I decided not to upset her further. “Tell her I’ll wait for her out here,” I said, heading back to my car.
I turned on the radio and waited. After five minutes when she still hadn’t appeared, I wondered how much longer she would be. Should I go back up to the door? Would that make me seem too eager? Rude? I didn’t quite know what to do so I just sat.
She ended up coming out after about fifteen minutes looking radiant. She wore a little black dress that clung to her curves as tightly as I wanted to. I swallowed hard as I watched her walk to my car, ample hips swaying, her face smiling and eager. I hoped that I was the reason that she was looking so eager.
“Hi,” she said breathlessly, getting into the car and landing a peck on my cheek, “I’m so sorry I took so long.”
“Not a problem, you’re worth the wait,” I replied. She put on her seatbelt and looked around excitedly.
“So, where are we going?” she asked.
“First stop is one of my favorite places, Winkies,” I said, pulling away from the apartment.
Winkies was a bar that I had frequented a lot because they had great food, incredible drinks, and an atmosphere that was always really electric. Maybe not a place befitting my best suit, but I thought it might be better than someplace stuffy and boring.
Tonight was no different than usual. When we pulled into the parking lot, we could hear the music bumping through the walls. When we walked up to the front doors, I was greeted by Steve, a bouncer who I had come to know from my many nights at Winkies.
“Well, look at what the cat drug in,” he said, smiling at me mischievously.
“Yeah, and I come with friends,” I said, nodding toward Candy. “I wanted to show her some of my usual spots, even if I haven’t been to them in quite some time.”
Steve laughed a raucous laughter and then stepped out of the way, letting us inside.
“Well, welcome,” he said, shaking Candy’s hand lightly and clapping me on the back. “You’ll find that Winkie’s is a one-of-a-kind place. You’ll love it, though.”
Candy thanked him and walked inside, looking around curiously. Her wide eyes roamed the room, taking in the scene. There were some girls dancing on the bar and being loud. They were probably drunk already. I found us an empty table and ordered us some drinks. While we waited on the drinks, I tried talking to Candy. But, the music was so loud, we could barely hear each other, so we stopped trying to talk and just settled ourselves to staring back and forth at each other, smiling awkwardly. When the drinks came, we sipped them. I noticed that Candy looked bored or disappointed. I could tell that she wasn’t enjoying herself.
I knew that I had to get her out of there.
I drove across town to another one of my spots, The Palace. It was a little different from the bar crowd, but just as live. On any given night, it wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary to see fireworks outside. It was more of a place of decadence. The women there were always dressed to the nines, their hair, face, and nails always done flawlessly. Candy looked great to me, so I figured that she would fit right in.
I was wrong. She sat on the edge of her seat, her arms crossing her body self-consciously. She looked anxious and uncomfortable, like she was counting down the minutes until she could leave.
I felt like I was failing. Not only was she not impressed, but I was boring the poor girl and making her uncomfortable. I told her that we were leaving again. She looked at me, confused.
I learned a lot about Candy that night. She definitely wasn’t the party girl that I thought that she was. I was definitely surprised to find out that none of my normal spots even thrilled her a little bit. I thought of one last place to take her, a club on First Ave.
But, on our way to the club, my car caught a flat tire.
“It’s okay,” I said, trying my best to reassure Candy. “I have a spare. I can change it.”
I opened the door and got ready to get out.
“You’re going to change your tire in the dark?” asked Candy, her eyes wide with fear. “Isn’t that kind of dangerous?”
I thought about what she was saying and decided that she was probably right. But, I didn’t want to be seen as weak, like I couldn’t take care of us.
“Look, there’s a bowling alley over there,” said Candy. “Instead of trying to change your tire in the dark, why don’t we go inside of the bowling alley for a little bit and call for a ride?”
I looked at her. She looked back at me, her eyes almost pleading with me. I sighed, somewhat relieved to have a way out of having to change a tire in my best suit.
“Okay,” I said. “Only for a little while. I don’t even know where we are, really?”
Candy smiled at me and reached over, touching my cheek.
“We’re at a bowling alley, silly,” she said, laughing easily.
I couldn’t help but stare at her. I loved the way that her cheeks dimpled when she smiled. It drove me wild and turned me on. And it made me think back to the night before and how she tasted. She had tasted so good, sweet. Addicting. She’d mentioned that she was a baker, and I wondered anything that came out of her oven could possibly be as sweet and intoxicating as she was.
I turned off the car and locked the doors. We walked into the bowling alley and called
