When You Don't Expect It

I sat in the hard wooden chair looking around the room carefully, choosing my next prey.  There was a handsome gentleman in the table to the left of me, his sleek black hair pulled back in a ponytail.  There was a cute blond boy chatting easily with the barman, his eyes never focusing on anything other then who he was talking to.  In the far corner of the room was a red head with blazing green eyes that swept the room at regular intervals, his eyes fierce, and somewhat sensuous.  I knew better than to pick a red head though, they were trouble when their tempers flared.  Sitting next to him was a short, fluffy brown haired man, who seemed focused on the cup in front of him.  He looked sad and somewhat weak, in other words, just my type.

I finally stood, pulling my giseks off and adjusting to the sudden rush of people I couldn’t see through the giseks.  Then I walked towards the man.  He never looked away from the glass, although he did take a sip from it once.  He must not have been much of a drinker, because his face screwed up in distaste and he gave a small cough as he set the glass down.

“Nik, you don’t have to drink, you know,” the red head said just as I came up to the table.

“Yes I do,” his voice was soft, but carried well, its light English accent sending a small shiver through me.  Oh, did I like accents, especially upper class English.

“Hello,” I said in a moderate and normal tone.  The red head looked up at me, his eyes narrowing in challenge.  He didn’t say anything, but he remained focused on me.  I refused to look away.  The brown haired man, Nik, looked up at me, and gasped.  The corner of my lip twitched as his eyes traveled across my curvy, velvet clad body.  I could just see a touch of a blush steal across his face.

“No,” the read head said finally, and I arched my eyebrows delicately.

“No what?” I asked, allowing confusion to enter my expression.  His eyes narrowed a bit more.

“You are unwelcome here,” he said, “go away.”

“You can stay,” Nik said, taking his eyes off my chest and looking at his friend.  “She can stay Kevin, for a drink?”  He turned back to me, “Can I buy you a drink?”  I nodded, still locked in a battle of wills with his friend.

“I’d love one,” I said conversationally, pulling out a chair and sitting so the slit of my dress showed ample leg.  Nik must have already been partly drunk, as the whites of his hazel eyes were red, and he seemed to be only using small words.  Or perhaps the conversation was simply slow to take off.  His eyes traveled down to my bare leg.

“Just because Nik has offered you a seat, doesn’t mean you’re welcome here,” Kevin said, still not taking his eyes off of me.  I smiled at him and tossed a curl of bright red hair over my shoulder.

“Pleasant company you keep,” I directed my comment to Nik, but remained focused on Kevin.  Nik must have missed my statement, because he didn’t answer me.  Instead, he removed his eyes from my leg and turned his slightly round face to look at me.

“What’s your name?” he asked shyly.

“Cher,” I said, smiling.  I really wanted to turn my attention to him, but Kevin wasn’t letting me go.

To my advantage, a waitress came over at that moment, causing Kevin to turn before he thought about what he was doing.  He addressed the waitress, ordering a top shelf long island.  I turned to Nik then, who had not finished his drink, and gave him my full attention.

“I’d love a screwdriver,” I said to him, and he looked quickly to the waitress, who was already writing it down.

“Do you want another?” she asked, pointing to Nik’s half full glass.  He shook his head and turned to look at me again.

“Why did you come over here?” he asked softly, looking into my grass green eyes as though I was an angel.  Too bad for him I was quite the opposite.

“Well, I recently broke up with my boyfriend,” true, he did think he was my boyfriend, “and so I really wanted to have a few drinks.  When I saw you, I thought about how completely different from him you looked,” in other words, you look like you have money and he sure doesn’t anymore.  “I thought, maybe I could get to know you a bit, maybe learn…” I tilted my head a bit, “if there was a better type for me.”  Kevin snorted.

“Likely story, I bet you ate him up, didn’t you?” he said rudely to me.  I didn’t say anything, still looking at Nik.

“Kevin, don’t say that, you don’t know her, so you don’t know what she’s going through,” Nik stood up for me just as I had hoped he would.

