Losing Control (3 page)

I made a beeline for the nearest bar. Dana had to jog to catch up. “Sweetie, what happened? You know you can tell me anything, did Jason say something to upset you?”

“No, I was just reading into something that wasn’t there, that’s all. I just really don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t want to be around Skunky anymore, either, so I hope you weren’t too attached to White Teeth.”

“Not at all, we’ll get our drinks, go get the girls, and move to a new spot, a hot spot, a Gia’s-gonna-get-her-groove-back spot!” She always knew how to get me to smile. I felt like this night could be salvaged.
Thank goodness I have Dana.

***

As we were waiting in line for drinks, the band started singing one of our favorite songs. Dana and I were singing and dancing along. I noticed this guy, this really hot guy, kept looking my way. I figured he was trying to figure out who the two spazzes were dancing in his beer line. But as we got closer, my eyes caught his and he smiled. I looked around, thinking I had to be mistaken. There must be a really hot girl he was looking at. But, no, when I looked back, he was still looking at me and smiling! My face turned red and the butterflies were fluttering. He was behind the counter, helping the two scantily dressed, very pretty bartenders.
Was he a barback? Whatever, I don’t care, he’s smiling at me and he’s absolutely hot!

While I was trying to process all this, Dana noticed. “Holy shit, Gia, that God behind the counter is totally checking you out!” She looked at him, then at me, then back at him again. Our eyes stayed locked on each other until one of the half naked girls said something to him and he grabbed some ice and dumped it in her sink.

“Do you know him?” Dana asked.

“No, but I want to,” I said in a half whisper, still watching his every move.

“The way you two were looking at each other, I thought maybe you knew him, from way back or something. Gia, take a breath, for crying out loud.”

I hadn’t noticed I was holding my breath, but I knew I was standing very still, like if I moved I would wake up, and I definitely did not want to wake up yet.

“Four Michelob Ultras, please.” I heard Dana’s voice. I hadn’t even noticed we were up.

“I got those,” the babe behind the bar said. His voice was super sexy, I wanted to jump over the bar and straddle him.

I looked at him and our eyes locked again. “That’s really nice of you,” I said, “but you’re gonna be broke by the end of the night if you’re this generous to all the girls.”

The girl at the register giggled. I wasn’t sure why, but he responded, “I’ll take my chances, besides, that’s the only round I’ve offered to get so far tonight, so I think I’ll be okay.”

“And why are we so deserving of your generosity?” I couldn’t believe I was able to carry on this banter, what with my heart racing, butterflies fluttering, and knees about to give out.

“Well, what kind of guy would I be if I didn’t buy the girl with the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen a beer?”

I blushed, still locked into his stare, not believing what he had just said, right here in front of all these people, who were now looking at me, probably thinking, what the hell is that guy talking about, she doesn’t have the most beautiful anything. I didn’t want to look away, but I had to, I was losing my confidence, feeling embarrassed.

“Thank you,” I managed to mumble, “that’s really sweet.” I sounded like an idiot, what happened to the clever banter I had just moments ago?
I get the best compliment I’ve ever gotten from the hottest guy I’ve ever seen, that sounded as sincere as could be, and I turn into a dork. Nice, real nice. I’ll be alone for the rest of my life.

“You’re welcome, enjoy,” he said and his walkie talkie started blaring something about a fight and with a quick smile at me, he rushed off.

“Next!” The half naked girl brought me back to earth. Dana and I grabbed our beers and started back to find the girls.

“Gia, you have
got
to find that guy again, he’s totally into you, and he is seriously smoking hot,” she slowed down as she said ‘seriously smoking’ and pronounced them very meticulously.

“I know, right?” I said because I couldn’t say anything else, I was still in idiot mode, just trying to remember every word he said and exactly how he said it so I would never, ever forget it.

When we reached the girls, they grabbed their beers like they hadn’t had liquid for days and continued their girl-on-girl dancing show, which seemed to please everyone around us.

