Where Would I Be Without You

Chapter Five

The pub he selected to take me to was one of my favorites and was only five blocks away from our building. Living in the city had its advantages, in many ways. Getting tipsy at the local pub and needing to walk home was one of them.

Just as we walked out of the apartment building and into the warm evening air, I felt his hand go to my back as we stepped out on the street. With only five or six click clacks of my three-inch slip on kitten heels in red leather, with white stitching, they are very cute, trust me; I felt his hand reach for mine. I looked down just as I let his fingers intertwine with mine, and then I looked up to his sultry colored eyes as he was already looking at me with a smile that said what I felt. This is nice.

The five block walk to the pub was taken in slow easy steps. It was as if we were in no hurry to get there. I knew he mentioned he was hungry but at the pace we were walking, and his slow easy conversation telling me about his day with the tenants in both buildings, I could have walked a mile and never stopped. It was a great feeling to hold his hand and walk down the street in a casual pace, one that I could see us replaying this scenario many nights to come.

It was then that it hit me as he held the door open for me to the pub, and we walked in with his hand to my lower back that I realized I needed to not muck this one up, take it slow, make it a real relationship, not a fly by night passionate thing. That was my smart mature brain talking; however, my whohaw was thinking something totally different should be happening at the end of this evening. The race between the two was on. I had my bets placed on the mature relationship date, while some of the people in the pub that could not seem to take their eyes off us made me think the other would be the winner. I caught a reflection in a mirror as we sat at a two-person bar height table and saw the romantic couple we were portraying to the world. It was the type of love and affection couples showed each other that seemed real, not first date nervous, not I have to be here to get laid, but a sign that two people clicked. Mason and I clicked, and with that thought, so did my neither region; it was clicking a mile a minute. This was going to be a tough call at the end of this evening.

I decided to do what I do best when flustering feelings of fantasy take place in an inappropriate place; I babbled a few questions out. "So, Mason, tell me what it is like doing maintenance on the two buildings? I mean you have told me a few interesting stories about the tenants, but I could easily see how two buildings could be a bit much for one man."

He looked me straight in the eye and made a sexual suggestion that was more of a statement of his manhood than how he handles the building maintenance. "I can handle a lot. I'm very good with my hands."

I cleared my throat as I thought of all the ways he was good with his hands. Then I decided to ask him about working for his dad. "So, how big of a corporation is Montahue Properties and how do you like working for your dad?"

Just then, the waitress came up and asked us for our order. Mason looked at me and smiled, while keeping his eyes on me, he spoke to the waitress. Two long necks, house special, and two glasses of water; can we have some menus please." The waitress walked off with a 'sure' and most likely didn't think twice that Mason was staring at me while talking to her, but I did, and I liked it; however, I needed to make sure of something to calm my date jitter nerves "Is there some lipstick on my teeth or some eyelashes stuck together because you have a funny smile on your face?"

He reached over, put his hand behind my head and pulled me in close to him for a quick kiss. When he pulled back, I was silent as I let out a huge breath of air in pure happiness. That is what his kisses did to me; they made me tingle, smile and sing in places on my body that liked singing during moments like this. When he spoke up, his voice flirted with me. "I just felt like kissing you, just as that waitress walked up. It took all I had in me not to kiss you without telling her our order."

I laughed, because I was queen of the distraction ploy and thought perhaps that was what he was doing. "It was either that or you didn't want to talk about Montahue Properties or your dad."

He laughed and reached for my hand and held it on the table. "It could be that or I'd rather not talk so much shop about me. Kissing you seemed like a heck of a better idea. So what's your favorite thing to eat here, I am guessing you like to eat here as you have a glass vase full of matches from this place. Do people still collect those things?"

I laughed. "Just me. It started when I was a kid and wanted to know where my dad was at on a Friday or Saturday night. I would tell him in my stubborn nine-year-old voice that he needed to prove it to me. He knew I liked to wait up silently in my room until his shift ended, and he was safely home, so he reassured me by bringing home matches from the bar he used to get a drink at after work. My dad's a retired cop, and he used to tell me that Friday and Saturday nights were the worst. Brought out the weirdos in his district, and he just needed some down time before he came home around midnight. So I started saving all the ones he remembered to bring home and when he didn't bring home I figured he forgot. As I got older, I got wiser. It wasn't just the bar he was having a drink at, but a lady friend or two. I guess that is how my match collecting started."

