Girl's Night Out Part Two

**continuation from yesterday's post

I kept thinking of how much fun I had been having at the place we were at right now. The Blues Band was great and I had enjoyed dancing by myself on the empty dance floor without being jostled by crowds of people. What were we going to encounter at the next spot with the present company? I was a little nervous about that, but my young friends had not been privy to the information, so they had no idea what was going on with me.

Within moments another cab pulled up and we were on our way to join my friends.

"Cabbie, I need to make a quick stop first at my place to get some more cash."

He gave the cabbie directions and the cab driver seemed to hesitate, waiting for me to approve before he agreed. NDM then told me that he had a penthouse in the fashionable condo. I think this was supposed to impress me, much like the information that he had given me earlier.

Do I look like the type of woman that is impressed by this stuff? I must be giving the impression that I am. He just keeps giving me more and more information.

I kept looking in his eyes for a sign that he was lying or a glimmer of amusement at the joke he was pulling, but all I could see was sincerity and definite interest in me.

I waited in the cab while he went up to the penthouse and started a conversation with the driver. It would certainly take awhile to get all the way upstairs to the Penthouse in this 40+ storey building. He surprised me by appearing back at the taxi in record time. I almost asked him how fast his elevators travel, but then thought better about questioning him and decided to just tuck this piece of information in the back of my mind for reflection later.

LG had told us that they would be outside waiting because he had a friend who would let us in without paying the cover charge. They were not waiting, when we arrived and for a moment, I thought I was going to have to pay the cover myself because NDM was arguing about having a friend inside that said we didn’t have to pay. In the end, he forked over the $10.00 to cover us both and we walked into the loud, flashy bar.

All the people that had not been at the other bar, were stuffed like sardines inside this one. Lights were flashing and the music was pounding that dance tune beat that I don’t really care for. I guess it’s an age thing, but I can never tell when one song ends and the next one starts.

We looked around the crowd, but I couldn’t see my friends anywhere. I started to walk to the left, and suddenly felt someone tugging on my arm. I turned and there stood LG, yelling to us that we were going the wrong way. He led us to my friends who had found a small piece of open floor space, overlooking the small dance floor. A small bar was pushed in the corner to my left and a constant parade of young, half dressed women walked back and forth gathering drinks.

I thought that this would be interesting. To see how NDM acted. I must add that as much as he was scaring me with the stuff he was telling me, I was also intrigued by this character and could not deny there was some chemistry between us.

He immediately bought us a drink and then pulled me down to the dance floor for a couple of songs that sounded the same. He was being very attentive to me, I couldn’t deny that. He even stole a kiss and there were sparks. Although my common sense was telling me that sparks can be bad.

Before long, the bar announced that it was last call and we were back outside walking towards a van taxi. NDM had already asked me to go home with him and I politely declined. He asked me once more on the way to the taxi and I explained to him that I wasn’t interested in a one night stand. He assured me that he wasn’t either.

The group dynamics were funny when we reached the van because LG had suddenly become very protective of not only my young friends, but of me as well, and he claimed the seat beside me, forcing NDM to sit in the front, beside the driver.

LG was the first to be dropped off as he lived the closest. Next I told the driver to take NDM home. As soon as the van pulled away from LG’s house, NDM threw himself into the back beside me. On the way to his house, he asked me a couple of more times if I had changed my mind. Then asked me for my phone number. He had given me his while we were still at the bar and I thought he was content to let me phone him.

Believe it or not I was still trying to decide if I wanted to see him again. We had no trouble conversing and surprisingly, we had a lot in common. In fact, we even worked for the same employer at one point in our lives. So I gave him my cell number and as he stepped out of the cab he pushed more than enough money in my hand to cover the fare up to that point and for the balance of our journey.

Once we were alone, my young friends informed me that LG had told them that he was married. He has seen his wife and reported that she is a real sweetheart. She drives him to the bar and picks him up when he is ready to go home.

I didn’t believe it. How could that be true? We had discussed our respective marital situations on our way to the second bar and he told me that he had never been married and had never had any children.

He said his mother had left him some real estate when she passed away and with the sale of those two houses, he purchased his penthouse and another condo that he has rented out.

I decided to believe NDM. He had seemed very forthright since he first started to talk to me and what purpose did it serve to lie? LG seemed very quick to point out everyone else’s shortcomings to my two young friends (he made exaggerated "loser" gestures with his hand to his forehead several times during the evening) because he was interested in them and I guess it made him feel important. That made me wary about how accurate his information was.

I went with the girls back to their place and we enjoyed pizza, wings and discussion on the evening before I finally called a taxi to take me home. I finally flopped into bed at 4:00am.

My plan was to sleep most of the day. I was so looking forward to it. My body had other plans. It was holding a demonstration to oppose the huge quantities of rum consumed the night before. I felt that my stomach was the instigator and being so, was causing so much discomfort that I forgot all about sleep and found myself up walking around at 6:30am. Not sure if I was going to be ill or not. Afraid that I would and worried that if I wasn’t, I would never get any sleep.

Gravol which normally works for me instantaneously only assisted in bringing the demonstration out in the open. After that, I was allowed a couple more hours of sleep before the ruckus in my stomach began again at 8:30am. Two more hours of sleep and then at 10:30am I gave in and got up.

I looked at my cell phone around 11:30 am and saw it flashing a signal of a message. I was very surprised to find three messages, all from NDM, who was sounding very chipper and he was asking me to call him back.

Three calls already and I hadn’t even properly pried my eyelids open. I decided to nip this in the bud. I called him right back but he didn’t answer. It went to his voice mail, but I was able to find out what his last name was. I left a message and he called back within 10 minutes. I told him almost immediately that I had to tell him something. I didn’t want to get caught up in conversation because I would only find it difficult to say later. He said ok, and politely waited for me to spit it out.

"I just wanted to tell you that I have a boyfriend. I didn’t say anything last night, because I was out with my friends and wasn’t counting on meeting anyone or anyone asking for my phone number. I hope you understand that it was not my intention to be dishonest or to lead you on."

He was very gracious, told me that he appreciated that I was up front with him and then continued to chat with me about anything and everything for the next hour. It was a pleasant conversation and again, I was wondering why my intuition was telling me to stay away from him. I could feel the reciprocal attraction.

In the back of my mind, I satisfied myself with my belief that if this is really something that should work out or is really meant to be, then it will. If it isn’t, then I will be well rid of him.

We finally said goodbye and I agreed that it would be agreeable to meet at some point for a coffee and conversation.

I was proud of myself. I thought that I handled that quite well. I didn’t go out on endless dates and then wonder how I was going to get out of it, instead, I faced the issue head on and dealt with it.

Later that night, still thinking of him and wondering if I just pushed away a good match, I decided to do a reverse number look up on his phone number.

Imagine my surprise when his telephone number came back, registered to a woman and hardly the penthouse unit. That was how he managed to get to the apartment and back to the taxi so quickly. He lives on the 6th floor not the 45th.

I was in bed by 8:30 pm and awoke fresh as a daisy, all recuperated and ready to face the day shift.