Chapter 17 – Dirty Dancing: Miami Nights
AN: This chapter contains spoilers for Dirty Dancing:Havana nights. I couldn't help it. So if you haven't seen that movie and want to you might want to skip over the parts where they go see the movie. I mean, if you saw the original then you know pretty much what happens anyway.
Rome merged into traffic and headed toward what I assumed was the downtown area of Miami.
We just drove around for awhile and he pointed out malls and interesting shops till we got to what looked like a market area. He parked the car and got out. Then he stood, staring at me as I sat in the car looking back at him.
"Well, you gonna get out?" He asked me.
"Maybe. Where the hell are we?" I asked him peering over the top of my shades.
"It's a farmer's market. Come on. It'll be fun."
"If you think so..."
I guess his idea of fun is slightly different from mine. But hey, he was the tour guide and I was the new to Miami after all. I got out of the car and followed him into the market.
The first part of it was mostly produce. It wasn't very interesting but the way that Rome carried on the whole time was. He kept cracking jokes about the stuff that was there and he was keeping me laughing. It was great. He was such a clown. But it was charming in a lot of ways.
With the sun pouring down on my bare shoulders and back and someone going out of their way to entertain me all my worries slipped away. I didn't have anything on my mind other then me and Rome and all the brightly coloured food and handicrafts on display in the market. I'm sure they had stuff like this back in L.A. but I'd never gone. It was kinda fun. Not that I plan on telling Rome that. At least, not yet.
He bought three oranges and then tried to teach me to juggle. Yep, he can juggle. It turns out I can't. It's harder then it looks ok? He tried to teach me for what felt like hours. I can't damn well juggle. He kept trying to tell me to do this and do that and it would work. But it never did. Then I ate one of his oranges so he'd stop and not try to teach me any more.
He pretended to be mad at me over eating the orange for about 5 minutes before he was off on another tangent and talking a mile a minute. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a male talk to you. Dom sure hadn't been doing too much talking to me lately and the other guys just didn't think of it very often I guess.
I came across a table of handmade silver jewellery and thought of Mia so fast I forgot about Rome for a second. I stopped to look for something to send to her so she'd know I hadn't forgotten about her. Then I realized that I couldn't even mail her anything or they'd have the postmark from where I was. How depressing. I want to be able to send stuff to Mia and Vince. Maybe Brian would have a way around that.
And if not then I'll just giver her my gift when I see her again. I saw a pair of very large sterling hoops and knew Mia would love them. And then a small silver crucifix on a delicate silver chain I knew she'd love too. It had turquoise inlay on the cross. She's just like me, she looks better in silver then gold because of her dark skin. Then I saw a silver ankle bracelet I wanted for myself. I had brought money with me so I bought all three items.
When I had my items wrapped in tissue and in a paper bag I turned around, Rome suddenly remembered. He was right behind me with something behind his back.
"Whatchya buy?" He asked me.
"Present for Mia. You?"
"Surprise. Close your eyes."
"Good surprise?" I asked warily with my eyes narrowed. Surprises were never good when Dom sprung them on me.
"Of course girl. Close those pretty eyes."
"Flatterer." I accused but I did as he requested.
I felt him moving the hair at the side of my head.
"What're you doin?" I asked him, suspiciously.
"You'll see." Was all he'd tell me in reply.
After another minute he stopped playing with my hair.
"There. Go see."
That made me nervous. What had he done? The lady with the jewellery was right beside us and she had mirrors up. I walked up to one and looked. He'd put a flower in my hair. A beautiful red orchid.
"It's beautiful." I didn't know what else to say. No one had ever really gotten me something like a flower for my hair. It was frivolous and done only for fun, for beauty.
For me.
It was sweet. It made me feel things I hadn't felt in a long time, if ever. Things like sentimentality and, well, I think I care about how I look for the first time in a long time. Not care that I look ok, but care that I look like a girl. Talk about strange. I looked up at Rome and met his eyes.
"Not as beautiful as you."
I laughed at that. He was so full of it. I knew he was only trying to get on my good side. More the fool me because it was working.
