by Alison Mello
Liam stops short and looks excitedly at the building next to us. We seem to have arrived at Eden Bar, a local gay bar. The last couple of times the boys managed to drag me in there, they creased themselves laughing as I got hit on more than once. I laugh as Liam links arms with both Jason and me and drags us in for a drink.
***
We got home kind of late, but we had an awesome night in the end. I’m paying the price for it now though. With double vision and a splitting headache, I’m glad I don’t have to work today. Saturdays are made for lying in and eating a good old fry-up. Jase is in the kitchen cooking as I head to pour myself some coffee.
“Hey bro, fresh coffee in the pot. The bacon is frying and breakfast will be ready when Liam gets out of the shower in about ten minutes. Sound good?”
“Mm-hmm,” I mumble as I reach for the coffee pot. I love the smell of freshly brewed coffee. Even more so when I’m hungover and I know I’ll drink a ton of the stuff as black as treacle.
I like to think I’m in good shape, I eat well and I look after myself. But I’m not going to deny myself a fry-up now and again, especially one that’s being cooked for me. I sit at the kitchen island and listen to my brother humming as he putters about the kitchen. He passes me a tall glass of filtered water from the jug in the fridge and pulls a packet of paracetamol from the drawer. He places two tablets on the island. I am only too happy to down them with a gulp of cold water.
It’s nice sitting in the relative silence of the kitchen, waiting for my head to clear and drinking coffee like it’s going out of fashion.
Liam walks into the room wearing the same clothes as the night before. He looks over at me and nods before walking up behind Jase and wrapping his arms round him.
“Morning, gorgeous,” Jase says as he turns to kiss Liam.
“Morning. Smells delicious,” he responds with a smile.
“Sit down, it’s all ready.”
Jase plates three breakfasts up and puts the coffee pot in the middle of the table.
We finish breakfast and Liam loads the dishwasher. I’m told I smell and should really hit the shower, so that’s exactly what I do.
***
Her gorgeous blonde hair and sultry blue-green gaze are what I see as I close my eyes under the steady jet of steaming hot water. I feel myself begin to stiffen as an image comes to mind of her in a bikini she wore on one of our many trips to the beach that summer. Her face is alight with amusement, she’s mouthing words I can no longer hear, but I can see her soft, heart-shaped mouth moving. There’s a light breeze that lifts her hair as she runs towards the water. I grip the base of my cock and feel it throb to life at the images my mind conjures of that perfectly toned body. Her skin always had a sun-kissed look to it. I found myself imagining what it would taste like all too often. It was something forbidden back then, but now I’m free to imagine what the hell I like. My mind drifts and my cock twitches in my hand. I think of her supple skin and what it would feel like to roam my hands over the curves of her body. I love the fact that she’s not a stick-thin Barbie like some of the girls I know. The smell of her invades the air; she smells of coconut, the shampoo she always used. I’m moving my hand up and down my shaft as I remember all the things I thought I had locked away in a corner of my mind. Seeing her the other day seems to have been the key to unlocking those memories. I pump my cock harder as I see her pert breasts, the fullness of them. The hollow of her throat looks so good as I imagine kissing her tenderly. I can’t hold back for much longer, my body is radiating that feeling of euphoria I experience right before I come. I jerk harder and faster, my other hand cupping my balls. I imagine it’s her hand there instead. Her eyes come into view and I grunt as it pushes me over the edge.
Chapter Six
Kara
The next couple of months passed in a blur. I had been working at the bookstore and working hard for my degree. Now the time had come to graduate. Zoey helped with my hair and makeup, although my hair couldn’t be in an up-do considering the fitted cap I had to wear with my gown. We were going for a meal with a few friends to celebrate after the ceremony, so I’d gone for a red dress that hugged my curves. The sides had panels cut out and Zoey said it accentuated my ‘god given gifts.’ We’d decided on a nude palette for my eyes with black liquid eyeliner flicks. When Zoey had created the last curl in my hair, she stood back to get a look at me.
“You look amazing,” she said as she smiled that toothy white grin of hers. She looks genuinely pleased for me and this is the side of her I like the most.
“Thanks. I feel almost naked,” I confess as I look down at my dress.
“It really suits you and your makeup is on fleek.”
“Oh my god,” I cough as I try to cover up the most inelegant snort of laughter.
“What?”
“Do not use that phrase ever again,” I plead as I try to stop giggling.
“Why? All the cool kids say it,” she replies as she air quotes around the word cool.
“Yeah, that’s exactly why you should never say it again.”
She looks at me in mock horror that I would suggest she isn’t cool, then bursts out laughing. We both stand still for a moment as we try to calm ourselves down.
“Seriously though,” she begins as she regains her composure, “I’m so damn proud of you, girl. You are really going places.”
I smile at her compliment. She doesn’t usually hand out compliments very easily, so it means more to me than she knows.
“Thanks, Zo, I’m really hoping the bank will like my business proposal and help fund this little dream of mine.”
“I’m sure they will. You have money to put upfront yourself, so it’s not like they’re bankrolling the whole thing.”
