Two weeks of walking along trails and chatting about goals
and dreams, of catching late movies at the old theater downtown.
Two weeks of making each other dinner and heading into town and grabbing drinks with friends.
Two weeks and it became clear that Mr. Right was, in fact, very real.
Jasmine stared across the crowded bar, admiring the charming
and handsome man ordering their drinks.
Steve had taken her out to meet up with Nicole and Eric and a few other
coworkers of theirs for happy hour. Only
an hour in, the group dispersed, most heading home for the night to see their families. Nicole and Eric? Well she “suddenly felt sick.”
Ha.
But tonight, Jasmine didn’t care. She was a handful of drinks in and Steve was
getting more delicious by the sip, if possible.
She hadn’t realized that she was caught staring. He was walking towards their tables with
their drinks in hand and Jasmine couldn’t help but sigh at his confident, sexy
stride.
Steve took the seat next to Jasmine and carefully placed the
drinks on the table in front of them. A
whole tray of drinks.
“You sir, are trying to get me drunk,” Jasmine laughed,
taking the shot he handed to her.
Steve winked and clinked their glasses, “To getting you drunk,”
Jasmine didn’t down the shot as well as Steve, coughing at
the nauseating taste of the tequila. He
laughed all the same before they sat back on the small couch, a conversation
quick to flow between them.
Steve was absentmindedly playing with the hem of Jasmine’s
thin tank top. Added to the volume of
alcohol she had drunk and her head was spinning. He was asking about taking a friends boat out
on the lake one weekend when Jasmine cut him off.
“Yea, that’s fine.
Just, can you kiss me already?” she was always one to get straight to the point.
The pair of lips her eyes had never stopped staring at grew
into a wide smile, his pearly whites on display. He put down his drink and moved in
close. She felt small in his large hands
cupping her face.
She licked her lips and moved in, meeting him halfway. Their lips locked for just a moment and her
mind went blank.
--
After two weeks they were infatuated with each other.
And after one kiss… well
let’s just say it’s amazing how the smallest thing can have the biggest effect.
They pulled back from the kiss and neither said a word. Steve’s hands fell from her face only to hold her
hands loosely. Jasmine looked at him
intensely.
“Hmph,”
She sighed, “For you too?”
“I like you a lot,” he mused
“A lot,”
“I’ve had a lot of fun,”
“Tons,” Jasmine agreed.
“And you’re,” Steve motioned up and down her figure,
“gorgeous,”
Jasmine laughed, “And you're Brad Pitt-esqe, pre-Angelina of course,”
“But I felt,” he paused.
“Nothing?” she answered for him, disappointingly.
“Nada,”
Steve groaned, falling back against the couch. “That’s pretty fucking disappointing,” he
laughed quietly, rubbing a hand over his face.
He glanced at Jasmine as she got up and left him at the table,
confused. In just a few minutes she came
back with one more shot.
Jasmine held her glass in the air and kissed Steve on the
cheek. “To friends,”
Steve sat up and with a genuine smile, he joined the toast, “To
friends,”
--
“Will you just go over and talk to her already?” Jasmine shouted
above the music.
He smiled sheepishly, taking a sip of his beer before
glancing back at the blonde.
“Don’t play the ‘shy’ card, hun. I know you well enough to know that’s
bull.shit.” she enunciated.
Though the idea of an intimate relationship was thrown out
the window, much to Nicole’s dismay, a great friendship had formed
instead. In fact, Steve and Jasmine were
each other’s perfect wingman. Whenever
they needed a date to something, be it a company event or just to grab dinner,
there was only one person they had to call.
And that’s what tonight was.
Steve felt like going out so he hit up Jasmine to join him. She was determined to get him a girl. Knowing that it wouldn’t be her—Jasmine knew someone had to, a man like Steve
shouldn’t be alone. It’s just wrong.
“What about you?” Steve peered down at her.
Jasmine shook her head and grabbed his beer from his
hand. She placed it on a nearby surface
and turned him away. “Don’t worry about
me. You go get some, you stud!” she called
after Steve as he trekked over to the girl he’d been flirting with from afar.
She tried to watch without being too obvious, craning
her neck to see above the crowd. She
couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction when the blonde beamed, Steve
leaning on the bar to order her a drink.
“Playing Cupid, I see?”
And the night is
ruined, she sighed and looked up. “Well
if it isn’t Mr. Seguin,”
His large frame squeezed in front of her, the crowded bar
forcing them close together. Tyler’s body heat
raised the room’s temperature 10 degrees and his thick cologne invaded her
senses.
“We have got to stop meeting like this,” he grinned.
Jasmine let out a laugh, “Yes, I know.” Signaling the bartender, she leaned over the
bar so he’d hear her, “Can I close my tab?”
She felt him step in close behind, his solid chest only
centimeters from pressing her into the bar.
“And where do you think you’re going?”
“Home?” she played dumb, signing her bill and whipping
around to face Tyler.
His eyes were full of mischief as he licked his lips. “I don’t think so,” he nodded his head. “I’m buying you a drink.”
“That’s funny,” Jasmine said sarcastically, crossing her
arms and rapping two fingers on her chin thoughtfully. “I recall saying you could buy me a drink—when
you’re legal,” Snickering, she turned to leave but was caught by surprise when
Tyler grabbed her wrist. He twirled her
around to face him, and pulled her tightly into his chest. For a moment he didn’t say anything as his
rich, brown eyes bore into hers. He
grinned with victory when Jasmine didn’t put up a fight right away.
“Great thing about Ontario,” Tyler brushed away
strands of her copper hair that had fallen from her loose ponytail. He stretched down to whisper in her ear, “Drinking
age is 19.”