"I bet you say that to all the girls."
"Just the pretty ones." Rome laughed back at me.
We explored the market and I picked up a present for Vince, Leon, and Jesse too. I was really hoping that Brian would have a way to get the presents to the team so they wouldn't have to wait till I went back to have them.
"So, what now?" I asked as we settled back into Rome's car.
"Well, it's supper time. You hungry?"
"I could eat." I wasn't starving but I was having such a good time I didn't want it to end.
It was nice to just hang out with a guy and have fun. It was only half ass planned and really it was more just fly by the seat of our pants fun. We were just doing whatever entered into Rome's head at the time he thought about it.
We went to some little restaurant and had supper. We got back in the car and Rome headed off again.
"Where are we going now? Home?"
"Do you want to go home?" Rome asked me, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.
"Not especially, I was just curious. It's really up to you. It's been a long time since I spent a day doing nothing but having fun."
"Well then, I have an idea." Rome turned the car and headed off toward downtown.
He pulled into a huge theatre complex a few minutes later.
"You want to see a movie?" I asked him, even though I guess the answer to that question was actually quite obvious.
"Yeah." Rome chuckled like he'd realized how obvious that question was too.
"What one?"
"That is up to you. You pick." Rome told me.
Whoa there. He wanted to let me pick? That never happens. The guys always get to pick the movies. Not that I got to go to that many but I never got to pick what we were going to see.
"I get to pick?"
"Yeah."
"And you'll watch whatever it is I say I want to see?"
"Yeah." Rome sighed. "You never pick a movie to go see before?"
"Can't remember the last time." I answered honestly. "Some time Mia and I went alone I guess."
"Well, the dry spell comes to an end this evening."
We walked into the theatre and got in line.
I looked over the movies that were playing. Nothing car related so nothing jumped out at me. Then the poster for Havana nights caught my eye. Now, being from South America myself that movie sort of looked good, plus it would center around dancing. A subject near and dear to my heart.
Ever since Dominic had taught me to Salsa with him I'd loved to dance. Any kind of dance really but my favourite was when Dom would take me into those incredible arms and we'd move together like water flowing.
We were totally fluid when we danced. We were like one person, totally in sync with each other when we danced.
At first he'd only taught me because his dad made him and plus Dom had needed a girl to learn with. But I'd been too young to really get it when Van had first been teaching Dom. It was just a fun thing for me and Mia to do then. We'd take turns dancing with Dom and Van.
I can still remember Van smiling down at me telling me I had rhythm and I was going to be one heck of a dancer someday. I didn't believe him then. It came from being a Tom Boy. I had already convinced myself that I wasn't going to be good at anything women were stereotypically good at. I had myself convinced that it was Mia's job to be good at woman things and my place was to be good at 'guy things'.
When Dom and I became a couple I proved Van right and myself wrong. I was one hell of a dancer with Dom. I'd never danced with anyone but Dom. And I loved it every time. And because it was one thing we did together, and as far as I knew only together it became on of my favourite things. But I didn't tell very many people about it because it didn't jive with my tough girl image.
"Well, what's it gonna be?" Rome asked and I realized we were at the head of the line.
"Havana nights." I answered without a trace of the insecurity I was feeling at picking a movie that I figured he was going to hate.
"I was hopping you'd say that." Rome chuckled and paid for our tickets despite my protest I could pay for my own and that he'd already done too much paying for two meals for us already.
I couldn't detect a hint of lying in his tone either. I figured he was just going along with me because he'd said I could pick and he'd really hate the movie. But it seemed from the way he was acting he really had wanted to see it as well.
We got in line for popcorn and both ended up with large soft drinks and one big ass bag of popcorn to share. I think Rome's going to be unpleasantly surprised when he sees how much popcorn I can put away. I learned from the king of eating after all, Vince.
"You can't tell the guys I went to see this movie willingly ok? You have to pretend I said you could pick but I at least put up a protest when you picked this one ok? I have a reputation to worry about." Rome grinned down at me.
"You men and your 'rep'. It's always so important to you and you don't even realize it's only other guys who even care." I laughed. "But I'll pretend you put up a good fight then gave in since you were being gentlemanly."
