Hi all, sorry this took a while to post but my story is coming together! There's a little lead up buuuttt it'll get there.

And yes, I may not be Australian but I sure am trying to add in the right amount of colloquialisms, Aussie things, and landmarks of Sydney. Please let me know if your thinking this is sounding "Gray" enough. ;)

I hope you enjoy!

Please review, criticize, and I'd love to hear where you think this goes.

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Ch. 2

Graham had the distinct feeling that he was being watched for a couple of weeks now. He actually didn't know why he felt that way. He didn't see anything suspicious, but he thought he had somehow felt that way before. Yes, losing your memory really sucked, but maybe he was becoming paranoid. He had been on edge ever since meeting Carmen, if that really was her name. He still had no idea.

It was about two months after that fateful day. Actually, more like two months, one week, three days… and a couple of hours since he met her. Yeah he was kinda keeping track, and no he wasn't very happy about it. She had popped into Graham's life one moment, and soon enough she was gone. However, Carmen was obviously still buzzing in his head.

He'd tried to keep himself busy, either burying himself in his work at the Opera House or spending time tinkering with some tools and gadgets at his apartment. It was good to spend some focus time doing some things he had been meaning to get to at some point and it was hard to occupy himself with thoughts other than that girl he met that one day, but he was already starting to get burnt out.

There was a club up the street from his apartment, and today after work while he was yet again spacing out the window he saw the lights of its sign and thought to himself maybe it would be smart to be around others, have some drinks, and listen to some blasting music instead of moping in his apartment for yet another night. So, at about 11 pm he stopped playing with his electronic gadgets and put on something semi-acceptable for a club, instead of his joggers.

When he arrived Graham stood outside the animated building for only a small moment. He knew everyone at this place, as it was pretty small and he'd been coming here with friends for a few years so there as almost never a wait to get in. He grabbed a beer from Sam, the cool manager who just happened to be behind the bar, and sat on the other side of the room where where some guys were discussing the pros and cons of the The Blacks vs The Wallabys in Rugby from a large l-shaped sofa. It was very welcome banter that he occasionally was happy to join in.

After two beers he finally needed a bathroom break, quickly excused himself and went to the back. Unfortunately he had to go through women waiting in line. They were all loud, laughing, and even though he did gaze around to see if any of them happened to be a fiery brunette with grey eyes, he wanted to avoid them all.

He came back planning to go back to the mates. Suddenly, just like every hour of everyday, a flash of red caught his eye.

He quickly turned to see what was there, not realizing that there was a guy he ran into. As he noticed the girl sitting at the bar, he didn't see the guy's beer spill or hear him yell ",Woah, mate. Watch it! What gives?" as he just pushed towards her. He hadn't realized how busy the club had gotten.

"You there!" Graham called out. If the girl had heard him she hadn't made any attempt to make it known. Oh god, oh god- his pulse was already racing. Let this be her he thought to himself as he was trying to get closer to the vision in red.

"Well, what do we have here?" Gosh, he hoped he was sounding flirty and not coming off as purvey.

The girl gazed up from under her long whisps of hair. For a moment Graham thought his heart paused. Even in the dark light that face was unmistakable. Right in front of her he stopped and gaped like a fish out of water. God was it embarrassing.

He leaned against the bar. "Fancy meeting you here."

She laughed. It was truly her, his Carmen. She sat at the bar in a short elegant red number, with her long legs crossed at the ankles, and her arms outstretched holding something that looked devilishly alcoholic. Stealthy, Graham thought to himself.

He had mixed feelings about running into Carmen here. The overwhelming thought was that he was so happy to see her, but somewhere in the back of his head he as worried about the look this was giving him. Sure, her thinking he was a playboy could make him look cool and make her jealous…but he didn't want her thinking that he was just here looking for girls to have fun with. Honestly, he was only here because he needed to get out of his apartment.

