Chapter 3

"Sorry it took so long," I heard as a warm hand snaked around my waist. Even though the drink was quickly making its way to my head, I was still conscious enough to be self-conscious. I moved away quickly while taking a huge gulp of my drink. I didn't like being touched on my waist. The touch brought forth a panic that made me want to hide in the shadows. 

He didn't seem to notice and I was glad, but my own behavior began to really frustrate me and I drank more and more. We both stood there bobbing our heads lightly to the music and watching the crowd. Curiosity forced me to take a brief look at him as he took a sip of his water and I admired his jaw line. Again.

He was really, really not bad looking. Not necessarily my type, but not bad looking at all. I did have a feeling that he could become anyone's type. He was just one of 'those people' who gave you a certain feeling.

"You're not drinking?" I blurted out, knowing that the drink was starting to flourish in my system if I was so confidently making conversation.

He didn't hear me. The chatter at the bar was as loud as the music around the club. He tipped his head forward, which made his sexy cologne wrap around me and the pendant of his chain fall in front of him.

It must have been the cologne that possessed me because I boldly reached for the pendant and tried to read it in the constantly changing lighting of the club.

"Samantha," I heard him say above me and tilted my head back to find him with that small, amused smile. Those lips. My toes curled.

"Huh?"

"My mother's name"

Gasping, I let go of the pendant like it was hot. His smile enlarged as he stood straight.

"What? My mother's not allergic," he said in a playful, offended attitude. I could already see he had a good sense of humor and it made me smile no matter how hard I tried to fight it.

"It was my reflex because I had dirty thoughts."

And there went the unfiltered mouth that alcohol always opened.  I put my hand over my gaping mouth while his eyes widened as did his smile.

"Care to share?" he asked as he inched closer and I put a hand on his chest, laughing and moving back as far as the dense bar would allow.

"No." I shook my head emphatically. "Never. Ignore me please."

"It's kind of impossible after you say something like that."

When I made a suspicious face, he laughed and finally answered my earlier question."I don't drink much.

"But you let your friends drink," I quipped before taking a sip, making him smirk while nodding, sending a sinful tickle through my body.

"Someone has to be the voice of reason."

We shared a smile that made me look down at my drink. Oh hell. He was making me blush. That alone made me begin to feel panic deep within, but I sipped more on my alcohol to keep the feeling from taking over me.

"So you never drink when you go out?" I asked, a bit dizzy now.

"You don't have to drink to have fun."

I only lifted my eyebrows, turning away from him to have more of my drink, making him laugh.

"So what do you do, Val?" He paused and smiled. "Erie."

I smiled guiltily behind my glass. "I'm a software developer."

He nodded and couldn't hide the surprise on his face. "Sounds really smart."

I shrugged. "Not really. You?"

"Music producer."

I couldn't hide my surprise either. I thought he would be into information technology like many in this area.

"Really? That's really cool. So are you here on vacation or…"

"Oh I had some business in LA and figured, I'll come by and see my childhood friends."

I nodded, fascinated by all this for some reason. He'd gotten a bit serious and ensnared me with his eyes.

"I stayed with my father over some summers. He moved here with his wife, I made quite a few lifelong friends that never left. I always promised that I'd come back to visit. So," he held out his hands. "Here I am."

"A man of his words huh?" I smiled behind my cup.

"Definitely."

"Hey guys!" Ella found us in the nick of time, a moment I was sure would turn awkward. There was a certain way he was looking at me that made me want to hide. Peter wasn't too far behind her.

"Hey! Look who I found!!" Peter yelled to Henry as he pulled two young women along with him. The two brunettes shrieked with excitement and Henry's face lit up with a beaming smile.

"HENRY!!" The ladies damn near screeched in excitement as they ambushed Henry.

"Jasmine!!! Alexis!!!" He opened his arms to them and hugged them both. I knew them from highschool but I doubted they remembered me. That happened a lot. Ah well.

The shorter girl introduced her other friends and in a matter of seconds, they were all swooning at his accent. They circled around him, cutting me out of the group. They all resembled women who'd stereotypically be his type. He engaged them just as charmingly as he'd engaged me and I was brought back to reality that I wasn't special or breathtaking enough to catch a guy's attention. I would probably always fall into the backdrop.