"Good girl." Rome answered, chuckling.
We got seats and the movie started shortly thereafter. It was a great story. Based on real events if you believe the title screen of the movie.
It's about this girl, who's uprooted from her life by circumstances beyond her control and has to go live in a new place, leaving everything she knows behind. She falls for a boy while she's there. They dance, they love, then she has to leave because of a war. It's a movie about growing up and discovering yourself. Anyone see any parallels for my life there? Cause I sure did.
I had to fight tears with a vengeance at the end of that movie. I'm Letty, I don't cry at movies. I don't care how sad they are. But thinking of Katey leaving Javier in Cuba to go home to the USA with her family because of the revolution in Cuba, then thinking of the revolution that happened in our own house in California that made me leave Dom was upsetting.
Then I thought of the dancing that I had just seen and I wanted to dance. I wanted to go dance to Latin rhythms more then anything else I'd ever wanted. It was about 9:30, we'd caught the early show.
We got back out to the car and it was still so hot out. It was just like California. The evening darkness brought little relief from the sultry heat.
"What do you want to do now?" Rome asked.
"Honestly?"
"Of course."
"I want to go dancing like they danced in that movie."
"Then let's go do it!" Rome said and took my hand as he started to run for his car.
"Whoa there. Slow down. I can't dance in cargo pants and a tank top, we don't know where to hear music like that, and we don't know if we can dance like that together."
"We'll stop at the mall and buy you something to wear, I know how to dance like that and I know where to find a club that plays that kind of music. The light is young Senoritia, let's go!" Rome said laughingly as he opened the car door for me. "I have this feeling that you dance at least as good as that chick in the movie."
"Alright then, bring it on." I agreed. Hell, I deserve to be spontaneous every once in a while don't I? "And yeah, I dance ok."
We went to the mall and I actually modeled different outfits for Rome, trying to decide which to buy. I tried on so many clothes and some of them we laughed at because they looked so strange, some made Rome have an unreadable look on his face that I assumed meant I was showing too much skin. Some made him screw his face up in distaste. He had great taste in women's clothes. He must be like Leon, a ladies man. Nothing I'd tried on had worked yet. I settled on a halter style dress that was cut almost to the top of my thigh on one side but almost to my knee on the other and was red but faded into black at the bottom. I'd snuck it into the room so Rome had no idea I was even trying it on. I knew as soon as I saw it on it was 'the one'. I walked out of the changing room.
"Well?"
"Wow." Rome breathed out in answer. So I was right, I had found 'the dress'.
I bought it. I drew the line at having any man pay for my clothes. Then I changed in the mall washroom and Rome headed off to the dance club he was taking me too. In my Latin style dress with the red flower in my hair I felt like a sexy woman for the first time in a long time. I always knew I had sex appeal but I...I can't explain it really but knowing that guys want to get with you because you're showing some skin and your Dom's girlfriend is different from feeling like men are admiring you because you look pretty. It was heady. I was with a hansom man, who wanted to be with me because he wanted to, not because he always had been, in a convertible going to dance the night away.
We pulled up to a club called Bongo's and Rome let a valet park the car. Where I come from you don't let other people drive your car, but we don't roll in flashy circles back home. We just run racing and it's different. Rome must be a player of some sort because as we walked in people knew who he was.
"You must be a player huh? Half these people know who you are." I giggled as we walked in.
"I just like to dance and I don't normally have a girl to dance with when I show up so I get to know some of the ladies when we dance together is all."
Rome almost looked embarrassed when he made this revelation to me.
"Right." I drawled. "Well, shall we get a drink and do a little dancing?"
"Sounds good." Rome led me over to a bar in the middle of the club. The bar had stools all around it shaped like, what else, bongo drums.
We got drinks and stood around drinking them for the first few minutes. Rome introduced me to several of his friends that came over. He seemed to me to be making a statement about who I was with when he introduced me to the other guys who came over but I didn't mind. I wasn't there to pick up after all. I was only out with Rome because he'd caught my interest in a way I couldn't deny.
