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By Amy Shechtman

I’d been sitting at the bar for over an hour, alone. Stood up again. How humiliating. And it’s not like I don’t shower, or anything. It was crowded, Saturday, drink specials, football game kind of crowd. I had made my one drink last as long as it was going to, I looked at my watch for the 900^th time that night, and started to put my coat on. Just as I stood up, the bartender came over with another drink. I looked up at him, "this one’s on the house" he said, in a slightly British accent. He looked at me and smiled. I hadn’t seen him before, he must’ve been really busy.

His hair was blond/brown, and tousled. He had a silver earring dangling from one ear, and a crooked but brilliant smile. He had a strong chin, and big baby blues that cut right through me. I was starting to forget who I’d come to meet in the first place. "Thanks a lot, I could use this right now". I said. He nodded, and said "whoever didn’t show up here for you tonight should be killed with sticks." He turned a little pink around the collar as he said it, then he bowed his head, turned around and went back to work.

I watched him walk away. He was wearing black jeans, pretty tight ones, that hung around his butt & hips in the best way. He had black boots, with Cuban heels and pointy toes, and a black button down, shiny-type shirt. He had a belt on, a thick black one with silver studs. He had a leather choker around his neck. By now I had totally forgotten what’s-his-name.

I sipped my drink, watched the tube, and started to feel a bit better. About 20 minutes later, he came back toward me. I noticed he was wearing black eyeliner, but it looked really good. He stopped in front of me, and leaned on the bar, so his face was about six inches from my face. "My shift’s over in about ½ hour. Can I take you somewhere for a bite to eat?" He was looking right into my eyes. His smelled of cigarettes, leather and peppermint. I couldn’t move, speak or think. I managed to nod my head and sort of smiled a little. He grinned. "Great" he said. "Stay put for now, yeah? I’ll be keeping an eye on you ‘til then". He touched my cheek softly, and backed away, turned and went back to work.

My brain had totally shut off. I went into automatic mode, the next half hour passing like the blink of an eye. I just watched him work, chatter with the barflies, mixing drinks, carrying cases of beer back and forth. Every once in a while he’d look over at me and wink, or smile. It was all I could do to smile back..

When the shift was up, he said goodbye to the other bartender and disappeared around the back into the storeroom. I wondered if I was supposed to go meet him, or what. But before I had time to think about it, he was behind me, touching my shoulder. "You ready?" he asked. He’d donned a black leather jacket, soft and broken in looking. "All set" I said. He took my hand, I grabbed my jacket and followed him out. "There’s a burger place about two blocks away, they have great food, ‘sat alright?" "Sure" I said, "I’m pretty hungry". Although I wasn’t thinking about food at the moment. It was late, and there was no one on the streets, but I wasn’t afraid, being with him. Before I really knew what I was doing, I stopped walking.

He turned and looked at me, "are you OK?" he asked. I nodded yes, and smiled. I curled my hand around the zipper of his jacket, and pulled him toward me. I leaned back up against a building, and pulled him closer. He was surprised, but he didn’t stop me. He looked very serious for a moment, then broke into a smile. "What’s all this then?" he asked, with a glint in his eye. I answered him by standing on my tiptoes, and kissing him softly on the lips. I closed my eyes. His lips were smooth, and dry. I backed off after a minute, even though he was a stranger, it felt so right. I looked up into his eyes, and he was looking down into mine. His turn. He bent to kiss me again, this time I opened my mouth just a little bit, and put my arms around his neck. I pulled him closer to me, and we were locked together in a deep kiss. My body was turning to jello and my legs could barely stand up. He slipped his arms around me, and held me tightly. We broke apart, basically just to breathe, but he still held me tightly. I buried my face in his neck, and kissed his smooth white skin there, and I heard him sigh with pleasure.

I knew we weren’t going to make it to that restaurant.