Part 6
Paul sat at the table staring at his friends, still wondering what the hell they were up to. They’d been sitting there in a group for about twenty minutes, and they kept looking over in his direction. He knew they were up to something but he’d gone past the point of worrying about it, he just really wanted to know what it was they were going to do.
Deciding to try and put it out of his mind Paul let his thoughts wander back to Corinne. He loved her so much; there was no questioning that. He was just afraid to tell her, afraid of getting hurt again. The few serious relationships he’d had in his life had all ended in heartbreak, and it was always his heart that got broken.
“Excuse me Paul?”
He looked up from where’d he been staring at his empty bourbon glass and saw an attractive young woman standing next to the table.
“Yes?”
“Okay I’ll be honest with you, my friends and I have been sitting over there talking about you ever since we got here. They dared me to come up and ask you to dance, so here I am.”
Paul thought about it for a moment, wondering whether to tell this girl to politely leave him alone. But as he looked up at her and she flashed him what she knew was a sexy smile he figured he might as well have a bit of fun, might take his mind off things.
“So you wouldn’t have come and asked me to dance if they hadn’t dared you?”
“No I wouldn’t have had the courage to ask someone as sexy to you to dance unless I’d had the few drinks I’ve had.”
Paul flashed a sexy smile of his own and the girl blushed.
“Well in that case..”
Paul stood up and took the girl’s hand and led her out onto the dance floor. He was well aware that all his friends were watching his every movement, but he didn’t care. If they wanted to sit over there and tell secrets or whatever the hell they were doing that was fine. He wasn’t going to sit at the table all alone all night nursing a glass of bourbon.
“You’re a good dancer.”
The girl blushed again as Paul gave her a compliment and flashed her another grin. She looked over towards her table where all her friends were sitting and staring at her and Paul with their mouths wide open. She laughed.
”What’s so funny?”
She gestured towards her friends and Paul turned his head to look. When he saw them he couldn’t help laughing as well.
“Well we’d better put on a good show.”
Paul quickened the pace of their dancing and his young partner managed to easily keep up with his moves, even teaching him a few. For a moment Paul forgot all about Corinne and his problems, letting the music take control of his body and enjoying the company of this mystery young lady.
The song stopped and a slower one began to play. The girl stopped dancing and looked up at Paul. She gave him a slight smile.
“Well thanks for the dance. It was fun.”
She went to leave but Paul reached out and grabbed her arm.
“Wait, what’s your name?”
“Jen.”
“Well Jen, may I ask you for one more dance?”
Jen smiled and allowed herself to slip into Paul’s embrace. She glanced back over at her friends and saw that they were now not only staring but also almost falling off their chairs. She chuckled to herself again as she and Paul slowly danced to the song. She enjoyed every moment of it, knowing this would be one of those once in a life time moments.
As the song ended, Paul pulled back from Jen and happened to glance over to the table where her friends were still staring.
“What do you say we really give them something to talk about?”
“What do you mean?”
Paul responded by leaning down and softly kissing Jen on the lips. He pulled away and she simply stared at him for a moment with a smile on her face.
“Thank you.”
Paul nodded and smiled and Jen turned and ran back to the table where her friends were waiting. With a smile still on his face Paul went to grab another bourbon and then headed back to his own table. His smile disappeared when he saw Corinne sitting there staring at him with an angry and hurt look on her face.
part 7