Realistic or Modern Title: Could They Share The Night... MxF

[NewToThis]

It was not a typical Friday night for Chris. It had been over a year since he had been back inside a bar. At twenty-nine years old, the prospect of overpriced drinks and smokey bars was not exactly one he was keen on. But he also hadn’t been out with his boys in quite some time. And shooting pool meant having to go to a seedy bar with its dingy and poorly lit atmosphere. Eighties songs almost made the night bearable….almost.

With a harsh yawn at eight o’clock, Chris felt his age. The ebbing away of his youth, its last vestiges as he had been up since five in the morning. Working remotely allowed him plenty of time to hit the gym and put in a ten hour day between multiple gigs. But his home felt…empty…now. Still, his friends were some salve on the loneliness he was left with…left behind.

He plodded forward dressed in messy khakis and a light blue button up that clashed against a red undershirt, with his face not shaved for days but amidst his curly short dark brown hair. The short scruff and his hard dark brown eyes, he still had his practised air of curious mystery that set him apart. Especially when he spoke, and his baritone voice had a tendency to be of dulcet tones to the ear. Measured and controlled. Even if now it had an air of being tired.

With a cheerful smile and exhaustion pulling at his corners of his eyes he headed inside, to keep the wound of his loneliness clean. To hear his friends' voices, in the hopes of not thinking back on the words and voices of ghosts past.

***

Victoria, sat at the bar. It was still early in the night but the woman was already drunk. The twenty seven year old had dealt with a lot of shit the last year, and it had resulted in her spending a lot more time at the bar than she had first anticipated.

She sat alone, her green eyes peering around the bar. She wasn't with anyone, but she was curious on who else was here. This bar in particular was pretty busy, not her usual joint... But she didn't want to feel as alone today, so she figured the hustle and bustle of this bar would make her feel less alone.

"Another shot of tequila, just put it on my tab." the woman says drunkenly to the bartender who slips her a glass. It took a lot for her to get drunk, but she had drank a lot today. Today was a specifically hard day for her, so drowning her sorrows seemed like the best plan.

*****

One ginger ale, please." Chris said to the bartender.

He was no stranger to being sober in bars. Many a time he had been the designated driver, or at least the one to be sobering up a few hours before having to leave.

He noticed the young woman with her green eyes giving him an odd look. Almost quizzical. Always the entertainer he couldn't help himself, and so he spoke to her.

"I like to to live dangerously." He quietly laughed at his own joke and his face betrayed it as he smiled with not only his mouth but his eyes as he looked into her eyes. He had always been something of a subtle flirt.

The bartender put his drink down and he tipped the typical dollar. Everyone had to make a living after all. He nodded to her and barely resisted the urge to wink at her as he turned around and proceeded to join his friends at the billiard table. She was cute in her own right, and he had always been a sucker for green eyes.

A tinge of pain tried to float to the surface, about green eyes. But he poured himself into enjoying the moment and pushed past it.

 

[allybanks00]

She gave him a small smirk. “I bet you do.” she said to him as he spoke to Her. She was not the type to speak to people while she was drinking, she was a very sappy drunk. She didn’t want to o tell her life story to a stranger. She locked in on his eyes and was going to say something else but she turned and asked the bartender for another drink instead.

She knew she would be here for a while, she was angry, sad, tired.. This was the best way for her to cope. ”Missy I think I’m going to have to cut you off.” The bartender said to her. The woman scoffed. ”Thats ridiculous, I’m not even that drunk.” She protested to him. “I’ll have another shot of tequila. Put it on my tab.” She said firmly.

 

[NewToThis]

Chris humorously kept an eye on the lit if not drunk young woman. His round of nine ball went quick...and not because he won. He was rusty as all get out and it showed. As his friends squared a round of eight ball he dismissed himself and joined the obviously lonely woman.

"Cheer up, it gets worse." He said to her as he pulled up a seat next to her.

She smiled and suppressed a laugh at the intended confusing statement.

Still she fixed him with a distrustful if not subtly disgusted look. "I didn't invite you to join me."

Chris smiled as he looked away from her, but allowed the side of his face to be seen. "Ah, but you have yet to ask me to leave. And I'm curious if you will." He turned and looked at her with a gentle smile, nothing rushed. Nothing presumed.

 

[allybanks00]

The woman sighed slightly. “Maybe you should leave, unless you can convince him to give me another drink.” She said barley looking at the attractive male sitting next to her. She was fiddling with her car keys, she would sober up enough within the next hour or so to be able to drive home.

