Love At First Sit

by Ysa Arcangel

  The air was heavy with the heat and sweat of too many bodies. The further they got into the dancefloor, the sweatier and more cramped it became.

  A few minutes later, they were still laughing and dancing, and Roxanne was completely wasted.

  “Buddy, I need to pee. Sit down for a while, okay?” Wish said over her ear.

  Roxanne grinned and could only form half-coherent words as she nodded and sat back down on her chair.

  When he came back, a jackass was grinding his dick on her ass. There, in the middle of the dance floor, drunk out of her mind, Roxanne was having the time of her life.

  Another asshole came up to her and reached out with his greedy, thrill-seeking hands to try to touch her. Then, another guy with tats and piercings tried to grab her neck.

  Wish strode past the other people on the dancefloor and punched the tattooed guy in the face. He never wanted to get in a bar fight. People are always getting in bar fights. It’s such a damn cliché. He’d heard about it all the time and seen it in the motion pictures, people getting hit in the head with beer bottles and furniture…and it was happening now.

  Bodies flew over tables and across the bar. The floor became slick with sweat, blood, and spit. The drunken assholes slurred as they climbed up to their feet. A firm grip planted on their shoulders drew their attention away from Wish and to the bouncer behind them.

  The bouncer with spiky hair and muscles rippling under his shirt told them to stop. The drunkards tried to reason with him and struggled out of his grip.

  Wish pulled Roxanne away. “Oh, there you are.” Roxanne was beaming at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’ve got two minutes to...make me... forget why I’m... trying to drown myself in...alcohol. Do it or—” She was slurring. Before she could finish what she wanted to say, she passed out. Her arm fell over his shoulder as she leaned against him to keep standing up.

  Wish normally crashed at his friend’s tattoo shop where he worked as a part-time tattoo artist. The place was only a block away from the bar. He couldn’t just take Roxanne to her house in her condition.

  They arrived at the shop where his friend Kurt was still working on someone’s ass. Literally, someone was getting tattooed on the ass.

  Kurt opened the door when he saw Wish carrying Roxanne in his arms, bridal style.

  “Hey, hey, Wish! Who’s that chick?”

  He made his way in and took her upstairs. “It’s none of your business. Finish the ass job and help me ready the room. Where’s Don?”

  “He’s out, doing home service.” Kurt paused from tattooing and helped Wish ready the room for Roxanne. He threw him a teasing smile while making the bed, “Can she still keep up with you, man? She looks—”

  “Shut the fuck up!” Wish howled at him, and Kurt laughed.

  He laid the still-unconscious Roxanne on the mattress and shooed Kurt out of the room.

  Her shirt smelled like puke. He couldn’t let her sleep with it on. He decided to strip it off. He had seen lots of those in different sizes, he told himself as he carefully took off her shirt, exposing her cleavage. He stopped to look.

  Damn it! It’s just a pair of boobs, Wish! He was acting like a freak, and talking to himself.

  “Dude, I’m done with my last set. I’m going! Enjoy the night!” Kurt shouted downstairs.

  “Lock the door, Kurt!” Wish yelled back at him.

  “Someone is getting laid tonight! Woot, woot!” teased Kurt before leaving.

  It took him fifteen long minutes to carry out his task. He was all breathing hard and sweating after peeling her clothes off. At last, he removed the shirt and flung it to the floor, leaving only her bra. He wrapped a blanket around her naked body.

  Sleeping literally beside someone without touching them was going to be the first ever wholesome experience for him. Still, he needed to put a pillow in between them, or he wouldn’t know if he could carry on being this wholesome if he felt her skin.

  He flipped to his side and stared at her. Suddenly, his hand had a mind of its own. He caressed her cheek, then let his fingers slowly trail down to her lips. His breathing became heavy, feeling his fingers grazing over her warm skin.

  He started to imagine what he would create on her beautiful ivory skin. He imagined how soft her skin would feel, being so close to her. Roxanne suddenly opened her eyes and looked at him. She just smiled and snuggled closer to Wish, then went back to sleep.

