Rebound (4 page)

“
I miss dancing with you
too. We’ll dance together at your wedding. I get the third dance.”
I said.

“
The third
dance?”

“
Yeah. Turner gets the
first. Your mom gets the second. And I get the third. Not your
sister. Me.” I poke him on the chest and rose up to give him a kiss
on the cheek. “I take it you’re here to work out.”

“
Yeah. I still have to
keep my girlish figure.” He patted his nonexistent
belly.

I smirked, “Ugh. I hate you.” I winked
and he laughed. “I’m going home to catch up on sleep.”

“
You’re still working
seven jobs?”

“
Carson, I have four. And
yes. I am. I had to buy my freedom from dickhead, so I have to work
to live and pay off my debts. But I’m thinking of quitting the Inn
when I get the full time position here. I’m still on probation with
reduced hours. I’m just not sure if I can leave Alice and Ross. I
owe them so much and the Inn is doing so well. I’d hate for it to
regress.” I said. I grabbed my things and turned off the stereo
system. We walked toward the exit.

“
Just take it easy. I know
you need to work to live, but you need to relax too. Stress can
make you sick.” He took my hand in his and walked out holding
hands. I felt like a school girl being led from class by the school
jock.

“
I intend to take it
easier soon. I like working here and teaching a couple of fitness
classes. I get to spend time with Chelz. I’ll get to see you more
around here when you get the job.”

“
If I get the job. I don’t
want to jinx it.”

“
Okay, ‘if’. Dancers are
so damn superstitious.” I bump him with my hip.

When we arrived at the entrance of the
women’s locker room, right beside the men’s locker room, we hugged
once more. He pulled away and said, “I love you, Perlz.” In that
moment, Dashing walked out of the men’s locker room. He glanced
over at us, and we locked eyes. He straightened his posture and I
could see the muscles on his jaw tense. While he walked slowly
away, his gaze turned away from me as he adjusted his backpack on
his shoulder.

I felt a twinge of guilt when I
responded, “I love you too, Carse.” Carson gave me a kiss on the
cheek. Dashing was still close enough to hear my response. I turned
to walk away and cursed the God’s for the timing. I was gutted that
I didn’t have a chance to greet Dashing. I would’ve liked to have
heard his deep voice once more. I’ve dreamed about getting a smile
out of him. I couldn’t help but want more, imagine more, and need
more.

I went home. I thought about Dr.
Dashing once again as I touched all the places where his large
hands trailed on my body, and I caressed the other places where I
wanted him to touch. Instead of feeling gratification, I felt more
empty and alone, needing something more to fill the void. ‘Who
knows, I might get lucky on Friday night’, I reasoned.

On
Friday, most of the girls met at Duration after our shift ended.
Chelz and I showered, changed, and did our hair and makeup in the
locker room. Patty and Marta were already waiting at the front desk
area. We were going to meet Keta and Darby at the restaurant
because they were to make sure our table was ready.

We decided to eat at a great
restaurant in the South End; a Chinese, Caribbean fusion,
“Cocorico”, created by family of Marta who were Puerto Rican of
Chinese descent. The food was fabulous and I refused to stuff
myself because my tight green dress was not stretchy enough for
bloat. I made a mental note to return in the future, even if it was
a splurge. I paid the bill with money that the five bridesmaids
pooled to pay for dinner, transportation, and the expense of drinks
at the club.

We all climbed in the Limo and
chatted on the drive to Lumiere. The excitement was intoxicating.
The girls opened up a bottle of champagne and started passing
flutes filled with the bubbly treat. I took one sip in a toast, but
I decided that I wouldn’t drink at dinner, but would imbibe at the
club.

It was a bit chilly out as we
exited the limo and walked to the entrance. I wrapped my shawl
around my face covering up from the biting night. It was our great
fortune to have been listed on the VIP list at the club entrance
and reserved seating at a VIP lounge. Darby’s sister works for the
management team of the club owners.