And we danced. And Rome was good. But he wasn't Dom.
I was good with Rome. We both knew the steps and I'm sure we looked very good to the people watching. And I know we must have looked pretty good from the shear number of people who were standing around the edge of where we were dancing just watching us. But there was a certain passion missing when I danced with Rome that was there when I danced with Dom.
We were just good at dancing, we weren't connected on that deeper level that Dom and I had been at one point, and still were. At least we still were when we danced. But then again I hardly knew Rome after all.
I think I'm kidding myself. We dance well, and I'm still having a good time with him but I know in my heart he'll never be to me what Dom was. And I don't know at this point if I care about that. Dom wasn't so great for me after all. Look how we ended up.
And with that thought I let go of the deep contemplations and just danced. We danced through song after song and I didn't even notice the time pass but before I knew it they were telling us it was the last song. That meant it was 4am.
We collected the car and Rome helped me into it. Then we headed off toward home.
"I didn't know it was so late. I have to get up to work tomorrow." I made conversation as we drove toward Tej's place.
"Don't worry 'bout getting up early on Tej's account. Just leave Brian a note explaining how late you go home and he'll tell Tej for both of us." Rome said as he reclined in the driver's seat of his car.
"I'll feel like crap doing that on my first day."
"Naw, we do it to him all the time. We work some odd hours around Tej's. You can go in for 2 and work till 8 if you want to. Tej won't care."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
We mostly drove in silence for the rest of the ride home. The Miami skyline at night is beautiful. We arrived home and Rome walked me down to the boat. I let myself in with the key Brian had given me and turned to Rome.
"Thanks for the evening. I had a lot of fun." I told him, holding the bag my purchases and my other clothes were in.
"I did too. Maybe we'll do it again some time?"
"I think I'd like that." I answered him and found it to be true. I had had fun and I would like to do it again sometime.
"Good. I'll see you around the garage tomorrow anyway."
"Ok, see you then."
Rome kissed my cheek and headed up toward Tej's. I turned to go to my room. Brian switched on the light in the kitchen as I walked through.
AN: This chapter contains spoilers for Dirty Dancing:Havana nights. I couldn't help it. So if you haven't seen that movie and want to you might want to skip over the parts where they go see the movie. I mean, if you saw the original then you know pretty much what happens anyway.
Rome merged into traffic and headed toward what I assumed was the downtown area of Miami.
We just drove around for awhile and he pointed out malls and interesting shops till we got to what looked like a market area. He parked the car and got out. Then he stood, staring at me as I sat in the car looking back at him.
"Well, you gonna get out?" He asked me.
"Maybe. Where the hell are we?" I asked him peering over the top of my shades.
"It's a farmer's market. Come on. It'll be fun."
"If you think so..."
I guess his idea of fun is slightly different from mine. But hey, he was the tour guide and I was the new to Miami after all. I got out of the car and followed him into the market.
The first part of it was mostly produce. It wasn't very interesting but the way that Rome carried on the whole time was. He kept cracking jokes about the stuff that was there and he was keeping me laughing. It was great. He was such a clown. But it was charming in a lot of ways.
With the sun pouring down on my bare shoulders and back and someone going out of their way to entertain me all my worries slipped away. I didn't have anything on my mind other then me and Rome and all the brightly coloured food and handicrafts on display in the market. I'm sure they had stuff like this back in L.A. but I'd never gone. It was kinda fun. Not that I plan on telling Rome that. At least, not yet.
He bought three oranges and then tried to teach me to juggle. Yep, he can juggle. It turns out I can't. It's harder then it looks ok? He tried to teach me for what felt like hours. I can't damn well juggle. He kept trying to tell me to do this and do that and it would work. But it never did. Then I ate one of his oranges so he'd stop and not try to teach me any more.
He pretended to be mad at me over eating the orange for about 5 minutes before he was off on another tangent and talking a mile a minute. I'd almost forgotten what it was like to have a male talk to you. Dom sure hadn't been doing too much talking to me lately and the other guys just didn't think of it very often I guess.
