"Pick a card, any card..."
Callie pushes a permanent black felt tip pen towards me, as I choose the nine of hearts out of the deck of cards placed in front of me.
Callie forgets her hair and clothes are wet and I "forget" that I have a date at the Seattle Museum of Contemporary Art, as we prop ourselves onto bar stools at the fancy marble bar. It's not quite the dinner rush, so there's only two other couples sitting across the bar from us.
I can't lie, she had me intrigued at first when she drew out a pack of cards, a pad of pale yellow Post It notes and a black permanent felt pen. She quickly wrote on a Post It note, asking me the typical get-to-know-you-questions, like "What's your sign?", "What's your favourite colour?" and "What's your favourite animal?", claiming these details would help her, but was quickly disappointed when she pulled out a small black box.
I've seen the cheesy magicians on television ask random couples dining in restaurants to write their name on a card, and as the couples places their card back into the deck, the magician does some lightening fast shuffling. Then, the mousy magician opens the black box in front of the spectators to reveal- lo and behold!- their card inside, neatly folded and opens up the small square to reveal the same name written across the face of the card. Don't get me wrong, I love magic tricks- but I've seen the trick too many times before for it to excite or impress me.
But Callie's voice is hypnotic and melts me like I'm a stick of butter in a sizzling saucepan. How could I say no?
"Write your name on the card, don't let me see it"- I scrawl a neat Arizona across the face of the nine of hearts- "and when you're done, place the card anywhere you would like in the deck." I place my named card in the middle of the deck of cards and Callie does a couple of elaborate shuffles in her hands.
She coyly smiles, "Would you believe me if I said your card disappear?" In a grand gesture, she spreads the cards across the counter to reveal a missing nine of hearts from the deck.
"Into the box, right? That's why the box is on the counter?" I insert a little sass in my response, to make it sound like a light ribbing joke.
But I can't help my small interjection- even though Callie was unbelievably attractive, I wanted to see what I was getting myself into, if my encounter in the rain was going down an unimpressive south. Like those people in movie theatres that use the, "I'm going-to-pretend-to-yawn-and-put-my-arm-around-you" old age move.
The bright light in Callie's soft, chocolate eyes dim slightly as she frowns. "You've seen this before?"
"Yeah, it's been done before."
Callie shrugs her shoulders, resigns in her chair and sighs deeply, gesturing towards the small dark box in front of me. "Well then, open the box and see what's inside."
"Nice try. Now you get to find out my name is- " I pick up and open the small black box, peering inside to see my card, neatly folded and tucked inside the box.
Except that it's not.
The black box is empty, there's nothing inside. I briefly scan inside the walls and the top of the cover, just to see if there isn't tape attached or a false bottom to shake out. I glance back up at Callie, who is leaning a little to her right and displaying a mischievous, but warm smile. Her eyes are twinkling, like she knows a fantastic secret.
My eyebrows furrow, and it's now my turn to frown- but in confusion. "The card is in your pocket, or mine? On the floor? Under the chair? In your sleeves?" Callie shakes her head, without losing the twinkle in her lit, soft chocolate eyes.
"Arizona?"
I whip my head to my left to look at the bartender beside us.
He looks like one of those people that would row gondolas down the Venetian canals in Italy- his lips and mustache are curled in a curt, yet playful smile, with neatly combed, wavy and shoulder-length chestnut hair and a protruding square jaw. His cream collared dress shirt drapes loosely on his frame, accentuating long, puffy sleeves.
His emerald green eyes are also twinkling, like he's onto the fantastic secret too. He is pointing at me and I give him a tentative nod. I don't remember ever meeting him before...how does he know my name?
The handsome, emerald eyed bartender pushes towards me a delicate glass of dark red wine. He lightly chuckles at my confusion and announces, with a heavy Italian accent, "Lucky girl, it's a drink for you..."
The glass of red wine isn't on a coaster and is instead on a white card...with a nine of hearts? Fat drops of clear water magnify the "9" and the crimson heart beside it in the corner of the white playing card. I gingerly lift up the glass to reveal a neat "Arizona" scrawled neatly across the face of the card.
Callie flashes another bright smile towards me, this one as wide as a lion's. "So...Arizona, hey? Must have been a popular name on the playground."
My eyes widen as I'm thoroughly taken aback and my mouth hangs agape. "How did you do that? Now that's magic!" I inhale sharply. Callie has me wanting more, no way I'm backing out now.
Her eyes briefly flicker towards the ceiling, catching the bright, twinkling lights above us, before she gives me a roguish wink. "Now that's a secret I won't reveal..."
I deliberately take the card and glass of red wine, taking a quick sip of the bar's house red wine."Well played. Do you do this with every girl you first meet? Buy them a drink and impress them with magic?"
Surrounding us, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons vivaciously swirls in melody with her gorgeous laughter, her eyes crinkling as she grins. "Nope, you're actually the first. The black box just held the watch I bought today, Post It notes- I'm not sure where they came from, but the pack of cards was from my last night's poker night with a couple of friends. Your ideal game night?"
That might of have been just one of the most impressive, not to mention sweetest, thing anyone has ever done for me. I could feel my cheeks rapidly burning, my eyes wandering a little off and lower of her eyes, but I refocus and give her a quick smile, trying not to raise too much suspicion as to reveal my current thoughts, which were not entirely wholesome. "Well any game night I'm in involving cards, always involves Cards Without Humanity."
"Is that a game? Sounds provocative."