We went right through and were
greeted by one of the associates, whom walked us to the coat check.
The six of us shrugged out of our trench coats. We kept our shawls
in case the club was cold with the piped in air. I held onto my
sparkly clutch and linked arms with Keta. She and I are usually
connected at the hip when we’ve gone dancing. We were lead to the
reserved lounge area. The club was loud with the upbeat music. The
lighting was dark with lots of wavy, multicolored lights randomly
spotlighting sections of the club and its many dancers. Even at
this early hour of ten, it was filled with dancers, drinkers and
gazers standing by the bar.

The lounge area was a large,
semicircle sectional couch with a center table. The oval center
table was made of wood outlined by thick glass. It looked like a
stage, great for dancing. I pointed it out to Chelz and winked.
“No”, she mouthed while waving her hands. I nodded and I mockingly
ran my tongue over my upper lip. We broke out in
laughter.

I decided to wait until we were
all sufficiently inebriated. I don’t drink often, but tonight was
going to be a change from my boring routine. I’d been waiting for
two years to celebrate the end of Chelz’s single status. I was
going to drink, dance, and if I attracted the attention of a hot
guy, I was going to allow myself to do naughty things with
him.

The waitress took our drink order
for bottle service. We ordered tequila and something fruity and
feminine as well. I looked around the club to people watch. Mostly,
a lot of men were milling about, generally in packs, holding their
drinks and staring at the women dancing. Our girl code was not to
make eye contact with the male beasts for they will stampede and
ask for a dance or to buy a drink, or claiming that he found ‘the
one’. Mostly, a man in the club wants a good fuck and hopes she’s
drunk enough to at least give him head. The women were clustered in
groups of at least three, and they scanned the room for potential
mates. Usually they turn away suitors just because there’s a creep
factor in meeting a mate at a club. Women will dance with each
other seductively because it’s safer, seductive, and ego
boosting.

I pulled Darby and Keta up to
dance around the center table. I wasn’t yet ready to climb up the
table to dance. I’d have to get a few drinks in me to loosen up
enough to make a spectacle of myself. The DJ seamlessly mixed a
variety of hip hop, electronic, disco and reggaeton
music.

Our drinks arrived and were set
down on the center table, the bottle and the shot glasses were
placed at the end of the couch on a side table. We all took our
martini glasses and offered ‘cheers’, clinking our glasses together
and drinking. As I took a sip and swayed to the music, I turned to
take a look at the club. I saw a group of four men walking to an
empty lounge area four stations away. They were all really
handsome, but the last man was familiar. He had been in my
fantasies for the last few days. Dr. Dashing. He sat at the end of
the couch and crossed his leg. He seemed so relaxed, smiling and
laughing with his friends. I was stunned in place.

The waitress walked over and took
their order. After she walked away to fill their order, he looked
around the club. As his view turned toward our direction, I turned
around and whispered to Keta that Doctor Dashing was seated
straight ahead at twelve o’clock. Keta looked and smiled,
immediately turned to Darby and told her. Darby beamed and walked
over to Chelz who was sitting on the couch talking to Patty and
Marta. She bent over and whispered. Chelz immediately popped her
eyes up and looked over to see Dashing, and she proceeded to tell
both Patty and Marta, whom whipped their necks to the location
where he sat. Could it have been more obvious? I was sure that he
felt all eyes on him coming from the desperate bridal party
directly before him.

I dared not look and continued
drinking and dancing with my back away from him. He wouldn’t
recognize me anyway. Besides, a hot guy like him is sure to have a
girlfriend. Sure enough, Keta leaned into my ear and told me that
three women approached his lounge area, and that one of them sat
beside him, which confirmed my suspicion that he was attached. My
hopes for a sexual encounter with Dashing plummeted in that
instant. I dared not look at him for fear that tears would well up
in my eyes and I’d run out in a jealous rage, which makes
absolutely no sense because there was no cause for
jealousy.

Curiosity got the better of me,
and I turned to look at them. There was a very pretty blonde woman
seated next to him. She was Amazonian: tall and slender, wearing a
red shimmery dress. I felt a pang of disappointment. I’d hoped that
after a few drinks, I’d summon the courage to go up to him and at
least say ‘hi’. It was a moot point now that I saw him sit close to
the Blonde, and watched as he put his lips close to her ear to
talk.

