exactly a fan of kids. However it seemed that the kids really liked her. ”Strange” she thought and other always commented that it was because the kids felt she was a good person
“What bullshit” was Carol’s expert opinion about this topic.
“I get it, but they will get on your nerves soon, I know you. So will we be seeing each other on the weekend and go out like the old days?” asked Natalie.
“And will your husband let you go out?” Carol said back.
“Of course he will and he is not my husband. We live together for only a week”, Natalie laughed “it is still early for him to give me crap about something, since he knows I would tell him to fuck off”, she said.
“Ok, ok, we will talk soon and I already have a date on Friday. Remember?” Carol laughed and gave Natalie a kiss in the cheek. She got out of the car with a sweet wave, and ran into the house to avoid getting wet from the rain.
Chapter 3: Friday night
Friday came too soon. Carol wasn’t at all excited about tonight’s date. To her all that mattered is that she had something planned, she won’t get bored, and of course it is something new. She wanted to relax, because the last two days she spent with her parents who were slowly coming to those years where they started to behave like really demanding children. She burned from the desire for a drink. The process of getting ready was quick, and while applying on make-up she thought how good it was that he was the one who called first today, just as she had expected. It did sound a bit odd when he suggested they meet at his place first. She wanted to avoid embarrassing situations; technically she didn’t know the guy! Their first reunion after many years is at a gasoline station for crying out loud! To be safe she set up a meeting in the nearby cafe. They were hanging out in the same circle of friend a few times, and yes as she remembered later he was a one night stand from one of her friends. Well, fuck it, he was handsome and she was really bored.
“I just hope he hasn’t changed that much, and that he isn’t fat as Natalie had mentioned. Well it doesn’t matter. What is wrong with me, I am going just for the company, so I won’t drink alone at the bar”, thought Carol.
When she arrived at the cafe, she looked at her watch and realized that she was around twenty minutes late. “Well, better me than him”, she thought, since it was more acceptable for the man to wait. The cafe was full of people which surprised her. It was noisy and stuffy. She stopped at the entrance, and thought how she was ever going to find him in this crowd. Unknown faces turned their heads when she started to push through to the inside of the cafe. In that crowd she noticed a few familiar faces, and some of them nodded their head discreetly, unsure if she was going to nod back. Carol just smiled showing off her perfectly straight white teeth. Her smile was definitely one of her strongest assets — she is aware of that and used it quite often. She passed through the whole cafe but didn’t notice him anywhere. She stopped and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She put one in her mouth and looked down in search for a lighter. A that moment an already familiar deep sexy voice said “Good evening” and lights up her cigarette. It was Chris with a broad smile on his face.
“Hey,” said Natalie, “what a crowd, huh?” She recognized him immediately. He hasn’t changed much- hi full and red lips were still there. Blue eyes with long eyelashes, brown half long haircut. Perfect nose, cheekbones, forehead, “he looks like he just walked out of a Lacoste or United colors of Benetton commercial”, thought Carol. He had that genuine handsomeness that was rare with men. Had she ordered him from Mother Nature, and gave her a sketch of what the man should look like he wouldn’t have looked better. He was tall but what fascinated her more was the perfectly toned body underneath the white T-shirt. “He has the body of a model.” What was Natalie talking about? No, he didn’t get fat at all! In fact, now looks better than ever!!! He is almost perfect.” thought Carol. She was definitely quite surprised.
“What did you say?” Chris tried to speak louder than the music “I can’t hear you.”
“What a crow! Sorry for being late”, yelled Carol.
“No problem, let’s go and sit down, there is a table free”, said Chris and she followed.
Almost half hour passed until a waitress showed up. They had already gone through all the polite questions: so where have you been, what you do, how are you and every other small talk that you could imagine on a first date. He was nice from the very beginning because the conversation ran smoothly, and although he was one of those people who left a sense of less worthiness at a first glance, he sounded very down to earth. In fact he was totally oblivious to the way he looked.
“Nice”, Carol thought. When the waitress finally showed up Carol ordered a double Bailey’s, and he a shot of Chivas. She enjoyed her drink, looking at Chris who was very talkative. The waitress turned red and giggled exchanging a few words with him. Carol noticed glances of women from other tables that admired him from afar. It was the first time in her long year experience of dating that her date was more attractive, and she sadly had to admit to herself, even more attractive than her. He was really getting a lot of attention- maybe even too much. Carol didn’t mind, because she learned to be the center of attention herself and now she finally knew how the man that dated her felt. They were proud to be seen in her company. She felt the same way now. Everyone in the cafe considered them interesting. Some of her old high school friends sat at the table next to them. She could hear their jealous comments; their faces were giving them away.
The new round of drinks arrived and from the whole atmosphere Carol started to feel more and more relaxed. She also felt determined. Chris discreetly ordered new rounds of drinks and Carol found herself laughing at all his jokes. Everything became fun and exciting. It was like he had some extra positive energy that affected everyone around him, especially her. The music was loud enough to be the reason of her constantly getting her chair closer to his. Every time he would talk she leaned into him and could feel his breath on her ear. Yes, they were definitely flirting, she thought. Some of his friends came along and Carol politely met them. She didn’t remember their names, she didn’t even acknowledge them that much, she just smiled and Chris smiled with her.
“Oh, that is the girl you were running off to”, one of his friends said and Carol kept thinking how she wanted them to be alone. After a few exchanged sentences his friends moved to the bar and Chris and Carol continued their word play. The drinks kept coming at their table from all sides and Carol felt reaching her drink limit, so she decided to stop while she was only just cheerful. They spent an hour or two in the cafe when one of them commented how stuffy and crowded it became. Carol wasn’t sure who changed the topic but they both decided they wanted to leave.
“Should we continue this party back at my place?”, “Chris asked. Carol thought about what that meant. Is this an invite for sex? Otherwise she would be offended but she had to take into consideration that Chris didn’t know her at all. Since she was a bit tipsy she asked, “Well I would like to get out of the cafe, for some alone time but that depends what you consider fun?” she laughed.
“You smoke?” he asked intriguingly.
“As you can see, I do”, she answered.
“So do you want to smoke something for relaxing?” Chris asked smilingly.
Carol smoked weed back in college, every student did. Alcohol and drugs was a common thing. But that was a long time ago.
“Oh. Why not? Cool.” Carol spontaneously answered and felt very young, very open and all of this reminded her of her young carefree days. She decided to let go.
They slowly put on their jackets. He went to say goodbye to his friends at the bar and she used that opportunity to go to the bathroom. She chatted with an unknown girl that was waiting in the line. Talking to people she did not know was a sign for Carol that she was either tipsy or in a very good mood. When she got back Chris waited patiently with his guys at the bar and gave her the gentlest look in the world like she was the most important person in the universe. Carol felt foolish and couldn’t resist going to say hi to those jealous old friends; just to be sure they saw her leaving with him.
“God, I am being mean”, she thought.
When they left the cafe Carol gave them that look “Yes you are seeing clearly, I am going with him, so eat your heart out.”
