There was a man looking at her from the bar, and for a split second, Kris thought: There's no way he's looking at me. Why would he be looking at me?
She glanced to the left, but Maria was in the bathroom. Then she glanced to the right, and Zach was nowhere to be found, either.
He's looking at me. She felt her breath catch in her throat. But why would someone like that be looking at me?
He was unlike any man she'd seen in the city. He was large, heavily muscled, with a rugged yet undeniably sexy look. He looked like he belonged out in the woods, chopping down trees and living a lifestyle people could only dream about. He smiled slightly, but it lit up his whole face, his eyes twinkling golden in the dim light of the bar.
Golden? That can't be right.
He turned back to the bar, said something to the bartender, and then he was grabbing two drinks and walking towards Kris, his hands full of glasses. She did another double take. He couldn't be coming for her.
But he was. He was moving through the bar, sliding through crowds of people and walking around tables, coming closer to her with every step. Kris's heart was thudding in her chest. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself.
He was feet away from her when she heard someone next to her say, "Hey," and then she felt arms wrap around her shoulders. She glanced over at Zach, who was leaning in close, obviously intoxicated. "What's up, pal?" he asked the man who had been walking toward her.
The man hesitated, but to his credit, he just nodded at Kris and kept walking. Kris watched him go, watched him disappear into the din of the bar.
"Who was that guy?" Zach asked. In response, Kris slid out from underneath his arm. "What's wrong?"
"Please don't do that again," Kris said, scooting away from Zach. It wasn't that he was unattractive, but there was something about him. He wasn't Kris's type, and she wished that Maria hadn't brought him along.
Without thinking, Kris was sliding out of her seat, drink forgotten behind her. "What?" Zach asked. "Where are you going? Kris? Kris!" But she was ignoring him, fighting her way through the crowd, trying to catch up with the man. But it was pointless. Somehow, he'd disappeared into the crowd in the bar and was gone. She didn't see how. He was almost twice the size of the rest of the people in the bar, but somehow, he was gone.
Kris stood there. Someone bumped into her, but she hardly noticed. She laughed slightly. What was she doing? Why was she chasing after this man? All he'd done was look at her, maybe buy her a drink, and come toward her. Why was she suddenly so enamored with him?
Guys had bought her drinks before. Even Zach had bought her one earlier in the night. She'd accepted it with some hesitation, as she usually did when other men bought her drinks. But with this man… Why had she been so excited to take it?
I should just go home, crawl into bed, get away from Zach, ditch Maria… Just go to sleep and forget about tonight. But if I do that… I'll never see that man again.
I'll probably never see him again, anyway, she thought. And then Maria was at her side, grabbing her and pulling her back toward the table where Zach was still standing, looking simultaneously annoyed and relieved that Kris was back.
"Who was that?" he asked.
"Who was who?" Maria asked, turning to Kris. "Did you meet some guy?" she asked, tuning Zach out. He moved to get close to them, but Maria had moved between him and Kris. Kris glanced at him, and he glared but kept quiet. "Give me the details!"
"I didn't meet anyone," Kris said, emphasizing the word meet. "Someone scared him off before he had a chance to introduce himself."
Now it was Maria's turn to glare. She turned to Zach, gave him a hard look, but didn't say anything. "Maybe we'll see him later."
"Maybe…" Kris conceded, though she didn't think it likely.
"Let's go to Borealis," Zach suggested, doing his best to derail the train of thought. "I'll get us in."
"Kris?" Maria asked. Kris just nodded, defeated. She'd wanted to stay here, to see if she could find that mysterious man without Zach and Maria breathing down her neck, but she couldn't stay here by herself. Reluctantly, she followed Maria and Zach out of the bar. Zach was up ahead a bit, but Maria hung back and questioned Kris about what had happened. Kris went over what had happened—which she kept reminding Maria wasn't much—at least three times.
But finally, they were outside of Club Borealis. There was a line nearly 100 people long, and music was thumping through the walls so loudly that Kris could feel it in her bones.
"Come on," Zach said. His mood had changed considerably since the man had shown Kris attention. Together, Kris and Maria followed him up to the front of the line. The bouncer looked at him and immediately began chit-chatting with him.
After a few moments, the bouncer lifted the rope and let Zach, Kris, and Maria enter. People in the front of the line yelled angrily, but the bouncer ignored them. Kris felt a moment of guilt, but she went through just the same, and then they were in Club Borealis.
It was unlike any place she'd been before. It was packed wall to wall with dancing people. The entire room laid out in front of them was like a gigantic dance floor. Bars lined either side of the building, serving all sorts of drinks. Lights flashed through the darkness.
