"Hey baby how you doing tonight?"
"That's your best line?"
"I've got a better one." He watched her walk away. "No don't go anywhere. Look if you were a fruit, you'd be a fineapple. Don't walk away."
"Shane, give it up." Rick said laughing at his friend. "It's just not working tonight."
"Man, all these beautiful women in here and not one of em is taking the bait I'm casting out. How does my hair look?"
"It looks like it always does. Can we just go? It's getting crowded in here and I hate this music they're playing."
"Yeah, sure, just let me try one more time with these beauties that are walking this way." Rick glanced over at the group of women that were coming their way. He sighed and shook his head, wondering how much more rejection his friend could take for the night. There were four of them walking in their direction. Shane rubbed his palmed together as they approached. "Hey pretty ladies, how y'all doing tonight?" Rick hung back watching the show.
"That's really how you spit game? How y'all doing tonight?" The one with pretty brown skin was talking, or more like dismissing Shane. "Come on Maggie, let's go dance."
"Alright, y'all have fun." Shane said to their backs. "What about you?" He had set his sights on the cute blond girl of the group.
"Come on Andrea, we've got more important things to do than listen to these tired lines." Rick chuckled at her words. She was beautiful and was not having any of Shane's faux charm.
"Tired lines? Give me a break sweet thang." He looked her in the eyes. "You know you and me, we could be like cocoa and marshmallows. You're hot and I want to be on top of you." Rick widened his eyes at the horrific pick up line that Shane just delivered. He waited with baited breath for the retort or slap, but all that came was raucous laughter from the two women.
"That was cute." The blond named Andrea said. "Subtle racial undertones, but still cute."
"Racial? Oh man, no I didn't mean it like that. You're beautiful and…. shit. I didn't mean to offend you."
"I'm not offended, but thanks for the apology." Michonne said to him.
"Hey, how bout a dance?" Andrea asked. "I hope you can move better than those lines you use."
"Well come on then, let me show you what I got." The two of them walked off to the middle of the dance floor laughing and swaying to the beat.
"Your friend always like that?" Michonne asked Rick who was standing next to her, having been left alone and seemingly forgotten about, just like her.
"He's in rare form tonight, but he's usually like this. Sorry about that. I'm Rick."
"Don't worry about it. You hear one pick up line, you've heard them all. Michonne." She said as she checked her watch and sighed.
"You got somewhere to be?" Rick asked her noticing her bored expression.
"I'm just ready to go. We weren't supposed to be out all night." She sighed again. "I'm tired of standing in these heels and I'm ready to eat."
"If Shane had struck out, we would have left. There's some food trucks down the street. You can sit down and eat. Let me buy you a meal to make up for his lousy pick up line." Rick hoped she say yes. She was the best looking woman he'd seen all night, hell if he was being honest, all his life. He just wanted to talk to her and get to know her without the background noise of a techno beat.
"Okay. Sounds good. But I'm warning you that I know self defense and I'm armed with pepper spray and a taser." He smiled glad that she took her protection seriously.
"I'll be on my best behavior, no need to worry." He gestured with his hands for her to walk and lead the way to the exit.
"Extra jalapeños huh?" Rick asked
"I don't know how anyone can eat nachos without them." She said looking at his plain jane torilla chips.
"You like spicy foods?"
"Not necessarily, l like flavor." They were sitting at a table near the food truck sharing a large order of chicken nachos. "So Rick, do you and your friend go out a lot?"
"Shane goes where the women might be. I tag along making sure he doesn't get in too much trouble. Work doesn't allow too many late nights, so we get out about two times a month."
"What do you do?"
"King County sheriff's deputy."
"Wow. I really don't have anything to worry about. A deputy huh?" She looked at him for a bit, studying his face. "I can see that."
"Do I look like a deputy?" He asked with a smile.
"You have kind, trustworthy eyes. You seem like someone who wants to help people, make the world a better place."
"I like being able to help people. It gives me a sense of purpose. What about you, what do you do?"
"Last year of school. Biology major. That's why we came out tonight, blow off some steam before we start studying for finals."
"Biology? Impressive. Smart and beautiful?" Rick said looking up at the sky as a clap of thunder sounded.
"Smooth Rick."
"You liked that?" He asked her smiling.
"I didn't say I liked it." She said through a laugh.
"You said y'all came out to blow off some steam, since you're not in there dancing; how you gonna do that?"
"This is the third club we've been too. I've danced enough tonight. Were you in there dancing?"
"That's not my type of music to dance to. That's why I was ready to go."
"What's your type of music to dance to?"
"Well anything faster than a slow song and I've got two left feet."
"So you like slow dancing?"
"It has its perks." He said with a slight blush.
"I bet it does." She said to him. "Are you a hold a girl around the waist and sing in her ear kind of guy or the type that holds your girl close so you can feel on her booty type?" Rick laughed harder than he had in a while at what she said. He took a deep breath before answering.
"I've never sang to anyone, but I'm sure with the right person, I could be a mix of both."
"Oh yeah? What's the right person? You gotta girl back in King County?"
"No. I don't have a girl. I guess I'm still waiting for the right person. You got someone?"
"No." She sighed. "Are you done eating? I think I'm finally full." She stood up to throw away the trash. He watched her enjoying how she filled out her jeans. "Come on, let's go walk off that food." They walked to the end of the long street that was bustling with food venders and musicians. Michonne sent a quick text to Sasha telling her where she was, she didn't expect her to reply to it since Sasha was known to dance until the lights came on.
"So what does one do with a biology major?"
"I'd like to go into forensics one day."
"Oh yeah? You might be working with me one day then."
"It's possible." There was another clap of thunder as they walked up to a man playing the guitar with a small group of onlookers around him. They stopped and listened for a while. "Can you play?"