“You’ve had enough mam’ I’ll end up having to kick you out for the night.” The bartender said to her.

The woman rolled her eyes and accepted the glass of water the bartender had slipped her. She did need the water, it most certainly helped. She knew tomorrow she’d regret this, she drank frequently, however tonight she seemed more drunk than normal.

 

[NewToThis]

"Maybe....Hmmm" he gently grabbed her car keys turning the mess of other assundrious keys in his fingers. His eyebrows were lifted in playfulness.

"Maybe if you tell me your name and I like your company." He was curious why a cute girl was drinking alone. And being rather thorny while doing so.

Sometimes the effort to keep others out, was a desperation for others to want in.

 

[allybanks00]

She looked over at him. "Hand them over, you're a stranger." she said to him. After a minute though, she sighed.

"Victoria." she said simply nodding at him. "But yeah I guess your company isn't so bad." she said to him resting her arms on the table in front of her.

 

[NewToThis]

Chris pursed his lips as smiled and gently handed back the keys.

"I'll take 'isn't so bad.'" The tone of his voice was wistful as he said and he looked at his ginger ale and grunted lightly at some joke only he knew.

"I'm Chris by the way." He didn't offer to shake her hand. The thorny rose of a woman eyed him waiting for anything interesting to be said, or to happen. Something that wasn't....predictable...disappointing.

"A simple guy would ask why you are alone. A stupid one would ask you why are so sad." He took a sip from his ginger ale.

"But I figure you'll tell me or you won't. I'm good at being a stranger who cares." He looked at her for a response. The appearance of cringe on her face had him chuckling to himself.

"So 'Victoria', when you aren't in bar, looking so alone. What do you do for fun?"

 

[allybanks00]

She chuckled. "Sad? I'm not sad." she said to him. Clearly he was good at reading people, but she wasn't going to make it easy for him to know about her.

She shrugged. "I work a lot, I used to be into painting.. Don't really have much time for that anymore." she shrugged again. "How about you? What do you do?" she asked. Might as well start a conversation with him. He wasn't all that bad.

 

[NewToThis]

Chris clicked his tongue in an exaggerated manner as if to say he didn't believe her, but he wasn't going to call her on it...at least head-on.

"I get the working a lot. If I'm not careful it all becomes a blur..." He tilted his head back and forth as he mulled the statement over. "I try not to let life get away from me...endless chapters without substance." He sipped his ginger ale as he tried to hide his choking up on some not so distant memory.

"I wish I had something as interesting as painting, but I've always lacked the patience. I would talk about my hobby in writing romance novels but then I would risk being asked if I published anything....and I am quite content not to have vanilla people know my...tastes."

"So as far as hobbies...I'm stuck...i go to the gym but that isn't a hobby. This is my first time shooting pool in a long time. And besides work, I guess I'm no good at caring about life unless...well I have someone to care about it with..." Chris smiled and inside laughed at how cliche he had become.

 

[allybanks00]

She chuckled slightly. "So what do you do for work?" she asked him curiously. She had her legs crossed and was back to fiddling with her keys. It was an anxious habit she had, that she wasn't aware of.

"Hey Chris, watcha doing over there?" one of his friends whistled to him. The male began to walk towards the two of them sitting at the bar.

"I'll have another shot of tequila... It's been like half an hour." Victoria said to the bartender who begrudgingly poured her a shot and gently slid it over to her.

 

[NewToThis]

A little "hmm..." escaped him, but that was intentional. For her sake of course. Letting her know he knew she was interested. He liked a little anxiety from women. It let him know he was headed down the right track.

If they weren't game, it would be just as easy to brush him off or ignore him. But to fidget. The subconsciously held breaths. That meant...well he wasn't so uninteresting.

Chris turned halfway to his friend. A begrudging acknowledgement as he let his gaze through half open eyes linger on her as he spoke for a few seconds. The kind of gaze a woman could just feel. He was sure to inject a tone of mild annoyance at having to speak to his friend.

"I just found someone more interesting than billiards is all." A part of him quietly hoped to see her blush.

His friend didn't know how to respond to that. "Well...ugh hey...we were going to head over to a club or something downtown. You want to take one car or something?"

Chris did not like that prospect. Being up till four in the morning for the sake of hearing loud music and feel it thump against his chest...all while buying overpriced drinks and wasting his time. That was a 'good time' he could pass up.

