One Swinging Summer (3 page)

As I walk toward the dance floor I see a friend of mine, Gary James. I half hug him hello, trying not to spill our drinks, and then visit with him for a few minutes. As he introduces me to his new girlfriend, I remember the night I first met him.

I had been hanging out with a group of the regulars, and they had been laughing about one of their latest exploits that involved using their 'bar names.' When one of them would be in a situation in which they did not want to use their real names for whatever reason, they would use the name Gary. All three of them. Just usually not all in the same night. The story they were telling was about the one night that they all three used the name Gary. And then all three of them, with the girls that they were messing with in tow, ended up at the same table at the same time.

So after I had walked away from hearing the Gary, Gary and Gary story, I had gone to the bar, struck up a conversation with a man while in line, and he, of course, introduced himself as Gary James. I laughed at him and said, "Bullshit." Well, that confused him thoroughly.

By this time we were at the front of the line, side by side, standing before Lana, who couldn't help but hear our conversation. I said, "Everyone knows Gary is your bar name. What is your real name?" He still stated it was "Gary." Thankfully he was being a good sport, because I said, "Prove it, let me see some ID."

At this point Lana jumps in, while making both of our drinks without either of us having to order, and says, "I can vouch for him, he really is a Gary." Gary actually pulls out his driver's license and shows me, while sheepishly saying, "The Gary part is real, but my last name isn't James. That's just a joke that stuck, everyone calls me Gary James." So, I was half right. Gary James wasn't his real name, but Gary was.

Gary James' new girlfriend was kind enough to lend him to me for one dance. Afterward, I returned him back to where I'd found him, picked up my drink, and headed off to meet more friends.

It was a fun night. I was on the dance floor more than I was off, and was generally just having a good time. We had a decent size group standing just off of the dance floor. The spot was perfect- halfway between the bar and the dance floor. Lots of traffic passing through, saying hello. And lots of people coming by, grabbing us, and pulling us out to dance.

I rejoined the group after one such dance. I picked my drink up from the table and took a sip. As I looked past one of my girlfriends, I saw him. I felt my breath catch in my throat. He really is tall. He was looking at me, too. After a few stunned heartbeats, I saw him jerk his head toward the dance floor while still holding my gaze.

I'm not sure I would have recognized him if I had been looking for him, he looked different out of uniform. But when his eyes were locked on mine as he held out his hand, I knew exactly who he was. My stomach did a slow little flip, and my hand raised toward him of its own accord. My face must have changed because my friend's eyebrows raised, and she gave me that 'this is new' look as I allowed Charming to lead me to the dance floor.

It was a slow song, of course, and once we reached the dance floor and I was facing him, he smiled a devilish little half-grin as he used my hand that he was holding to pull me close to him, right up against his chest. He wrapped his other arm around my waist, and pressed me even tighter as we started to dance.

"I remember this chest," I thought as we danced. It was almost as large and barrel shaped as it had been with his bullet-proof vest on. He had me pulled tight, and kind of tucked into him, so I really couldn't look at him without cranking my head back. I watched the people around us instead. I couldn't tell you who, or what, I saw though, because I was too busy just trying to breathe.

He felt so good. I fit into him perfectly, and he moved really well. As we rotated a bit, I saw my girlfriend watching us, the one he had taken me from. I spoke to her with my eyes, widening them in a 'holy crap' way. She just grinned back at me, sucking on her straw. She gave me a thumbs up and an eyebrow wiggle. Some help she was.

I think one song may have moved into two, I'm not really sure. He had yet to say anything to me. He had found me, asked me to dance, held me close for many minutes, and had yet to even speak. It was probably a good thing, because I wasn't sure I could hold a conversation this close to him anyway. Where was the genial, friendly, rib-elbowing guy from the golf cart with the laughing eyes? The guy who was easy to flirt with and walk away from? And where did this quietly demanding, I knew you would join me, devilishly grinning man come from?

"I looked for you last week." He finally stated.

"I wasn't here."

"Yeah, I noticed." He said wryly, looking down at me.