I came across a table of handmade silver jewellery and thought of Mia so fast I forgot about Rome for a second. I stopped to look for something to send to her so she'd know I hadn't forgotten about her. Then I realized that I couldn't even mail her anything or they'd have the postmark from where I was. How depressing. I want to be able to send stuff to Mia and Vince. Maybe Brian would have a way around that.
And if not then I'll just giver her my gift when I see her again. I saw a pair of very large sterling hoops and knew Mia would love them. And then a small silver crucifix on a delicate silver chain I knew she'd love too. It had turquoise inlay on the cross. She's just like me, she looks better in silver then gold because of her dark skin. Then I saw a silver ankle bracelet I wanted for myself. I had brought money with me so I bought all three items.
When I had my items wrapped in tissue and in a paper bag I turned around, Rome suddenly remembered. He was right behind me with something behind his back.
"Whatchya buy?" He asked me.
"Present for Mia. You?"
"Surprise. Close your eyes."
"Good surprise?" I asked warily with my eyes narrowed. Surprises were never good when Dom sprung them on me.
"Of course girl. Close those pretty eyes."
"Flatterer." I accused but I did as he requested.
I felt him moving the hair at the side of my head.
"What're you doin?" I asked him, suspiciously.
"You'll see." Was all he'd tell me in reply.
After another minute he stopped playing with my hair.
"There. Go see."
That made me nervous. What had he done? The lady with the jewellery was right beside us and she had mirrors up. I walked up to one and looked. He'd put a flower in my hair. A beautiful red orchid.
"It's beautiful." I didn't know what else to say. No one had ever really gotten me something like a flower for my hair. It was frivolous and done only for fun, for beauty.
For me.
It was sweet. It made me feel things I hadn't felt in a long time, if ever. Things like sentimentality and, well, I think I care about how I look for the first time in a long time. Not care that I look ok, but care that I look like a girl. Talk about strange. I looked up at Rome and met his eyes.
"Not as beautiful as you."
I laughed at that. He was so full of it. I knew he was only trying to get on my good side. More the fool me because it was working.
"I bet you say that to all the girls."
"Just the pretty ones." Rome laughed back at me.
We explored the market and I picked up a present for Vince, Leon, and Jesse too. I was really hoping that Brian would have a way to get the presents to the team so they wouldn't have to wait till I went back to have them.
"So, what now?" I asked as we settled back into Rome's car.
"Well, it's supper time. You hungry?"
"I could eat." I wasn't starving but I was having such a good time I didn't want it to end.
It was nice to just hang out with a guy and have fun. It was only half ass planned and really it was more just fly by the seat of our pants fun. We were just doing whatever entered into Rome's head at the time he thought about it.
We went to some little restaurant and had supper. We got back in the car and Rome headed off again.
"Where are we going now? Home?"
"Do you want to go home?" Rome asked me, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.
"Not especially, I was just curious. It's really up to you. It's been a long time since I spent a day doing nothing but having fun."
"Well then, I have an idea." Rome turned the car and headed off toward downtown.
He pulled into a huge theatre complex a few minutes later.
"You want to see a movie?" I asked him, even though I guess the answer to that question was actually quite obvious.
"Yeah." Rome chuckled like he'd realized how obvious that question was too.
"What one?"
"That is up to you. You pick." Rome told me.
Whoa there. He wanted to let me pick? That never happens. The guys always get to pick the movies. Not that I got to go to that many but I never got to pick what we were going to see.
"I get to pick?"
"Yeah."
"And you'll watch whatever it is I say I want to see?"
"Yeah." Rome sighed. "You never pick a movie to go see before?"
"Can't remember the last time." I answered honestly. "Some time Mia and I went alone I guess."
"Well, the dry spell comes to an end this evening."
We walked into the theatre and got in line.
I looked over the movies that were playing. Nothing car related so nothing jumped out at me. Then the poster for Havana nights caught my eye. Now, being from South America myself that movie sort of looked good, plus it would center around dancing. A subject near and dear to my heart.
Ever since Dominic had taught me to Salsa with him I'd loved to dance. Any kind of dance really but my favourite was when Dom would take me into those incredible arms and we'd move together like water flowing.