Maria yelled something at her, but Kris couldn't understand a word she said in the loudness of the music. Maria and Zach started to move off into the crowd. Kris suppressed a sigh, realizing it wouldn't matter in the noise anyway, and followed.
Kris could hardly keep up with all the people dancing and bumping into her. Within a few seconds, the other two had disappeared somewhere into the commotion of the club. Deciding it was a lost cause, Kris angled herself straight toward the bar. It was packed, but she managed to slip between two women.
She waited nearly five minutes before a bartender finally noticed her. The bartender's lips moved, but Kris could hear nothing that was coming out of his mouth.
"What?" Kris yelled back. The bartender repeated his words, but Kris still heard nothing, so she settled with, "A beer!" She knew it was vague, but obviously, the bartender was used to this and understood exactly what she wanted. Maybe he can read lips, she thought. The bartender grabbed a glass, went to the tap, and got her a beer she'd never heard of. He came back, yelled something that she assumed was the price. Reaching in her wallet, she pulled out more than enough money to cover the beer, yelled at him to keep the change, and turned to the dance floor.
She still didn't see Maria or Zach, but that was alright. She took a sip of her beer, grimaced at the taste, but took another sip just the same. She was already feeling a bit drunk. Scratch that. More than a bit. I haven't drunk this much in… ever?
She hadn't planned on drinking as much as she had, but she had to admit, hanging out with Maria was fun. Hanging out with Zach was less fun, but even he was tolerable with enough drinks in her system. Despite everything, tonight had been a good night.
It could have been a better night. If I'd talked to that mysterious man.
Kris found herself scanning Club Borealis for him, but he was nowhere to be found. This probably isn't his kind of place, anyway. It's not even my kind of place, but here I am. Alone. Maybe I should just go home.
But instead of going home, Kris just finished her beer—faster than she would have thought possible—and then she ordered another one. Being out really wasn't that bad. She couldn't study all the time, and she deserved to have a little fun.
She was just finishing her second beer at Club Borealis when she felt someone slide up close next to her. She turned around to tell the person to give her some space, and then she realized just how ridiculous that was. There was no space in the club, especially not at the bar. But she turned around just the same, and her breath caught in her throat.
The man from earlier was standing right next to her, looking at her and smiling. Kris felt herself smiling ear to ear at him, unsure of exactly why she was. Up close, he was even more handsome than she'd expected. His eyes—which were a sort of golden hue—glimmered lightly off the flashing lights in the club. He was big, heavily muscled, and there was something about him.
Something primal. Something dangerous. Something that Kris found herself drawn to whether she wanted to be or not. The man next to her took a deep breath, his nostrils flaring, as if he was breathing her in. Kris found herself doing the same, but she only picked up traces of old beer and sweaty bodies.
"Can I buy you that drink now?" the man asked, and somehow, his rough, deep voice cut through the thumping music and yells from the other people in the club.
"Yes," Kris breathed. The man smiled and turned to the bar. How did he even hear me in here? She wondered. The bartender was there almost immediately. There was something about this man that just drew people to him, Kris realized. It had taken her nearly five minutes to get a beer, and this man had got his drinks in less than thirty seconds.
"Cheers," the man said, handing her some kind of dark-colored drink. She took it hesitantly, and then he was handing her some kind of shot glass, also full of dark liquor.
"What do I do?"
"You drop it and chug it," he told her, like it was the easiest thing in the world to do.
"I don't chug alcohol… Really, I –" she tried saying, but then the man clinked his glass against her own, raised his up, and dropped the shot glass into the larger glass. Then he was tilting it back, chugging, and Kris immediately did the same. There was a splash of the dark liquor, it started to foam, and then Kris raised the glass to her lips, chugging the alcohol down in a few quick gulps. She'd expected it to be disgusting, to burn, but it was nothing of the sort.
She wiped her lips, more than a little embarrassed at what she'd just done, but the man just laughed. Again, his voice cut straight through the din with ease. It was an easy, carefree laugh, the laugh of a man who had nothing pressing in his life.
A man that's utterly happy.
"Another?" the man asked.
"Give me a second," Kris said, and then she hiccupped. Her hands flew in front of her mouth immediately, and she felt herself blushing. She hiccupped again and again.
I need to get out of here before I make an idiot out of myself, she thought. But when she looked at the man, he just laughed. He turned back to the bar and said, "Can I get a water, please?" and then he was sliding it across the bar to Kris.
She took it gratefully, taking a few deep gulps, and she paused. After a few moments of not hiccupping, she nodded at the man, and said, "Thanks."
"Anytime," he said. He smiled at her.
And suddenly, his smile faded, and he was spinning around at the bar. Someone—she saw it was Zach—was coming straight at him.
Zach's fist hit the man straight in the face, and Kris screamed.