In a matter of minutes there were sitting down opposite each other at a table in one of his favorite places in DC, a pub tucked in a corner of Georgetown. The place wasn't very busy on account of it being a Monday night. She was having a glass of white wine and he had already downed half his pint of lager.
"You were really thirsty"
"Yup. Come on Foster, drink up, I don't intend on being the only one who's drunk."
"What's the rush?"
"None at all, darling." He shrugged.
He took another long pull from his pint. Following his example, she downed her glass of wine.
"That's my girl!" He waved to the barman. "Another lager and a Sex on the Beach, please"
"Cal!"
"What?" He asked innocently with a straight face." It's your favorite, don't deny it."
She blushed, not missing the double-meaning. He smirked, pleased with himself.
Their drinks arrived.
"So, how's life these days?" he asked her.
"Cal, we work together, you know all about my life."
"I don't, I don't. I bet you have some dark little secrets you've never told me", he added the last part in a low voice, pointing his finger at her and leaning in across the table towards her.
She smiled mysteriously.
"I knew it! Go on Foster, spill the beans!"
"I will do no such thing." She took another sip from her drink, and looked back at him, poker faced.
He sighed. "Just you wait a few more drinks."
"Is that a threat or a promise?" she asked, smiling cunningly.
Now it was his turn to blush. He had planned on pushing her buttons, but hadn't expected her to go along. They were silent for a while, until she decided to ask him a mundane question, just to get them on safe ground again.
"How's Emily? Haven't seen her at the office in a while."
Cal seemed relieved that she had changed the subject. "She's fine. Making me crazy, but fine."
"How is she making you crazy?"
"By being 14 and having boyfriends"
Gillian laughed. "Boyfriend. Emphasis on singular." She corrected him."And Rick is a nice boy."
"Emphasis on 'boy'."
She laughed. "Well, what do you expect. Girls and boys get together. It's nature."
"Em's not a girl. She's my daughter."
She read his face "You feel threatened!"
"What, by Rick? That's preposterous!"
"It's not just Rick. You're afraid that one day your daughter will be swept away by another man."
Cal didn't answer. She could tell she had hit a sore spot and was sorry for it.
"You know you'll always be her father." She added softly, leaning in towards him, resting her hand on his. He looked up. She could see his defenses were down. She read something in his eyes, but wasn't sure what it was. And then it was gone, his defenses back up.
"Stop analyzing me. Let's get some shots." He waved to the barman and ordered four tequilas.
"Cal, you trying to get me drunk?" she giggled.
"Maybe" he answered darkly.
The shots arrived.
"Drink up!" he ordered.
They downed one shot. "And the other!"
"Cal, it tastes horrible" she objected in between coughs.
He smirked. "It's lovely! Go on, Foster." He emptied his shot glass and she did the same.
They bit into their lime wedges.
"Wooo hooo!" Gillian erupted.
Cal laughed. "Ahhh that's more like it!"
Gillian nodded. "Feels good. What a crap day."
"It was, wasn't it. I hate it when people behave like morons. I hate that we have to take cases of adultery. We're not PIs."
"No, but we have bills to pay."
"If you're going to start talking about bills again, I'm going to get you another tequila" he mocked-threatened her.
She laughed. "No, please. The stuff's lethal."
"That's the point. Liquid courage", he said playfully.
"What do you need courage for?" she asked not so genuinely. She had an inkling.
"Nothing", he said nonchalantly. Then, almost absent-mindedly, he moved his hand towards hers and took it in his. He looked at their intertwined fingers. She looked at him, wondering what was on his mind. When he looked back at her, she could see a small, almost sad smile on his face. They were here to have fun, they were going to have fun, she thought. She slid out of her seat, never letting go of his hand.
"Let's dance!" London Calling was playing. By then the pub had filled up a bit: clusters of people were standing at the bar and a few couples were dancing crazily to The Clash's hit.
He laughed, shaking his head. She always wanted to dance when she had had a drink. "There's no way we can dance to this song."
"Wanna bet?" she challenged him. She looked so cute and sexy.
"All right." He got up.
They promptly started dancing to the music. Dancing was a big word. Messing around was really what they were doing. Both of them laughing, he twirled her around to the music. They kept moving closer and away again, their bodies seemingly attracted to each other like magnets. At some point she mimed the words to the chorus, as if she were holding a microphone. He laughed earnestly, then pulled her towards her "You're on fire!"
"Yep!" she danced away.
The song ended and he pulled her towards the bar.
"I want to dance!" she objected.
"I just need a little something to ease me up".
"You should really learn to kick back sometimes" she said in the very words he had used against her earlier. He looked back at her with a smile.
The bartender strolled to them. Cal ordered two Scotch.
"There's no way I'm having a scotch. We're working tomorrow!"
"That's what so good about being your own boss. Trust me on this."
"Oh I trust you" she said seriously, a deeper meaning in her words.
"Yes?" he asked, inching closer to her.
"Yes" she murmured, her heartbeat suddenly racing.
He leaned in, a look of decidedness in his eyes. Suddenly they were oblivious to everything around them. Their eyes locked and he kissed her. It wasn't exactly the first time they kissed. Apart from the occasional peck on the cheek, there had been occasions when they had given in to the mutual attraction and kissed properly. It was something they had done once or twice in the past, at times when they were drunk and feeling lonely. It hadn't happened lately, as both of them knew that they were no longer playing. What they were dancing around was dangerous, and they had fought to keep a line between them. But tonight he felt like crossing that line. And it wasn't just the tequila talking.
It was a shy, tentative kiss and he pulled away before she even realized what was happening. He laughed at the puzzled look on her face.
"Weren't expecting that were you?" he reached for his glass and took a drink. The strong liquor sharpened and braced him. He was worried she didn't want him that way.
"I'm not sure where you're going", she said, suddenly sober.
"Me neither, luv." He shrugged. They were silent for a while. He drank some more.
"I'm not sure we should be going there" she heard herself say, the words leaping from her mouth before she knew it. Of course she wanted him to kiss her, she always did, she just wasn't sure how serious he was. She feared this was just the tequila talking in him. And she knew that she wanted more than that.
"Probably not", he agreed. "Doesn't mean I don't want to, though."
Their eyes locked once again. He smiled.
"Hey, we came here to have some fun. Drink up, Foster." From his using her last name she knew they were back in bantering mode. She took a gulp of a drink, made a face at how strong the stuff was and pulled him back to the dancing area, where a number of people were now dancing to I kissed a boy. He laughed at himself, a forty something man dancing with a beautiful woman to a Katy Perry song. If Emily could see him now!
They danced playfully, not caring how unprecedented their moves were, getting closer and closer with each song. On Bob Marley's One love she went as far as wrapping her arms around his neck. He had smirked and pulled her closer. They danced the whole song as close as their bodies could be. He then left her to go to the bathroom and when he came back to find that a guy had taken advantage of his absence to get closer to her he had taken her hands possessively, effectively pushing the other guy away.
"Jealous?" she asked provocatively.
"Yeah" he answered gruffly. To her surprise, his face was open and honest.
"It's cute" she said, giving him a peck on the cheek. But he didn't let pull her away and kissed her fully on the mouth instead.
She kissed him back fiercely and suddenly everything got very blurry.
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