We were totally fluid when we danced. We were like one person, totally in sync with each other when we danced.
At first he'd only taught me because his dad made him and plus Dom had needed a girl to learn with. But I'd been too young to really get it when Van had first been teaching Dom. It was just a fun thing for me and Mia to do then. We'd take turns dancing with Dom and Van.
I can still remember Van smiling down at me telling me I had rhythm and I was going to be one heck of a dancer someday. I didn't believe him then. It came from being a Tom Boy. I had already convinced myself that I wasn't going to be good at anything women were stereotypically good at. I had myself convinced that it was Mia's job to be good at woman things and my place was to be good at 'guy things'.
When Dom and I became a couple I proved Van right and myself wrong. I was one hell of a dancer with Dom. I'd never danced with anyone but Dom. And I loved it every time. And because it was one thing we did together, and as far as I knew only together it became on of my favourite things. But I didn't tell very many people about it because it didn't jive with my tough girl image.
"Well, what's it gonna be?" Rome asked and I realized we were at the head of the line.
"Havana nights." I answered without a trace of the insecurity I was feeling at picking a movie that I figured he was going to hate.
"I was hopping you'd say that." Rome chuckled and paid for our tickets despite my protest I could pay for my own and that he'd already done too much paying for two meals for us already.
I couldn't detect a hint of lying in his tone either. I figured he was just going along with me because he'd said I could pick and he'd really hate the movie. But it seemed from the way he was acting he really had wanted to see it as well.
We got in line for popcorn and both ended up with large soft drinks and one big ass bag of popcorn to share. I think Rome's going to be unpleasantly surprised when he sees how much popcorn I can put away. I learned from the king of eating after all, Vince.
"You can't tell the guys I went to see this movie willingly ok? You have to pretend I said you could pick but I at least put up a protest when you picked this one ok? I have a reputation to worry about." Rome grinned down at me.
"You men and your 'rep'. It's always so important to you and you don't even realize it's only other guys who even care." I laughed. "But I'll pretend you put up a good fight then gave in since you were being gentlemanly."
"Good girl." Rome answered, chuckling.
We got seats and the movie started shortly thereafter. It was a great story. Based on real events if you believe the title screen of the movie.
It's about this girl, who's uprooted from her life by circumstances beyond her control and has to go live in a new place, leaving everything she knows behind. She falls for a boy while she's there. They dance, they love, then she has to leave because of a war. It's a movie about growing up and discovering yourself. Anyone see any parallels for my life there? Cause I sure did.
I had to fight tears with a vengeance at the end of that movie. I'm Letty, I don't cry at movies. I don't care how sad they are. But thinking of Katey leaving Javier in Cuba to go home to the USA with her family because of the revolution in Cuba, then thinking of the revolution that happened in our own house in California that made me leave Dom was upsetting.
Then I thought of the dancing that I had just seen and I wanted to dance. I wanted to go dance to Latin rhythms more then anything else I'd ever wanted. It was about 9:30, we'd caught the early show.
We got back out to the car and it was still so hot out. It was just like California. The evening darkness brought little relief from the sultry heat.
"What do you want to do now?" Rome asked.
"Honestly?"
"Of course."
"I want to go dancing like they danced in that movie."
"Then let's go do it!" Rome said and took my hand as he started to run for his car.
"Whoa there. Slow down. I can't dance in cargo pants and a tank top, we don't know where to hear music like that, and we don't know if we can dance like that together."
"We'll stop at the mall and buy you something to wear, I know how to dance like that and I know where to find a club that plays that kind of music. The light is young Senoritia, let's go!" Rome said laughingly as he opened the car door for me. "I have this feeling that you dance at least as good as that chick in the movie."
"Alright then, bring it on." I agreed. Hell, I deserve to be spontaneous every once in a while don't I? "And yeah, I dance ok."
