Chapter Three
Allison
It’s finally the night of our monthly bar crawl. It’s a chance for the gang to get together and blow off steam all while raising money for charity. I carefully apply makeup around my sore, badly bruised nose before heading out. Thankfully it isn’t broken and is only slightly swollen, but I could do without the purple and yellow coloring that is setting in.
We are pre-gaming at Carlos and Adriana’s. There are eight ladies adorned in hot pink T-shirts with Bar-dacious Babes written on the front, and a graphic of a big-chested woman with a messy bun on top of her head holding a shot glass on the back. Carlos and Adriana round off our group of ten bar crawlers. Both are in the same hot pink, but his shirt says ‘Hers’, and her shirt says ‘His’ on the front with Pub Crawlers Anonymous, the official name of our group, on the back. We get a new shirt every month for our crawls thanks to Carlos’s friend Nico.
Carlos stops the music to get everyone’s attention. He’s our shepherd for the night. He makes sure we are safe and that we get to each bar so no one accidentally gets left behind once our drunken stupors take over. He’s not a big drinker, so he’s happy to do it. Adriana used to be in charge until they met at one of the bars on a hop and they’ve been attached at the hip ever since. Now the rest of our group is hopeful we’ll find our Carlos one of these nights and then live happily ever after.
“Okay, ladies. Let’s go find your men!” Carlos cheers. We all woot and holler back. Then he looks at Adriana and they burst out laughing. “Sorry, everyone, I didn’t mean to sound like a pimp.” His cheeks are turning bright red. “Uh, let’s just go get our drink on!” he corrects, and we all hustle out of their apartment still cheering at the prospects for a great night.
We’re at the third bar and I’m shimmying to the beat of the alt-rock music when strong hands grab my waist from behind. I spin around with my hand raised ready to slap the person silly when I’m throttled by piercing dark eyes taking in every inch of me, and I’m suddenly not so upset about it.
“Excuse me sir, but those are my hips you’re holding on to there,” I sass.
“Oh, pardon me, I thought they were mine,” he banters back in a thick Latin accent and holds his hands up.
“You thought these curvy hips were yours, huh? Maybe you should try again to make sure you know the difference in the future.” I shimmy and suddenly one of his legs is in between mine moving in perfect rhythm.
“Lemme see.” He slowly slides his hands around my waist and rubs down to my ass and back up to my hips.”
“Whoa there, I said hips.” He looks worried for a moment, but his face relaxes when I smile, hold his hands in place, then reach around and grab his ass.
“You’re a little forward, don’t you think?” He smarts back.
“Me? You started it. You get what you give,” I say, leaning back my torso while keeping my hands in place.
“Is that so?” he says.
“Yes, that’s so.” I give his butt a good squeeze and step back. “I’m Allison, nice to meet you,” I say, holding out my hand.
“Daveed,” he says, taking my hand and kissing the back of it. Where did this guy come from? “Care to have a drink with me at the bar?” he asks, but is already leading me off the dance floor. I look to Morgan, and she nods that she’ll keep an eye out for me. I also notice that Carlos and Adriana are cuddled up at the end of the bar and are keeping tabs on all of us as well.
“So, what’s with all the pink shirts?” He starts, raising his hand to the bartender for service.
“Monthly bar crawl with my friends. Each month we pick a charity to donate to, and this time it’s breast cancer awareness, hence the pink.” I say, waving my hand down the front of my shirt.
“Very nice. So how many of you are in this group?”
“Ten all together.”
“Wow, you have a lot of friends.”
“I do. And we all look out for one another, so you better watch yourself, mister!” I poke his chest.
“Yes, ma’am,” he affirms in his deep, rich tone. “Mind if I join your group for the night? I’d hate to see you run off to the next bar without me. And I love to dance.”
“We have two more to go, and sure, the more the merrier. Especially if you have testosterone. The only guy is Carlos, and he’s spoken for.” I nod toward the lovebirds at the end of the bar. Daveed chuckles.
“How’d you all come together?” The bartender finally comes over and we order two beers before I answer.
“Morgan is my best friend from high school, who I reconnected with after college, and Adriana and the rest of the girls are a mix of sorority sisters from college. We were all in different sororities but ended up here in the same area so we’ve kinda started our own little group. So, what about you? Tell me about yourself.” He takes a sip of the beer that was just set in front of us before proceeding.
