Temporary Love

Six: Lover Boy

HARVEY

"This is pretty good. I'm glad we tried this place out." Eric blurted out as he devoured another piece of a freshly cut salmon. "But I bet you're more than satisfied that we actually came to this place, Mr. Lover boy," he teased.

"Don't call me that," I corrected him with a sharp tone in my voice

Was it that obvious? What if I scared her away from all the staring I was doing. I mean, I wanted her to know that I noticed her, that I 'see' her. But I didn't want to come out looking like a creep. And what the hell was that shit I pulled? Staring at her and telling her how good she looked. Although it was the truth, I just hope she didn't think that I was a pervert.

Maybe she thought I was talking about the food. Maybe. But I wanted her to know that she looked good to me.

Damn, none of this made sense. Why the hell am I thinking all this shit?

I contemplated as I picked a slice of hamachi from the boat. "Was I being creepy?" I added sounding like a defeated soldier.

Eric blurted out a snort and nodded in response.

"Jesus! Why didn't you warn me?" I complained, slapping the chopsticks on the table. I sat back against the wooden chair and let the regret of my carelessness and creepiness drown me.

"Looks really good," Eric mocked me in a high pitched tone. The echo of his laughter was equivalent to rubbing salt into my self-inflicted wound. It stung like a bitch.

"You've been out of the game way too long...But to be fair, she was staring back at you. So, I guess you haven't forgotten everything that I've taught you," Eric added before he focused his attention back to his food.

Eric was right about two things. It had been a while and she was looking back at me. Not as much as I was, but it was still something.

"You're an idiot. The only thing you taught me was how not to be you. Getting slapped and kicked in the balls were not part of the curriculum, huh?" I fired back, digging up old, but come-back worthy memories.

"Bro! You can not bring that shit back. We left that shit back in high school. Besides, I didn't know they knew each other!" Eric whispered with shame clouding his voice. I knew he wasn't ashamed of what he did. He was more embarrassed that he got caught.

Long story short, he dated two girls at the same time for a couple of months in high school. Little did he know, those two girls were siblings. When they found out, they made sure Eric had an audience. Both of them showed up at his party and kicked his ass in front of everyone. I still remember how red his face had turned as he squirmed in pain.

I let out a burst of boisterous laughter from this thought.

Before I could dig deeper in the past, I noticed Ally walking back to our table with a pitcher of water in her hand. My mood quickly changed. I didn't want to come off as a creep or pervert.

So, I had to convince myself to gain some control over my desire to look at her or smell the fresh country scent she had on. I kept my gaze down at my dinner, or what was left of it. It felt unnatural not to look at her, smile at her, or make some type of interaction with her.

Instead, I heard Eric thanking her for filling up our glasses with water. And just like that, she was gone. I didn't see her in front of the restaurant or the server's station for a while. It sure did dampen my mood.

But I snapped myself back to reality and conversed with Eric about our next practice and possible gig. Thankfully, it was never a dull moment with him. Our conversation became lively, full of mockery jokes and laughter. We talked about a couple of songs him and I wrote. Our band played genres from rock, acoustics and some country. It all depended on the venue we were booked at.

Performing in the band wasn't a career for any of us. It was more of a hobby, a reunion, and an escape. When I left to serve, our band was dismantled. It was inevitable since we all went our separate ways.

Eric also left Chicago to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he played college football.

I was lucky enough to be stationed in Kaneohe Ba, Hawaii in between deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. I came home last summer and got our band back together with Eric and me as the original members.

After finishing our dinner, I excused myself to visit the loo. I walked around the fireplace to see a couple more tables against the wall to my left and the sushi bar to my right. Then, I saw a five feet two inches tall, petite body leaning against the sushi bar. I stood still for a moment to observe the curving of her body, her curled hair was tucked to her side.

The sushi chef said something to her, I couldn't hear it, but it made her giggle.

God damn.

She giggled like a fucking angel.

She was clearly entertained by this man and it took all of me not to attack this civilian. I expected her to notice me standing from her peripheral view, but she made no remarks of this. She was consumed by their animated conversation.

I disregarded this dreadful thought and kept my head down as I walked in the hallway between the tables and her body still facing the bar.

Then it happened.

I swore my instinct was shit that night. She was a foot shorter than me. Even with my head down, I should've seen her. I could've avoided her.

But I didn't.

My body was there, but my mind was elsewhere.

I had no way of preventing what happened next.

**Don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts/feelings or concerns [ =O ]. Thanks a bunch!**