Here she was, her monstrosity of a hand bag was causing lasting back damage and she still had no clue as where to next.
Ordering an Uber seemed like the sensible thing to do, and soon she was dropped off in front of a nice enough looking bar somewhere downtown. Although the evening was approaching fast, this was definitely still a day that called for some alcohol.
Entering through heavy curtains, Delila realized that she must have once more managed to hit rush hour. Or was it automatically happy hour as soon as you stepped into such an establishment? She made her way over to the bar, trying not to accidentally hit and kill somebody with her bag.
"Way to go Delila.... you made it.", she mumbled as she secured herself one of the last empty bar stools. Huffing and puffing she grabbed her phone and put the bag down. The bartender sensed her need and appeared right in front of her. On the other hand, that was his job, and why else would she be here if not for needing a drink?
"Good afternoon, Miss. What can I get you?"
Delila smiled at the nice young man as she answered: "Hello and thank you, I'd like a Gin and Tonic, please."
The bartender did a swift job and soon she had the cold glass in her hand and was able to take the first sip. A big one, followed shortly by a few more. Hmmm, that really hit the spot. She closed her eyes and tried to relax a little.
After a while she began to take closer looks at the other patrons to distract herself from downing her drink too fast. It was an interesting mixture of people, although mostly men. Some in suits, others not, some younger, and some older. Glancing back at her glass, she realized that her little trick hadn't worked at all, it was already empty. A problem easily solved with the help of the bartender: another drink appeared.
A few more sips and she suddenly remembered that people watching wasn't the only thing that had to be done, she still needed a place to sleep tonight. But unfortunately, Delila had not eaten since this morning and her fingers, like the rest of her, had already started to feel the effects of the gin. Typing on this tiny phone suddenly seemed significantly more difficult:
"Stupid tiny little characters... stupid podgy fingers... seriously, can this get any smaller!? "
Grumbling didn't help. Frustrated she decided to order a burger and some fries. Nothing like hot grease to melt away sorrows and to soak up alcohol.
And like most normal humans, Delila wanted ketchup with her fries. Except they only had those very clean and practical little packets. Yes, the ones that are nearly impossible to open without getting the content all over yourself. So naturally, that's what happened.
Cursing under her breath, she got up and went looking for the restroom to freshen up. Which meant she had to take off her entire shirt, try to wash off the ketchup, dry it half-heartedly under that obnoxiously loud hand drier and put it back on. The whole process was less than graceful, but fortunately she had the bathroom to herself.
This day started getting to her. She considered going back to her liquid diet and forget about the fries. Looking in the mirror, she straightened her now almost clean black shirt, brushed her hair back, and tried to look as composed as possible.
Delila opened the door and stepped out, wanting to go back to the bar and those sober-up fries. Well, that was the plan. Until she hit something massive that was standing right there in her way. Her suddenly hurting nose, the unexpected impact and her slightly inebriated state had her so confused, that she just fell, right on her back.
As she was laying there, hurting and probably looking like some modern-day version of Kafka's Gregor Samsa, she couldn't help herself and started to giggle. No, scratch that, she was laughing like a mad woman, tears streaming down her cheeks, probably sounding like a dying hyena.
As soon as she managed to breathe halfway normally again, she opened her eyes and looked directly up to the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. Deep blue eyes looking at her like they were unsure of what to make of this situation.
"You and me both, handsome, you and me both."
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....
What the hell just happened? Alex, the oh so tall and handsome man himself, wasn't too sure about that either. As soon as him and his friend had entered the bar for their usual after-work drinks, he needed to excuse himself to take a call. Stepping into the hallway for some quiet, he'd had his eyes on the phone only. Next thing he knew, some woman appears out of nowhere and bumps... no clashes right into him.
It had happened so fast, he couldn't even get a hold of her fast enough to ease her fall. So he just stood there, dumbfounded, and looked down at her.
A wild mass of red hair caught his attention first. He couldn't see her eyes, as she had them closed while she was.... laughing and crying simultaneously? Tears were streaming down rosy, freckled cheeks. And holy... the curves on her. Wait, was her shirt wet? Was he seeing the contour of some lacy bra and her very hard, very tempting nipples??
She opened her eyes in the exact right moment to get him out of his lusty haze. The brightest turquoise glimmered at him, as she finally sat up and whispered something to herself.
Instinctively he held out his hand to help her up.
"Thank you."
She had a surprisingly deep and melodic voice. He needed to force himself to let go of her hand once she was standing on her own two feet again. Such soft skin.
She was still looking at him with those glimmering eyes while she kept apologizing: "I am so very sorry, I didn't watch where I was going. It really seems to be just one of those days, you know..."
"Really, no need to apologize, you were the one who got hurt. I didn't even see you there. I am the one who should be apologizing. Are you alright?"
How could he not have seen her, he asked himself. Hair like hers and that body... he cleared his throat to at least appear somewhat focused.
"Would you like to join my friend and me for a drink? Let me make up for running you over like that?"
He damn near held his breath in anticipation of her answer. Acting like an insecure teen. But he couldn't just let her go and disappear into thin air. Something about her was absolutely captivating, and he for sure needed more than a few seconds in a badly lit hallway to find out what that was.
