“The Stumble In? Why are you going to the bar on a Thursday? I’m not driving you to drink already, am I?”
“Um...no. I’m meeting someone there?” I say, asking rather than telling him. Please don’t ask who, I pray.
“Is that a question or are you meeting someone?”
“Well, I um...ran into Asher at the nursing home when I was visiting his grandmother and he asked me to meet him.”
“You’re meeting Asher at the bar?” he asks with a look on his face that doesn’t bode well for me.
“Yeah, it’s just a beer, Dad,” I say, using Asher’s words.
“I don’t know how I feel about this. I know you’re not a kid, but Asher is not the kind of guy I expected you to date. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good man.” He shakes his head. “Just promise me you’ll be careful. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“Promise, Dad,” I say quietly. The last thing I need is to get my heart trampled on again. Been there, done that. And Asher’s boots look like they would do a lot more damage than my ex’s. “Besides, Dad, he knows I’m new in town and probably just feels bad for me or something.”
“Or something,” he says under his breath and I ignore him.
Dinner was awesome and Dad quickly dropped the uncomfortable conversation about Asher. Thank God. So now, I am standing in front of my closet, trying to pick out something to wear. What do you wear to have a beer with a hot guy who you don’t want to like?
I haven’t ever really dated random guys. The one serious relationship I had in college went bad after my mom slept with him. I caught them together at his apartment after he sent me a text saying he was going home after class because he wasn’t feeling well.
Me, the loving fianceé that I was, showed up out of the blue to check on him. When I let myself in, the place felt strange. I wanted to turn around and run out but I walked straight to his bedroom. When I got there, all I heard was him moaning. It sounded like he was in a lot ofpain so I opened the door to find my mom on top of him. I couldn’t even speak. I shut the door silently behind me and sent him a text telling him that I stopped by to check on him but saw for myself that he was feeling much better. He called a million times after that and sent flowers, cards, and texts, but I didn’t care. I ignored all of it. I cut him out of my life, mailed him back everything that I had of his—including the ring— along with a note telling him to stop calling or I would press charges for stalking. After that, I never heard from him again.
“What do you think, Beast? Red sweater dress or T-shirt and jeans,” I ask, holding the items up for Beast to look at. He doesn’t even lift his head. His big body is lying across my bed with his head on his paws.
“You’re right. The dress is too much.” I take off my boots and leggings. I put on my tight, straight-leg, dark-blue jeans with holes all over them.
With my jeans on, I decide to go casual and pull out my converse sneakers that are gold with glitter. I put on a long sleeve, scoop neck, white T-shirt and a black, front zip hoodie.
“Now, hair up or down?” I ask Beast, who still hasn’t moved. “Okay, I agree. I’m just going to leave it down,” I tell him, putting on some lip gloss. I look at the clock and I’m running late. Once out the door and in my car, my nerves start to get the better of me.
“Calm down, calm down, calm down,” I chant aloud. It’s not helping so I turn on music and start singing along. Okay, not singing, I’m rapping. I love listening to rap music. Yes, some of the stuff they say is a little, um, questionable, but it makes me happy.
So, with music thumping and me rapping, I pull up in front of Stumble In. There are a lot of cars parked out front. It seems this is the place to be on a Thursday night. I check my face in the rearview mirror and add more lip-gloss, and then get out and walk toward the building. My hands start to sweat and I feel slightly sick.
Once I open the door, all thoughts leave my head. Asher is sitting at a table with three other guys who all look similar to him. The thing that gives me pause is the girl standing next to him. She is so close that hergiant boobs are squishing out of her white tank top. I can also see that she’s wearing a red bra. I mean, really. Who does that? I want to puke or run away, but all I can do is stare at him. Then, she bends her head to the side and her blonde hair hides what she’s whispering into his ear.
“Hi.” I jump at the sound and turn my head. “You must be new. I’m Nick,” the guy standing next to me says. I take a step toward him so I’m not blocking the door. He’s very cute in that ‘boy next door’ kind of way. He has dirty blond hair and blue eyes. He’s wearing a button-up shirt and khakis that are both perfectly pressed. He’s also the only guy I’ve met here that isn’t wearing jeans.
“Um, yeah. Hi, I’m November,” I say, putting my hand out. That’s when I’m pulled by my waist. Startled, I scream, then look to discover Asher is standing behind me, holding me against him.
“Not happening, baby,” he whispers in my ear. I can’t help the shiver that slides down my spine.
“What?” I ask, completely confused.
“Later, Nick,” Asher growls and I realize what he’s doing. Heck no! I walked in and he has a girl practically sitting on his lap, but I can’t even introduce myself to Nick. I pull myself away, or try to because his arm just gets tighter. Screw it. I stick out my hand in Nick’s direction.
“Hi, Nick. I’m November. It was nice to meet you, but I just realized that I forgot to wash my hair and need to go home to do that. So, maybe I’ll see you around?” I tell him.
“Uh, yeah sure,” he says, looking between me and Asher while running his hand down the back of his neck. With that, I pull myself out of Asher’s grasp and walk out the door that I walked through less than three minutes ago.
“Hey, what the fuck? Slow down.”
I spin around, almost running into him. I’m so pissed that I can feel my blood heating. “Look here, buddy,” I poke his chest. “I don’t know what your problem is, but you just embarrassed me. God!” I shout. “Why the hell did I even come?”
“He was going to hit on you and that’s not happening, especiallyright in front of my face.”
“Really, you big jerk. I’m shocked that you noticed because you had big-boobed Barbie basically sitting on your lap when I walked in.” I poke him in the chest again. “And, for your information, all Nick was going to do was shake my hand.”