“I was raised in Argentina, and now I’m a dance instructor here in the city.”
“Ah, a dance instructor, now I know why you’re so handsy,” I tease.
“When I see a beautiful figure with moves such as yours, it’s hard to resist.”
“So, is that how you meet women, usually? You just go up and grab them?”
“No, I think I’d be arrested by now.” He chuckles.
“Maybe you should be. Why me?”
“I could feel your sensualness. I felt a kindred spirit within you. Your body called to me.”
“My body called to you, huh? Does that line work on everyone?” I take a sip of beer and lean against the bar trying to gauge if he’s for real or a player. I figure it’s time to move on from Roger the douche and give him a shot.
Carlos beckons me over, and I grab Daveed’s hand to bring him with me.
“Is it time to move to the next bar?” I ask, looking at my watch.
“Yep, let’s round them up,” Carlos says.
“Daveed, it’s time to jump in the deep end. We’re on to bar four and have to round up seven tipsy, horny women. You ready?”
“Let’s do it!” he cheers, and I pull him toward the dance floor to find the rest of the girls.
After I find the last one in the ladies’ room, we’re off to the next bar. The heavy metal music is thumping when we arrive, and we grab drinks then start head-banging with the beat. I don’t go full throttle but join the best I can. The girls are all over Daveed and I have to say I’m getting slightly jealous. I mean, he’s tall, dark, and sexy, what more could you want? Every once in a while, he looks over at me and his eyes seem to say, help me.
I finally drag him out to the back patio for some fresh air.
“You’re not kidding, those women are horny. I think my butt’s a little sore from the grabbing.” He rubs his backside before we take a seat at one of the tables.
“Yeah, I should have warned you, but you look like you could take care of yourself.”
“Of course, but I wanted to spend more time with you,” he laces his fingers through mine.
“Do you happen to know seven guy friends we can pawn them off on?”
“I’ll see what I can do. I have a few at least. So, where do we go next?” he asks, stroking my hand with his thumb.
“We always end at Finnegan’s. It’s our favorite.”
“This is a lot of fun. Thank you for agreeing to let me join. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.” He leans in as if to kiss my cheek.
“Allison, Daveed, let’s go,” Carlos calls to us, interrupting Daveed. He pulls back and we drop hands as we stand.
“To be continued,” I tease as we follow the group out of the bar and to Finnegan’s. Daveed takes my hand back into his as we walk down the sidewalk. It is warm and strong. I squeeze his hand, and he smiles down at me and gives me a wink. I smile back and float into the bar.
I decide I’m done dancing for the night. Finnegan’s is a quaint pub with live music by local artists. The dim light and dark, wood-paneled walls make it the perfect place to slow down after a night of dancing. Some girls don’t prefer the mellow atmosphere and return to their favorite bars from the crawl and others go home early. Tonight, I want to get to know Daveed and exactly how our bodies talked to one another. And how they could be talking to each other in the future.
I lead him to a corner booth, where it’s quieter and darker, and let him know I’ll be right back with drinks.
“I need two beers, please,” I yell to Luke, our hunky bartender whose boyfriend is the luckiest man on the planet.
“You got it, A!” he yells back.
“Ally?” I hear from a guy to my right. I look over and see it’s the guy I ran into at Joe’s. “Hey! How’s your nose?” he asks.
“Oh, hi.” I pause, because I don’t remember giving him my name, and I know he didn’t give me his.
“Oliver,” he supplies and holds his hand out for me to shake. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I heard your friend say your name.” I take a minute to take in his features again and realize they are just as I remembered. Deep brown hair, amber-brown eyes, and a square jaw. He reminds me of Stephen Amell from The Arrow.
“Oh. Right. I’m doing just fine. Just a little bruising and soreness.” I gently touch the side of my nose. “I’ve still managed to dance the night away. Thanks for asking.”
“You’re welcome. You come here a lot?”
“Yeah, Morgan and I are regulars, so Luke is quite familiar with us, aren’t ya?” I ask, looking at Luke as he hands me the beers.
“I sure am. Watch out for this one. She’s a handful,” Luke informs Oliver.
“Is that so?” Oliver smirks. Luke nods and moves on to the next customer, and Oliver turns and gives me a side-eye with the smirk.
