Okay! This was fun!!! Connections is next!
ENJOY!
I was not one for going out. I rarely ever did… or never did for that matter, but here I was. At a bar with a couple of people from my Econ class. It was supposed to be a study night, but they insisted on taking the night off and blowing off some steam. I wished I just went back to my apartment. I didn't want to be here. This was not…
"Hey," I heard a girl say as she tapped on my shoulder. I turned around and saw she was looking at me with a kind smile. "Do you mind if I squeeze in? I wanted to order a couple of drinks."
She came to about my shoulder, I couldn't tell if she was blonde or if her hair was a platinum color, her face was round, and she was petite. She was cute, I had to admit. I scooted to the side, giving her enough room to lean against the counter. I had never seen her around campus, so I was wondering if she was new to town.
"What can I get for you, beautiful?" The bartender asked as looked at her with a smirk.
"Two crown apple mules," she said as she gave the guy her card.
"On it."
She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the counter, while she waited for her drinks. I don't know what came over me, but I wanted to know her name.
"Hey," I said, making her turn her head to look at me. "I don't mean to…"
"My name is Mal," she said with a small chuckle. I looked at her with a stunned expression, before she laughed again. "Sorry," she said. "I was just assuming you were going to ask."
I laughed, before nodding my head. "You're not wrong, but can I ask why you would assume that?"
"I don't like to come off as cocky, but guys try to flirt with me a lot," she said with a small shrug. "It kind of gets annoying."
That… that hit hard. I didn't think I was coming off as a flirt, but I guess asking a random girl her name is considered it?
"You know that sounded bad," she said. "I didn't mean to insult you, if you got insulted. I just mean that when a new girl walks into a bar, she is the shiny new toy."
I guess I could understand that. When I moved here, I felt like the shiny new toy.
"It's okay," I told her. "I get where you are coming from. I felt the same way when I moved here. So, you're new to town?" I asked.
"You could say that," she said with a shrug. "I am here visiting for a couple of days, but I forgot to ask, what was your name?"
"Ben," I said with a smile.
"Well, do you want to join my friend and I?"
I looked over to where my study group was and saw them all dancing on the dancefloor. I don't think they would notice if I wasn't with them. I turned back to Mal and nodded my head, just as the bartender placed her drinks on the bar. He gave her card back and told her that it was taken care of, before winking at her. She kindly thanked him before she guided us through the crowd and toward a table that a girl was sitting at. When she saw Mal she looked like she had seen someone who was there to rescue her.
"There you are," the girl said as she threw her hands up. "Do you know how many people tried to kick me out of this table?"
"I am sure you managed. E," Mal said as she sat next to the girl. "But here, I got us some drinks."
"Boy is your brother going to kill us," she said, before she took a drink and then shifted her eyes to me. "Um… who are you?"
I was about to open my mouth, but stopped when Mal talked.
"This is Ben," she said as she held her hand out to me. "He let me cut in front of him at the bar."
"I see," the other girl said as she eyed me up and down.
"Ben, this is my best friend Evie."
"It's nice to meet you, Evie," I said with a kind smile. "Please don't be alarmed by me. I came with a study group and they kind of just abandoned me," I said as I pointed at the group across the bar.
She craned her next and I assumed she saw the group I had pointed to. I could tell that she was skeptical about me, but I wouldn't blame her. I am a stranger.
As the night went on, the three of us had a couple more drinks, and before we knew it, it was almost 2 in the morning.
"Well, Ben," Evie said as she looked at me. "I have to say that you were different than I had originally thought."
"Thank you," I told her. "Do you two want me to get you to wherever you are staying? I could call an Uber."
"Sure," Evie said with a smile. "I wouldn't mind sneaking away to Doug's," she said with a laugh as she hung on Mal for support. "I was going to surprise him tomorrow, but if I text his mom, she will let me stay the night."
"Do you mind if I have his address?" I asked. "I will put it in one of the stops."
She handed me her phone and I looked for a contact that said Doug. I quickly typed in the address along with mine, before passing my phone to Mal. She quickly typed in her stop, and I got an alert that our ride would be here in 5 minutes.
"Oh, that was fast," I said as I showed them my phone. "Why don't we head outside?"
We got up from the table, and I had them walk in front of me. The bar was still crowded, and I wanted to make sure that nothing happened to them. As we made it outside, I saw my study group team waiting on the side of the street.
"Ben!" One of the girls named Diane walked up to me. "Where have you been? We thought you left. I wanted to…"
"I ran into a couple of friends," I told her, making her stop talking. "We were just catching up, and I want to make sure that they get home okay."
