I am looking forward to going to a friend’s party near work, but I am not about to drive an hour home just to drive an hour back to this side of town. So, I walk to the hotel bar across the street from work to kill time. It is Friday so the bar is packed; all I want is a little spot to order some sliders. I finally find one empty stool in the corner of the bar, and I ask a redheaded lady beside it if anyone is sitting there.

“You are!” She says excitedly and pulls the seat for me before sipping on her drink. I really dig her vibe.

“Awesome.” I give her my name and she gives me hers and asks if I am going to drink. I tell her I am only here for the burgers, but whatever she is drinking sounds amazing. She asks if I come here often, and I say yes with my coworkers; we work nearby. She asks what I do, and I tell her I work at a law firm.

“That sounds so boring,” she says. I laugh because it is. She shows me a badge on her blouse and says she drove all the way over here for an Alien convention. I am fascinated. Apparently, she comes to these events often, and we start talking about aliens. I have never heard about a single theory or scientist she is talking about, but I am intrigued by the way she talk about them: with such passion and curiosity. For a chick who reads legal agreements all day, this feels so refreshing.

“It must be exciting to see these theorists in person,” I say.

“Oh yes, I meet all kinds of people, especially men,” she says, her bejeweled hands grab another glass of wine.

“No way!” I say as I sip on my Mountain Dew.

She tells me about one man she met who had the most muscular arms that just swung her around in a heartbeat. He would pick her up all the time and lean her back when he kissed her, to a point that it made her shy in public. I gasp and say it is every woman’s dream to be kissed like that.

“I know! But it was so embarrassing!” She says blushing. We giggle. That was just one thrilling tale of passion of the many she shares with me, and I suddenly forget what that even felt like. If I ever did feel it.

“What about you, do you have a boyfriend?” She asks and I say no. She asks about my last endeavor, and I say, “The last person I kissed was someone I didn’t even like.”

“So, why’d you kiss him?” She asks.

“I don’t know, I just wanted to feel something.”

“And did you?”

“I don’t know, he was an unhappy person, and was being mean, so it all just felt so sad.”

She nods in subtle understanding and says, “Darlene, you have a light, I see it in you. Only kiss happy people!”

I laugh and agree, she raises her glass of wine and I raise my glass of Mountain Dew. “To only kissing happy people!”

———————

Find Darlene at https://sweatnotes.wordpress.com

Seatmate

The Marine