Callie must have caught me staring. I lightheartedly giggle. "It is, but it's a great game. Everyone who plays gets dealt 5 white cards with certain choice words on them. Everyone except the judge of the round tries to answer the phrase or question on the black card in the middle with one of their white cards. Winner of the round is chosen by the judge, either by having a very witty way of answering the question or it just doesn't make any sense, and the winner collects the black card as their prize. First person to collect 7 black cards wins."
"Example?"
"Hmm, when I played last week, the question on one of the black cards was, "What's the best way to get laid?" Of course, I put down the winning card."
"Which was?"
I slightly curled the corner of the nine of hearts between my fingers and teasingly laugh. "Being a MOTHERFUCKING sorceror." I drew a lazy circle on the card, tracing a fat drop of water around my scribbled name."And a drink helps as well."
Callie laughs her gorgeous and enrapturing laugh. This time, its the glasses clinking, along with the subtle and light conversations floating airly, that intermingle in rhythm with her beautiful laughter. It seems as if the whole restaurant, every object and sound, is her orchestra and her voice, their maestro.
"Order me your favourite drink and I just might tell you how I did my magic trick."
My eyebrow arches."My favourite? Are you prepared for that? Just because you knew my pick was being a motherfucking sorcerer, doesn't mean you have me all figured out."
I gesture for the same Italian, rower of gondolas bartender to come over, in which I lightly whisper in his ear my choice of drink, all the while keeping in the corner of my eye the the dazzling, smiling face in front of me. His bright, emerald eyes light up as he chuckles, "To be young again..." When he walks way to prepare the drink, Callie's eye light up to their excited, soft chocolate hue.
"Sure, I can at least try. Hm, beautiful makeup. Nice, red cocktail dress. Pretty blue eyes..." She's trying to stifle the rapid movement of her eyes, roaming all over my body, to appear almost casual, even nonchalant, but with the look of a hungry wolf, I'm pretty sure she is undressing me with those exquisite, hazel eyes. Besides, the beautiful smile on her face just grows wider and wider with each passing second.
Her eyes rests momentarily at my chest, but then quickly moves up to meet my eyes to pass her verdict. "Girly girl. Cosmopolitan for sure." Those marvelous, soft chocolate brown eyes- I don't have the heart to tell her she is so wrong.
Our Italian, gondolier bartender hands Callie a dark, creamy orange drink, lightly topped off with a light brown liquor in a tall glass and a pineapple slice neatly placed on the rim. One sip is all Callie tastes before she briskly sets it down.
"Wow!," her eyes widen, as she clears her throat and coughs. "Sure didn't expect that. That's not any cosmopolitan I've ever tasted." Her cheeks are swiftly reflecting a light rosy hue, as she grins, "Now that's a drink! What is this?"
"Tell me how you did your magic trick and I just might reveal my favourite drink, which by the way, has three shots of rum."
Her eyebrow arches playfully at my lighthearted challenge. "Okay, you've got me. I simply wrote on the Post It note, "Glass of red wine. Place card under glass. Say name on card. For someone special." Her light chocolate eyes twinkle brightly and gives me a sly wink.
"Not that I don't remember saying you're a Leo. I shuffled the cards, but kept track of yours- that was part was pretty easy. When you looked into the box, you were distracted, or rather, misdirected, which is about the time I slipped your card, with the Post It attached and a twenty, to the bar tender."
She gives me a slightly mischievous smile. "This is a fancy restaurant, so I guessed they were used to fancy things like this. I knew by the roll of your eyes when I pulled out the black box, I just had to step it up. I had to bring my A game."
I take another sharp breath. I can barely exhale, "It's called a Monkey Punch," before I lose my breath again. Callie is stunningly breathtaking. Callie meets my gaze with intelligent, gorgeous hazel orbs and is leaning forward ever so slightly...
That bartender's right...I think I'm luckiest woman right now. I want to know all I can about Callie- her likes, her dislikes, what time she wakes up every morning and what time she falls asleep every night- I wanted to know all of Callie yesterday. I then take a bold step in knowing more of my olive tanned beauty in the rain, who turns out to be so much more than I had initially hoped for.
"So, pretty lady, can you tell me why you were standing out in the rain? Who you were waiting for?"
Callie then runs out of the restaurant and I don't see her again for a while that evening. It isn't my fault... at least, I don't think it is.
Author's note:
Please review! :)
Bailey did say magic, so that got me thinking!
The plot thickens, don't worry there is another chapter! I'm not sure how to describe it fully, but once I had started this short story, I wasn't in full control of the events and the dialogue. Callie and Arizona, had in a way, influenced the flow of the story in funny ways that I couldn't imagine at first. Callie wasn't really suppose to reciprocate any of Arizona's advances so strongly, but she does, in unexpected ways. All the while, as I was writing, I was asking myself, "How can I make the next chapter to be about magic, cards and conversation, in an interesting way?"
A magician had come to my table in a Japanese restaurant and did a similar trick. I love magic and the trick thoroughly impressed my date and I. Several of the events in this story have happened in my life- more so to others than to myself.
Disclaimer: Cards Against Humanity is an actual card game that is pretty fun, if you're playing with the right people. I don't own or claim having created the game, just using the game as a prop in this story.
On another note, the Seattle Museum of Contemporary Art doesn't exist. Nor does the Seattle Academy of Art and Design. I'm at liberty to make these places up.
Thank you for all your lovely support!