"You looked for me, huh? Funny, I never gave you a second thought."

"Uh huh," he grunted as the music changed. The beat got a little faster, and he changed his tempo to go with it. He stepped forward a bit, slid his leg in between mine, and pulled me just a hair tighter as he led me into a turn. Damn, it is so sexy when a man knows how to lead. He didn't say anything else, just continued to twirl me around on the dance floor. He was masterful, moving in a take charge fashion that made him so easy to follow. I couldn't have spoken even if I had wanted to. The dance had become so sensual, my body just flowed with him. We were speaking to each other all right, just not verbally.

I had always kept a distance with dance partners before. If not an actual physical distance, then a mental one. But not this time. There wasn't an inch of us that wasn't touching, from knee to chest, and for the first time I saw why some people claimed that dancing was a form of foreplay. It had always been pure exercise before this dance.

He moved and spun, pressing and pulling against me, knowing exactly where to put pressure either with his hand, a hip, or with his leg between mine, to get me to counter him perfectly. I never wanted this dance to end.

When the song did end, it morphed into a hard-driving, fast song. We came to a stop, still pressed against each other, breathing heavily. 'Right, no flailing with abandon for this one,' I remembered. We separated from each other, and with a 'bet you will give THAT a second thought' smirk, he took my hand and led me off the dance floor.

Without a word, he led me back to my friends. He dropped me off beside my drink, gave me a small nod, a wink, and he left. I grabbed my drink as a life-line to hang on to, turned toward the dance floor so I could pretend to be watching all the dancers, and tried to figure out what in the hell had just happened.

"What the hell was that?" My thumbs-up friend echoed my thoughts exactly.

"What? It was just a dance." I said back too quickly, to myself as much as to her.

"Just a dance my ass, that was hot. Where did he come from?"

"I'm not sure. He has a habit of just turning up out of nowhere."

After a few minutes, I noticed that I had been sucking on an empty drink. "Yeah, I wonder where my brain is," I thought sarcastically, and headed to the bar to get another. I found myself taking the long way, slowly, weaving my way through people so I could look for Charming without looking like I was looking for Charming.

I didn't see him anywhere. As I stood in line for a drink, I made mental plans to go back to my table the other way, so I could not look for Charming on that side of the bar next. While Lana made my drink, I found myself visiting with Gary James and his girlfriend again for a few minutes. As my eyes flitted over people, I finally caught a glimpse of him. A few tables off to the left of the front door, he was standing and laughing at something one of the guys at the table was saying.

I was able to watch him for a few minutes unnoticed. He was with a small group- a man and a woman wearing wedding rings with their arms around each other, another man and woman, they looked like they might be together as well, but more awkwardly, like it was a first date or something. There were also two girls and another guy, sitting at another table that looked like it had been pushed together to be closer to their table. The numbers looked even, a girl to each guy, but it didn't look like Charming was spending a lot of attention on any one female. He would bend down and speak into their ears, but it looked friendly, like he was just trying to be heard over the loud music, and not like he had left a date over here to come dance with me.

I got my drink from Lana, turned to say a 'see ya later' to Gary, and glanced over one more time at Charming before I headed back to my table. As I watched him tell what looked to be a funny story to his own table, his eyes flicked over them and met mine. He never broke in telling his story, he kept on talking, using some kind of hand motions to illustrate what he was saying, but as he spoke his eyes never left mine. I felt a jolt of electricity shoot down through my body as he looked at me, it ran right through my stomach, setting the butterflies aflutter, and settled somewhere deep in my groin.

I was the one who finally broke eye contact. I turned and wound my way back to my table, unsteady on my feet. 'This should probably be my last drink,' I thought to myself as I walked. Yeah, like that was the problem.

I danced and visited some more, but I was always looking past everyone. I felt sorry for those I was talking to, because my full attention was mentally on a table by the front door. I kept scanning the crowd, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. When I danced, I looked over my partner's shoulders as we circled, hoping I would catch him watching me on the dance floor. I did see him once or twice, from a distance, and he danced by me once, on the floor with one of the two single girls from his table. They were smiling and laughing as they danced, and they had a few inches of space between them, I noticed. Not like the way he danced with me.