“I’m gonna say good-bye to Kevin and then we’ll find a better spot!” Dana shouted to me so I could hear her above the music.
Oh, her and White Teeth must be on a first name basis.

“Okay!” I yelled back, shaking my head up and down enthusiastically. I needed to make sure our new spot had a clear view of that bar we were just at because as soon as
he
returned, I was going to become very thirsty. Dana was close when she called him a god. He was Herculean. I could see him dressed like a Roman gladiator, the brown leather body armor that ended about mid-thigh, leather wrist cuffs and arm bands that held tight around his huge biceps, leather sandals that laced up the calf hugging his perfectly toned leg, and the bare thighs, so strong and powerful, pulsating with each step. A matching leather headpiece with gold medallions and his dark hair spilling out all around it, yes, I could picture it so clearly, even though I hadn’t actually
seen
his bare legs or chest, I was quite certain they matched the tan athletic build of his upper body. The t-shirt he had on was plain black and just said “Staff” on it, just like fifty other dudes running around this place had on. Of course, none of them were filling it out the way Hercules was.

“Let’s roll!” Dana interrupted my Roman fantasy.

I led the way through the crowd because I had to be able to see him when he returned to the bar. I stopped when I found a hole big enough for the four of us to stand. There were some really cute guys around, so it would do.

“Jo and I will go get another round and use the restroom before the next band starts,” Brittany said as she grabbed Jo’s arm and headed back through the crowd. Dana and I started making chit-chat with the people around us, having a great time. I was feeling buzzed and on top of the world. I didn’t know if it was a contact high from Skunky or the compliment from my Roman gladiator, but either way, I was glad to have this feeling, especially after my run in with Jason.

***

The girls got back just in time for the next band to be announced. We all loved them and knew all their songs. We sang along, as did most of the crowd. We shoved our drinks up in the air every time we wanted to emphasize a word or phrase and danced with each other and everyone around us. This was my thing, my favorite thing, outdoor concerts with good friends, having a few drinks, laughing, and carrying on. I made sure to keep checking out the bar, no sign of him.
What was I going to say to him when he came back? Was he ever coming back? What if I never saw him again?
No, I couldn’t think like that, we were here until Sunday and he worked here, so I had to run into him at some point, didn’t I? I wasn’t going to get obsessed about it, I was just going to continue to have as much fun as I wanted and whatever happened, happened.

All the lighters went up in the air as the band was acoustically starting their most popular love song. The guy behind me that had been dancing and flirting with us all night grabbed me around the waist and pulled me in to him to dance. He seemed very sweet and non-threatening, so I went with it. It was nice to hold his hand and sing to each other with goofy faces as we were pretending to hit the high notes. Every once in a while he would twirl me around and hug me back to him. This was one of the things I loved about this place, sharing a good time with someone I’d never met, didn’t even know his name, probably would never see again, but felt close to at the moment because of our mutual love of a song. He dipped me at the end, what a doll. I kissed him on the cheek and gave him a little wink. He winked back and we all started bouncing up and down as the next song blared out. This must be their encore, two big hits, make the crowd go wild and remember why we loved them so much, and “good-night, see you next year, keep-rockin’!”

“Wow, what a show!” Dana yelled at me, although the music had stopped and we didn’t have to scream anymore.

“I know! I’m having such a great time!”

“Me too,” Dana said, quieter this time. “One more band to go tonight and then we get to do this all again tomorrow and Sunday, life is good!” She had a drunken smile and looked as though she was having some kind of spiritual moment.

I laughed. “You look like you’re feeling as good as I am. Shall we get another round and use the bathroom before the next one starts?”

“Absofuckenlutely!” she said with a wicked grin.

The four of us took off, we made sure to have our new friends save our spot, as we loved it there. I could see Brittany leading us through the crowd, her double-Ds thrusting out, showing her the way. All the guys were google-eyed and making whistling noises at her, which she was eating up like crazy, but hey, if ya got it, flaunt it. Jo was right behind her, a huge smile on her face as she turned to look at me and made sure I was keeping up. It looked like she wasn’t feeling any pain. And behind me, Dana was singing out loud. As she walked by, people either sang along or looked at her disapprovingly, but those were the sober ones, and there weren’t many of them. She didn’t care, that was one thing about Dana, she was who she was and she didn’t give a shit what you or anyone else thought about it. I adored her.