"Hi, Gra-Graham." She flashed him a large and honest smile. "You remember me." She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Nah yeah, the Carmen who stood me up. You'd be hard to forget." He gave her a warm smile. "Also, I promised you I would not make that mistake again." Graham raised an eyebrow for dramatic effect, hoping he'd look charming and smooth.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that," Carmen could no longer look at him, instead staring at the drink in her hands and using her right pointer finger to play with the condensation. She was upset. Graham didn't want her to feel bad about it- and right now he didn't even care about that night.

"Hey mate, it's not a problem. I'll let bygones be bygones- as long as I can join you for a drink."

She tucked her brown hair behind her ear. "I'd like that."

Graham sat on the barstool that had happened to be free next to Carmen while she flagged down one of the barmen. When the guy arrived Graham ordered himself a Foster's and began reaching for the wallet in his pocket before feeling a hand on his arm.

Carmen's grey eyes were on him, "Allow me."

He gave her a little nod.

"Please add it to my tab," she said to the blonde guy who just handed Graham his beer. Then she turned back to Graham, "It's the least I can do." Then she flashed him another smile and lifted her glass. "To second chances."

Graham reciprocated by raising his bottle and chuckling. "To second chances."

The glasses clinked and they shared the same look. Graham's imagination was going a mile a minute. It all came together for him. This felt so right, like this was where he was meant to be. He'd thought that he had lost that feeling with the time that had disappeared. Guess that wasn't so.

"So Carmen was it? That wasn't just because you didn't want to tell me your name before our date you never showed up to?"

"Haha, no, I go by Carmen, but I have to admit it was a pretty big coincidence though."

"Yeah, Carmen at Carmen. Big coincidence."

They began chatting. It was mostly just small talk with a bit of back and forth flirting. She gave him a sarcastic eye-roll or two and he kept thinking about how she was a saucy one. The red lips did not help him at all.

Suddenly Carmen's ears seemed to perk up. She seemed to fiddle with her earring and quickly mumbled to herself before downing the glass in front of her.

"Ready to dance?" She asked, her grey eyes gleaming.

"Uh, I don't really think that's a good idea." He looked around nervously.

"Oh come on!" She pulled him and he slide off his barstool with a jerk and somehow landed perfectly on his feet.

Suddenly they were in the middle of the dance floor in the midst of a large swarm of bodies. Graham briefly surveyed the crowd and guessed that there were at least 40 just in the one room club. He'd been doin that a lot lately, but didn't really know why. Then he locked eyes with Carmen, who had this determined look in her eyes and began dancing.

Now Graham was in his twenties, and while he had seen many Australian girls dance Carmen was in a different field. There was definitely something foreign, smooth, and alluring in her movements. It was not vulgar… even he knew that wasn't her style, but it definitely was not something you'd see at a school dance. For a moment Graham stood, that one tall guy awkwardly on a dance floor.

Then their bodies were right next to each other and Carmen was dancing against him. That's when something in Graham's brain finally kicked in. Feeling a bit more comfortable he eased his arms around her and began dancing by following her movements. Soon enough Carmen had snuggled against him and they were both dancing together. That's how they stayed for a while. To anyone else the way they held each other made them look like they had been together for a while, instead of one who barely knew the other but obviously liked her, and the other who'd once thought of this guy as an "older brother" but was ready to give him another chance. In other words, there were serious sparks flying in that red, blue and yellow lit room.

For Graham it seemed to be going well, she actually seemed interested, so he was beginning to feel bold. He didn't know if it was just him or just the temperature in general, but it was getting hot anyway. He leaned down into Carmen's hair, got a little sniff of her perfume-something floral and spicy, cute- and then said,"hey, would you like to get out of here and head back to my place?" He didn't want to seem forward but he didn't want her to slip through his fingers again. Omg what was he thinking?

But what did Carmen do? Carmen turned, tilted her head towards him, and startled him.

"I'd love nothing more."

So that's how he found himself walking hand in hand with his lady in red.