I looked over at Ella whose arms were wrapped around Peter as he gazed lovingly down at her and they conversed.

The burning feeling of neglect I'd felt since I was a child began to creep up and I slipped away unnoticed.

While I walked round finishing my drink, I thought of how much I liked this atmosphere of being around high-energy people, but I was honestly growing tired of it. It was more fun when you knew more people and I was still a bit new to the place. I wondered what this experience would be like with a proud boyfriend, or just someone you absolutely knew liked you. I smiled wistfully, then began to frown at the reality that I was alone.

'You will be forever alone and no one will probably ever want you', a demon inside me seemed to say.

I stopped by the bathroom where there was a long line. While in there, I avoided the mirror as much as possible and tried not to compare myself to all the other women that filed in. This 'comparing myself to others' was a habit I'd picked up since very little and while there were good days where I didn't do it as much, today was not turning out to be a good day.

After I used the bathroom and was washing my hands, I made it a chore not to look at the mirror. I even reapplied my makeup without looking until I made the mistake and looked.

I was 5'5, with very light, faintly freckled skin especially around my button nose and high cheekbones. I had dark, shoulder length curly hair with eyes just as dark. I was what most would call average weight, even though I begged to differ. While I had a flat tummy I knew it could use more work to be even better. My arms were 'average' but I felt could be more toned. I hated my not too wide or narrow hips and I despised my legs too.

I knew looking at the mirror was a bad idea and left the bathroom, contemplating leaving the club but remembering that I didn't have a ride. Not wanting to chance running into Ella and crew, I went to the other bar at the opposite end of the building and ordered a Liquid Marijuana to drown out the sudden heavy feeling of insecurity that began to cloud over me.

When I tasted my drink I realized it was much different than the one Henry ordered and wondered for a second if he'd spiked my drink but knew it impossible cause I'd watched him from the time he ordered it to the time I sipped it.

I walked around and when the alcohol began to make me sway, sat down in one of the white lounge sofas they had on an elevated floor, up against the club's walls.

I was glad to find that no one occupied the sofa I had my eye on.. Most people were getting down to a song that was very popular at the time. The dj told the crowd to give it up to RH who was apparently in the club, and the crowd went wild, especially in the middle of the dance floor.

I nursed my drink for a few minutes when someone slid up beside me in the booth.

"How are you doing?"

With alcohol in my system, I was friendlier than normal and smiled. "Fine and you?"

He was much older than I was, but a little friendly conversation wouldn't hurt, right?

"Been watching you for a minute, looking good."

My smile wavered, but I tried to keep it on my face and laughed uncomfortably.

"Seriously." He aligned his arm with the back of the couch behind me and scooted closer. He brushed my hair from my face and tried to speak close to my ear even as I jerked away from him, surprised at his nerve to put his hands on me without permission. "What are you getting into after the club?"

I rolled my eyes, putting more space between us as I looked away.

"Nothing."

" Let me take you home and show you how to feel good."

I slapped his hand away from my knee as I stood up, grabbing my purse off of the table and leaving my drink unfinished.

"You got some nice meat I can grab onto, not like these other stick figure bitches you know?" he tried to pull me back down, "Come on."

"Let go of me!"

He reached or me again. "Come on girl--"

"Leave me the fuck alone," I gritted and evaded his grasp, hearing his laughter as I fled his presence. I tripped down one step as I hastily walked away but didn't let that deter me. Did I even have a right to be pissed? What the hell was I expecting anyway? I was at a club for crying out loud. Gentlemen didn't reside in those kinds of places.

I decided I was just going to hail a cab, wondering why I hadn't thought of that in the first place. I didn't have to ride with Ella.

I stepped out and was immediately encased by the ocean air of the city that lined the beach. Tilden was a very chill place, even on busy nights. I admired the chatter of the pedestrians walking nearby, the lights from different establishments sandwiching the traffic-filled roads. It was a pretty city west of San Francisco.

Tonight was a balmy summer night with a nice breeze, the kind of night that made a person want to create memories with that special someone.

Yep, I was an unfortunate 'hopeless', although I didn't really like using the word romantic to describe myself.

I walked slowly and leisurely as the alcohol began to wear off. I wasn't too far from the club when I received a text and retrieved my cell phone from my purse.

Ella: where are you?

Valerie: Outside

Ella: wtf?!?! Why??

