No Ordinary Bloke (21 page)

“Thank you.” She smiled. “You’re the best.”

I wasn’t sure what our friendship might entail, but I was happy nonetheless. Our food arrived at the perfect time to alleviate the heaviness of the moment. We chatted for the next half hour about work, and as our plates became empty, Cherie stopped by and asked how we were doing. After we told her everything was lovely, she left, and Allison leaned into the table. “So are you going to tell me the whole story with her? She’s very pretty.”

“She is.” I smiled. “She might like to hear that from you. She likes girls much better than boys.”

Allison’s mouth dropped open with a gaping smile. “Oh my God. So you two really weren’t compatible.”

“Not really.”

“But did something happen between you two?”

“There was one night I saw her at another restaurant’s bar. We’d only been friendly, not even particularly flirtatious before then, but that night she was very…aggressive. And well, you can guess the rest.”

“Yes, but what happened after that night?”

“A week later, I ate lunch here again, and I tried to set-up a date. She pulled me aside and told me that she’d been on a rebound that night from her girlfriend, but now they were back together.”

“Pardon me if you don’t mind my saying, but a lot of men would feel inadequate if they were dumped for a lesbian.”

“Nah” I said, with a wave of my hand.

“Why not?”

“Dunno. I just didn’t take it personally.” I paused, wondering if I should tell her the rest of the story. I always told men the story. They loved it, but how would a woman react? Her eyes had a twinkle, and I hoped she still had that quirky sense of humor. “I suppose the way she broke the news to me helped.”

“How so?” she asked, taking a drink of water.

“She said she was sorry, but in the end, she preferred pussies to dicks. I told her that I understood because I agreed with her. I’d always preferred pussy.

Allison’s eyes became wide with the glass to her lips, and with a snort, she spewed water everywhere. It splashed in her face and flew out across the table, even landing on me. She guffawed in laughter both at me and herself, as she tried to both dry and hide her face with her napkin. “I’m so sorry,” she said, gasping. “But that was too much…” She lowered her voice. “I can’t believe you said that here.”

I looked about the room. It was busy enough, and we were a bit away from other tables. “Why ever not? No one heard me.” I said, half-way teasing her.

“Come on.” She smiled. “Kind of inappropriate, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. The word or the location where I said it?”

“Well, the word is…the word. The location is definitely wrong. This is a nice restaurant.”

“Ah, so if I said the wordy pussy elsewhere, then that would be okay?”

Still with a grin, she looked up at the ceiling. “I missed you. I really did, but I’m not so sure I missed being put on the spot all the time.”

After hearing she missed me, I was sure I needed to write a big fat check to the Archbishop of Canterbury to thank God for what was happening to me. I leaned closer to her. “I missed you terribly, and I definitely missed seeing you blush like you are right now.”

She touched her cheek but quickly withdrew her hand from the heat of her blush. “Damn it.”

“Let’s get back to my question. Is the word appropriate in another setting?”

“Yes,” she said decidedly and with a roll of her eyes.

“I agree.” I tapped the table. “So I take it you’ve said it at appropriate times in the past.”

“Yes. Can we move on now?”

“I suppose, but this is so much fun…” Really, I didn’t want to, but I’d probably already pushed the boundaries enough with her. The woman had just broken up with her boyfriend. She probably wasn’t looking to find a new bloke so soon. What had Dr. Nelson said? I’d been courting her. Well, it looked like I was going to have to court her again, but I didn’t care. I was too damn happy to have the opportunity at all.

She checked her watch and frowned. “I have meeting in fifteen minutes. I’m sorry, but I need to run.”

“I need to leave as well.” I leaned back in my seat, perfectly pleased with how the afternoon had gone. “So are you by chance free tomorrow night?”

“I am…actually. I have work dinners tonight and Thursday, but I’m free tomorrow.”

Her eyes were questioning as to what I might have up my sleeve. I could’ve asked her to dinner, but I didn’t want to be stuck in a restaurant again. I wanted to do something fun. “How about we shoot some pool? I know a fantastic billiards hall.”

“Okay.” She smiled. “But I’m not a very good shot.”

“I am. I’ll teach you, love.”

T
he following evening, I had Allison meet me at my favorite kebab takeaway joint. The only problem was that we didn’t have a place to take the food away to. I’d already decided that we weren’t going to end up at my place—or her hotel for that matter. No, no, no. Even if she wanted to jump in the sack, it was the wrong thing to do.

Now, if she did indeed want to fuck like crazed rabbits, it was going to be damn near impossible to stop me, but it needed to happen. My hope was she could see that I never wanted her just for sex. If I could delay things just a bit, I figured she might stick around longer.

So when we got our food from the kebab place, I nodded over to a park and a few benches nearby. “Let’s eat over there.”

She nodded, and when we sat down on the bench, she said, “This cracks me up.”

“Why do you say that?”

“It’s just kind of the antithesis of Trey. Instead of a fancy restaurant and a Broadway musical, it’s takeout on a park bench and a pool hall.”

“Which do you prefer?” I asked warily.

“This, of course.” She picked at her kebab. “It may not be a fair comparison though.”

“How so?”

“Can I be blunt?”

“Please do. I prefer it, especially with women.”

“Okay then,” she said as she exhaled. “Is this a date?”