"I'm good man. If I leave here I'm heading home. Just go without me." After some back and forths "are you sure" "i'm sure" he was able to devote all his attention back to Victoria just in time to see the tequila shot put on the bar.

Without skipping a beat he grabbed the shot and poured half of it into his ginger ale before setting down in front of the flabbergasted and annoyed Victoria. "Put that shot on my bill" he cheerily said as he handed his credit card over.

"Now where were we...right. Jobs? I do virtual IT work and some onsite consulting. One of those jobs few know how to do, and they can't tell if you are overcharging them. You just have to get it right."

He slowly reached his left hand towards her fiddling hands and replaced the keys with his palm. "You can tell me to leave." His tone was warm, and a little apologetic.

 

[allybanks00]

The woman smiled softly to herself but looked down at the ground as he spoke to his friend. She wasn't going to interject in their conversation.

The woman huffed. "Another shot please." she said tapping her card on the counter now. He had wasted half of a perfectly good shot. What an ass.

"mm.. Virtual IT sounds cool" she said simply. She didn't have to much to say but it was obvious she was enjoying his company. "Yea.. I dunno.. I'll probably be headed home." the woman said with a shrug, taking the last shot before standing up. She was wobbly, her green eyes were glazed over, the room was spinning slightly. Fuck. She over did it again. She was so drunk she didn't even know that her keys were no longer in her hands.

 

[NewToThis]

Chris positioned to potentially catch the ailing woman as her keys hung from his fingers. Carefully his hand went to her shoulder and gently pushed back down as if to guide her.

"And that was your last shot for the night." Chris said focused and concerned with Victoria's welfare.

"It doesn't have to be me, but someone has to make sure you get home safe." Chris said with a slight laugh. He exchanged a look with the bartender and nodded him off.

"Do you have someone you can call? Or you just want me to get you an Uber. I'll cover your ride home. You'll have to cover your ride back here tomorrow." Chris took a swing, and missed but such was life. She was cute too. And he was curious to know her....but...well couldn't force himself into a situation where he wasn't wanted and it was best to bow out with grace and kindness.

He kept her keys in hand slightly out her sight till she gave him an answer and would wait to hand them over to her once she was about to be off with the Uber driver or someone she knew.

 

[allybanks00]

The woman looked at him. "No one around to come pick me up, I'm not taking an Uber.. If you're that concerned I'll walk, i'm like ten minutes down the road." she said stubbornly

She ran her fingers through her hair. Wow, she was drunk. She knew tomorrow she'd probably feel like crap and sleep all day. "I'd like my keys though.. I gotta get into my apartment somehow." she said to the male. He was nice enough, and he seemed to be genuine which she appreciated. She couldn't get to close to him, everytime she got close to someone it ended poorly.

 

[NewToThis]

Chris let out a frustrated exhale.

"You and I both know it would be dangerous for you to walk home in your condition." Chris pulled out his wallet and took his ID from it.

"Could you take a picture of this for me." The annoyed bartender complied begrudgingly, preferring not to get involved but stuck for various reasons.

"Now you." Chris held up the ID so Victoria could take a picture of it as well. "Text it to your friends or parents or something."

"I'll walk you home and you can get your car in the morning." It was an order, not a request.

 

[allybanks00]

The woman rolled her eyes slightly but nodded. She knew he was serious. She walked out of the bar and began walking home, she was stumbling over her own feet. Eventually the two of them got to her apartment, and he led her into the elevator and up to her floor helping her unlock the door to her apartment.

"Ya know.. you didn't have to walk with me I can walk." the woman said leaning on the door frame now. She shut her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "You should call me sometime.. maybe we'd get along." Vic said to him.

 

[NewToThis]

"Maybe..." His tone was tired but happy at the prospect.

"And yes I did have to walk you...I won't go into why. I'll just say I would have felt terrible to find out something unfortunate happened to you, or because of you, because I didn't take ten minutes to do the right thing. I'm kind of a sap like that..." He watched Victoria on her unsteady feet.

Chris took a business a card out of his pocket. "Here, when you sober up and think you and I getting a dinner after work would be a good idea. You can give me a call."

He pushed the card into her hand reluctantly. Biting the inside of his cheek he was resisting the urge to kiss her. He had to foreclose the possibility....

"Now go inside and close this door before I try to kiss you and risk making a fool myself."

