"Hey." I said nonchalantly with a smile.
"Hi," he returned with a smile. "I was just standing over there, wondering why a beautiful lady, like yourself, is standing all alone at the bar? So, I figured I'd come over and see for myself." He said, raising an eyebrow.
"Really? That's the best you've got?" I giggled at his lame attempt at a pick up line.
"Well, as cliché as it is, it's the truth." He laughed. "I'm just so distracted by your beauty that it's making it hard to be witty." He said with a blush and a cheeky smile.
"Ohhh is that right?" I teased, rolling my eyes in jest.
"Mhm." He nodded, smirking. "I'm Josh, by the way." He introduced himself, extending his hand. I took it in mine.
"Nice, to meet you, Josh. What brings you here tonight?" I let my hand fall from the handshake, but the feeling of his touch on my skin remained.
"Well, my brothers and I are in town on a uh... on a business trip." He said decidedly. "They were being awfully lame, and most of them didn't want to come out tonight, but I was looking for a good time so here I am." He said winking ever so slightly; if I hadn't been so mesmerized by his eyes I would have missed it, though.
"Brothers?" I inquired taking a sip of my almost empty drink. "Is it like a family business or something?"
"I guess you could say that... it's a rather unconventional line of work, but I enjoy getting to do it with them." His ambiguity was intriguing, but I wasn't sure if he wanted me to push for more answers or not. Before I could pose anymore questions, Josh reached for the empty drink that resided in my grasp.
"You want another one of these?" He offered.
"Yeah, I'd like that, thanks. It was a vodka sour." I replied.
He nodded and turned toward the bartender to order me another one and a drink for himself. I took the lack of attention being on me as an opportunity to pull my hair up. I wasn't sure if it was from the humidity of the club, or how nervous I had become, but the long, blonde, strands of hair that were once curled, were beginning to lose their shape as they clung to the slight perspiration that was building on the back of my neck. I had just finished tying back my hair, when Josh turned his attention back to me with our drinks.
"Here you are, darling." He said, passing me the fresh glass.
"Why, thank you, kind sir." I replied with a smirk.
"Hey, that's a pretty cool tattoo you got there." Josh said, pointing behind my ear. "What is it?"
"Oh, thanks." I said, my hand instinctively reaching up to brush over the tattoo. "It's a combination of my big three zodiac signs." I said feeling a blush come on. Most guys would roll their eyes at the fact that I was into astrology, but Josh seemed surprisingly interested.
"Very cool, I see scorpio, sagittarius, and gemini, right?" He asked, moving a piece of stray hair to the side so he could get a better look.
"Yeah, in that order." I laughed. "Do you know your sign?"
"Do I? Of course I do, I'd consider myself to be a rather spiritual person, and I consider astrology to be rather interesting." He said matter of factly. "It always fascinates me how you can make small changes in your life according to you chart to be more spiritually aligned."
I nodded in agreement and then followed up my previous question and asked, "So... what is it, then, your sign?"
"Guess." He said plainly, folding his arms.
"Do I get a hint?" I asked, not wanting to be wrong, but also not wanting to back down from a challenge.
"Nope." He replied enunciating the last syllable of the word.
"Not even one? I don't even know you all that well to make an informed guess." I said with a fake pout.
"Fine," he laughed conceding to my demand, "I'm either an earth sign or an air sign."
I furrowed my eyebrow in thought, and looked him up and down. I had an inkling but I wanted it so badly to be right.
"Taurus." I blurted, going with my gut instinct.
"Hah! You got it!" He exclaimed, pulling me into a hug. The nervous excitement from within grew again with his touch. The proximity and contact between us made it so that I could hardly think straight.
"Oh, thank god." I sighed with relief, pulling away from his embrace with a smile.
From that point on, the conversation flowed like we were old friends. Josh was so easy to talk to, despite how intimidatingly good looking I found him to be. His charisma and personality was truly intoxicating, as he held my undivided attention for the better part of the night. We took a few shots together and made it out to the dance floor, where we laughed and danced like we were the only two people in the club.
As the night began to wind down, I looked at my phone and saw a few texts from Teagan from an about hour ago, checking in to see how I was doing in her absence. I forgot that she was the one that I came with tonight.
I was interrupted from my thoughts by the sound of Josh's voice.
"Hey, what're you doing after this?" He whispered in my ear.
"Nothing in particular, I was waiting to see where the night would take me." I replied, trying to sound flirty while looking up from my phone and into his eyes.
"Well, would you want to come back to my place with me?" He asked, the confidence that had been apparent in his voice for the entirety of the night, faltering ever so slightly. He leaned in closer, attentively, as if his life depended on my response.
"I would love nothing more." I replied with a smile. We stood there for what felt like a century, just looking into each others eyes, and in a moment of courage, I leaned forward, closing the space between us. Kissing Josh was unlike any kiss I had ever experienced before. It felt comforting, familiar, and exciting all at once. And in that moment, I felt as though I could kiss him for a lifetime.