We finally made it back to our spot, having had the best damn time enjoying each other’s drunken company on our trip to the outer circle. I brought a beer back for my dance partner, who was really surprised by this, shocked actually. It made me think he must’ve dated some real bitches and I felt bad for him. I could imagine him being bossed around by some high-maintenance girl who couldn’t even bring the poor guy a beer. I’d have to be sure to give him some extra attention, boost his ego, and show him not all women were like that. He was cute, not a total dazzler, but his personality made him more attractive than if you just saw him on the street. I liked him, not in a I-want-to-fuck-him-right-here-right-now kind of way, but I felt comfortable around him and considered maybe kissing him later.

I lit a cigarette and leaned my head back to blow the smoke up to the sky, most people around me were smoking, but no one wanted it blown into their face. I took another drag and blew it upwards again, my dance partner asked for a drag.

“Well, I should know your name at least if our lips are going to be sharing the same spot,” I teased. “I’m Gia.” I held out my hand to shake his.

“I’m John,” he said as he gently took my outstretched hand, and instead of shaking it, put it to his lips and kissed it.

“You’re quite the gentleman, John, if that’s your real name. Nice to meet you.” I handed him my cigarette, not caring that we were sharing spit. I had pretty much decided I was going to kiss him later, anyway.

“Now why would I give a girl like you a fake name?” he said and took a drag.

Before I could answer, he took my face, ever so gently in his really soft hands, put his mouth to mine, and exhaled the smoke. As I caught on to what he was doing, I inhaled, leaned my head back and blew it upwards. As I looked back at him, he took another drag and blew it up to the sky. I didn’t know why, he was kind of an odd little character, but that was somewhat erotic. He handed the cigarette back to me.

“A girl like me? What do you mean by that, John?” I asked, curious.

“Girls who look like you—beautiful, I mean—and have the confidence you do. I can tell you’re a fun-loving, thoughtful, romantic woman, and well, usually women like you don’t give guys like me the time of day. So, I really am John, and it’s really nice to meet you, too.”

Yes, he was kind of odd. He thinks I’m confident, ha! You should have seen me turn into an idiot after the last compliment I got, and a “romantic” woman? Most men would’ve used the word “sexy,” but John would probably never use any part of the word “sex” in front of a woman because he was a gentleman. But he did put his lips to mine and exhale, maybe he’s into some kinky shit behind closed doors.

“Guys like you? You mean cute, sweet, shy, mysterious little gentlemen? I think you underestimate yourself, John.” I winked at him.

John turned red, but beamed brightly. “Thanks, Gia,” he said and gave a nod toward the stage, indicating the announcer was coming to introduce the next band.

As the band members came out, fireworks blasting in the background, I got goose bumps. I looked over at the girls, Dana and Brittany were being hoisted up onto a couple of guys’ shoulders and I knew what was coming next.
Yep, Dana’s got her boobs out!
Flashes from cameras were going off all over the place. Everyone was begging Brittany to give them a peek of her double-Ds, which, of course, she did, but not before making them wait and plead for awhile. I looked back at John, wondering how he was handling the peep show, but he was looking right at me, still beaming. I should have known he wasn’t the type to be interrupted just because a couple of hotties got their tits out for the world to see.

I smiled back at him. “You’re welcome, John,” I said.

Then, after a quick peek at the bar, I turned my attention back to the stage. I hadn’t listened to this band too much, but I knew their big hits and even some of the smaller ones were familiar to me, having heard them on the radio. I scanned the crowd, it was roaring, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

John said he was going to the restroom and asked if I wanted a beer, I shook my head yes and off he went. He had a cute little ass, he needed to gain some weight, though, and I wondered what he did for a living. Probably worked in some office or something, his hands were too soft for manual labor type stuff.