"What are your plans tonight? I need a drink and a half."
For the first time in their relationship, she wanted to tell him no. It didn't feel right, she was worried this was a booty call.
Maybe he was just in need of a friend. He was heartbroken, he was hurt. So as his friend she took him out for their signature beverage to hear the whole sordid tale. Now that he was single, inviting him over for drinks at her studio seemed presumptuous, like she was looking for sex.
They may never be the kind of couple that has their own song, but they would always have tequila.
He had fallen apart on his now-ex. He had ugly-cried (his words) and she had stayed stone cold, saying she expected this ever since their fight two months ago. She was just waiting on him to drop the ax. Kind of cold, but she had to respect the girlfriend for being so honest.
She could tell that even though he said nothing about this, his heart was broken that her heart WASN'T broken. The ex had approached it calmly and rationally, and he had expected tears, crying, something expressing emotions she no longer had towards him. That had to hurt.
By the time he was done with his story, they were situated at the bar with their drinks. She reached out and affectionately rubbed his back a little to let him know she cared. He asked the bartender to top off his drink, and the bartender must have felt his desperation and took care of it on the house.
"So I thought of another rule to add to our list. Discretion." He said after he was done with his story. This statement took her by surprise and she started to laugh. He got upset and wanted to forget the rule, forget the list, forget the whole thing. "Hold on, calm down! Let me just think about it for a minute, damn!" She chided him. Once she took a moment to stop laughing and think about it she asked "Exactly what kind of discretion are we talking here?"
"I'm a very private person. There has been enough talk about me, if anyone asks just deny, deny deny." He said, resolute. He was right, of course. She didn't really want everyone to know her new lover was someone with his reputation either.
"Okay, so here is the thing. The logical part of my brain is with you, and wasn't going to say anything anyway. The girl part of my brain however thinks you are ashamed and just trying to hide me."
"That's not even remotely what it is!" KSL exclaimed, and she quickly said "I know, that's why it's the girl part. That's why I was laughing, it was at myself. Don't get offended, that's just the two sides I'm feeling at the moment, okay? Clearly you are still reeling over your breakup, now really isn't the time for that kind of discussion anyway. We can have this talk calmly later."
He nodded, and seemed to become placid. Searching for a distraction, he looked over and complimented a man's hat across the bar that bore the mark of the nearby sports team. They went back and forth about sports for awhile, with another man joining in.
She started checking her phone as the conversation held little interest for her, when she felt the energy change and looked up. KSL turned his head and said under his breath so no one else could hear, "please get me out of here." Even though he was an extrovert, he was clearly done dealing with other people while he was still so emotionally raw.
She used her patented introvert-ing skills to get them away from the conversation and into the alleyway behind the bar. Since they still had plenty of booze in their plastic water bottles, he suggested they go back to her place.
He seemed to be mostly cheered up, and even started to flirt a little on the way. He retorted to her "Is that a come on?" after an innocent remark she made. She scoffed and said "No!" emphatically. He acted hurt, and she changed her tone and said "No?" in a sweeter voice. In all honesty she wasn't trying to flirt tonight, she had her friend hat firmly on. She didn't expect sex to happen that night at all.
Once they walked back into the studio, the booze had really kicked in. He pulled her into a hug on the couch that eventually turned into him pulling her on his lap. She straddled him and they started kissing, gently at first but then with more intensity. He kept stopping and asking if everything was okay, and if she wanted him to stop. She always smiled into the kiss, muttering "Just five more minutes of this. This is nice."
