Fling to Ring

A Date with Mr. Handsome

Two drinks later, I was dancing by Sandra, who was obviously more than two drinks in at that point. She was grinding with a random man on the dancefloor. I casually slipped in between the two, making the guy dance off into another direction. Sandra seemed a bit disappointed in the fact that I had just cockblocked her, but she just took another shot and kept dancing. I felt a bit tired, which was unusual on a night like tonight. Glancing around the room, I saw an empty bar stool at the bar, which looked quite peaceful. The floor was crowded, until I finally made it to that empty bar stool. The bartender was facing the wall, prepping another drink for someone else. I sat at the bar, sipping my drink and scrolling through my Instagram feed. I was not paying attention as social media had sucked me up into a time zone where I could hear nothing around me. It was like I was at home. I must be getting old for me to be sitting on my phone at a bar instead of dancing. I am only twenty-six, but I guess my body has given up for the night. I was so captivated by the things my friends had posted that I didn't realize I ran out of alcohol. I waved to the bartender and requested another margarita, and pulled out my debit card to close my tab. The bartender looked a bit different than who gave us our drinks earlier, which meant my time here was almost over. I gave the man my debit card to close out my tab, but a gentle hand stopped me.

A man next to me told the bartender that my drink was on his tab. I normally am not the type of woman to let strangers cover my drink, but his familiar blue eyes stopped me from saying anything. It was him, and this time, he had on a black buttoned up shirt with dark dress pants. He looked just as tired as what I probably looked like, but he still emanated the same energetic vibes as he did earlier today. He smiled at me and took a sip of his glass with what appeared to be whiskey.

"Rough day?" I kept my cool this time but couldn't hold back a smile. Turns out, alcohol enables me to act normal. He chuckled and nodded with another sip. I actually started the conversation. Drunk me is great.

"What are you doing in a place like this?" He scooted up closer, allowing me to smell his cologne. I smiled and scooted in closer.

"I'm on friend patrol, making sure my friend gets home safely."

"And who's going to make sure you get home safely?" I blushed by the way he was talking into my ear. Feeling the heat from his breath hit mine gave me chills. All of a sudden Sandra came out from nowhere and threw herself onto me. This man laughed and got up while finishing his whiskey.

"This must be your friend." He helped me stand her up and she giggled in my ear while hugging me. I could have sworn she whispered something in my ear, but she was so drunk I wasn't even sure what it could have been. He offered to take her home, but I declined. Besides, I wanted to see him later. This alcohol has made me bold.

"We can go together." He said this, catching me off guard. Is it possible he read my mind? He put her on his back and told the bartender to close both our tabs. We left the bar, with Sandra on his back and we walked down the street headed towards her house. We had walked since this place was not too far from both of our houses, so it wasn't hard to take her home. Once arriving at her apartment, I kindly let myself in and had him lay her down onto her bed. I told him to leave her the way she was, as I couldn't risk Sandra waking up and questioning me about his involvement after what I told her earlier. I locked her front door and left.

"You never asked my name. Aren't you curious?" He casually said, walking with his hands in his pocket. I looked back at him, trying to think of something to say.

"Well you never asked me about mine. What if I turned out to be a billionaire on the front cover of 'Celebrity Magazine?'" I laughed jokingly, but he looked at me with concern.

"Do you have any scandals?" He then smirked and we both laughed. The night was beginning to get a little chilly until he wrapped his arm around my shoulder suddenly. I was taken by surprise, but his warmth radiated off of his body onto my shoulder and side. He pulled me close to him so unexpectedly that I gasped.

"My name is Eric." It was a comfortable name too. It came out of your mouth as easily as it was to remember. "And you must be..."

"Anna" I jokingly released myself from his arm and swung out my hand for a handshake. "Nice to meet you!" He laughed and shook my hand. We were walking side by side again, but the silence between us was awkward. I couldn't stop thinking about his warmth and then the sensations I had earlier that day came back.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his ocean blue eyes staring into mine. "Your face is all red." I got nervous when he said that, the awkwardness crept onto my face without me realizing it. My house was only a couple blocks away, so I decided it be best to walk back alone. He stopped me and told me it wasn't safe for me to be out alone at this hour. I disagreed with him, since I walked home like this on several other occasions in the past. He pulled me closer to where he embraced me. I didn't know what to do until he whispered something into my ear.

"I think someone is following us." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder again and continued to walk me past the street leading to my house. I started to feel anxious again, and the thought that my back door being open ran through my mind again.

"What are we going to do?" He told me not to worry and said that it would be best to go to another bar nearby.

"If it's the paparazzi, they will hang around, but if it's someone else, they will back off." That made sense, but now I was starting to get worried that maybe I didn't leave the back door open. It was odd that I ever did something so careless as that.

"Wait, the paparazzi? Who is going to want to take pictures of us?" I never even considered something like that happening to us, especially in this part of town.

"Hey, you never knowwhat reporters are looking for. They find a random couple and try to makeheadlines. You ever heard of-" He was cut off by flash behind us. Before Icould turn around to see what had happened, he pulled me into a bar and draggedme to one of the seats. Jazz music played really low and the lighting in thebar was very dim. The people in the bar were mainly older men chatting in comfysofas and a few in the back, throwing darts. I don't remember this kind of barbeing so close to my house. We ordered a couple beers and talked until we feltsafe to leave.