I didn't bother responding and decided I'd look for cab numbers with my phone wifi.

"Val! Val??!"

I sighed when, a few minutes later, I heard Ella calling me, my name echoing throughout the street.

She caught up with me fast, holding on to my arm as she caught her breath.

"Don’t you ever make me run in heels again!" she warned and I said nothing, continuing to wait for my phone to connect. The service was pretty wacky so it was being slow.

"You can't just walk around these streets by yourself! Especially with that short dress."

"Don't worry. No one is going to talk to me."

Ella rolled her eyes and groaned in irritation. "Don't you start now. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

"Yep. When we decided to leave we realized you weren't there." She shifted her guilty eyes away and I just shrugged with a blameless smile.

"It's cool." We started to walk towards the parking lot. "We're going home right?"

The look Ella gave me made my shoulders sag. "Please tell me we're going home. Just drop me off before going wherever you guys are going."

"Fine," she mumbled.

We'd met Peter here, so I was thankful he was riding in his own car. I couldn't take more of his underhanded comments about me disrupting their nice little time together.

"So what did you think of Henry?" Ella asked as we exited the three story parking garage.

"He was okay."

I felt her exasperated gaze as I looked out ahead of me.

"Okay? Come on! He was cute. Don’t deny it."

I sighed. "Yes, he was cute." I smiled sweetly at her. "The end."

"Not the end. You saw how quickly he stole you away from Peter and I?"

"Right." I lay my heavy head against the headrest and closed my eyes. "To get me away from his precious friend and his girlfriend. I was clearly a distraction."

"Uh oh. Is Negative Nancy coming out to play?"

I ignored Ella's jab and kept my eyes closed. The alcohol no longer had me swimming in bliss but had me feeling sleepy. She turned up the music just a little bit as if to stealthily try to keep me awake. I kept my eyes closed to aggravate her.

A few minutes later I opened my eyes and quickly recognized my surroundings, then shot my eyes to Ella. I caught her in the act peering anxiously while biting her nails at me and when she saw that I was awake, she reacted like a kid with her hand in the cooking jar.

"This isn't the way home," I said monotonously, trying not to lose my temper.

"I know--"

"Oh god Ella! I'm tired!" I threw my hands up in exhaustion.

"We're just stopping by Sea Burgers for some burgers and that's it. After that we're leaving."

"I'll just wait in the car," I mumbled.

"You know what? I'm about to stop going anywhere with you. You always turn situations into just…ugh."

The car became quiet and Ella turned the volume back up. As we drove without speaking to each other I thought of all the other times I'd ruined her fun because of my tantrums. I never used to see or understand why she or others would get frustrated with me, but I'd come along way and could finally see other people's sides in respect to my behavior.

I turned the music down.

"I'm sorry I know I'm being a party pooper, negative nancy, childish, immature person right now Ella, but I looked in the mirror and had a nervous breakdown."

She frowned and looked at me briefly. "But I thought you were getting better."

"I was. I am. I don’t know I guess today I just felt odd." I tinkered with my phone before grudgingly admitting. "And I've been thinking about my life and all that crap lately."

Ella gasped. "Cause your birthday's coming back!" she reached out for my hand. "Oh sweety, I should have known. I'm sorry."

I squeezed her hand.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. It's my fault for being a big baby." I was embarrassed by my behavior. Looking at the mirror sometimes made me behave irrationally and got me antsy, but I couldn't pretend that I hadn't been feeling antsy the entire night especially after the way Peter tried to shoo me away.

I needed to stop dragging people down with me whenever I was in a bad mood. I squeezed her hand again and made her look at me briefly again. She was shocked by my encouraging smile.

"You know what? Let's go to Sea Burger. We're gonna have a good time."

Ella sent me a appreciative smile and I stuck my tongue out at her like I always did when she was about to get sentimental.

We talked about a number of subjects before falling on men once again.

"Peter looks just about ready to take you home," I told her and she tried hard not to smile.

"You guys are disgusting," I wrinkled my nose distastefully.

"Oh you just wait. When your prince comes--"

I gagged and she laughed.

"Stop it. Your man will be your prince. You are so fucking jaded its ridiculous," she said.