“I’m going to get through today, and then I’ll have my meeting with the bank and see where I go from there. I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket. I really want this, but I can’t be too complacent. I can’t expect it will all go my way because it may not, and then I’m back to square one.”
“There is that, but I have faith in you. I’ll always have your back.”
I have to blink rapidly to stem the tears that threaten to fall at Zoey’s rare show of affection as she wraps me in a hug and kisses my cheek.
“That means a lot, Zo.”
***
I’m drinking a glass of prosecco to toast to my earlier graduation. I’m absolutely beaming with happiness that I passed with honours when I look across the room and see a figure I hadn’t envisioned seeing today of all days. I hope Zoey hasn’t noticed him or she’ll be spitting feathers. Deciding it’s best to distract her, I down my drink and then ask her to come to the bar with me. We’re jostled around by the sheer volume of people in here. It seems that a lot of today’s graduates had the same idea about where to come celebrate. I’m glad we have a reservation in about ninety minutes. With any luck, we can get out of here without having to bump into him. I can’t deny that my pulse has spiked though, or that I’m feeling a little hot, and it has nothing to do with the amount of bodies crammed into the bar. From the brief glimpse I caught, he looked good. He looked as though he was still keeping in shape. I didn’t manage to see who he was with, but I’d bet any money I have on it being a striking looking woman. It’s been months since he and Zoey split up and he’s bound to have moved on by now.
“Excuse me, miss, are you Kara?” the barman asks, surprising me.
“Yes.”
“This is from an admirer,” he says as he hands me a flute of champagne.
“Oh. Wow. Umm…who was it?”
“I’ve been asked not to tell you that, miss. He said he’d like to remain anonymous.”
I thought that was a little strange, but I accepted the flute he gave me anyway. I wouldn’t normally accept a drink passed on by a stranger, but seeing as the barman had poured it himself, I knew there was nothing likely to have been put in it. I’m always wary when I go out to drink, always buying my own drinks and guarding them
carefully.
Zoey and I returned from the bar and I positioned myself so she would have to keep her back to where I’d seen him.
***
Reid
I was out for a few drinks with Jase and Liam when I saw her across the packed bar. There seemed to be an awful lot of patrons in the bar, so I’d asked the barman if he had any idea why. He’d said they were all graduates. I’d known she’d been working hard for her business degree, but I had no idea graduation had come around so soon. I asked the barman to give her a flute of champagne but not tell her who it came from.
She looked perfect, a vision in red. That dress looked like it was painted onto her gorgeous body. There were pieces missing just over each hip, accentuating the curves that I remembered so well. Her sumptuous cleavage was on display, but not so much that she looked cheap. Sexy as hell, that’s what she was. I could feel myself begin to twitch and had to imagine my old gym teacher, the ugliest woman I’d ever seen. I couldn’t go back to the table with a noticeable bulge in my trousers.
When I returned to Jase and Liam, they asked if I was ready to leave, and although I wanted to say no, I had to go. If she was here, then Zoey would be too. She still hasn’t sent me a message saying she’s ready to talk, so I am avoiding her at all costs. At least I have an image of a sexy red dress to keep me company tonight.
Chapter Seven
Kara
We enjoyed a lovely meal and celebrated in style. Part of me had wanted to stay in the bar, hoping to catch another glimpse of him, but it seemed a better idea to get Zoey out of there. They hadn’t spoken since the breakup, and I had no clue how she really felt. She’s not one for talking about her emotions, or showing them. Zoey is the complete opposite of me in many ways. I wear my heart on my sleeve, I cry at chick flicks or at the end of a good book. But Zoey always remains stoic. Has done for as long as I’ve known her.
I slipped my heels off and rubbed where they had pinched my toes slightly. I was home alone, Zoey had gone off with a guy called Brock from my business course. I could see the attraction if you like a guy with a man-bun and facial hair. He’s slightly younger than me, and looks sort of like a surfer. Not that that couldn’t be attractive, I’m just not into that whole look myself. Plus my type has got brown hair, emerald green eyes, and the physique of at the very least, a demi-god.
Pouring myself a glass of wine, I sit on the couch and reach for the television remote. I put my clutch bag on the seat beside me, and that’s when I remember the business card laid inside. I take it out and trace my fingers over the embossed lettering. Sawyer Hudson. It seems old-fashioned to give out a business card to swap numbers, but I like it all the same. I have to be realistic, even if there was a remote possibility of Reid thinking of me in the same way, nothing could happen between us, so I have to look towards the future.
Sipping my wine, I flick channels and land on Silver Linings Playbook. Bradley Cooper, be still my beating heart. My mind keeps flitting back to the business card that has Sawyer’s number on it. Do I ring him? Text him? Wait for him to call me? Wait…I can’t do that, I didn’t give him my number. So the ball is in my court, but I don’t know what to do with it. I tap out a text to Zoey, she always knows what to do. I go back to my film as I wait for her response. A few minutes later, I get a text back.
Zoey: Is Sawyer the hot one that was wearing the indigo jeans and black button down shirt? He had ink on his forearms, right?
Kara: Yes, that’s the one. Oh that ink, it made me weak at the knees. I almost wanted to strip him and see where and what it led to.