"Ah. Ouch. That must have hurt." He said it with such compassion instead of the typical response of well some men are like that. Although with my dad, I think it had become a lifetime habit of deciding to stay married to my mom for the sake of us girls and then when we moved out, I don't think either of them could decide to do anything different about it. Then I felt his hand touch my face gently.

"You ok? You kind of faded off there, thinking of something? Listen. I'm sure that had to hurt knowing your dad was making a bad decision but not all good men are like that. Not that I'm saying your dad's not a good man, it's just a bad decision to do something like that."

Could you cue in the ark angels singing here? Because this raised Catholic girl just found herself, a man that didn't think cheating was out of necessity or ok. Unlike Steve and a few other guy's I knew. "I'm ok." I replied. Just then, the waitress showed up with our long neck bottle beers, two waters and two menus. I didn't want to talk about my dad, but I didn't want Mason thinking he was a jerk either, so I quickly informed him of something he needed to know. "My dad's a great guy; you'd love him. He is a drinker though, but he seems to have called it quits on the extracurricular junk, so please don't hold it against him when you meet him." Oops, I just let Mason know that I was assuming he would meet my parents soon. A bit early for that, but oh well, he seemed to be taking it in stride.

"Glad to hear he's a great guy, and that he's trying. What do you want to eat? Their hot wings are spicy, but they are my favorite. Want to share an order?"

I never picked up my menu. I just stared in awe of him. "Sure that would be great." He seemed so casual about making this thing we have going on, turning it into a relationship. As badly as I wanted an evening nightcap, I also knew that was almost a fast track way of blowing a good thing. When he finally looked over at me and put the menu down, I watched his hand instinctively reach out for mine, and he smiled. What he said next about put me into a melted mess on to the floor.

"Amber Jones, you are the best thing that has happened to me in a long time. I'm really glad I picked this building to do my hands-on employment time and even happier that you ended up being my neighbor. Couldn't have worked out better. Thanks for the show the other night, by the way." He let out a little chuckle while looking down at his beer. When he looked back up with his sexy as sin eyes, he looked at me straight in the face and said the next thing very serious. "Best entertainment I have had in a long time."

Without hesitation, but a bit of blushing to my face, I held up my beer to his, clinked in a cheer's fashion and said the next thing with a dead on sexy smile to my face before I took a long drawl of the house beer. "Right back at cha champ. Really nice ass by the way."

He choked on a sip of his beer and started to laugh. "About that. How much naked did I show you?"

"All. And if I am not mistaken, you were a bit excited to get undressed or is that his relaxed state?" Now I was really turning the conversation to slutty. He laughed and made a quick turnaround in the conversation.

"I guess that is why you weren't so focused on my eye color. Although, I was told to get some curtains up by the old lady next to you. I guess she likes to sit with her cat in the window seat and has a view into my place as well."

"Hmm. That would be a terrible thing. Putting window coverings up in your bedroom. How would I be able to see you, you know, before you get undressed to take a shower?" I took another sip of my beer and looked at him with a sultry smile while holding the tip of the beer bottle up to my lips.

"That can be arranged. Sorry to say, though, curtains are already up. I guess I just have to remember to close them." Then he set his bottle down on the table, reached over, and whispered into my ear. "I don't plan on closing them anytime soon. Just so you know."

"Hmm. That's a good thing." Then I took a deep breath in and out, realizing that in all this time in the bar, it felt like we were the only two people in the room. I liked that. I liked that feeling a lot. I wasn't worried about who was looking at me, was my hair ok, was the cute guy at the bar looking at me, or Marion. Usually, men were looking at Marion.