  It was the longest night of his life.

  Chapter Twelve

  Close To Sobriety

  Roxanne turned over onto her back, slowly opened her heavy eyelids and stared at the white ceiling above her. A little over to the side were a few odd posters and frames. At least that’s what she thought, or she had a horrible case of double-vision. No, this was not the pink ceiling of her room.

  Without warning, images of slow dancing danced pounced around her aching mind. Odd, she thought to herself with a frown. Shaking her head, she sat up and instantly regretted it as her head swam and the images before her turned and twisted about.

  The pain was horrible. This was a clear sign that she was suffering the infamous hangover. Everything was so bright and too loud that she had to reach up to hold her head to stop the spinning.

  From what she could tell already through her warping vision was that she had no idea where the hell she was. With somewhat firm resolve, she planted her feet to the floor and attempted to stand but she just couldn’t. The last thing she needed was a headache when she already had more headaches to deal with.

  When she turned her head back, what greeted her tired eyes was a mass of messy hair and a tattooed, well-muscled arm stretched out beside her, the rest of him clad only in boxers.

  Panic slowly crept along the edges of her brain. Surely she couldn’t have been so drunk that she’d slept with a complete stranger. She couldn’t live with herself.

  With dread and shaky limbs, she crept closer to peek at his face.

  “Good morning, buddy,” he greeted groggily.

  She screamed and covered the rest of her body with sheets.

  “Wish?” Roxanne screeched to see a half-naked Wish next to her.

  “No one else.”

  “What are you doing here? Ma will kill me!”

  “Buddy, just calm down, okay? You don’t remember last night?”

  “What exactly happened last night? I’d appreciate it if you’d get out of my room now. As in right now.”

  “Your room?”

  Roxanne looked around again.

  “Where am I?”

  “Well, apparently you’re in a room where I sometimes stay, in a tattoo shop where I work part-time. You got drunk and I didn’t want to take you home like that. Not when I’m still trying to earn Tita’s trust.” Wish sat up, stood, and started to put on his pants, being anything but modest.

  Roxanne tried her best not to stare at his body, but it was defined, muscular and sexy. There were several tattoos covering his legs and arms.

  Wish glanced at her and Roxanne was quick to look away. “Where are my clothes? Did you undress me?”

  “What the hell was I supposed to do? You’d vomited on your shirt. It smelled like puke”

  That brought an even more horrifying thought. “Wish? We didn’t...you know, did we?”

  Wish just chuckled in response. “For the record, I don’t fuck unconscious girls,” he said. “It was hard to resist the urge, though,” he murmured. “Bathroom’s down the hall. I take a shower every morning… you want to take a shower with me?”

  “No thanks,” Roxanne replied flatly.

  Wish showered and Roxanne took hers eventually, but realized she didn’t have anything to wear.

  “Wish?” Roxanne called out. “Where are my clothes?”

  “Still in the wash,” Wish replied. “You can borrow some of mine, if you like.”

  “No way!” Roxanne protested.

  “My clothes or come out naked?” Wish asked behind the closed shower door.
<
br />   “You’d like that second option, wouldn’t you?” Roxanne reluctantly took the clothes Wish left for her.

  After putting on her clothes, she grabbed her bag and went down the stairs. The parlor was not too big, had three cubicles situated within five feet away from each other, no walls separating them, just curtains, and the smell of stale cigarettes. The walls were painted a shade of blood red, giving the space a primal and sexy feel. The walls were decorated with images of the tattoos they’d inked onto their patrons.

  No one noticed her at first. The place was pretty crowded and the artists were busy with clients. Roxanne examined the pictures pasted on the wall. She was amazed that this shop produced wonderful tattoo art and piercings.

  Wish found her looking at the pictures. “You want to look through some of my work?”

  Roxanne nodded and took the photo album he was holding out for her. She slowly flipped through the pages as she sat on a nearby chair. She did take notice that a vast majority of his clients had been women. That wasn’t surprising.