I leaned into Keta and said, “No
one that hot would be single.” I shrugged and continued
dancing.

We poured each other shots. I
downed mine, and felt the burn down my chest, warming me all over.
My nipples pearled as the liquid tingled and heated my body. I
placed my shot glass on the table. The music moved me to dance,
shaking and swaying my hips. When I felt a strong grip at my elbow,
I hoped it was Dashing. However, the hand wasn’t the soft, large
hands that I remember touching my legs and my hips. When I turned
to face the man, my face became serious. He stood at about five
feet, six inches, which is my height in bare feet. I stood over him
with my four inch platform heels. I looked down at him. He wasn’t
unattractive, but definitely wasn’t my type. He wasn’t enough to
leave my girls for a drink or a dance.

“Can I buy you a drink?” He
asked.

“No, thank you. I’m sorry. This is
girls’ night out and we aren’t here to mingle with anyone else.
Have a great night.” I said without a hint of a smile.

“Oh, come one. Can I just have a
dance?” He persisted.

“No, thank you. If you will excuse
us, this is a private party.” My tone slightly less patient, but
still maintaining my cool, I turned around and continued dancing
with Keta and Darby. I didn’t see if he walked away, but the girls’
eyes coming back to me told me that he left.

The girls poured another round of
shots. Within a few minutes, the waitress came back with another
round of martini glasses filled with a light green drink. We raised
our glasses in honor of the bride to be, and took a drink. I took a
sip and put mine down. I asked Keta and Darby if they wanted to go
to the dance floor. They nodded in excitement. Darby led the way,
each of us holding hands in a chain toward the stairs that led to
the dance floor. As I approached the stairs, I looked over to the
lounge area where Dashing and his friends were sitting. To my
surprise, he was looking in our direction, and I could detect an
acknowledging grin. I extended a soft smile, nothing more, knowing
he was there with someone made me resist the urge to flirt. I ran
my hand over my hair and pulled it over my shoulder; an act of
security that I’ve done over the years when I’m nervous.

I looked down to take the stairs
and walked with the girls. As I walked down, I felt a hand tug at
my waist, pulling me around. I looked and saw that the hand was
attached to a handsome man with big muscles underneath his tight
shirt. I couldn’t help but think that he spent most of his time at
the gym and held very little interest in anything but weight
lifting, beer, and sex. He must have a small penis, I
deduced.

“You’re hot. Dance with
me.”

I looked him up and down with
irritation. “Is that a command or a question? Because I’m not going
to accept either.” I pulled myself away.

I continued to walk with my girls
to the floor. We danced through a couple of songs. Men that were
already dancing with girls came over to us and tried to grind
behind us. We moved away from each random man that thought we were
desperate to feel his penis on our asses.

Once the song changed to a slower
Reggae beat, which usually beckons a man to grind into a woman’s
ass, we walked away from the dance floor to sit with Chelz and the
rest of the girls. The walk back to our lounge area was no easier.
I was asked for a dance, offered drinks, grabbed by the hips, and a
marriage proposal was thrown in. I no longer wondered why I refused
to go dancing. A woman can’t have fun without being approached
aggressively. My extreme annoyance at being groped put my blinders
up as I walked up the stairs and I didn’t even look over at
Dashing.

When we arrived at the table, we
found water for us to drink. It was very much needed after dancing
in a mass of overheated and horny people. We sat and talked loudly
in each other’s ears. I drank half the bottle and then took a few
sips of the green appletini that I’d left on the table.

After ingesting so much liquid, I
asked the girls to come with me to the restroom. Keta offered to go
with me. I grabbed my clutch and I took her hand and led the way.
As we passed by Dashing’s lounge, he looked up at me and gave me
the most heart stopping smile, and the affect was duly noted by the
pulse in my clit. I smiled back. I noted that his date and the
other women were not seated on the couch. Dashing was talking to a
guy that stopped speaking as soon as he saw me and his eyes took
time to take in my image. His face became rather serious as I
walked by. I felt a chill and lowered my head to watch the path I
was walking.