"No. words like Prince in this day and age are just whack. I don't need a prince Ella. And I've already concluded that whatever guy wants to be with me will be someone who I wont be attracted to. It's always like that. I know, I know, it's juvenille and shallow, but for once I just want someone who I'm…ugh…wait no I don't cause we all know what happened last time…"

I sighed heavily, looking out the window. "You know it's time for me to stop this pity party and get with the program. I don't need--"

"Okay maybe Henry is not your type but he kept asking where you were even though I don’t know why from what he told us, you were kind of being a bitch towards him."

I stared at Ella wide eyed. "He asked about me? Wait, he called me a bitch?"

"No. I did. What's with the 'It's Valerie', when he called you Val?"

I groaned and face-palmed. "No that wasn't my intention. I was just trying to tell him hey just in case you didn't know, my full name is Valerie. You introduced me as Val."

"Well, you should have told him that."

"Well, he came back after he gave you guys your drinks and he was cool."

"He said you look like the type that doesn't want to be bothered."

I shot her a mortified look and she shrugged as she parked the car at Sea Burger's parking lot.

"I think he likes you," she said as we got out of the car and grabbed our purses.

"I think not," I shut her down quickly and closed the door, catching her rolling her eyes. I didn't blame her at all. It wasn't fun having the 'I have no confidence no guys like me' friend in your circle. For a long time I'd been that friend for so long I never realized how annoying it was till I met someone else who was just like me. I tampered down my wails about being unloved with most people but with Ella I didn't because I could be so honest without fearing her reaction.

"It's too late anyways--"

"There you are!" I jumped when I heard Henry's voice and looked up to find him and Peter approaching our car.

"Henry!" I said, startled. His voice was loud and clear and still unique as ever in the quiet parking lot. Now without the distracting sounds of the club, I got the full effect of his voice. It was deep and husky. It damn near shook my soul.

I swear I was about to fall to my knees and pray to god that he didn't have a sexy voice too.

"She successfully tracked you down. I thought you were running away from us."

He was grinning. And the dimples. So my knees decided it would be a good idea to get weak. I guess I was going to fall to my knees either way. Great. Whatever. Who cares, right?

"Oh no I wasn't." I tried to keep it cool and walked up to him.

"Yes you were."He smirked as he fell into step with me while we walked into the small 24 hour restaurant.

"No I wasn't," I insinsted as I looked away. For some reason I didn't want him to see me smiling.

"You were." He blocked my view when he stepped in front of me facing me and started walking backwards. "You've been hightailing from me the entire night."

I looked at him surprised that he called me out so boldly. "No I wa--Okay, maybe."

He smiled big and he had one of the most gorgeous, infectious smiles I'd ever seen. It was a sweet smile.

"Honesty. I like it." he fell back into step with me as we neared the restaurant.

By then we met up with Peter and Ella at the restaurant. We ordered our food and alcohol which the guys offered to pay for and decided to sit outside on one of the benches. Sea Burger was located right by the beach and an extremely popular hangout for all kinds of people. It was especially ravaged by people like us who wanted to grab quality food right after hitting the clubs.

We all sat down to eat our burgers and partook in small talk. Henry and Peter were the ones mainly reminiscing about their younger days and the various visits Henry took to come and visit them through the years.

"Dude, you know when I knew you were a cool guy?" Peter said to him, then looked at Ella and I. "This has to be the most loyal son-of-a-bitch I've ever met."

Henry smiled bashfully as he looked down at the fries he was picking. His dimples were making me cry on the inside. He looked so cute with his dark brown curly hair whipping about his head as he tried to hide his embarrassment over Peter's appraisal of him.

"Everything he said he will do, he does. He's like one of the most thoughtful. Let me tell you something, you remember when my mother had to go through chemo and had just lost her job and had no insurance--"

"Peter, you don't have to mention it--"

"This is the guy who pitched in and helped pay for the majority of it."  

Ella gasped while I looked at him in silent awe.

"You're the guy?!" Ella exclaimed. "He always said some friend of his helped when he was struggling. I think he mentioned your name, oh screw me for not remembering. Oh god, but you guys were so young when this happened. Twenty-two I think? How were you able to help at that age?"

He shrugged and looked like he wanted to hide in his jacket. I found it amusing that a guy who exuded such confidence could be so shy when it came to his good deeds. Most people wore their charitable acts like a badge of honor and here he was trying his darnest not to hide under the table.

