A Beauteous Flower

Chapter 9 - The Nameless Man

"He's a weirdo."

"What?" Madison struggled to hear Deva over the thump of the bass. They were well into the party now, and it was time for a bar break to let their feet rest and to escape the lascivious clutches of the men on the dance floor.

"He's weird!"

"Who's weird?"

"That guy, right there! The one you stare at!" Deva subtly indicated a direction with her head in time with the music. Even in conversations, Deva never missed the beat.

At Deva's indication, Madison turned her whole body with a dance step so that it was not obvious what she looked at. She further camouflaged her glance with a loud "whooo!" to reinforce the illusion that she danced rather than spied. At the end of Deva's gestured sat the man she had seen earlier, only now Madison saw him wrapped in half light. Shadows enhanced the angles of his face, and his dark eyes hid under his brow. Now he had his jacket off and she could see that the vest and his pants were immaculately tailored over the firm, lean muscles underneath. Maybe it was the champagne, but Madison found him even more attractive than she had before, as he sat in the shadows with a drink in his hand and chatted with Dr. Selene. Unconsciously drawn by some sultry magnetic force, Madison started to move towards him, but then remembered Deva. With her investigation concluded, she spun back to Deva on the next downbeat.

"He's attractive!"

Deva gave a non-committal shrug in the middle of a generally suggestive shimmy.

"If you're into the medium ugly thing, I suppose!"

Madison made a face.

"He's not ugly!"

Deva dropped her voice as the song ended.

"I didn't say he was ugly, but he's not a stunner either."

Madison decided to let it drop and get back to the topic that opened the conversation.

"How is he weird?"

Deva beckoned and Madison followed her over to the bar for another round of champagne cocktails. As Madison took a sip of hers, Deva bobbled her head indecisively before she answered.

"He doesn't talk much, and when he does, he is very ...." Deva searched for the right word. "Elusive."

"Elusive?"

"He answers questions with questions, and he always steers the conversation away from himself."

Deva took a sip of her champagne and giggled effervescently with the bubbles before she continued.

"I spent thirty minutes and got almost nothing out of him. The only thing about him I know for certain is his name is Jason ... Jason ... you know I don't think he told me his last name."

Deva giggled into another sip of champagne. Even when she was tipsy Deva stayed graceful and poised.

"Oh ... wait ... some people called him "Carl."

Deva made dismissive wave as if it didn't matter.

"Well, that's it then. I don't even know his name after a thirty-minute conversation. See what I mean? Weird!"

Madison nodded to concede that was indeed strange, but secretly she was even more intrigued. Madison stole another look at him and decided that he could be either a "Carl" or a "Jason". Those tried-and-true masculine names suited him right down to the ground. She repeated those names in her head as she looked at him, dark and mysterious and shrouded in myth and shadows. A little shiver passed up her spine while she tested those names with her lips, and imagined how his fingertips might trace languidly up her thigh and discover her nakedness under her dress. At that thought she shifted, a little self-consciously, to get her thighs closer together and accidentally, probably accidentally, felt a gentle tickle of pleasure slither out from between her hips. Commando had other fringe benefits and she took a second to enjoy the slick sensation of her secret nakedness. The champagne again led her eyes to rest on him a bit too long and Deva caught her stare.

"He's probably gay."

Madison turned back to Deva with a surprised look of a question. Deva nodded emphatically around another sip of champagne that masked a clandestine glance at the stranger. Just then Cassidy and Kelly horned into the conversation.

"Oh, he's definitely gay," piped Cassidy and punctuated her agreement with a giggle-snort.

Cassidy wore a satin gown of hunter green that showed no leg, but a generous scoop of her sides and back. Her oversized fake breasts stuck out pruriently on her impish body and the dress plunged down between her breasts dramatically so that Cassidy showed plenty of what the doctor gave her. By the look of it, Cassidy had trusted this evening's look to double sided tape. The dress did pair nicely with Cassidy's red hair and silver jewelry and on the dance floor it flattered her as she energetically pranced and posed to the beat.

"It's true! He didn't even take a glance when I flashed him some side boob!" trilled Cassidy. "No mortal straight man can resist the temptation of side boob!"

Cassidy issued another tipsy giggle-snort, charmed by her own wit, and pushed out her fake breasts proudly. Kelly joined Cassidy in a girlish giggle fit.

"Oh, he's gay all right," confirmed Kelly even though it was probably the case that Kelly had no idea of who the conversation was about or possibly even what "gay" meant.

The giggle fit renewed, and Madison decided that Cassidy and Kelly made an odd, but strangely appropriate pair. Deva joined the giggles as Madison's sexy fantasy faded away. Mournfully she glanced at the stranger again.

"Oh, don't be so disappointed," chided Deva. "It's not like there aren't several very edible ... I mean ... eligible and very hot bachelors here tonight."

The others laughed at Deva's faux Freudian slip while Madison took a little sip of her champagne to hide her disappointment. Thanks to the alcohol and his shadow shrouded appearance, Madison's attraction felt more keen, and the thought he might be unavailable to her made her feel a touch blue that the fantasy she had envisioned might be lost.

"Oh, he's not gay, my silly ones," reproved Mrs. Selene in a motherly tone. Somehow, she had glided up to the giggle fest unnoticed and caught them en flagrante delicto. Mrs. Selene calmly looked from face to face until the giggles died away.

"He's many things, I'll tell you for nothing. Remarkably intelligent, supremely talented, thoughtful, attentive, polite, compassionate, and kind are a few of the adjectives I would use to describe him."

Madison and her compatriots stayed silent as Mrs. Selene settled her gaze on Madison. After a pointed look, Mrs. Selene's face spread to a benevolent sunshine smile and Madison suddenly felt better for her attraction to this man, weirdo or not. Mrs. Selene reached out and tucked a strand of Madison's hair behind her ear in a motherly gesture.

"A truly rare gem, that one," said Mrs. Selene to all the party, as she maintained eye contact with Madison. "The phrase "one-in-a-million" applies in his case. Maybe the odds of a man like that are even smaller. It will be a rare woman that captures that heart."

"What's his name?" asked Deva with a hint of almost jealousy.

Mrs. Selene's eyes gave Deva a quick assessment then pointedly turned back to Madison.

"Well, to some he's Jason Gimble the photographer and to others he's Carl Cooper the author, but to people that know him outside his professional capacity he's ...."

Mrs. Selene paused a moment as she considered.

"Well, right now none of you need to know," Mrs. Selene decreed imperiously as she swept her gaze over them all again. Then her eyes returned to Madison eyes, steady and intentional.

"Not yet anyway."

Mrs. Selene let the solemnity of the moment settle and then glanced at Cassidy.

"My little one, your tape seems as if it might give up the ghost."  Mrs. Selene infused her next words with a light dry irony. "Perhaps before you make an unseemly public spectacle on some social media page, you might like go to the lady's room and freshen up a bit?"

Everyone in the little knot tensed. Mrs. Selene's reference indicated that, somehow, she knew how the Cassidy and Gail saga had ended. And what a spectacular end it had been.