Authors: Anne Leigh
I hoped to hell that Swimming Dude’s dick withered in the chlorinated pool. It was fuckin’ petty and low of me to wish for another man’s dick to shrink and wither. But that was all I could do. He had what I wanted. He had her.
“Normal is good. Do
n’t settle for normal. Look for the exciting, the mysterious, the incredible.”
Sedona
Senior year was proving to be tough on my schedule. I had twice the amount of assignments and group work compared to last year’s. My planner was filled. My alarm went off every two hours. My friends and I barely hung out lately. We were all busy.
I promised Kieran one night this week. It was the week with my lightest load. Kieran had seen me haggardly running all over the place and took pity on me. He offered to help a couple of times with my thesis. Even if I had taken his offer, he would not know what to do with chemical equations and nursing research. He was a business major,
for chrissake.
Friday night. It was Kieran’s Guys Night. I was going to say no. But I needed to get out of the apartment. School, gym, library, clinical/hospital, school, gym, group work had been my mantra for almost two weeks straight. Tanya was holding some event at her sorority place. Nalee was sleeping over at Jerome's. Hesitantly, I said yes to Kieran. Hanging out with him was not the issue. It was the fact that he was with his guy friends - that was the issue. He assured me that I wouldn't be ruining their guy's night out. It would be guys' and a girl's night out.
Kieran was slated to drive us but he got called by his swim coach to sign some forms for
the upcoming National Swim Meet. I called a cab because after living a hermit-like existence for 2 weeks, I deserved a couple of mojitos and margaritas.
Duncan and Peter, Keiran's friends, were already at Bar II when I got there.
They made room for me in the U-shaped booth as soon as they spotted me walking through the bar’s entrance.
"Iz cool you hanging' out wid u, Zedona," his Swedish-Russian accent was evident as Duncan's green eye
s winked at me.
"Yeah, it's good to have female company, instead of that chlorine-soaked dude all the time," joked Peter, obviously referring to Kieran. You would never believe Peter was a boxer. With his black hair, gray eyes, and preppy outfit, he looked more like a banker than a boxer. If Kieran didn’t regale me of Peter’s boxing prowess, I would have no idea that he was a real contender in professional boxing.
I smiled at both of them. They were nice guys. Kieran became friends with
them in college.
The
server came and took our orders; alcoholic drinks for the guys and lemonade for me, for now. We were having a fun discussion on the cheesiest pick-up lines. Guys, being guys, made bets on who could produce the cheesiest pick-up line. I was the judge, by default, since I was the only female at the table. The bet was that the winning pick-up line, basically, the cheesiest; the loser would have to use it on a girl inside the bar.
Their eyes roamed around the bar, looking for a target. Duncan was still scoping out the area when Peter’s gaze stopped on a corner, five tables away from ours.
“
Well, I'll be damned. If it isn't my buddy, Z," he stated. I followed his gaze. Surely, there are other Z's in the world.
Maybe Zafiro? Zane? Zach?
No way! There was no way fate could be this cruel.
I noticed his dark hair first. My gut clenched. His dark head was attached to a blonde head. From my seat, it looked like they were speaking intimately to each other. He must have sensed that someone was looking at them. His head bobbed up and looked around. I quickly turned towards Duncan before he noticed me.
I had no right to be annoyed but I was. How dare he ruin my one night out! Evidently, Peter and Zander were more than acquaintances because in about 2 minutes, Zander and his blonde friend were w
alking towards us.
"Hey, Z!" Peter rose up and was making room for Zander and his friend in our booth.
O
hnononono!
Left with no choice, I stole a quick glance at Zander and his model-thin, heavily made-up, Blonde Barbie look-alike companion. In her skimpy, blue mini dress and 3-inches stilettos, she looked out of place in this casual bar atmosphere. This blonde friend was another notch to the already fil
led up bedpost.
"...these are my friends, Duncan and Sedona." Duncan was already reaching up to shake Zander's hand. I stayed sitting and not exactly doi
ng anything else.
“
Zander and I have met, Peter," I addressed Peter. I still haven't looked at Zander directly.
Peter nodded at me and invited to Zander and his gal pal to join us. I wished I could say that the booth was small; it could actually fit 7 people. Maybe Zander would say no. He might not have wanted to be interrupted on his date.
"Sounds like a great idea. By the way, this is Mia," his masculine voice agreed with Peter's suggestion.
Great! Just effing great!
Ms. Model Barbie's mouth twitched and voted against it, "But, Zander, we have our table over there...."
Exactly. Why don't you both go back to your table?
Zander turned his head towards their table, "I can just let our server know. I'm su
re it will be ok."
Without waiting for his date's response, he went back to their table.
Peter motioned for Ms. Blondie to sit beside him. She was a pretty girl, I could honestly say. She just had too much make-up going on. I noticed that she kept stealing glances at Duncan.
You're with Zander and you're checking Duncan out?! Duncan had his own charms - he had a great smile and nice, green eyes. Zander was totally hotter! Plus, he was your date. I didn't know what hit me or what dimension I was pushed into but my inner bitch was unleashed!
I leaned closer to Duncan.
"So, we were talking about pick-up lines...if I was the girl in the bar you'd like to pick up, what would y
ou say to me?"