By the time the food came, we had settled into an easy conversation about our lives. I told him about my job as an administrative assistant of the production line down at Crawley's, and my mother's aspirations for me to go to college, any college, any course, just to say I had a degree. He told me about his business degree from CU Boulder and that his dad had great plans for him, yet he kept alluding to what they were. Therefore, I talked about Marion and her husband Carl, and I gleamed over her pregnancy. I talked about my aunt Heather, who is a perpetual party girl even in her forties, never married, no kids and how she says she doesn't need them when she has me as her favorite niece to spoil. Mason told me about his two sisters already married with kids, yet he was the oldest of the four kids, and his youngest sister just finished up her first year in college. It felt as if we could talk on and on all night, but we didn't.

It was the last kiss that he dropped on me right before saying that it doesn't matter what you do in life, just that you are happy with the one you love that caused me to realize my smart brain of learn all about him, just lost. I wanted nothing more than to get him naked back at my place. I was in love with his Latin bad-boy moves and his great outlook on life. The two combined were lethal to my heart, because I was falling hard into the canyon of love.

After he excused himself for a moment to go to the men's room, I grabbed the waitress as she was walking by with a quick yank of her arm. After a profuse apology to my briskness, I pleaded with her that she gives us the check right away. She smiled as she walked away. She was either going to take her sweet time or have sympathy for a woman who is falling madly in love with the man in front of her.

By the time Mason came back, the check was being laid on the table before him, and our waitress was telling us to have a great night. I intended to. I raised my eyebrows and smiled while a loud 'thanks' left my mouth. Mason glanced over at me with an inquisitive look of what was that about, and I simply replied. "Girl talk, while you were in the bathroom. She likes my shoes." I held my foot out and did a little foot modeling like I was showing a woman off my spectacular footwear.

"Ok. They're nice. So are you ready to get out of here? It's been a long day for me, and I'm sure you still need to catch up on your missed out sleep from last night. You have work tomorrow?"

If I wasn't mistaken, he seemed to be making an exit to our date. No mention of nightcap or hanging out anymore. The night was still young as it was only six o'clock. Was I reading him wrong? Did he need to get to another date or had other plans? I blatantly answered with a nonchalant answer as I shrugged my shoulders. "Yup. Back to the old grindstone tomorrow."

As I stood up, he dropped cash on the table, then stood behind me and put his hand to the lower part of my back again. "So do you have plans for your actual birthday then?" He asked.

We started to walk out of the bar, and then it suddenly dawned on me that maybe he didn't want this thing to go too fast either. That perhaps, I should not assume he just wants to take me back to my place for anything more. We just had an early happy hour adventure and after both our long nights, that maybe he was just as tired as I was. I decided to answer him with an invite. "Yes, actually. Well, I ordered a small cake from the bakery around the corner. I had ordered a large one to bring back for leftovers from my family restaurant party, but in my drunk stupor, the cab driver got it. I was planning on having the small cake by myself, after I got home from an after work thing we do with all the employees. If it's someone's birthday, we round up any available crew for a drink after work. Marion is coming, would you like to come?"

Without hesitation, he answered me, which made my heart float. "Sure. What time and where? Maybe we could share some of that cake afterwards." He sounded excited so I had to assume he was just trying to slow things down a bit, so we didn't jump the gun on this one.

"Five o'clock. Down on sixth at that little dive bar, do you know the one I am talking about."

"Yeah. Pete's. Pete's Bar and Grill I think, but I don't ever remember seeing menus there. They've got a rank happy hour buffet. Wouldn't eat from it, but they do a mean karaoke, and the drinks are cheap."

"So you know the place?" I beamed with excitement.

"Yeah. Right by your work. Makes sense."

I looked at him with a scrunched inquisitive face for a moment. "How did you know where I worked?" Forgetting for a moment, that I had mentioned in our earlier kaleidoscope of exchanged life stories, where I worked.

Then he smiled seductively, stopped our walking hand in hand business, and pulled my head in close to his as he whispered in my ear. "I know a lot about you Amber Jones, and I like everything I know."

Oh triple gulp. I about melted through the street grate right there on the sidewalk.

By the time we made it back to my place, the door barely closed, as we were right back to the same spot kissing that we were at when he first came to pick me up. At this point, stopping was going to be a hard endeavored option.