Just Before You Go

Jimmy and I had been playing the stare-flirtation game all night. I was too busy being a bartender to entertain him with my wit and he’d been held hostage by his band of friends. His friends…and band. Weird.
Jenny had relented in her approach once I’d confessed my intentions with Jimmy were moderately admirable. I wasn’t sure why it mattered to anyone. How bad could his ‘problems’ be? I was sure there was nothing in this world that was unsolvable. You know, other than incurable diseases. Did he have an incurable disease? I felt like that probably would have come up in conversation.
As the night started to draw itself to an end, I noticed the group headed for the exit—Jimmy in tow. He towered over everyone else, making it impossible to miss him. I watched in mild-horror as he left.
“What the fuck?” Jenny said for me, resting a hand on my shoulder.
I scoffed, “Guess he wasn’t interested after all.”
“No way,” she insisted.
I’d kind of thought maybe he’d come back—you know, maybe he’d just walked his friends out and then he’d come back in and grace my bar stool again. But minutes went by and he still didn’t return.
“Well,” I said aloud, “that solves that.”
Jenny frowned at me sympathetically before disappearing into the back with a case of empties. The crowd began to exit in an orderly fashion, which meant that I could start the long-winded clean-up process. I couldn’t help but keep looking back to the door, and I couldn’t help the disappointment that kept flooding back.
I didn’t get it.
After all of the empty tables were cleared and effectively wiped down, I started hauling the boxes full of empty beer bottles into the kitchen. I decided to be efficient and stop to throw a load of glassware through the dishwasher before my return to the bar side to acquire more empties. Jenny stayed behind to help Shaun pack up the kitchen for the night. He was in a particularly foul mood and she, for whatever reason, seemed to have a soft spot for him.
As I emerged through the wooden swing door, I thought my eyes had deceived me.
“I was worried you’d left,” Jimmy smiled weakly at me.
My eyebrows raised themselves high up on my surprised face, “I could say that same about you.”
He scoffed playfully, “Me? I don’t think so.”
“You did though,” I argued lightly, making my way slowly toward him. “I watched you go.”
“Were you heartbroken?” he pouted.
I nodded.
“I didn’t mean to break your heart.”
“Where’d you go?” I asked, pulling a box of empties from the floor to the counter.
“I had to bring Brian home,” he replied simply. “The guy is out of control, Aria. I swear.”
I shrugged a little, “He seemed fine to me.”
“You don’t know him yet,” Jimmy said. “He’s not fine.”
“Should you have stayed with him then?” I asked seriously. “If it were one of my friends—”
“I have bailed on you because of that idiot enough times,” he grinned at me. “He’s an adult…I think.”
I wasn’t sure about it but I decided it was hardly my business.
“At any rate,” I sighed, lifting the box against my chest, “I’m happy you’re back.”
Jenny emerged from the kitchen door just as I was headed through it—we collided. I dropped the box.
The bottles exploded.
We stood there staring at each other, jaws ajar, for several minutes—Jimmy was dying of laughter. Finally, we snapped out of our shock and gave each other the ‘this is your fault’ onceover.
“You should go home,” Jenny smiled mischievously. “You’re obviously so tired that you can’t even hold a box.”
“I’ll have you know—”
She lowered her voice to an almost whisper, “Go home, Aria. Take that adorable boy with you.”
I tilted my head at her just a little.
“Let me just clean this up—”
She stepped in front of me as I tried to reach for the broom. She gave me her scariest, most intimidating facial warning.
“Rev!” she called to Jimmy. “Can you take Aria home? She’s messing the place up!”
Jimmy saluted her.
I rolled my eyes at the pair of them but wasn’t going to argue my way out of leaving a little early. She gave me a quick wink as I grabbed my belongings from behind the bar and headed for the door, Jimmy meeting me halfway.
“Be good!” she called to us as we stepped into the chill night breeze.
“You were busy tonight,” Jimmy told me awkwardly as we walked from the bar to the parking lot.
I looked at him weirdly, unsure what to say, “Yep…”
“You looked good though,” he said, equally awkward as before, “While you were…busy…”
We looked at each other and burst into laughter.
“Why are you so awkward?” I cackled.
“I don’t know!” he smiled. “It’s just in my DNA!”
“Okay,” I managed, still giggling a little, “we need to get rid of this awkward tension.”
His eyes widened, “What tension is that?”
We piled into his car and a silence fell between us. Jimmy eliminated this by switching the car on and pulling it out of park.
“We should get to know each other,” I said, moving right along past my accidental innuendo. “Since it seems we’ll be seeing each other around.”
Jimmy mumbled something inaudible to himself gleefully. I wished so badly that I’d had bat hearing.
“What do you want to know?” he asked, taking a left. “I have the answers you seek.”
“For starters, what is your last name?”
He looked over at me whimsically but didn’t answer.
“I’m serious,” I chuckled. “I don’t know your last name and it seems like a pretty basic piece of information to have.”
“You didn’t google me?” he asked seriously.
“Did I what?”
“Google…” he said again slowly. “Forget it. Sullivan.”
“Sullivan?”
A grin spread across his face, “My last name. I thought we were done being awkward.”
“I don’t know that we’ll ever be done,” I smirked. “James Sullivan.”