“It’s alright, Nik was your name?” I asked as I allowed a bit of water to form in my eye, “I get that all the time,” my voice was soft and I looked down at my hands, which I had folded on the table.

“Yes, I’m sorry, my name is Nik,” Nik gestured absently to Kevin, “and that’s Kevin, a coworker of mine.”  Kevin shook his head.

“You’re a man eater, lady, and I don’t approve of you coming around here to bother my friend.”

I looked up at Kevin and allowed my eyes to rest on his nose, so I wasn’t holding a stare down again.  “You can say whatever you want about me, but don’t think you know me.”  The waitress arrived with the drinks, and I accepted mine gratefully, taking a small sip and returning my gaze to Nik.

“Do you want to get a table alone Cher?” Nik asked me, looking at his friend warily.  I gave a small smile.

“I wouldn’t mind a little privacy, you can tell me why you came to America,” I said, actually wondering why he had.

“This way then,” Nik stood up and Kevin put a hand on Nik's arm.

“I don’t think you should go Nik, she’s dangerous,” Kevin actually looked worried and inwardly I smirked.

“I don’t think you know me very well Kevin, if you think I’ll just do as you ask,” there was a backbone there.  That could be a problem for me in the future, I’d have to step carefully in that case.  Kevin snatched his hand away quickly.

“I’m not trying to tell you what to do Nik, I just think you should be warned, okay, tread carefully please?”  He sounded worried and slightly afraid.  Nik’s expression became soft again.

“Alright, alright, I’ll be careful.  See you later Kevin, thanks for bringing me here.”  At that moment, he turned to me and held out his arm.  I was surprised, it had been a long time since anyone had actually treated me with this level of manners.  I accepted the arm and picked up my glass, allowing myself to be led off to a different table.

*

It didn't take me too long to realize that Nik was not only a very educated man, he was also fairly sharp.  I was unable to get my claws into him for weeks, and by then, I was starting to actually enjoy the walks by the river, the play's we went to, and the lovely dinners on his apartment patio.

It was two months later when I returned to my sunglasses shop, flinging the giseks on the table and glaring at the lady behind the counter.

“They’re defective,” I stated flatly, pointing at them.  She picked the glasses up and looked at them a few times, finally putting them on and looking around the room.

“No they aren’t,” she said, as she gave a small smile, finally taking them off.  “They’re in good working order, I’d say.”

“They don’t work for me,” I said, putting a hand on my hip, the glare still leveled at her.  She held them out to me.

“Try them again,” she said, grinning at me.  I snatched them and put them on, looking all around.  The world was still black, as they had been the night I had gone out looking for a quick screw.

“They’re still broken, if that’s what you’re asking,” I said, taking them off and handing them back to her.  “Wipe that smirk off your face before I do it for you,” I growled.  She shrugged.

“Did you read the instructional booklet that came with them?” she asked, and I shook my head.

“Who does that anyway?” I asked.  “I threw it away with the box.”  She reached under the counter and pulled out a small booklet.

“Here, read the third chapter, Dealing with Darkness.”  I took the book from her and flipped to the designated chapter.  My eyes scanned over the pages as quickly as I could while still reading.  As I read more, my eyes narrowed, and I threw the booklet at her, snatching the giseks and storming out of the shop.  There was no way that I was in love.

*

“Well,” Nik said, as I looked at him through the giseks.  As the third chapter had said, Nik was visible in my glasses, but he was now outlined in a light red.  I found that I wanted to glare at him.  “I’m happy to see you Cher, but what is the occasion?”

I had dropped by his apartment unannounced in an attempt to figure out what was wrong with the glasses.  They weren’t supposed to behave this way.

“Oh nothing,” I said, smiling slightly and allowing them to fall down my nose so I could look at him above the rims, “I just thought I’d see how you were doing.  Is that a problem?” I allowed a pout to form on my lips.  Silly boy that he was, he smiled and shook his head.