 

[allybanks00]

The woman shrugged her shoulders. She took the business card and put it in her pocket.

When he said to close the door or else he was going to kiss her she let out a genuine laugh, a laugh she hadn't heard come out of her mouth in a while. "Goodnight Chris, I'll give you a call." she said to him her eyes going from his mouth to his eyes. "Have a wonderful night, thanks for bringing me home." the woman said. Before shutting the door and locking it behind her.

He was a really nice guy. Something different, someone who didn't just want to get in her pants because she was drunk.

 

[NewToThis]

Chris almost laughed at himself. If you couldn't laugh at yourself from time to time, you weren't living right....Even if a part of him wished she gave in....

He was too greedy. Drunk women could be cute...but he was too...well he pushed those thoughts from his mind. He had a walk in front of him before he drove home. Plenty enough time to settle down and push the amorous thoughts from his mind.

 

[allybanks00]

The woman ended up staying up a little later, she drank a little more at the house before she passed out on the couch. She woke the next morning.. well afternoon.. with a pounding headache, and severe nausea.

She was swearing at herself for allowing herself to make such poor decisions, but she couldn’t help it at this point. She decided she would call Chris tomorrow, enough time for him to figure out if he had actually enjoyed her company or if she was just there, and he was drinking so he had enjoyed her company.

Later in the night once she sobered up she got dressed, wearing a simple black pair of jeans, small boots with a heel, and a dark red long sleeve top, she pulled her hair into a ponytail and went back down to the bar. She meant to go just to pick up her car, but she ended up going inside and getting a drink. She promised herself she wouldn’t get drunk.

 

[NewToThis]

Chris upped the weight on the Hammer Strength Plated Should Press.

He was not going to look at phone for another fifteen minutes.

Fifteen minutes...as he watched the gym's little clock on its television he pushes through five more sets.

Then grimaced as he checked his phone. He had put it on silent. Victoria, he wasn't going to think of her. He wasn't going to fall into old habits.

He took a deep breath and headed up to do cardio. He had done his Saturday morning workout but as he sat at home....nothing pressing...nothing of interest...he thought the gym might bring him peace.

Remembering Victoria's cute smile. Her nervous fidgeting. Chris wanted to make her nervous again. Feel her tremble when he touched her. Hearing her breathing get low but rapid. To....

He let out an audible groan of frustration as he maxed the resistance and range of the elliptical.

 

[allybanks00]

After a couple of drinks she got in her car and drove home, she sat at home and opened a bottle of tequila. She debated calling Chris, she knew she shouldn’t. She should not get close with a stranger again. It would only end poorly. She took her phone and texted him.

“Hey it’s Victoria… would you like to come by? Nothing creepy, dinner and a movie or something? My treat.” She texted him.

She set her phone down and took another shot to make herself relax.

 

[NewToThis]

Chris got the text and near hopped off of the elliptical. If he had a little less self-control he would have been at risk of happy dancing.

Chris brought himself under control, taking a deep breath.

"I'd like to come by, there is a sushi place near you I've wanted to try. We can go do that, and see how long the night goes. I just need to get home and get cleaned up." So many other things he could think of texting but it was better to be cool and err on the side of caution.

He proceeded to head home and went about expediently righting his hygiene. But not being in a rush, as a rush would mean a possible mistake and he wanted Victoria to see him as positive as possible.

 

[allybanks00]

She smirked at his text. "Sounds wonderful, I'll see you when you're ready.. you know the address." she texted him.

She then got ready, had another two shots of tequila. She wasn't drunk but it was obvious she had drank some, she didn't think it was obvious because this was her new normal. She didn't see the problem in it.

 

[NewToThis]

Chris had spent a little time trying to pick out clothes. In order to avoid being too inside his own head he went with jeans, boots, and pull over polo style shirt with horizontal lines of white on a dark blue shirt. He thought about shaving but....he didn't regularly shave and if she was going to like him...he needed to be as genuine as possible. So no shaving...he could at least manage that.

He was cold and crisp as possible as he drove. About an hour and half had elapsed since he had gotten Victoria's text to being right in front of her apartment building. He remained calm and collected as he neared her front door. He fought back wanting to smile widely. Keeping it simple and reduced. Better to be warm and willing, then too eager.

He rang the bell on her door and waited, forcing himself to relax and be chill. Biting his tongue slightly as he pushed the thought of ambushing her with a kiss as she opened the door. She didn't know him like that...