“Denia, you’re ready!” exclaimed Lila.
“Yes, I am,” I said trying to smile. “Hi Jared.”
“Hey Denia. You look really nice tonight. I never knew you had it in you,” said Lila’s boyfriend.
“Thanks, I think,” I said.
“Well Denia, this is Josh. Josh, this is my friend Denia,” introduced Lila.
“Hi,” I said as I glanced behind the tall figure next to Jared.
“Hi,” he replied shyly. I found myself staring into his brown eyes and he had the nicest hair. He looked so familiar.
“Have we met before?” I asked.
“No, I don’t think. It’s funny, because I was about to ask you the same thing,” he said smiling as he held the door for me as we walked out.
“Dejavu,” I replied.
“Yeah, must be.” We walked to the nearby club and I could see that it was packed. There was a line that went for many blocks.
“We’ll never get in,” whined Lila.
“Stay here, I’ll be right back,” said Josh as he started walking towards the entrance of the club. I watched as he talked to the guard and was surprised when I saw him wave his hand towards us to go up there. We were let in and I saw Josh give the guy a wink.
“So what are you exactly?” I said jokingly as we made our way to the bar.
“What do you mean?” he asked innocently, as he started to blush.
“Are you like a mobster? A VIP? What?” I asked.
“None of the above,” he said as he handed me a strawberry daiquiri.
“How did you know that’s what I was going to order?” I asked questioningly.
“Simple, it’s a girls favorite alcoholic beverage.” We sat down at a little table nearby and I watched as Lila and Jared hit the floor.
“You think you’re so smooth,” I said.
“Nah, I just pretend I am,” he said with a big grin on his face.
“Same thing,” I said as I sipped my daiquiri.
“So, tell me about yourself,” he said as he drank some of his beer.
“Umm, there’s not much to tell,” I said popping the cherry in my mouth.
“You’ve got a little something on your face,” he said chuckling.
“Where?” I asked as I blushed. I took a napkin and started dabbing it all over my face.
“It’s still there. Let me help you,” he said as he leaned over and kissed me on my lips. I found myself wanting to intensify the kiss, but pulled back.
“Is it gone now?” I asked.
“Yeah, it was on the corner of your mouth,”
“And you couldn’t just tell me that?” I said.
“Nope. So, you wanna hit the dance floor?” he asked.
“Sure,” I replied getting out of my seat. I found myself lost in the music as I danced with Josh. He was a cutie. He was a really good dancer and we just fit so well together. About an hour later, I was out of breath and found myself at the bar asking for another drink, with Josh following behind me.
“You’re an amazing dancer. Where’d you learn all those fly moves?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I replied. “You’re a great dancer too.”
“I love music. It’s one of my favorite things, next to acting,” he replied.
“Oh, you act? Is it tough?” I asked.
“Nah, not really.”
“Oh. Well, I love music too. It’s probably second to writing,” I replied.
“You write?”
“Yeah. Kinda dorky, huh?”
“No, I enjoy writing too. I love poetry,” he replied.
“I somehow find that hard to believe,” I said.
“Well, I’m not really the partying type. Jared kind of dragged me into it. He wanted to hang out tonight, but he had already made plans with Lila, so he told me to come along anyway.”
“Do you regret being dragged into this blind date?” I asked.
“No, because you’re beautiful. Do you regret it?”
“No, because you’re gorgeous,” I replied. “So, there’s this poetry reading tonight. It already started but if you want we could still catch an hour of it.”
“Sure, let’s go,” he said as we went to find Jared and Lila to tell them. We told them and made our way out of the stuffy club.
“It’s a beautiful night,” I said as we walked on the spring streets of Minneapolis.
“Yeah, I love this city,” he replied as he held my hand in his. We walked over to the café where the reading was being held. “How’d you hear about this?”
“I take writing at the University here, and we’re required to come here at least twice a month,” I replied as we walked in.
“Are you from here?” he asked.
“Nah,” I replied. “I’m from Jersey.”
“So why’d you come here to go to school?”
“Because I wanted to,” I replied simply as we found a place to sit. We spent the next hour lost in poetic bliss. Both of us discovered that we were hopeless romantics. We walked out of the café with stars in our eyes and we laughed and talked all the way back to the apartment.
“Well, I guess this is goodnight,” he said staring at his feet.
“I had a really great time tonight,” I said.
“Me too. Would you be interested in doing this again sometime?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” I replied smiling. “Here’s my phone number,” I said jotting it down on a napkin that I pulled out from my pocket.
“Here’s mine,” he said ripping off a piece of the paper I had handed him and giving it to me.
“Thanks for a wonderful time,” I said as I leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. I felt his hand cup my chin as he kissed me back.
“Thank you,” he said as he pulled away. “Good night, Denia. Sweet dreams.”
“Goodnight and sweet dreams to you too,” I said as he walked away and I closed the door.
