He laughs. “It’s kind of a long one, I’ll have to tell you sometime.”
I smile at him and follow him to the line.
We stand and talk while we wait for the doors to open. We exchange different stories from college and our time there. He went to the college I had wanted to attend, but there was nothing but Ivy League in my mom’s mind when we were picking out schools.
By the time we make it into the venue, we’ve been laughing and chatting for forty minutes. Outside of work we got along even better. When we had gone to lunch, it had been like I was able to relax and be myself for the first time outside of my home in… years. Maybe ever.
Warren did that for me.
We make our way to a spot. The general admission meant we could go wherever we wanted, I learned. We stood near a pillar and waited for the show to start. The audience was already chattering so loud that it made it pretty much impossible to have a conversation. But what we lacked in conversation, Warren made up for in hand-holding, in putting his hand near my waist. Brushing his knuckles along my arm.
If I needed any further evidence that he was interested, I would be an idiot. He was being perfectly clear.
In the back of my mind, the thoughts of my secret admirer loomed, and I thought maybe I should hold off on anything with Warren. What if the man who wrote the notes was the one? I didn’t want to hurt Warren with a relationship that was doomed to fail if that were true.
Then again, I’d stopped receiving the notes for over a week. Maybe he’d given up? He gave me no clue to who he was which made it hard to decipher any sort of real feelings. And while the notes were nice, sweet, and incredibly flattering, Warren washere. In the flesh.
He was showing interest. He was being clear with me by the slight touches and long looks and flirty talk that he was more than a little interested, and that chemistry went both ways.
I was not being shy about showing it right back. Warren made me feel safe and secure just by being in his presence. I couldn’t even imagine how wonderful it would be to be intimate with him as well.
Okay, that’s a lie. I could—and have—imagined it and it wasawesome.
The light dimmed and the crowd roared loudly. Now, the venue was jammed packed, forcing me to be close to Warren.
Oh darn…
He slips his arm around my waist, holding me in front of him like it was completely natural for us to do. For a moment, I close my eyes and get control of my emotions. It was liberating, almost, to feel so free. To be here with someone where no one knew my name, and no one cared about my position in this world.
We were all just here to let loose.
I couldn’t have asked for a better night. If I could just stay here in this man’s arms, relishing in this freedom, I would do just that.
A woman walks onto the stage and goes straight for the drums, I blink in surprise and watch her start out a beat that already makes me want to dance, she starts with some sort of catchy drum solo. A man holding a guitar enters the stage next and joins her rhythm. Before I know it, another man, then another comes onto the stage and they launch right into a song that has me shaking my hips and raising my arms in the air.
I can’t not dance.
Warren lets me go and when I glance back at him, he’s watching me with a smirk on his face, his eyes tinged with amusement and adoration.
In that moment, I felt cherished.
I dance my heart out to the great music, the lead singer’s voice melodic and smooth, making the music that much better.
For forty minutes, I dance with everything in me, all the while Warren watches me. In front of anyone else, I might be embarrassed to do this. But with him I’m not ashamed of it, I’m not embarrassed that he watches every minute. I’m not even mad that a light coat of sweat is covering my body from moving and being surrounded by hundreds of other bodies in the venue.
When the music stops and they play something over the speaker, I say, “I need some water.”
Warren nods and reaches for me, interlacing our hands together. I look at our hands and smile.
Tonight may have just been the best night of my life, and though I knew with my position in life, this may never happen again, I was going to cherish every second of it.
Chapter Thirteen
“I have late night conversations with the moon;
He tells me about the sun and I tell him about you.”
-s.l. gray