Zoey: He was totally hot. I would leave it a day or so, just so you don’t look ‘too’ keen. Then I would text him.
Kara: But what would I say?
I have never been good at flirting, nor reading signals when someone is flirting with me. Zoey says it’s because I don’t realise how attractive I am. It’s not that I think I’m ugly, I just don’t think I’m the prettiest woman in the room at any given time. With my long blonde wavy hair and blue-green eyes, I am at best ‘pretty,’ but not striking. I shouldn’t moan really. Things could be a lot worse. My boobs are still perky enough that I don’t actually need to wear a bra to keep them in place. That’s better than them being down by my knees. And my ass is toned as well as shapely. I can’t honestly say I enjoy going to the gym, but I go all the same. I am put through the mill by my trainer, who gets me doing kettle bell routines and all sorts. I even attend the odd Zumba class and I try to make time to go swimming at least once a week. So I’m in shape. But what is it that girls do when they flirt? They play up to their best assets. They dress so men are automatically drawn to look in their direction. I can do that, but it’s flirting via text I can’t do so well. People sext and stuff all the time. But that’s other people, not me. I blush at the mere thought of sending those kind of texts.
Zoey: You don’t have to come across as a man-eater or whatever, just say hi and ask if he fancies a coffee.
That girl knows me so well. She can predict what I’m thinking.
Kara: But coffee doesn’t always mean coffee, you know?
I knew what some men thought when you suggested coffee.
Zoey: Girl, you are overthinking everything. Stop stressing. Just ask him to meet you at a coffee shop, no misunderstandings there. Simple. Let me know what he says.
I hate the idea of first dates. The awkwardness, the uncomfortable silences, the whole ‘getting to know each other.’ I also don’t like meeting the family, I’m really not very good at it and always think I leave the worst impression. But I guess that’s getting a bit ahead of myself. Let’s see how the first date goes first.
***
A couple of days later, I sent Sawyer a simple text.
Kara: Hi Sawyer, it’s Kara from the graduation party. I wondered if you fancied meeting for a coffee at Starbucks?
I got an immediate response, which told me he was interested.
Sawyer: Hey Kara, sure, coffee sounds great. When were you thinking?
We arranged a date and time and I immediately texted Zoey to tell her the good news.
Kara: Hey Zo, I texted Sawyer and we’re going for coffee on Friday.
Zoey: That’s great. Now what are you going to wear? It’s a coffee date, so something smart-casual.
He’d already seen me in a dress that clung to me like a second skin. I wanted to prove I didn’t always dress like that and actually dress pretty conservatively most of the time. I don’t want him to see me in jeans and a band t-shirt just yet, though. I tend to scrape my long hair up into a messy top-knot and just chill in my most comfortable jeans and a loose t-shirt. I’m guessing I should save that until we’ve had a few dates first, that’s if we get further than the first date. Being a woman, I tend to overanalyse what I should wear and plan my outfits for occasions such as this a couple of days in advance. I go to my wardrobe and start pulling things out and throwing them on yes, no, and maybe piles.
I eventually settle on a black shirt-dress that had pieces cut out of the shoulders and a pair of black gladiator heels. I found some silver costume jewellery to accessorise, completing the look with a small silver clutch bag. Looking through my underwear drawer, I settle on something pretty and lacy; a comfortable matching set that Sawyer had no chance of seeing, not on a first date.
***
Friday came faster than I anticipated. I had been hoping for a few days of preparing myself for this date, but I’d been so busy with plans for the bookstore that I hadn’t had a chance to breathe.
I shower and moisturise before settling down at my vanity mirror in my bedroom to do my makeup. Zoey had suggested something minimal, so I choose a sheer gold base over my eyelids with a darker brown on the edges, a lash-extending mascara, and a nude coloured lipstick.
After applying my makeup, I step into my underwear and slip into my shirt-dress. I add the jewellery before lacing up my heels and take a selfie in the mirror. I send it to Zoey and a couple of minutes later, I get a re
sponse.
Zoey: You look gorgeous. Like you’ve made an effort to look good, but at the same time, nothing too overboard.
Kara: Thanks. I’m glad I chose a dress, this weather is killing me.
Zoey: Let me know how it goes. I want all the juicy details.
Kara: Zo, it’s a coffee date. The juiciest details will involve a latte, extra shot, and hazelnut syrup.
Zoey: You never know. ;)
Damn her and her wink emoji. I do know what will happen and it won’t involve juicy gossip. I grab my clutch and the essentials I’ll need in it. I’m slightly early and have another half an hour before I need to leave for my date. We arranged to meet there because I’m not comfortable with virtual strangers knowing where I live. I sit down with my copy of Torn by the amazing CJ Fallowfield. I’m having a tough time with this book, it’s giving me a real emotional beating. I love Nate, and wish that I had my own real life guy willing to do just about anything for me the way he does for Sky.
Noticing the time, I set my book aside, even though all I want to do now is finish it. I grab my keys and head out the door. I get into my gorgeous silver Mazda MX-5 Miata, its sleek black interior warm from the good weather we’ve been having lately.