One morning, a little while later, she was at work, tapping away on her computer, when she saw her phone light up. It was a notification from Facebook Dating. She ignored it until her lunch break, but when she went to check it, she was very pleasantly surprised by who had Liked her.
We all know of her affection for gingers, even though they’ve proven to her time and time again that they’re toxic and not at all good for her. “Who cares!” she thought. This guy was so hot! He had reddish-blonde hair, a well coifed ginger beard, and good eyebrows (which is hard to find with gingers). She matched with him immediately.
She sorted through the other notifications she had, then went to grab her lunch. When she got back to her desk she had a message from Ginger Boy. We’ll call him Brady. Brady went hard right away, telling her how sexy she was and asking what she was doing at that moment. She replied that she was at work, and asked what he was up to. He responded by admitting he’d taken a break from working from home and was currently having a bunch of dirty conversations with a few girls on the app.
Yes, she saw the red flag. Yes, she ignored it.
If anything, she was more intrigued than before. She didn’t know this guy, for all she knew this could have been the one and only conversation she’d ever have with him. She approached it as if she were just chatting with a friend. As a supportive cheerleader, even. Her lack of repulsion to his honesty seemed to pique his interest in her more, as well, and they began a back and forth of sexual hypotheticals. Great. Now she was horny at work.
Their conversation continued throughout her lunch break, and he continued to message her throughout the afternoon. She ignored the notifications as much as she could, but her curiosity and love for attention were often too much to bare. She got very little work done that day.
They chatted throughout the evening, and off and on over the next couple of weeks. He kept asking when she’d be over to fuck him, and she kept responding that she’d be down to meet for coffee or a drink, and then see where things went from there. He was not receptive to coffee, and kind of evasive in regard to the drink. He was only interested in the hook up.
Yes, she saw those red flags. Yes, she ignored them too.
Even though they weren’t in lockdown at the time, pandemic life left few opportunities to really go out on the town. Finally, one Friday night, out of sheer luck and coincidence, she and her friend were able to follow through on their plans to actually go out for drinks.
Seeing as it was November, it was cold out, and she did not live close to where they had intended to go. So, instead of paying for a cab and having to bare the elements on her journey to the bar, she decided to take one for the team and be DD. She’d have a drink or two, but that would be it. She really just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of a bar, more than she wanted to get drunk. She missed the noise, the people watching, the chance to meet a cute guy… She knew she’d have fun no matter what, so she picked her friend up and off they went.
Being in their mid-thirties, she and her friend arrived at the bar before 9pm, and honestly, they had never been so grateful for their age. Within half an hour of their arrival, the bar went from Dining to Bar Service, which meant no more table service, no more walk-ins, bouncer stationed at the door and a line up down the street. Phew! Dodged that bullet!
Now it was a party. The music got louder, some tables were moved out of the way, and as people left or got up to mingle, she and her friend were able to score a way better table than where they had been seated, and were now occupying prime people watching real estate.
Earlier that day she had been chatting with Brady, and he had asked what her plans were. She told him she’d be going out, and he said he was too. Neither of them told the other where they were going, but both agreed to message each other later and see where they’d end up. Her friend was a genius and had ordered them each a second drink before their server was cut. As they finished their first drinks, her friend popped out for a smoke.
As she sat alone at the table awaiting her friends’ return, she scrolled though Instagram and sipped her beer. It was then she saw Brady’s story, and noted that he was at a bar just a few streets over. “Interesting…”, she thought to herself. As she continued to sit there alone, the urge to message him grew stronger and stronger. Finally she couldn’t resist it any longer and sent him a quick, “how’s your night going?” Her friend was back shortly, though, so she closed her phone and they resumed their fun.
She had been nursing her beer for a good hour, while her friend had gone through nearly 2 more. (She was only a teensy bit jealous) The bar had filled up with seemingly every vaccinated person in the city, and she and her friend were having a great time. “Come out for a smoke with me!” her friend begged. “Yea, no.” she replied. She wasn’t a smoker, so there was no way she was about to A) stand out in the cold to watch her friend smoke a cigarette, or B) lose their awesome table! She was fine to sit alone for a few minutes every now and again.
“You’re drunk and brave,” she told her friend. “Go find us some guys to flirt with!” Her friend delivered. After about 10 minutes, she came back in with two guys she had met outside. “I made some friends!” her friend announced as she scooched back into the booth, followed by two guys who were clearly much younger. “You’ll never guess,” her friend began. “These guys went to the same high school as us!” “No way!” she exclaimed. That was actually pretty cool, yet also not super surprising because their big city often seemed like a very small town. Everyone knows everyone.