However, I broke the kiss in a fleeting wave of panic, as my phone began buzzing in my hand. I looked down to see Teagan's name splayed across the screen. Shoot, I had forgotten to reply to her text.
"I'm sorry, it's my friend, I have to let her know I'm okay. I'll meet you outside, in like five though, is that okay?" I looked apologetically to Josh.
"Yes, no worries, I'll call us a car." He said, kissing me briefly on the forehead, as he began to make his way through the crowd to the door.
I made my way off of the dance floor and to the bathroom where it was quieter and less crowded, before unlocking my phone.
"Celine? Are you okay? I sent you a text and you read it but didn't reply, and I haven't heard from you all night. I've been worried about you. Where are you? You're still at the club right?" Teagan asked, talking a mile a minute.
"Hi T, yes, I'm okay, I met this guy, and I think I'm going to go home with him. How was Chris?" I asked, curious to hear the details of her night with Chris the next morning.
"OH MY GOD. Celine, you're going home with someone? What's his name? Is he cute? You'll have to tell me all about it." She exclaimed on the other line.
"I will, as soon as you tell me about Chris. But, this conversation will have to wait until tomorrow, okay? He's waiting for me outside." I replied.
"Okay, but you're sure you're okay? Please call me if you need me to come get you or anything, I'll be there as soon as I can." She promised.
"Yes, mom, I'm fine, thank you for your concern." I laughed. "Now, I'm serious, I really have to go!"
"Okay, be safe! Have fun! Don't do anything I wouldn't do! I loveeeee youuuuuu!" She laughed and I could tell she was winking dramatically without even having to see her face.
"Haha, same to you. I love you too, bye T." I said hanging up the phone and making my way out the door.
I found Josh outside, waiting in front of a black SUV that looked quite fancy.
"Wow, how'd you score this sweet ride?" I asked, poking him in the side playfully.
"Oh y'know, I know a guy." He said dramatically as he opened the door to the backseat for me, ushering for me to climb in first.
"Ugh, such a gentlemen. You know how to make all the ladies swoon." I laughed.
"That may be so, but I only care about winning the approval of one." He responded smoothly while sliding next to me in the back seat and putting his arm around me. I blushed, but before I could think of a flirty remark to send his way, I became more aware of the music that was playing.
"Ooh, I like this song." I said, my eyes lighting up in realization. "My mom always used to play it for me, it was one of her favorites." I said, closing my eyes, and beginning to sing along.
It was then that Josh pulled out a small film camera from his pocket and took a quick candid of me while I was singing. The flash betrayed any chance of secrecy, and I looked back at him, raising my eyebrows, as I had become aware of what he had just done.
"I just want to remember this." He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.
"Here," I said reaching for the camera. I leaned in close to him and flipped it around so that I could take a picture of the both of us. "So we can be remembered together." I said with a shy smile. He kissed me on the cheek, and I snapped the picture, just as the car pulled up to the hotel Josh was staying at. He got out of the car on his side, and rushed to my door to open it for me. He helped me down from the car, and we made our way through the lobby and up to his room.
"Wow, this is really nice, Josh." I remarked as we stepped into the suite.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just something the uh, the company put together for us." He replied brushing it off. I assumed he was talking about the company that he and his brothers worked for, I didn't pay much mind to his ambiguity at the time.
Josh made his way over to his drawer and pulled out a t-shirt.
"Here, I figure this will be more comfortable for you." He said handing me the shirt.
"Thanks..." I trailed off, trying not to ogle him while he discarded his shirt and pants on a nearby chair, leaving him only in his boxers.
I followed suit, removing my heels and dress that I had worn to the club, leaving me just in my underwear, as I slipped the shirt that Josh had offered over my head.
"Ooooh, another tattoo." Josh remarked with surprise. He moved to sit at the edge of the bed, so that I was within arm's reach and he poked playfully at the side that my tattoo resided on.
"Oh yeah, this one is my favorite." I said, pulling up the hem of the shirt to reveal the script writing that adorned my side.
"Après la pluie, le beau temps," Josh read. "What does that mean?"
"It's French and it means, 'after the rain comes the good weather'. It's an expression my mom used to use whenever I was upset about something. Y'know, instilling hope that good will prevail after the bad things in life. I felt a personal connection to it so I decided to get it tattooed." I said, with a sad smile that I was hoping Josh couldn't read. Luckily, I was able to quickly brush off the fleeting wave of sadness that arose as Josh began to speak again.
"Well, I think that's beautiful. A beautiful tattoo to match the beautiful girl who wears it." He said pulling me in close.
I giggled at his cheesiness and made my own attempt at a lame joke, "Hey, I mean it did rain earlier today, so you know what that means..." I laughed.
"Le beau temps... avec vous." Josh said cheekily pulling me in for a deep kiss.