“Not at all, please come in.”  He moved out of the entrance and motioned for me to enter.  I did so, and he immediately took my coat from me, hanging it on the coat hook by the door.  “I wasn’t expecting company tonight, but I was making dinner, there should be plenty enough for two, if you don’t mind waiting a bit longer.”  I shook my head and took the giseks off.

“I don’t mind, can I watch?” I asked the question before I realized I had, a desire I never voiced out loud coming out of my lips.  I found that my face felt a bit hot, as Nik looked at me ever so strangely.

“Sure, if you’d like to, it’s fairly boring work though, I’ll warn you,” he smiled then, and his face lit up.  “Actually, I’ve kind wished you’d want to come and watch sometime, if only so you’d be closer to me when we talk.”  I shrugged and followed him into the kitchen, where the loveliest scents surrounded me.

“You never come unannounced, is everything alright?”  He showed a touch of concern, and I shook my head.  Nothing was right, if you asked me, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. 

“Everything’s fine,” except for the fact that I might not be able to handle being single again, I thought.  I looked down at the chopped vegetables and winced.  Just like those vegetables, I felt like my life had just recently become chopped to bits.  The revelation that I could possibly be in love with someone was so strange that I was having a hard time wrapping my mind around it.

“No Cher, something’s wrong, I can tell,” and he started picking the mushrooms out of the rest of the vegetables.  I looked up at him curiously, and he simply smiled, “I know you don’t like mushrooms Cher, I won’t make you eat them.”  I was touched by his consideration at that moment, as he put the sliced mushrooms into a plastic bag and tossed them into his immaculate refrigerator.

“You didn’t have to do that, I could have picked them out myself,” I said moodily.  He gave a small chuckle, which made me blush.

“But why bother cooking them when I can put a few more peppers in, which you like better.  I don’t mind saving the mushrooms for later.”  He turned a smile at me, “You really are acting strangely.  Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what’s bothering you?”  I glared at him now.

“You don’t want to hear it,” I stated.  He looked confused.

“I can’t imagine what you could say that I wouldn’t want to hear,” he paused, turning away from the stove to look me full in the face, “Unless you want to break up?  Is that it?”  I stared at him in shock.

“No,” I said quickly and then turned away from him, “no, that’s not it.”  How could I tell him that my issue was with myself?

“What is it then that’s bothering you so much?” he put his hands on my shoulders and lightly pulled me back onto him.  I found myself start to shake softly.

“It’s just that… I *don’t* want to break up,” I kept my face away from him, so he couldn’t see how much this was bothering me.  He nodded and gave me a small hug.

“Would you like to move in?” he asked, which surprised me to no end.  I turned around and faced him.

“Excuse me?” I raised my eyebrows and shook my head, “Absolutely not, where on earth would I put my piano?”  He smiled, his hazel eyes shining with something I didn’t want to think about.

“Alright then, would you like to hire me as a cook, so I can live with you?”  I shook my head at him.

“No, not good enough, if I hire you you’ll have to sleep in a different bed.”  I couldn’t believe I was bantering like this with him.

“Well then, what do you suggest we do about this dilemma you’re in?” he was still smiling, slightly impishly, and I wasn’t sure I approved of that.

“Hmm… you’re just going to have to marry me,” I tossed my red hair over my shoulder in a way he knew all too well by now.

“Alright,” he reached into his pocket and took something out.  He bent down on one knee and opened the little ring box he had, “Cher, will you marry me?”  I gaped at him in surprise, feeling like the world really was caving in.  I looked down at the diamond in the box and reached for it, gently lifting it from its case.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt to try again,” I said softly, slipping the ring onto my finger.  He got up and pulled me close, kissing me deeply.

*

I left the giseks at the apartment, someone else would find them, maybe even use them as I had, but I didn’t care anymore.  It was nice to know that I didn’t need to look for a man who I would use and leave on the corner once their money ran out.  It was nice to know that although there were still men out there who I could have, I didn’t want any of them.

It was kinda nice to be in love.