It was an odd night, I'm not used to being ignored. Usually out here, when you know a man is interested in you, they stick around. Usually a little too much. They buy you drinks, talk to you, dance with you, and try to get a kiss out of you. Or at least a phone number. Not this guy.

But somehow I was more aware of Charming than I had ever been of anyone else. And I longed to dance with him again, but I'd be damned if I'd go looking for him. I had a feeling that was exactly what he wanted, me to seek him out. I was determined not to fold. To come and get me the way he did, to dance with me in that sexy, sensual, we-are-the-only-people-in-this-bar way that he did, and then to just leave me to simmer in my own juices. Oh no, I am not going to go chasing after him like some lost puppy looking for a treat.

I put him out of my mind the best I could, determined not to let his presence effect me any more than it already had. A while later I ran into a familiar face. I saw an ex boyfriend in the crowd and went to say hi. We didn't date long, we figured out pretty quickly that we made great buddies, but beyond that there just wasn't much between us in the way of chemistry. I had introduced him to this bar, and only ran into him here occasionally, so it really was a pleasure to see him.

He must have thought the same about me because when I came up behind him and smacked him in the back, he turned around ready to say 'watch it dude,' but when he saw it was me just messing with him, he yelled out a loud, "Well, hot damn," bent down, wrapped his arms around my waist and stood up again, lifting me off of my feet in a big, friendly, bear hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck, half in greeting and half just to hang on. In this position he grinned at me and asked, "So how have you been?"

"Great, Jimmy." I answered him, grinning right back. "How about you?"

"I'm getting married," was his response, with an even bigger grin.

I let go with one arm and used it to smack him again, this time on his shoulder. "You are not."

"I am, next week. That's why we are here, bachelor party. I promised her no strippers."

"Well put me down so I can breathe and come tell me about her."

He and I headed over to the only little alcove in the bar where the music doesn't quite reach as loudly, and you can actually hold a conversation. A loud conversation, because you still have to yell above the music some, but still. The alcove was toward the front of the bar, to the right of the door, even in line with Charming's table, but against the other wall. Oh well, it really was the only place to talk, other than to go outside.

As he was filling me in on his fiancé, at first I kept shooting glances over at Charming, but I soon got involved in Jimmy's story. He had met her through a friend of a friend, and she sounded really sweet. I could tell Jimmy was totally smitten, and I was overjoyed for him. He really is just a big, sweet teddy bear, and I was glad that he found someone and was this happy.

As our conversation was wrapping up and he was telling me to save him a dance tonight, I saw Charming out of the corner of my eye. I told Jimmy that of course, any dance he wanted was his, and looked over to watch Charming. He was heading our way. I mean directly toward us, not just in our general direction. He had a drink in each hand, and had me in his sights. I watched him get closer and closer, his eyes locked on mine. I stopped talking and just stared into his eyes as he stopped right in front of us. In front of me, actually. He gave no indication that he even saw Jimmy. I took a deep breath as my tummy did funny things again.

He did not say a word, but he put his drink down on the table beside me, and took my empty drink from my hand. His fingers brushed mine in the process, causing my heart to stop for a beat or two. He put the second drink he had been carrying into my now empty hand, picked his own drink back up off of the table, gave me another wink, and walked away. All without saying a word. I watched him as he walked away. He went by the bar, dropped my empty drink off, and then went calmly back to his table. When he got there, he looked over at me while standing in the midst of his friends, both single girls included. He raised his eyebrows, and his drink, in a toast. He smiled his shit-eating grin and took a drink, his eyes locked firmly on mine.

I tried not to smile back, but it was hard. Instead, as I kept eye contact with him, I raised my glass back at him, and sipped the drink he had brought me. Well I'll be damned, Jameson and Coke. At that, I did smile back at him, but I was feeling the warmth of this encounter creep up my neck and onto my face, making me flush with both pleasure and embarrassment, and quickly dropped my eyes and looked away.