“When did you graduate?” she asked the guy who had chosen her side of the booth. “2012,” he replied. Ooof! Way to hit her where it hurts! She had graduated in 2005, just to put things in perspective. “How old are you??” she asked. “26,” he smirked. “Oh! That’s my cut off!” she laughed. After Kyle, she had told herself that 26 was the youngest she’d ever consider. “Oh, well lucky me,” the guy replied. “It was my birthday a few weeks ago…” Oh man… made it in just under the wire. “What’s your name?” she asked him. “Jon” he replied.
Jon was tall and thin, with a mild “Guido” vibe to him. The sides of his head were shaved, and the rest of his hair slicked back. Sounds like a greasy, slime ball type guy, but this look worked for him, somehow. He had nice brown eyes, light scruff, great teeth, and a deep, silky voice. She introduced herself as well, and they began a surprisingly interesting conversation.
Jon was actually quite the intellectual. He was well versed in politics, pop culture, music of all genres and periods, and even art! It was so rare that she was able to have an in-depth conversation about art with a guy, or anyone really. She was enthralled by him, when all of a sudden she looked up at a guy walking past their table.
Who was it, you ask? Why, Chad, of course! The foot fetish guy! The guy who had humiliated her and sent her spiraling. (See Chapters 41 – 44)
She immediately looked across the table at her friend, who was chatting away with Jon’s buddy. Her friend noticed her looking at her, and she tried to whisper to her that she had just seen Chad. “WHO??” her friend drunkenly shouted, having not heard her over the vibrations of the crowd partying around them. “Never mind, I’ll tell you later” she laughed. Jon was curious about what she was trying to tell her friend, but she brushed it off and changed the subject, all the while, keeping an eye out for where Chad had gone. Not because she wanted to talk to him or anything, but to ensure that he wasn’t anywhere near her.
She got back into the conversation with Jon, while her friend went and got them some more drinks. As she and Jon chatted, she continued her people watching. It was then that she realized that Chad was hitting on some girls at a high-top directly behind her booth. Wtf man! Go away! She turned her back to him and carried on her conversation. Despite Chad’s lingering presence, she really was having fun.
Some time passed, and she eventually had to pee. This bar was one that didn’t have any big bathrooms with stalls. The bathrooms were scattered throughout the bar, all individual. She lucked out and found an empty one near their table. She went in, did her thing, was only in there for a few minutes, and when she opened the door… Chad was standing front and centre. Like, she opened the door and they were literally face to face.
She had never seen blood rush out of someone’s face faster than Chad’s as he realized who she was (which is saying a lot considering Chad is basically a ghost). His smile dropped and his eyes bulged. She was less shocked than he was because she had already seen him, but she was still surprised to see him up close and personal as she came out of the bathroom! They stood there for what felt like an eternity but was honestly like a split second, before she did an awkward swimming-like hand gesture indicating for Chad and his friend to step aside so she could squeeze through. Fuckin’ small-town-big-cities…
Jon saw her returning and graciously stood up to let her back into the booth. At that point she didn’t care anymore and she told the whole table what had just happened to her. She also pulled no punches giving details about Chad’s foot obsession. Fuck that guy! They all laughed and made fun of him. It was great. (To be clear, there’s no fetish shaming here. The shame is specifically directed at Chad. But also, heads up to any guys reading this, women don’t want you to fuck them with your foot. They just don’t. It’s not hot. It does nothing for us. But if a woman does agree to it, you better treat her like the god damn sexually-generous queen she is! But I digress…)
The night rolled on. Her friend and their new, young pals got good and drunk, and it was about that time to be headin’ on home. She checked her phone and saw several drunk texts from Brady, a few of which were messages asking her to go over, along with his address. She laughed and replied that she’d be leaving soon, and she’d text him later.
During her conversation with Jon about how they went to the same high school (8 years apart), they had discovered that they lived in the same end of town. Therefore, she insisted on driving Jon home rather than him taking an Uber. He asked if she was sure about 100 times, before gratefully thanking her for saving him $40.
The bar had cleared out a bit, and as they gathered their things to leave, she caught a glimpse of Chad, seemingly sober, sitting in a booth with some sloppy drunk woman at least 10 years older than she was. Clearly all the young, hot babes had blown him off, and he was settling for whatever he could get. “I hope that drunken cougar throws up on you…” she thought to herself as they headed out.
She, her friend, and Jon walked the like 7 blocks to where she had parked (she was not a great downtown driver), and headed home. She dropped her friend off first (which was not a strategic move, it’s just geography), then headed over to Jon’s house.
Jon lived off a street that she had driven down, oh, maybe a million and one times. Seriously, it’s crazy the coincidences that kept coming up that night. She parked the car and they both agreed that it was really nice to have met one another. She hadn’t expected to kiss him, but he gave her the eyes and the lean in, so she leaned in too and they had a hot li’l makeout sesh. “Do you want to come in?” he asked. “Aw, I’d love to,” she replied. “But I have to be up early tomorrow. Another time though!”
She did not, in fact, have to be up early the next day. She did, however, have plans to go over to Brady’s…