She looked at Mal and Evie with a look that said she did not like them. She was swaying back and forth, before she looked back at me.
"Well, my Uber is not here yet, and I was wondering if you wanted to come over and watch a movie?" She asked.
I have spoken to Diane a total of 4 times since our study group formed, and this was the only time I have even seen her interested in me. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
"Sorry," I said. "I am not interested, but maybe we can all go to dinner one night." My phone binged, before Diane could even get a chance to say anything else, letting me know our Uber was here. "We have to go," I said. "I'll see you guys on Monday."
Mal, Evie, and I got into the Uber, and I was thankful about being away from the group. I didn't like working in coups, but I managed if it was required.
"I guess you do know what I mean," Mal said as she nudged my shoulder.
I laughed at the joke and nodded my head. "The funny part about it is that she has never shown any type of interest until that moment."
"Girls," she said, shaking her head. "Sometimes they do crazy things."
As the ride came to its first stop, Evie turned to look at Mal. "Call me in the morning, and let me know what time we are meeting."
"You got it, E," Mal said as she nodded her head. "Plus, I share my location with you. You know where I am at all times."
"Very true," she said.
"Evie?" A guy said, making her turn around to see him standing at the stop of the stairs.
"Hey, babe," she said before she slammed the door and ran to the guy, who I was now assuming was Doug.
The Uber started to drive to Mal's stop, but she scooted to the edge of the seat and tapped the driver on his shoulder.
"Do you mind just skipping the next stop?" She asked, making me look at her with a confused look. He nodded his head and turned down the next street. "Why don't we go to your place and watch a movie?" She asked. "Or if you're not interested."
I laughed and tossed my head back. I thought Mal was very cute and nice. It was not like me to take a girl back to my place, but she seemed different. I nodded my head, making her smile, before she scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder.
The driver pulled up to a stop at my apartment and I opened the door, before holding my hand out for Mal.
"Wow," she said as she looked up at the building. "Nice."
"Yeah," I said as we walked up the steps. "My parents wanted me to have a place of my own while I was in college and this was my mother's choice."
"It's fancy," she said as we reached my floor.
"I guess," I said with a laugh.
We walked down the hallways until we reached my door. I unlocked it before we walked in and I was so thankful that I had picked up this morning. We walked into my living room, and I turned to see Mal standing in the middle of the room with her hand laced in front of her.
"Um… what did you have in mind to watch?" I asked as I walked over to the shelves and started to scare through the movie collection I had. "Are you a horror girl? Rom Com? Disney? Musical? Sci-fi?"
"You have quite the collection," she said as she walked over to me. "A lot of good ones too."
She started to scan through the movies, passing over some really good ones. She stopped on a movie I didn't know people watched much anymore, but it was a good one. She held it out in front of me, making me take it from her hands.
"A League of Their Own," I said intrigued. "Not one I was expecting."
"It's my favorite." She said with a gib smile.
"Okay," I said, nodding my head. I looked at her and saw she was in a pair of jeans and a nice shirt. "I… I don't… Do you want something to change into?" I asked.
"Sure," she said. "It might be better than this."
I nodded my head before I walked into my room. There had to be something in here that I could let her borrow. I went through my drawers and through my closet, hoping to find something. I went through my bag of clean clothes from when I went home and remembered I threw some of my old t-shirts in there. I found one of my old baseball shirts and a pair of clean boxers, before walking back into the living room.
"Okay," I said, making me turn to look at me. "I don't have anything that would fit you properly, but I hope this will work."
I handed her the clothes, making her smile. Her cheeks flushed red, before she looked around.
"Oh. Right," I said. "The bathroom is down the hall and to the left. I will change in my room."
She walked down the hall and I walked with her, turning to the right as she walked into the bathroom.
"I'll meet you out there," I said.
"Okay," she said, before she closed the door.
I quickly changed into a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt. I walked to the mirror that was hanging above my dresser, making sure I didn't look stupid. I was not going to try and do anything tonight, but I sure didn't want to look like a mess or have bad smelling breath. When I was done, I walked back to the living room and saw Mal was sitting on her phone.
"Sorry," I said, making her turn to look at me.
She put her phone face down on the couch and smiled up at me.
"You're okay," she said. "I was just texting my mom. She wanted to know if I made it into town okay."
"Okay, I hope she isn't worried."
"Nah," she said as I popped the movie into the dvd player and Pressed start. "I am a smart girl."
I turned to look at her, before walking over and sitting on the couch. "Says the girl who went home with a complete stranger."