  “Your work is amazing, really.”

  He smiled and thanked her. “Are you interested in getting one?”

  “Oh, um...I’ve been planning to but I wouldn’t know what to get.” She handed him back the album.

  “Hey Wish, would you like to introduce us to your new girl?” A tattooed guy with metal barbs and rings in his nostrils and eyebrows shot a look at Roxanne. A crooked smirk was plastered onto his full lips and hinted that he knew every dirty little secret Wish had.

  “She’s not my girl.” Wish turned to Roxanne and said, “That’s my friend, Don. One of the owners of this shop. On his left is Kurt, and on his right is Paul. They’re brothers.” Then back to Don. “We just crashed in last night, man.”

  “Yeah, crashing in, bridal style,” Kurt whispered, a little too loud. The youngest of the brothers, who preferred to work shirtless, allowing his customers a free view of the tattoos inked across his chest, snickered.

  “I probably should get going.” Roxanne was flustered.

  “Have some coffee, at least,” Wish offered.

  Roxanne contemplated it. “Okay. I think I need it. My head still hurts.”

  His face brightened.

  Roxanne felt even more awkward when Wish led her to a cubicle and pulled the curtain. She even heard someone whistle.

  Wish stepped out to get her coffee and scowled at his friends. “Guys, stop looking at her like that, okay? She’s not a slut.”

  “I am not looking at her. I’m busy,” Paul said. He was the youngest of the Corpuz brothers, and also the public voice and face of their parlor, Tats R Us. Paul was the only one free of piercings, and had a small number of tattoos hidden under his shirt. He used his inherent charm to file permits and play nice with health inspectors. Apparently, some people were still judgmental and biased against those with visible body piercing and tattoos.

  “You were looking at her like a walking pussy,” Wish snarled. “She’s different. Show some respect.”

  Roxanne was listening to their conversation, and scrambled to sit down on the black leather chair when Wish came back with a mug of coffee and an ensaymada [13]in his hand.

  Still, her mind felt like it was wrapped thinly in cotton, and her limbs felt heavy as her blood pulsed sluggishly through her veins.

  “Sorry about my friends. They’re assholes, but they can be nice too. They are just not used to having a stranger here,” he explained as he sat next to her.

  “It’s okay. Thank you.” Roxanne received the coffee and took a sip. “Nothing beats drinking coffee after being drunk to sober you up.”

  “That’s not true, actually. Coffee cannot sober you up. It’s just an illusion by tricking your mind into thinking you’re closer to sobriety.”

  “Still, it tastes heavenly.” Roxanne shrugged. “Where are my clothes? I can’t go home with your shirt on.”

  “I already asked Kurt’s wife to get it from the laundry shop. She’ll be here by noon to bring lunch.”

  “Lunch? I can’t wait ‘til lunch; the kids will be looking for me!”

  “Okay, I’ll text Jess to come early.” Wish grabbed his phone and sent a quick text to Kurt’s wife.

  “Thank you.” she took another sip and placed her mug on the nearby table. “Excuse me.” She took out her phone and made a quick phone call to her mother to let her know she was fine and to make sure her children were okay. “So what happened at the bar last night? I got so drunk, I don’t remember anything,” she asked as she sat back in the leather seat.

  “Well, I left you for a minute to pee, and you went ahead and danced so sexy that you almost stripped your clothes off, and then some random assholes try to dirty dance with you.”

  “What the…?”

  “One came and grabbed your shoulder, the other came and grabbed your waist, then ground on your ass. That’s the time I came and knocked the hell out of them.”

  “Oh, gosh...” She shook her head, covering her face with her hand. “No, that’s not me. I don’t actually do that stuff.”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t think less of you. Every good girl has a bad night.”

  “I’m not a ‘good girl’. Besides, good girls are bad girls that never get caught, and please, don’t sing it.” Roxanne buried her face in her hand from mortification.

  Wish chuckled. She couldn’t hold back the smile that crept to her lips.