“What?”
“I thought running into you twice was good karmic energy, but now I’m a little worried.”
“Oh, you should be,” I sass back. Oliver huffs out a laugh and then looks down at the bar. I notice there’s a newspaper sitting in front of him. “Are you reading the newspaper…in a bar?” I didn’t even think they printed those anymore. “Don’t you know you should be drinking and enjoying yourself? Meeting new people?”
“Well, I have a beer.” He holds up his beer. “I’m enjoying reading the newspaper.” He nods and shakes the paper in his hands while letting out a satisfied sigh. “And I’ve met you and Luke, so it seems that I am, in fact, meeting new people.” I roll my eyes.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“What did you mean then?” He sets down the paper and leans his arms on the bar.
“I don’t know.” I wave my hands around in frustration. “You should be moving around, mingling, dancing, talking to people.” He swivels on his stool.
“I’m talking to you, and I just moved around. Happy?” He smirks and winks this time.
“Ugh, you are so frustrating. That’s not what I’m getting at, at all.” I throw my hands up in the air. I don’t know what to do with this guy. And why I even care. It’s probably those stupid honey-brown eyes making me all gooey inside.
“Is it the presence of the newspaper that bothers you?” he asks, squinting at me. “Because I’ve done everything else you said I should be doing. And for that matter, we’ve only just met and you’re being awfully bossy. Are you always this intrusive in other people’s lives?”
I huff. “No. You’re the one who intruded on mine first.” I stomp my foot in defiance.
“How so? As I recall it was you who ran into me.”
I huff again and ignore his question because he’s sort of right, but I’m too stubborn to admit it.
“Look, I just meant if you are in a social setting, you shouldn’t have your nose stuck in a newspaper, you should be doing…something. And hello, the 2020s called, no one reads newspapers anymore!” I finally spit out because my words are clearly not coming out the way they are supposed to, and I’m now considering if I should even have the beer in front of me. Speaking of beer, I need to get these back to Daveed.
“Well, it seems this newspaper has bothered you so much that it made you converse with me, so I think it might have just done the job it was supposed to.”
“And what is that?”
“Entertain me. I have to say, I’ve never been admonished for reading the newspaper. I happen to like the feel of newsprint in my hands. And if you must know, I was reading the new book releases to see what would be interesting to read this weekend.”
“Wow, you have an incredibly wild weekend ahead, don’t you?” I snark. Is he always this pretentious?
“It depends on what I decide to read, I guess.” What I wouldn’t do to wipe that smug look off his face.
“Look, I’m sorry if I made you feel bad, but the weekends are for fun and partying,” I wiggle my hips.
“I enjoy that as well, but I just finished a big project at work and reading is how I like to unwind.”
“I see. Well, I don’t want to keep you. I’m sorry if I overstepped, I’m going to blame it on the booze.” I point to my shirt and start to walk away.
“It was good to see you again, Ally.” I look over my shoulder.
“It was nice to see you too.” I continue toward the booth and Daveed but stop short and turn back to Oliver. “Oh, hey, if you really want to enjoy yourself this weekend, you should grab that new Oliver Hudson book. His mysteries are the best. I can never figure out who did it before it’s revealed.”
“Hm, I think I’ve heard of him, you know, us having the same first name and all.”
“Oh, yeah!” I say, as if his name has escaped me. He just laughs and shakes his head.
“I’ll look him up. Thanks for all the advice this evening.”
“You’re welcome.” I nod and turn back toward Daveed, trying to figure out if that whole conversation actually happened or if I’m drunker than I think.
“Was that a friend of yours?” Daveed asks as I set the beers down on the table.
“Who? That guy at the bar? Uh, no. I actually ran into him the other day at Joe’s coffee shop and then here at the bar. I haven’t seen him around before, so I’m not sure if he’s new to the area or what. Kinda weird.”
“Sometimes you are just meant to meet people for a reason. Perhaps it is meant to be for you two, no?”
“I doubt it. He was reading a newspaper in a bar and planned to read all weekend. I don’t think that’s exactly my type.”
“And what’s your type?” Daveed asks. I grab his arm and smile shyly.
“I think you have an idea.” Daveed smiles and takes a sip of his beer. The Oliver guy and the rest of the crowd fall into the background as Daveed and I settle in closer and get to know one another.