"I am also a good judge of character," she said, making me laugh.
She crawled over to sit next to me, and before I could even react, she pulled my arm over her shoulder. Her hair smelt so good. Soft and sweet. I had no idea how I had managed to get to this point, but I was not going to complain about it. I was just glad that my Econ class decided to go out instead of study.
We were an hour into the movie, and Mal moved her head to my lap, before looking up at me.
"I have a question," she said.
"And what would your question be?" I asked.
"Why haven't you kissed me yet?"
The question took me back. I almost choked on the air that I was breathing, before I started to stutter.
"I… well… I wasn't going to," I told her.
"So, you don't like me?" She asked.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "I do. I just didn't want to…"
"You're trying to be a proper gentleman," she said, cutting me off.
"It's the way I was raised," I said with a laugh.
"Well," she said as she sat up and faced me. "What if I didn't want you to be a proper gentleman right now?"
She looked at me with her green eyes and I couldn't help but fall. My hands found their way into her hair as our lips connected. Her lips were soft and plump. This was like no other kiss I had ever had with someone. Everything was just insync and before either of us knew it, Mal had her legs wrapped around my waist and I was walking us to my room. I pressed her into the mattress, our lips never parting from each other. I gripped her hips, letting my thumbs run across her skin.
"It's okay," she said against my lips, making me pull away from her. "It's okay."
She pulled me back to her, pressing her lips to mine once again, and we fell harder, letting things fall where they were going to fall.
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I woke up and reached my hand for Mal, but I found the bed empty. I looked up and saw that my door was open and the clothes Mal was wearing were folded on my dresser.
"Mal?" I called, but there was no answer.
She fucking left in the middle of the night. Great fucking job, Ben.
I got up from my bed and walked over to where she had put the clothes, and saw a note sitting on top.
I am sorry to just leave. I didn't want to wake you up, but I had to leave early to meet Evie, maybe we could do another movie night. ;) Give me a call whenever you want. 109-876-5432
xoxo Mal
I smiled at the note, and was glad she didn't just leave me like a one night stand. I put her note on my mirror, and walked over to get my phone. When I picked it up I saw a text from my best friend Hadie.
Hey! Are you coming? We are waiting for you.
Shit. I completely forgot that his sister was going to be coming to town and we were going to show them around. I quickly threw on my pants, a clean shirt, combed my hair and brushed my teeth, before running out of my apartment. I got onto my bike, and rode down the street toward Jay and Hadie's apartment. I was so glad that they were only a 15 minute drive from me, because I could not handle the comments from those two if I was super late.
"And he has arrived," Jay said as he watched me park my bike out front.
"Shut up," I yelled as I ran toward him and up the stairs. "I had a late start to the day."
"Well yeah," he said as we walked inside and toward the elevator. "Why else would you be late?"
I shook my head and laughed at him. I had a small group of friends here, and I was happy with it. I was not a person who liked to be tossed around from group to group because everyone wanted to talk. Sure, I was friendly and when people did talk to me I would talk to them, but I would t go out of my way to go and form a friendship.
"There you are," Hadie said as he popped his head out of the apartment as Jay and I got out of the elevator. "What happened to you?"
"A late start to the day," I told him. "Sorry. I just had a… long night."
"You're lucky my sister takes forever to get ready," he said as we walked into the apartment and he closed the door behind him. "She's on the phone with our mom right now, but…"
"Okay okay," we heard her say as she walked out of Hadie's room and we all turned to look at her.
My eyes popped out of my head when I saw Mal walking toward us, and when she looked up she had the same expression I did.
"What did mom say?" Hadie asked as he walked into the kitchen with Jay.
He didn't receive an answer because Mal and I were still in complete and utter shock that we were here.
"Earth to Mallory," he called, making her break her stare as he walked back into the living room. "You okay?"
"Yeah," she said as she nodded her head at Hadie. "She just wanted to know what we were doing today."
What the fuck just happened?
"Okay, cool," Hadie said. "Ben, this is my little sister Mal. Mal, this is my best friend Ben."
Mal? Mallory? What the fuck? I slept with my best friend's little sister, and I could tell she was freaking out too. In the time I have known Hadie, he has never shown me a picture of his sister, or if he did, they were ones from when they were younger.
"Ben," she said, making me turn to see she was holding her hand out to me. "It's nice to finally meet you. I have heard good things."
I shook her hand, not really knowing how to react. What was going to happen between us. Or if we were ever going to tell Hadie about it…
Until next time my Lovies! xoxoGM