what I mean."
There it was again, he thought. A thinly veiled offer for sex. He didn't know what Sarah's game was, but he decided that it was worth playing. He wasn't a virgin, but it had been a long time since his last less-than-satisfying sexual encounter. And Sarah was beautiful. Even if all he got to do was hold her it would be worth it. And if things went further, so much the better. Jeremy gave her directions to his flat. And went downstairs to wait for her arrival.
"I'm expecting a guest," he told his mum who was just finishing her wine.
"That girl is coming over?" his mum surmised.
"Yes. I met her tonight at the pub," he explained.
"She seemed so nice on the phone," his mum replied. "I'm off to bed, however," she said and got up and headed to her room.
As the clock struck ten, Sarah knocked on the door and Jeremy pulled the handle open. He was slightly taken aback to see her dressed exactly as she'd appeared that night. In fact, he could barely believe his eyes.
"You look lovely," he blurted out awkwardly.
"Why thank you, Jeremy. May I come in?"
Jeremy felt like an idiot, but stood aside and waved her in. He noticed her shapely bottom and long legs. The leggings she wore left little to his imagination. He gestured towards the sofa, which stood opposite to the fireplace in the main room.
"Would you like some wine?" he asked nervously, his eyes falling upon her bosom still prominent in her low-cut shirt.