We went to the mall and I actually modeled different outfits for Rome, trying to decide which to buy. I tried on so many clothes and some of them we laughed at because they looked so strange, some made Rome have an unreadable look on his face that I assumed meant I was showing too much skin. Some made him screw his face up in distaste. He had great taste in women's clothes. He must be like Leon, a ladies man. Nothing I'd tried on had worked yet. I settled on a halter style dress that was cut almost to the top of my thigh on one side but almost to my knee on the other and was red but faded into black at the bottom. I'd snuck it into the room so Rome had no idea I was even trying it on. I knew as soon as I saw it on it was 'the one'. I walked out of the changing room.
"Well?"
"Wow." Rome breathed out in answer. So I was right, I had found 'the dress'.
I bought it. I drew the line at having any man pay for my clothes. Then I changed in the mall washroom and Rome headed off to the dance club he was taking me too. In my Latin style dress with the red flower in my hair I felt like a sexy woman for the first time in a long time. I always knew I had sex appeal but I...I can't explain it really but knowing that guys want to get with you because you're showing some skin and your Dom's girlfriend is different from feeling like men are admiring you because you look pretty. It was heady. I was with a hansom man, who wanted to be with me because he wanted to, not because he always had been, in a convertible going to dance the night away.
We pulled up to a club called Bongo's and Rome let a valet park the car. Where I come from you don't let other people drive your car, but we don't roll in flashy circles back home. We just run racing and it's different. Rome must be a player of some sort because as we walked in people knew who he was.
"You must be a player huh? Half these people know who you are." I giggled as we walked in.
"I just like to dance and I don't normally have a girl to dance with when I show up so I get to know some of the ladies when we dance together is all."
Rome almost looked embarrassed when he made this revelation to me.
"Right." I drawled. "Well, shall we get a drink and do a little dancing?"
"Sounds good." Rome led me over to a bar in the middle of the club. The bar had stools all around it shaped like, what else, bongo drums.
We got drinks and stood around drinking them for the first few minutes. Rome introduced me to several of his friends that came over. He seemed to me to be making a statement about who I was with when he introduced me to the other guys who came over but I didn't mind. I wasn't there to pick up after all. I was only out with Rome because he'd caught my interest in a way I couldn't deny.
And we danced. And Rome was good. But he wasn't Dom.
I was good with Rome. We both knew the steps and I'm sure we looked very good to the people watching. And I know we must have looked pretty good from the shear number of people who were standing around the edge of where we were dancing just watching us. But there was a certain passion missing when I danced with Rome that was there when I danced with Dom.
We were just good at dancing, we weren't connected on that deeper level that Dom and I had been at one point, and still were. At least we still were when we danced. But then again I hardly knew Rome after all.
I think I'm kidding myself. We dance well, and I'm still having a good time with him but I know in my heart he'll never be to me what Dom was. And I don't know at this point if I care about that. Dom wasn't so great for me after all. Look how we ended up.
And with that thought I let go of the deep contemplations and just danced. We danced through song after song and I didn't even notice the time pass but before I knew it they were telling us it was the last song. That meant it was 4am.
We collected the car and Rome helped me into it. Then we headed off toward home.
"I didn't know it was so late. I have to get up to work tomorrow." I made conversation as we drove toward Tej's place.
"Don't worry 'bout getting up early on Tej's account. Just leave Brian a note explaining how late you go home and he'll tell Tej for both of us." Rome said as he reclined in the driver's seat of his car.
"I'll feel like crap doing that on my first day."
"Naw, we do it to him all the time. We work some odd hours around Tej's. You can go in for 2 and work till 8 if you want to. Tej won't care."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
We mostly drove in silence for the rest of the ride home. The Miami skyline at night is beautiful. We arrived home and Rome walked me down to the boat. I let myself in with the key Brian had given me and turned to Rome.
"Thanks for the evening. I had a lot of fun." I told him, holding the bag my purchases and my other clothes were in.
"I did too. Maybe we'll do it again some time?"
"I think I'd like that." I answered him and found it to be true. I had had fun and I would like to do it again sometime.
"Good. I'll see you around the garage tomorrow anyway."
"Ok, see you then."
Rome kissed my cheek and headed up toward Tej's. I turned to go to my room. Brian switched on the light in the kitchen as I walked through.