-Merlin-
My name's Merlin Zarilli, and the lady over there, she's Natasha, Natasha Goodwin; I was looking at the girl sitting alone on a couch in the club while everyone else was dancing. I've always wanted to go say hi and I will, just not now perhaps. She had to be a slay queen of all the things she could do to look a better person. We weren't so different five years ago, we were both outcast, she was more emotional about it, and she could be dramatic at times to a point where she'd really forget who she was.
I walked to the counter, DaRing was always ready to talk when she was behind that counter, well my focus would mostly be on the glasses behind her. "yo boy, drowning in sorrow again, you'll die if you keep up like this" .She said pushing a glass of wine over to me,
"Relax!"
I took it all in one single gulp. "Nigga who're you mourning? Oooh man I hope you ain't here alone coz I am not gonna take you home tonight. That should be enough for today" She took the glass, placed the wine bottle away clearly seeing the need I had for more, clearly she was taking care of me but this wasn't the time, I didn't want the care... but DaRing had been my pal ever since I started stalking Natasha in Clermont club so I tolerated her, and she knew all about me and her from the time we were in Italy... I'd spelled it all out for DaRing over the past years, sometimes I'd tell her while I was drunk and she'd be carrying my drunk ass back home. Seems like today she didn't want trouble, I turned to check out Natasha once more, she was still sittin' alone, it got me concerned.
"DaRing, tell me somethin'...
"You wanna know if she's been dumped, nope, she hasn't."
"What'd you mean bro.?"
"Hey, that's the last time you call me bro, I'm proud to be a lady yo!"
"Yeah DaRing, I like your hair I said patting on one of DaRing's Bob Marley Rasta locks" hmm, She smirked and took out the wine bottle and poured one more glass for me and one for her.
"That's the last one tonight Tasha boy" she said mockingly.
"Yeah right, not that again, so tell me, what do you mean she's not been dumped, I mean you answered my question before I even asked"
"Oh this is Hannival bro, everyone's dumped every day, IF they have someone to dump them, a toast to your very first compliment to a girl"
DaRing said mocking me for saying I liked her hair, well good thing I was having another glass, guess it helped, I should do it more often, I thought, glasses for free, I smiled at the thought of it. DaRing noticed my thought driven smile. "Don't you even think about it boy, it only comes once, like Christmas each year, next time it comes, it should be with her." She pointed at Natasha who was having a glass of wine, now sitting with a black man in a black suit. "Where did she get that guy" I asked, out of concern and mostly jealousy.
"None of my business, but be here tomorrow night, she'll be waiting for another, if you're lucky, might be you someday..." hmm, I smiled hoping she'd be right.... So this is how it started, DaRing had served me my very first bottle of alcohol when she'd seen me roam around in the club avoiding ladies and beer, just trying to keep my focus on one lady, that was Natasha.
3 Years ago
So I walked into the club, seemed like they were playing CB for the night, it was exactly my tenth time in there and DaRing had been counting too. I was hiding my face behind dark shades and a hat, so Natasha wouldn't recognise me and to minimize the attention on me, well, a lone Italian guy in a club full of Americans. I went and sat at the counter, and DaRing walked up close and poured a glass for me.
"Spanish or Italian? mmm! definitely European, been seeing you for the past ten days, she comes in everyday". she said turning a slight gaze towards Natasha.
She pushed the glass of wine to me, "it's on me, since you've finally decided to close up,... sip up..., and why are you so obsessed about her."
"I.. uhmm.. what're you talking about."
"I didn't expect you to be this dumb... or you are just acting dumb."
"Hey watch it..." I said trying to get her off my tail, maybe if I threatened her a bit, she'd mind her own business, I thought, but rather she laughed me off and took off my accessories. "What're you doin?" I growled trying to hide my face.
"I knew you weren't American, so tell me more, don't worry about Tasha, she won't even notice you, even if she sees you; she's met lots of richer fools here"
"I know her since high school" I responded.
"Oh how fortunate, a lifelong crush! Hey black rose" She called out to Natasha exposing my naked face, I looked down and picked up the whiskey glass she'd served me. I shyly took a sip, my very first taste, I almost spit it all out, I wasn't familiar with such a taste before, it was horrible at first but I got used to it and eventually it felt so good. Natasha looked up,
"Hey Rin" she responded vibrantly.
"How you doin girl, my friend here says hi"
She waved, but it didn't look like she'd even seen me, after she looked away, I turned back to DaRing,
"So your name's Rin, way to go Rin"
She had this weird smirk showing she didn't care. It bugged me, but there was nothing I could do about it... that was also clearly showing on her face. I stood up and took my hat and glasses from her hands and walked away,
"See you tomorrow boo"
I wished I could tell her to fuck off, but the kind of people in the club looked so buff and gangster, and they could even be friends with her, I was gonna be a victim of Clermont clubbers, but she wasn't wrong, I was going to show up.
Back to current...
So for the last 3years I'd been hoping to find a way to talk to Natasha, but it seemed tricky, every time I'd finally gather the guts to go say hi, there'd be a way better person than me talking to her or maybe I'd just chicken out, it was high time I pursued other fishes in the sea.
"I've got to go Rin" I said handing her an empty whiskey glass.
"Where to boo?"
"I need to sleep, maybe it's right time I let the black rose go don't you think."
"Don't you think she needs you Merlin?"
"Nah, she's good, it's been too long maybe my true love's out there while I'm being an idiot in here."
DaRing laughed a bit and patted my cheek. "well, you're finally turning into a man,"
"we'll miss you boo."
"you idiot, you know where to find me."