  “So you are my hero, then?” She took another sip of coffee.

  “You’re welcome,” he replied.

  “Hey, Wish!” Paul called.

  “I’ll be back in a minute.” Wish pulled back the curtain and stepped out of the cubicle. He came back with clean clothes and handed them to her. “Here, go ahead and change.”

  “Thank you.” Roxanne took them. He remained, watching her. “Are you going to stand there and watch me change?”

  “You know what? I might just.”

  “Funny,” she smirked. “If you end up with a stye you are not blaming me.” Roxanne’s voice was playfully stern.

  “Fine,” he sighed. “I’ll wait outside. Just tell me whenever you feel like going.”

  “Wish, thank you.” She smiled gratefully. “Thanks for listening to me last night and not taking advantage of me when I was drunk.”

  Wish nodded. “The struggle was real, though.”

  They shared a laugh before Wish disappeared and gave her some privacy to change.

  ***

  “Thanks for the ride,” an appreciative Roxanne said as she stepped out of Wish’s car. Shutting the door behind her, Roxanne smiled at Wish, who had stepped out of the driver’s seat.

  “Don’t mention it.” Wish waved a hand dismissively.

  So maybe she was worried over nothing...always overthinking. But the more time she spent with him and the less thinking she did, she realized the only thing keeping her from truly being happy was the idea that it might not work out.

  She blinked up at him through her thick, dark eyelashes. If she kept looking at him like that, she knew she might end up doing something stupid.

  Every time she thought it would be easier if they just stayed friends, a force within her teetered on the edge of wanting something more.

  “About the trip to Baguio, the kids were actually the ones who brought that up. But if you’re busy or have to work, no pressure,” she explained lamely.

  “I’m willing to drop everything. Just say the word.”

  Roxanne thought he was joking, but his face was serious.

  She held her breath, standing close to him when her mom suddenly opened the gate to her house.

  “Ging! I was so worried about you.”

  Roxanne watched her mother’s expression, searching for signs of anger, but she was only concerned.

  “We...Wish and I...hung out after my shift at the call center. We just talked, ate, hung out...” Roxanne was a stammering mess. She looked anxiously back and forth from her mom and to Wish, as if asking him to back
her up on her alibi. “Right, Wish?”

  “Ah, yeah. Sorry, Tita, we should have—”

  “It’s okay. I feel better now that I know nothing bad happened.”

  “I’m really sorry, Ma, that I got you worried.”

  “I started accusing your bastard ex of you missing. Well, your old lady had to know.” She watched her daughter’s face turn scarlet.

  Roxanne sighed. “I’m sorry about that. When she’s worried she’ll blame anyone for what happened,” she told Wish.

  He nodded.

  “Time for some coffee?” Roxette asked.

  “Always,” said Roxanne.

  “Come in, hijo,” Roxette stepped back from the gate and gestured for Wish to follow her inside the house.

  “Wish,” Roxanne called. “Stay for lunch.”

  Wish’s lip curved into a smile. “I’d love to.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Weekend to Remember

  Seven hours and a few stopovers later, they arrived in Baguio, the summer capital of the country, to experience the chilly weather and enjoy a respite from the sweltering heat in Manila.

  Wish was already waiting at the bus station when they arrived.

  Originally, he’d offered for them to stay at his family’s house, but Roxanne had refused, not wanting to be an inconvenience. Apparently, Wish’s family owned a few transient homes in La Trinidad. He offered one for a low cost that was almost free, which Roxette gladly accepted.

  They started their tour at the early hour of eight A.M., visiting the Baguio Cathedral to thank God they’d reached such a beautiful place safely before heading on their day tour.

  They went to the scenic Mines View, bought jars of peanut brittle, orange marmalade, and strawberry jams that came from the Good Shepherd Sisters’ convent, and posed in front of The Mansion.

  The kids rode the ponies painted in different colors at Wright Park. From there, they had a fun time picture-taking with the elders of an Igorot tribe, and had a chance dressing up as an Igorot in the Botanical Gardens.