"Not like that. I've got one that I pick up every now and then. Especially after a few beers." He chuckled. "What about you?"
"Instruments aren't my thing. My parents had me in piano lessons when I was a kid, I hated it. I'd rather be outside climbing trees."
"Someone who wears shoes like those." He pointed at her red heels. "Liked to climb trees?"
"What's wrong with these shoes?" She asked lifting her leg and pointing her toe. "They go with the outfit."
"I didn't say there was anything wrong with them. I like them actually, and they go perfect with the outfit." His eyes scanned up the dark jeans that fit over her thighs and hips so nicely, to the white tank top that just barely grazed the top of her jeans giving him a peek at her belly button every now and then. "It's just that those heels don't say rough and tumble."
"You know what they say?" He looked at her in contemplation of what she would say next. "Get you a girl that can do both." She smiled at him and they began walking again.
"I might have to do that." He said quietly. "You think your friends are still in there dancing?"
"Oh yeah." She checked her watch again and then looked at her phone. "No messages, so they aren't ready to go. You want a mint?" She asked him fishing the roll out of her pocket.
"Sure. Thanks." He said taking the roll and helping himself to one. "So what are y'all doing tomorrow? I can't imagine much after spending all night dancing."
"Sleep it off. Lounge around in our pjs and sleep some more. What about you, you saving the world tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow night. The night shift gets boring, but somebody's gotta do it." It started to sprinkle lightly. "You wanna go somewhere out of the rain? I know how you ladies are about your hair getting wet."
"No. It's not pouring." She released her hair from the bun she wore, letting it fall down past her shoulders. "My hair likes the moisture." Rick had to keep his eyes on her face to stop his mind from wandering to just how much rain would need to fall for her shirt to become see through.
"I like your hair." He said staring at it. "You had all of this in that ball on your head?" He held his hand up to grab a loc, but stopped and looked at her, asking permission with his eyes.
"Go ahead. And it's called a bun, not a ball." She said laughing.
"Oh. A bun, okay. As you can see I'm not too much into styling my hair."
"It looks good on you. The curls in the back." Michonne lifted her hand and ran it through the hair at the back of his head. She didn't ask permission and he didn't care. She saw him close his eyes to her touch. "You like that?"
"Yes." He nodded his head slightly not wanting her to remove her fingers from his curls. "It's very relaxing." They were standing in front of another musician, this one playing a violin. She moved her body closer to him to his surprise and enjoyment.
"Show me how good you are at slow dancing."
"Right now?" He questioned.
"Why not? I've always wanted to dance in the rain." He gingerly circled her waist with his arms holding her close enough to feel her warmth. They did a basic step, aware of the other people around them.
"So how am I doing?" He asked her after a few minutes as his head rested on hers.
"You're pretty good."
"Glad I could be your first dance in the rain."
"Me too." Michonne said just as the song stopped. Their feet stayed still, but they continued to sway continently. "You want to go sit?"
"Yeah, that sounds good. We'll save the next dance for later." He told her. She took his hand and they walked to a nearby bench sitting close, their knees touching, his arm resting on the back of the bench behind her.
"So you want there to be a next dance?" Michonne asked Rick.
"Well yeah. If that's something you'd like."
"I would. I've had a great time tonight."
"Even though you're not in there with your girls?" He pointed towards the club.
"I'll be with them tomorrow." She shrugged her shoulders. "You should call me tomorrow." She took out her phone and saw she had a message from Sasha. "They're ready to go. Your friend probably is too." She handed him her phone, trying to shield it from the drizzle still coming down.
"You're gonna be sleeping all day, when will we talk?" He asked her putting his number in her phone.
"Just shoot me a text. I'll reply when I wake up." She smiled at him.
"Okay. If you sleep all day, then you can help keep me entertained when I'm at work tomorrow night."
"Sounds like fun. Maybe a few naughty texts to keep you awake." Michonne smirked.
"I'm sure anything from you will keep me awake."
"Your lines are much better than your friends. That was pretty smooth." She licked her lips and focused in on his pretty pink ones.
"I like to save my best ones for the right person." He leaned in closer to her.
"Oh yeah. Let me hear your best one." Michonne said to him, listening to her heart beat faster. Rick took a deep breath through his nose.
"I want to kiss you." He said to her.
"You want to kiss me? That's it?" Michonne asked expecting something more than that.
"No. I want to kiss you in the rain so you get twice as wet." Michonne took a deep breath and found her lips being touched by his as she processed his line. His lips were soft and attentive. He took his time savoring the feel of her lips before sweeping his tongue across her top one being granted entry immediately as she parted her lips and welcomed his warm tongue into her mouth. They both moaned softly and moved closer to each other. They kissed until they ran out of air, both wondering if breathing was really more important than kissing.
"Shit. I wasn't expecting that." Michonne said breathlessly, running her fingers across her lips. "I always wanted to do that in the rain too." She could hear her friends calling her name from down the street.
"Looks like it's time for you to go." They stood up together, Michonne counting to 10 before taking a step on her shaky legs. Rick grabbed her hand and they walked towards their friends who were waiting outside the club. "Text me when you get home so I know you made it."
"I will." Michonne promised as they stood with their friends.
"Damn Rick, you missed a hell of a time." Shane was looking at Andrea as he spoke. Rick didn't take his eyes off of Michonne.
"Here Mich." Sasha threw the keys to her. "You're the only one sober, you get to drive." Sasha said to her. "You been out here all this time in the rain?"
"Yeah." She said giving Rick a quick kiss on the lips.
"Let's go." Maggie said. "I'm tired and you're all wet."
"Yeah. Rick made sure of that." She watched him smile as they both went in opposite directions to head to their cars, ending their night together.