Peter and Ms. Barbie (
yes, I knew her name was Mia
), waited on his response.
Duncan fully turned his attention on me, "Zedona, I would say, 'Exzuse me miz, can you help me find my vvay? I got lost ztaring at your beautiful faze and I can't remember anything beffoo
re I met you.'"
A throat cleared and said, "I don't think her boyfriend will be happy with you putting the moves on her, Duncan."
Zander was back. My eyes met his. His blue-green gaze was piercing, searing. His mouth was fixed in a clenched, tight line. He looked so handsome! My heart was beating so fast and my throat was dry. I was about to ask him who my boyfriend was, Peter beat me to it; "You’re dating someone? I thought you were done with that Brennan dude, at least that's what Kieran said," his voice permeated the booth. When the hell did Kieran get the permission
to gossip about my love life?
Zander looked utterly confused. His dark gaze
flew to Peter,
With frost in his voice, he asked, "Isn't Kieran, the Swimming Guy
, her boyfriend?"
Ms. Model was looking extremely bored. The attention was not on her, I heard her mutter
, "Who cares?"
Duncan and Peter guffawed. They barely held themselves. Peter spoke first. It was a wonder how he managed to do this, in between their manly bellows, "Dude, you're funny! Sedona is Kieran's Ace, not his girlfriend!"
Zander’s mouth opened to say something
when Kieran's rushed voice came in, "I'm so hungry. Ace, did you order my burger?"
I was about to say “Not yet.” Kieran’s eyes flashed recognition when he saw Zan
der at our table.
Ms. I-Need-to-Eat-10,000 Calories-To-Look-Normal's eyes lit up at Kieran.
Kieran apologized, "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize we had more company. Hey Zander-” his eyes drifted from Zander to Ms. I-Know-I'm-Pretty-and-So-Should-You, she responded, "Mia, you must be Kieran," her eyes twinkled and her voice sounded hoarser. Kieran offered his hand to her and she reached for it.
Seriously! What was going on?!
Zander was on a date with Blondie. Blondie was checking Duncan out and now Blondie was making googley eyes at my best friend. Oh, and Zander thought Kieran was
my boyfriend!
This night was turning out to be exhaustingly challenging! I needed a drink
, a stiff one.
I signaled our server and he approached our table.
I needed something stronger than my lemonade. I ordered a mango margarita. I usually ordered an apple mojito. Margaritas meant tough night. Kieran's eyebrows were raised as I gave my order to the server.
The server must not have heard my order correctly, he asked, “Virgin?”
“Yes…No, not a virgin. Real mango margarita, with alcohol,” My face suffused with heat.
Ms. Blondie’s gaze sharpened on me, “You’re not even 21.” What was her deal?
The server asked for my I.D. I pulled it out of my wallet as I said, “I am 21.” I just turned 21 two and a half months ago.
Kieran reached behind Duncan's head and mussed my hair, what he usually did when he teased me. He knew I was getting extremely annoyed. He was acting like a kid. My mind was all jumbled and my emotions were a mess!
"Not now, Kieran,
" I mumbled.
He barely stopped.
"So how's everyone doing?" Kieran's question was to no one in particular. Peter laughed, "Well, well, aside from realizing Sedona is not a virgin, we were just kind of telling Zander here that you're Sedona's buddy, not her bed buddy!" Gross, Peter can be irritatingly annoying! Virgin
and Kieran’s bed buddy did not belong in a sentence!
Zander spoke, his voice cold, "No need to be crude. I misunderstood the situation." His eyes burned into mine as he add
ressed Duncan.
Ms. Blondie was getting antsy, her voice dripped with annoyance, "Zander, I thought we were on a date. I didn't think we were going to be around thi
s many people."
I felt bad for her. Her date with Zander was being interrupted by us. Robbing the frustration out of my voice, I said, "Yes, Zander. I think you should pay more attention to your date. Maybe you guys should go somewhere private."
Like back to your own table
.
Zander briefly took his gaze off of me, strained the beer that he was holding, and said, "Mia, I'm sorry I'm no fun. I just happen to think that I'm right where I'm supposed to be. If you'd like, I can call a cab for you to go home and maybe you can hang out with guys who can show you a better
time than me."
Mia's blonde eyebrows shot to her hairline. She seethed and struggled to get up, and before leaving the table, she s
pat at Zander, "What a waste of time! You are condescending and boring as hell! I am going to go to the bar and find a better hookup than you!"
The guys were all silent. Their gazes followed Mia's swaying hips as she walked towards the bar. Except Zander's. His eyes were trained on me the whole time. I felt the flush creep into my face as he sat there, openly staring at me.
Peter cleared his throat; "She looks like a winner, man," His eyes
were still stuck on Ms. Blondie's butt.
Seriously?! Guys were crazy! I felt my ire rise up. Even if Ms. Blondie was annoying me (for reasons I did not dare dwell on), she did not deserve the let down that Zander gave her, in front of all of us.
"That was rude of you, Zander," I s
aid, scolding.
He shrugged his shoulders. Actually, s
hrugged them. Unbelievable.
"Ace, I don't thi
nk we're privy to their date." Now, Kieran was defending Zander? What kind of crap was this?