"I just helped because I could at the time. I know Peter would do the same so," He shrugged.

"This dude," Peter patted him on his back. "He's one of the realest I've ever met. I owe you one bro."

My surprise was unending. Most friends wouldn't even involve themselves in family business like that, even if they could help.

He was such a nice guy, it seemed. Even now I couldn't let my warped reality of nice guys contaminate the respect I had for him from this little revelation.

I continued to drink more and more, wondering why I was feeling so bothered. And it wasn't all of a sudden. It's ever since I crossed paths with those green eyes earlier that night. His eyes were so hard to read, but they were so engaging.

I took a chance and peeked up at him. His arms were folded and he was looking at me. I felt surprise and mild humiliation for trying to sneak a peek so openly and looked away, pulling at the straw so hard without noticing. 

"There we go McChuggin. Keep chuggin' em. We need you to loosen up."

I looked at him to find him his ruby lips half-smirking while he continuously averting his gaze between my lips and my eyes. Peter and Ella laughed.

"Dude, don't even bother," Peter interjected and as he spoke to him, Henry never once took his eyes off of me. "You wont even get into the first inning with her."

"I like a challenge." He briefly roved from my head to my chest and back up, scorching each place his eyes landed. Ella sqealed and laughed because she knew just how strange I got whenever a guy tried to flirt with me. If it was up to me I'd just evaporate into thin air but I guess that was asking too much from the man upstairs.

I forced a disgusted expression on my face to conceal my blush, making Ella laugh uncontrollably. Henry's smile widened.

"That is one challenge you can't break. You'd be breaking some kind of unmatched record."

"Peter!" Ella gritted admonishingly. I didn't even bother with Peter. I was so used to him scaring guys away from me when I wasn't doing it myself. 

"I believe anything's possible. Don't you, Valerie?"

When he said my name, forgive me but I melted inside. I just felt weak. There was something about the way he said my name, but at the same time I couldn't tell if he was mocking me for making him have to say the whole thing. He enunciated it with great calm like he loved for each word to roll off his tongue.

He was waiting for a response, but I was tongue-tied. My face was burning. Butterflies were all over the place in my gut. I felt like I was up in the clouds. Maybe it was the alcohol.

"Uh…I guess?" I said awkwardly, not liking that all eyes were on me.

"You're a tough cookie," he said as Ella suddenly got up and I was thankful for her distraction cause I didn't know what I was supposed to say to that.

"Well I'm done here," Ella said as she gathered up her messy takeout box and when she reached for mine, I started to get up to.

"No you stay here."

"Aren't we leaving?"

"I need to have a word with Peter."

Peter averted his gaze between Ella and me then his eyes lit up like a lightbulb switched in his head and he too got up.

"Oh yeah. If both of you could excuse us for a minute," he said. 

I knew my eyes were shooting lasers at Ella for being so damned obvious but I didn't want to make Henry feel like I hated him or something. He hadn't really done anything wrong. I just didn't want to be alone around him.

"Here, I'll get that," she took my box and Peter took Henry's.

"Thanks mate," Henry said.

"We'll be right back," Ella said as the two walked to the trashcan and then towards the beach, hand in hand.

"She couldn't be any more fucking obvious," I mumbled dryly. 

"Do I make you uncomfortable?" he asked and I looked at him. I could tell only one ounce of him was truly concerned. He was as cool as a cucumber and the mischief in those predatory eyes said he wasn't the least bit remorseful. He looked like he was really having fun making me squirm.

"No. No, you don't," I said and the straw I was pulling from made a slurping sound that embarrassed me heavily. I expected him to laugh but when I looked up he had that wide amused smile on his face. 

"Interesting. Excuse me," Henry stopped one of the waitresses milling about. "Could you get her another of those Pain Killers. I think she's going to need it."

Without thinking, I added, not wanting to be outdone. "Could you get him one, too?"

He smiled, then nodded in appreciation. "This should be fun."

Normally I wouldn't even get this far into semi-flirting with a guy. I was about to turn it down a notch, but I decided what the heck to stop being so uptight. Maybe that pain killer had something to do with it. So I pulled on my straw again, creating that awful slurp and said, "Bring it on, Henry."

His eyes widened in surprise and he laughed quietly.

I smiled.

I usually didn't just smile.

Something was happening to me.