Sometimes, you unexpectedly get swept off your feet, literally.
I went out last night with two good friends of mine, "Ava" and "Camille." We met up at the next town over. The next town over tends to be classier than my town, and it is only a convenient 30-40 minutes away, depending on traffic.
We ended up at an upscale Mexican restaurant that had a fantastic band playing. Ava went home a little earlier, but my Latin side couldn't help but begin shaking my hips and moving my feet to the beats that the band was happily generating. Camille and I stayed behind with another friend.
I'll admit that when I'm out, I usually don't care much what other people think. I'm just out to have fun and enjoy what the night brings. The night brought me a blast from the past - a guy I went on a date with over six months ago. He had lied about his height, but he was otherwise a sweetheart. I didn't go out with him again because he lied about his height. He was a good half a human head shorter than me.
"Hey!" he called out to me, saying my name. "How are you?"
"Do I know you?" Camille immediately gave me a swift elbow to my side. I nearly jumped from it.
"Yeah! It's me, Eric! We went out for sushi remember?"
"Oh my gosh! Yes!" and then I continued with the feigned excitement of seeing him again.
With Mr. Short was a tall man with a head of light brown hair who made eye contact with me and extended his hand to me as an invitation to dance.
Normally, in Latin music, an invitation to dance includes a few swirls, twirls, and maybe an occasional dip. This guy took Latin music to a whole new level - he tried to morph it into American swing dancing. That's right - after about 20 seconds of being twirled around, he suddenly picked me up in a lift that could only be fathomed in a scene from Dirty Dancing and swung me one way, lifted me up again and swung me another way, and then ended up plopping me back on the floor. I felt like I was a small doll being tossed around by a kid. It was fun. This guy was no Patrick Swayze though. He got me so disoriented that after he tried to twirl me around again, I accidentally elbowed the guy in the head. After a few more minutes, he introduced me to all of his friends, including Mr. Short Eric.
"We've met!" I said. Eric laughed. At least the guy was cool about it.
I went back to my friends, dazed and charmed
Camille commented that I was sprung. I was sprung! It was the kind of encounter I read about in books and saw in movies - not encounters that happened to me in my sleepy part of the country. We continued on with our evening. After about another ten minutes, the king of swing was back for another round. At that time, it was only me and Camille. I looked at Camille, not wanting to leave her alone.
"Go, have fun," she said to me. I went.
Mr. Swing, true to form, did more of his lifts and swings with me. It was fun the first time, but after this second round, I was thankful I didn't indulge in a late night meal or consumed more than my single margarita. Mr. Swing then turned on his Cinco de Flirto.
"You're gorgeous. My name is Liam."
I learned that Liam was a fresh transplant from Missouri. I was surprised that he wasn't from California, given the mop of surfer hair on his head. He hadn't been living in the area for more than a month. He did home remodeling. His smile wasn't too terrible, either.
"Let me get your number. Take my number. I want to see you tomorrow."
We exchanged information. He continued.
"Come over tomorrow morning. We'll work out tomorrow morning. I'll make you breakfast."
This sounded bizarre. Plus, it was a school day. I had work! What was this guy doing? I suggested to him that we just meet after work, in the evening, you know, like normal people.
Of course, Mr. Swing was not normal.
"I need to be in [another town] tomorrow for work. I'll be there all weekend."
"Aw, well, you can call me when you're back and then we can go out."
He smiled at me and acted like I just articulated the theory of relativity.
"Right on," he said. Was he sure he wasn't from California?
He kissed my hands, and we said good night. We both stayed with our own groups. Another guy came over to me to dance. Liam was watching me like a hawk. Liam then picked out another woman from the crowd and did the same swinging and twirling he did with me earlier. It was full Cinco de Flirto.
Camille and I checked the time and decided to check out. She commented that Liam was watching me hard while the other guy was dancing with me. I didn't really care what Liam thought. I didn't even know the guy. I was just out to have fun with my friends, although our feet were barking from the soreness we imposed from our dancing.
A little Cinco de Flirto doesn't hurt, but at the end of the night, the only people I wanted to leave with were the people that I know will stand by my side - my friends.
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