Danny still has my hand in his, shaking it. He smiles and I laugh as we shake hands awkwardly longer than usual. He knows what he’s doing.
‘Did you want to dance?’ I ask. His hand is still shaking mine.
‘No.’ He stops shaking my hand and instead leads me toward an empty table away from the dance floor. I follow him, with my hand holding his. My eyebrows raise at his curt reply.
No? I guess he’s not the dancing type. Neither am I.
‘I want to get to know you more and can’t really do that on the dance floor while the music is blasting really loud.’ He pulls out a chair in front of me and I sit down.
‘That’s fair… what would you like to know?’
‘What’s a girl like you doing in a bar like this?’ Danny sits down in front of me.
‘Well, I just graduated nursing school. I’m stressed. Happy. Relieved. I don’t go out often at all but tonight was special, to say the least.’
‘Huh.’ Danny studies me before continuing. ‘Well, congratulations.’
‘And what about you, this doesn’t really seem like your type of scene, marine.’ I gesture towards the building.
‘Sailor, actually.’
Oh, Navy.
I nod, the conversation sinking into me while I admire the mystery of Danny.
Did I really want to get more involved in this conversation?
The more I talk to Danny, the more intrigued I was, and I really had my walls up from my past relationship with a marine. Military is military, it’s all the same to me.
‘What’s a girl like me then, what did you mean by that?” I ask, referring to his first question.
He pauses, and he squints at me.
‘Broken.’
His tone is serious, his gaze trying to figure me out. His smile gets replaced by his beer. He takes a sip but he’s still staring straight at me. For the first time since we met, I was a bit speechless. I didn’t know what to say.
How did this stranger know what I’m truly feeling inside?
There was a pause between us. Moments were going by in silence as Danny waits for me to respond.
I can feel my throat tightening up and I want to cry. I let out a short laugh as my eyes water. I blink the tears away, hoping he won’t notice. I look at the dancing crowd behind Danny, trying to look for Meredith as a sense of distraction.
I want to reply but I physically can’t. Not when I’m still grieving my brother’s death. Not when I’m buzzed with alcohol and getting choked up for a lot of reasons, around a stranger. A stranger that read me like a book. A stranger that had the most beautiful shade of blue eyes I had ever seen.
Saved by the bell, Danny’s phone starts to ring and he reaches into his pocket and pulls it out quickly. He looks at the Caller ID and a heavy sigh escapes him as he reads it.
‘Fuck.’ He mutters, stressed out.
‘Oh… everything okay?’ I ask. I was glad something interrupted us so I wouldn’t have to say that I was still damaged by an abusive ex-boyfriend. Or stressed out from an impactful decision I had made last week that I had yet to tell anyone.
‘Work.’ He sighs again, looking down at his phone, typing.
‘It was nice meeting you, but I’ve got to go… I’ll see you soon.’ Danny stands up, looks at me from his phone, with a small smile, and walks away. I stare at Danny’s back as he walks out of the exit to the bar. With every step he takes, my heart sinks lower.
His last sentence raises questions and doubts.
See you soon?
I truly appreciated these short moments I just shared with a stranger, knowing I wouldn’t see him again.
I was disappointed. For the first time in a while, I felt alive. A flicker of thrill and undeniable steam radiates inside of me.
Danny noticed me.
Truly noticed me. Someone I connected with so fast just by a glance at first sight. So cliche, but I was intrigued and enchanted by this man I had just met.
‘Dude, this hangover is killing me. Why did I drink so much last night?’ I ask Meredith while opening a bottled water and taking Tylenol. Nausea and vomiting were taking over me like a virus.
‘We’re dumb sometimes.’ Meredith groans over the phone. I’m in my bedroom the morning after. It’s nine in the morning and I had woken up with a headache from hell. I called Meredith on the phone as soon as I woke up to check if she was dying just like me. Turns out she was suffering too but not as badly as me.
I get that familiar feeling of something coming up and I started throwing up in the toilet again. I forget to mute myself on my phone and Meredith’s hearing everything but it’s too late to fix it.
‘Oh God, you’re not pregnant right?’ Meredith’s tone is laced with disgust.
I flush the toilet and clean myself up before responding sarcastically.
‘Oh yes, a twenty-two-year-old that hasn’t had a dick inside of her, makes sense.’ I retort.
‘You never know. Go to your gynecologist recently? Maybe they pulled a Jane The Virgin on you.’
Suddenly my phone buzzes. I check it and a text appears from an unknown number.
Unknown:
Hello Ari, this is Danny.
Wait, what? Like Danny? Like Danny the Sailor, I met last night and mysteriously had to leave mid-conversation?
‘Wait, what the fu—. I don’t remember giving my number out. Meredith! Danny, the hot stranger guy, just texted me. Was I that drunk I didn’t remember a detai—’ I rant, freaking out, nervously. Meredith cuts me off.
‘Oh yeah about that… I kind of like… gave him your number as he was walking out of the bar to his truck last night.’ Meredith giggles over the phone.
My eyes widened in embarrassment.
‘Meredith! You didn’t! And you failed to tell me?’ I scold.
‘What? I stepped out to smoke, and I saw that he was leaving. Then I’m guessing he remembered you were with me and asked me for your number, so I gladly played Cupid and gave it to him. It’s fine. You’re welcome!’ Meredith’s condescending tone irritates me.
‘I don’t know what to say… you know this isn’t exactly my year…’ This past year has been the most tragic for me. A break-up from a toxic boyfriend, my brother dying, and stepping into a role of responsibility for my mother and myself.
‘Baby Girl. Not every guy’s like Shane, stop it.’
Of course, Meredith immediately only thinks of the guy that has stained my romantic life but he was a blip in my worries compared to the death of my only other sibling.
I bite my lip and text him back,
Hi Danny.
‘It’s your fault if I get hurt again.’ I sigh in defeat.
‘You’ll be thanking me at your future wedding, actually.’ Meredith chuckles.
‘Woah, chill out. Plus, I can’t be thinking or getting distracted by anything or anyone right now. I’m leaving overseas to Iraq soon and I need to stay focused.’ I again, rant on with no filter. I quickly cover my mouth, realizing what I had just revealed.
Squinting my eyes, disappointment reveling in my stomach.
I hadn’t told anyone yet that I signed a contract for the U.S. Army as a contracted civilian nurse. I did this to honor my brother, who succumbed to his wounds from a mission he was on. Nobody knew, not even my mother who I would eventually have to tell. I don’t think she’s ready to hear that her remaining child just signed up for the military as a nurse. I don’t know how she’s going to react. Whether it would be a bad reaction or a good one.
‘Wait, hold up. Rewind! You’re leaving where?’ Meredith yells in shock.
