“Like what things?” I answered quickly. As he grinned and for the first time, I noticed the very distinct dimples that lined both of his cheeks. He was so perfect, so symmetrical it was a crime if he wasn’t some sort of a model. He really did belong on a Calvin Klein poster, on full display right in the middle of times square so everyone could sit and enjoy the image of him. I bet a single picture of this man could almost exude the exact same energy that I was feeling directed towards me right now, sitting opposite him. I started to feel hot between my legs so I squeezed them tightly together. If I didn’t pull myself together quickly, I may end up with a wet patch on my skirt, and if I let the flashes of thoughts flood my mind of what this man had hiding underneath his shirt, then I may slide off my seat.
“Well, maybe our issues aren’t so different. If the tables were turned maybe I would have been in your shoes applying for ‘The Bachelorette.’ Let’s just say my dating life sounds not too different from yours.”
I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “Oh c’mon, I still don’t know anything about you but what I do know is, you are not the kind of man to compete against other men on a reality television show, let’s get real here.”
Henry raised his eyebrows as he pursed his lips. “You know that much about me from one look?”
“Well, I can’t say it’s been one look, it’s been my observations of you other the past couple of hours. I’ve noticed your eyesdance over me, which lead me obviously to making a couple of assumptions about you.” The words fell out of my mouth. Now was probably the time when I should stop drinking, I was at the peak of my confidence, speaking out loud and saying it exactly how it was. If I was to push it a couple of drinks over to where I was right now, then I would start saying things that I definitely shouldn’t.
He laughed and the sound of his deep belly laugh and the cheeky smirk that graced his lips afterwards was really not helping me contain my thoughts.
“Wow, you have really called me out. Please enlighten me, Molly. What are these observations and conclusions that you’ve made up about me?”
I pursed my lips, this time thinking through my words before I spoke them. This was quite a rare moment for me, with this much alcohol in my system. “Not conclusions, just observations. I can tell that you’re a deep thinker. There’s a couple of lines in your eyes that tell me you’re used to getting what you want, or at least as soon as you make a clear decision about what that is of course,” I said.
Henry glared back at me, his lips parted, eyebrows raised higher. I waited for him to speak but no words came out, likely because he was shocked. Because I was right. Because I had him picked and this made him want me even more. “And this may come across snobbish, but I don’t think it is. I find it very endearing, sexy in fact…”
“What’s that?” Henry squinted his eyes at me, like I was a puzzle piece that he was trying to figure out or he was trying to guess the very thing that I was going to say.
“I think that you know that you’re an elite,” I said as a little frown crossed his face. “Like I said, it’s not a bad thing. It is sexy when a man knows who he is, without being a complete show pony. I think that you know who you are, you have a good idea of what you want, and whatever it is you do something tells me that you’re very successful at it.”
He wasn’t wearing anything flashy, and he was the opposite as smug, which was how I found most successful men that I had dated. But there had to be something to him, to be able to be as present, as poised and quietly confident as he presented himself. His allure went beyond his looks. If it was just the fact he knew how hot he was, I think he would have chosen to wear something a little bit better tonight, knowing full well he was about to come to the bar with three other girls.
The cheeky smile graced Henry’s lips again as he shook his head in disbelief. I sat a little taller, because I was right, and he knew I was right.
“Maybe that is the exact same thing that I see in you. As much as you think that you’ve told me a lot about yourself, Molly, I think that you didn’t make it through tonight because a face like yours…” He paused biting his lips together and I had no idea what he was about to say, but his next words better have been chosen carefully because from where I was sitting, I was already holding myself back. This really was the level that I had to keep things tonight. Or rather, this was the level that I promised that I would keep things after just meeting someone. But I loved the build-up and anticipation of what could literally be nothing but pure fantasy with someone inside my head.
“I can tell from one look that the way your eyes meet mine as though they are piercing through me, as though they have already read so much about me, yet they’re still able to stay so perfectly poised, and innocent. And the way you smile with your lips like you know so much more than what you say, it makes me intrigued to know the many words and thoughts that you’re keeping hidden behind them. You exude an incredibly intriguing energy, Miss Molly, let’s just say that.”
“And what makes you think that it’s okay for you to jump straight to a little pet name with me?” I asked.
He smiled wider, this time exposing all of his shiny bright white teeth. Of course, they were perfectly straight and completely perfect. He really was Mr. Symmetrical. He leaned closer over the table, and without thinking, lost in the vortex of his blue eyes, my body leaned towards him, like I was being dragged towards him by a force outside of myself. Our lips were now nothing but a three-finger width apart. The exact width that I knew as soon as this was past, there was no way back. Anything closer and lips must lock. But the two of us kept the exact right distance as he whispered.
“Because of the way your lips curved ever so slightly, tells me that you actuallylike it.”
“Guys, I think I’m crashing,” Lotte interrupted us, her eyes rolled in the back of her head, as she leaned on my shoulder.
“No! No! You can’t be! The night is only just getting started!” said Raven, tapping her hands on the table. Henry and I pulled away from each other at the same time, as though we had to return to the world, breaking whatever the hell was going on between us.
“Urgh, so boring I could party all night!” said Raven. I felt torn somewhere between the two of them. I would love to party with Raven. I would love to spend even more time with Henry, but I also knew that more drinks would ruin the night.
Henry pulled his phone out of his back pocket, quickly checking the time. “Yeah, it’s nearly one,” he said.
“Already?” Shit. We had been drinking since five. “I’m sober so I can drive you girls home if you like?” said Henry.
“Oh, Henry! That would be amazing, God you’re such a good man,” said Lotte. While Raven rolled her eyes, I couldn’t help but laugh.
The three of us piled into Henry’s slick and incredibly clean Audi. His car was exactly what I was expecting. It even felt brand new. Our intimacy was quickly drawn apart, and now I was sitting in the back of the car, directly behind him as Lotte and Raven sung to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” at the top of their lungs, all the way to my house. Why did he have to drop me off first? I guess I was the one that lived closest to the bar.
I gulped down, keeping my head high and a smile on my face, as I slipped myself out of the car, saying a quick goodbye tothe girls, not even acknowledging Henry. I don’t know why, I guess I just thought this made things smoother, maybe it made me feel like I was leaving him wanting something.
I stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of the main door of my building hoping to wiggle my ass and strut straight towards it without turning around leaving him with this final picture of me. But then I heard the windows go down, the loud music from the Audi flooded my ears followed by Raven’s scream from the back seat. I spun around. I didn’t ruin the perfect walkaway moment I was trying to portray.
“Bye, Molly! We love you! I’m messaging you tomorrow, we need to catch up as soon as possible. We can do this all again tomorrow so that it feels like this night never ends. We’ll just do it again and again and again!”
Right now, I couldn’t think of anything better. But as soon as I entered my building and rested my head on the bed. My heart sunk, and I could escape the dreaded feeling that began swirling around in my stomach. It wasn’t from the amount that I had drunk. Or how I knew that as soon as I opened my eyes tomorrow morning I was going to be faced with the hangover from hell. It was because I didn’t get his number, and he never asked for mine. He didn’t ask for my Instagram handle, not even my snapchat.
Chapter Three