“James Owen Sullivan,” he corrected smugly.
“But you like to be called Jimmy?” I asked.
He nodded.
“Okay,” I mulled the name around in my brain a few times. “Jimmy Sullivan.”
“Aria…” he waited for me to fill in the blank.
“Thompson,” I answered.
“I like that,” he decided with a nod. “Suits your face.”
“You’re a drummer,” I said without thinking.
His face contorted as he tried not to laugh. He made a right.
“You’re quick,” Jimmy smirked, still trying to suffocate his awkward laugh at my expense.
“Do you…” I tried to recover. “Do…anything…else?”
“I strip on the side,” he said so seriously that I almost believed him. “Chicks really get into the pasty, lanky guys.”
I stared at him for a second before I decided it was okay to laugh. He seemed pleased to hear the sound.
“I would pay to see that,” I giggled.
He glanced at me quickly, “For you? $14.99.”
“That’s cheap!” I gasped. “Good deal!”
“Inexpensive,” Jimmy corrected teasingly. “It’s rude to call the dancers cheap, Aria.”
“Sorry, you’re right,” I tried to look serious. “I’m sorry.”
We pulled into my driveway and to my relief, Jimmy dulled the car to a stop. We fell into darkness as the night air sucked us up.
“Coming in?” I asked pleasantly as I swung my door open.
He followed suit, continuing his charade about being a dancer all the way up my driveway and into my house. He was still talking about how rough of a life it was while I changed from my work clothes into something more comfortable. I do mean more comfortable; it wasn’t a sly way of getting naked. It was pretty revealing though. Subtleties.
“All I’m saying,” he continued, his hands moving wildly as he spoke. “Is that it’s a misunderstood profession. It’s hard work! And no one says thank you!”
“I think the dollar bills are supposed to be thanks,” I replied seriously as I slid onto the couch next to him.
He looked upward and nodded a couple times, “Oh. Right.”
“You’re excitable,” I noted aloud.
He just smiled.
“It’s cute.”
“So what else do you want to know?” he asked abruptly.
I thought for a second, “Siblings?”
“Two sisters,” he answered right away. “You?”
“A brother.”
“Favourite colour,” Jimmy asked but it felt more like a challenge.
“Yellow,” I answered. “Your best friend of all time?”
He smiled, “Brian.”
I wanted to ask more questions about that but Jimmy was moving us along at a rapid pace. I was rather enjoying our game of question for question.
“Do you have a best friend?” he asked curiously.
I shrugged, “Not here. I don’t have many friends here.”
“That’s sad,” he frowned.
“Favorite movie?” I asked, hopeful to move away from the embarrassing topic of my lonely life.
“Jacob’s Ladder. Yours?”
“Silence of the Lambs.”
“That’s a good one,” Jimmy nodded happily.
“Ever break any bones?”
“Both of my arms,” Jimmy laughed.
“What? How did you break both?”
He shrugged, “I fell out of a tree. Have you broken a bone? You look pretty intact to me.”
“I’ve dislocated my hip,” I started with a smug grin. “I’ve broken my left wrist twice and my right elbow once. I’ve also broken both ankles and a couple ribs.”
Jimmy stared at me.
“My parents wanted me to try all sports,” I explained with a giggle. “I was not good at any of them.”
“That’s horrifically hilarious,” Jimmy cackled.
“What are your parents like? Did they push sports on you?”
He made a face, “Nah. They’re cool, I guess. I played basketball for a while.”
“That makes sense,” I replied coolly. “What with your gigantic size and all.”
He grinned at me, “All parts. Gigantic.”
“Jesus Christ,” I laughed obnoxiously loud.
Jimmy moved himself abruptly then, catching me totally off guard. He was inches away from me, giving me a look I’d never seen before.
“Are we still awkward?” he asked giddily.
“Maybe a little.”
He smiled a tad, drawing dangerously close to me. I guess this had been my end game but I was nervous as hell. He made my knees weak.
When his lips were a mere inch from mine, I decided to make a joke because I was definitely still awkward.
“If your phone goes off again, so help me God…”
He smirked subtly, “I’ll throw it through the fucking window.”
And then he pushed his lips to mine. My stomach filled with butterflies immediately and they fluttered around, pulling chunks from my stomach lining in their wake. Heat spread through my body like wildfire.
He pushed himself atop of me, causing me to slide onto my back with a little thud. His hands explored my sides, teasing my bare skin at the ends of my tank top. I could feel the goosebumps devouring my skin with desire. His very touch sent electricity coursing through my veins.
I laced my fingers through his hair and eagerly kissed him back, pulling him closer to me.
A knock at the door disrupted our thoughts. Jimmy rolled to the side a little, looking to me for some sort of clarification. I was still trying to catch my breath.
“Why are we always interrupted?” I groaned.
He chuckled, “At least it’s not awkward.”
I kissed him once more quickly before pulling my weight from under him and heading to the door to curse the stranger who’d come knocking.
As I pulled the door open, I nearly died.
“Hey, Sis,” my brother smiled warmly. “Surprise!”
A little blonde thing waved sheepishly at me. I was stunned.
If it wasn’t awkward enough before, it sure as shit was now.

Notes