Her brilliant green eyes shown in the light of the park lamp. She seemed happy, but concerned. I understood that mix of emotions. “Dunno. Do you want it to be?”

“Yes and no.” She cringed. “Please don’t hate me.”

“I don’t hate you, love.” I really didn’t like hearing her answer, but I was curious. “Explain yourself.”

“I really want it to be a date, but I think it’s probably best if I hold off for a while.” Her lips tugged up in a hopeful smile. “You could say it can’t be a date because of how much I want it to be a date.”

I nodded and took a bite of my food. This allowed me some time to figure out how the fuck I was going to respond to that one. After I swallowed and took a swig of water, I asked, “Can I be blunt?”

“Um. I don’t know.”

“Wait. Why do you get to be blunt, but I can’t?”

“I didn’t say that. I just said ‘I don’t know’ because I’m worried.”

“What are you worried about?”

“I’m worried that deep down you hate me.”

“Hate you?” I snorted. “I don’t hate you. I’ll admit you broke my heart in San Francisco, but you had your reasons and I deserved some of it for putting you in a bad position. But I don’t hate you.”

“That’s a relief.”

“On the contrary, I fancy you a little too much I think.” I chuckled. “I agree it’s probably best that this isn’t a date. I don’t want to be your rebound guy.”

“I think not…” She giggled. “Do you think I’ll end up lesbian after a night with you?”

“Let me remind you that Cherie was
already
a lesbian when we hooked up. So she didn’t become a lesbian after a night with me.”

“Though you couldn’t convince her that men were better.”

I pretended to be shocked. “Her biological inclinations are in no way a statement on my performance. I believe she enjoyed herself. Thank you very much.”

“I don’t doubt that. I’m sure you’re very able.”

“Look at you teasing me. When did you become such a cheeky girl?”

“I’m sorry for teasing you. It’s just such a funny story.” Her tone then became more serious. “But I want you to know that you wouldn’t be a rebound for me. I think that’s what scares me.”

I leaned in closer to her and inhaled her fresh scent. In a whisper, I said, “What if I told you that I’m scared as well?”

“That would be reassuring.”

“And what if I told you I wasn’t going to kiss you tonight? Does that make everything easier?”

“Yeah, it does.” She twisted her mouth into a smirk. “Disappointing in some ways and a relief in others.”

I raised my finger in the air. “And that’s why I shouldn’t kiss you. You’re ambivalent.”

“I’m not ambivalent. That’s not what I said.” She crossed her arms over her chest and giggled again. “You want me begging for it, don’t you?”

I could listen to that giggle of hers all night long. “Actually, yes, I do.”

We laughed our way through the rest of dinner, and afterward we walked the few blocks to the pool hall. It was a modern hall, not one of those dodgy ones full of unsavory blokes, including those like myself. The place was rather hip, all chrome and bright colors, but it was still a pool hall. Right after we walked inside, she pointed to a sign. “What in the world is snooker?”

“What do you think it is?”

“I have no idea. It sounds obscene.”

“It rather does, doesn’t it? But it’s another billiards game. I’ll teach you how to play it another day.”

“Let’s see if you’re able to teach me pool first. It’s not going to be that easy.”

“I’d love to play any game with you involving a stick and balls.”

“Let’s get a pint,” she said, poking me hard in the chest. “We both need one.”

As we walked in the room, Ted, the bartender nodded to us. “David. Siobhan.”

I cringed internally, hoping Allison hadn’t heard him. Ted was nice enough, but he obviously was blind as a bat. Allison looked nothing like Siobhan. Unfortunately, Allison heard, and she tugged on my shirt. “What did he just say?”

“My name and—”

“Come over here you two. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“He’s never seen me before. Why did he just say that?”

“Um. He’s mistaking you for someone else.”

“Let me guess.” She gave me a dirty look. “One of your pool partners who’s also another kind of partner.”

I scowled at her. “I haven’t seen Siobhan in almost a year. Give me a break.”

She scowled right back at me, so I defended myself again, but this time with a good attack. “Didn’t you recently have a boyfriend?”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“See. That’s how I’m feeling.” I nodded toward Ted. “Now, let me introduce you to him. I promise you you’re more memorable than Siobhan and he’ll never call you that again.”

As I guessed, Ted was a perfect gentleman and apologized profusely for his mistake. Then he charmed the trousers off Allison by asking her all about New York. He even gave us the beers for free.

Once we had an open pool table, we began a game. “You should break,” she said, pointing to the table with her cue.

“Uh, no. You won’t get much of an opportunity to play if I break. I want you to do it.”

“Okay…”

As lined up to take the first shot, I could already see she needed immediate intervention, but I said nothing. I had the best view of her tits I’d ever seen. Poor thing didn’t pick the right shirt for pool. It was an elegant, billowy blouse she wore over black jeans, and when she leaned over, her breasts were on full display. Ivory skin with sweet freckles spilled out of a lacy white bra. If I was lucky, with all the leaning and stretching in the game, a beautiful nipple might slip out as well.

As my mind raced to all the places it shouldn’t have gone, I remembered where we were. My head snapped up to see if any other blokes were admiring her beauties. Thankfully, it was a weeknight so the place was quiet, and we were alone at a corner table. I went back to staring at her tits.

As she stretched across the table, she raised her eyes up to me before taking the shot. “You’re quiet, but I think that’s a bad sign. You’re laughing at me. Aren’t you?”