The People - Chapters One & Two

Chapter One – How YOU doin?:

“Man, this place is packed tonight. I’ve been waiting an hour for my turn at the table. Looks like I’m gonna have to play doubles if I want to play. Oh well, I’ll just have to run the table when my turn comes.”

In truth, Julian could beat anyone in the house on any night. He just had to be motivated. If he got bored, he would lose. He just couldn’t get excited playing people who he knew for a fact he could beat any day of the week. Maybe he could get the other team to play for drinks. He didn’t recognize them, so they must be new to the bar.

Rascal’s was a bar, on 22nd Street off of 5th Avenue, where Julian liked to play. It was a classy place with a round bar off to the side of the dance floor at the far end, with tables strategically placed around the dance floor. The DJ’s booth was behind the dance floor and behind some tables. The pool table was in an area near the front door with a couple of tables around it. The bar had a regular clientele that came from the various businesses in the area, as the bar was located just past the edge of the Garment District, which stretched from 37th Street between Fifth and Eighth Avenues, down to 23rd Street where Fifth and Park Avenues crossed.  As a result, it attracted a lot of yuppie office workers who regularly stopped by, some neighborhood residents, and a few tourists who happened to wander in and enjoyed the ambience.

Julian was sitting at one of the tables near the pool table watching the players who were ahead of him. So far, this boyfriend-girlfriend team had been beating everyone who faced them. And they were being very smug about it.

“Well, I’ll wipe that smug look off of their faces as soon as my turn comes.”

At the moment, a very lovely petite brunette with beautiful almond shaped eyes and her partner were getting their heads handed to them. The brunette’s partner was being philosophical about it. Meaning that he didn’t care if he won or lost. He only had eyes for the brunette, and pool was just a way of ingratiating himself with her. What he forgot was that to use pool as a way of making a good impression on your date, it was important that you win, with all of your skill apparent. Otherwise, how do you impress anyone?

This point of fact was not lost on the pretty brunette, as she was getting angrier and angrier as her opponents sank ball after ball. It became apparent to her that she and her partner were going to lose, and she was livid. It didn’t help her partner any that she had noticed he wasn’t playing as hard as she expected him to. In fact, he was throwing the game in hopes of getting her to leave the bar early with him. As soon as the last ball was sunk, so was he.

They started arguing immediately.

“Come on baby! It’s just a game! What do you care if they won? You’re not playing for money, just fun. You know what, let’s just forget about it. We can still make a good night of it and have a lot of fun. C’mon, I’ve got a pool table at home. We can play as much as you want, and I’ll even teach you a couple of new shots. What do you say?”

“You are such a loser! Just a game, huh? Not playing for money, huh? Let me tell you something, I hate to lose at anything! I am a sore loser, and that’s what will always make me a winner at anything I do. What pisses me off more than anything is the fact that I know you dumped that game. You dumped it hoping you could con me into going back to your place for a quickie. Well I got news for you! I am not the kind of woman that is into “quickies”. When I make love to a man, it takes more than the thirty seconds of bliss you were looking forward to. And as for teaching me some new shots, there is nothing that a loser like you can teach me!”

“Damn! That’s gonna leave a mark. At least emotionally. Ha, ha. I’m starting to like this girl. But from the look on his face, he isn’t feelin’ her right now. I better get over there before that angry look on his face turns to something uglier.”

Julian knew that some guys couldn’t handle the damage to their ego a woman like this one could cause. They sometimes lashed out physically at the source of their emotional pain. He got up and walked over just in time.

“You little bitch! I waste my time playing with you and spending money on drinks for you, and this is how you treat me? I should smack……”

The loser raised his hand to strike her, and, I’ve got to give her credit, she didn’t back down.

“I think you better rethink your options in this situation before you make a mistake.” Julian said.

“Oh yeah? Somebody invited you into this conversation punk? So you know what my options are? Then tell me what they are. Go ahead, tell me!”

The brunette’s now, ex-partner, was standing with his fists clenched trying his best to intimidate. Julian smiled at him and calmly said, “Alright, let’s go over this point by point. Your first option would be to take your right hand and smack the shit out this lady. Of course the moment you raised your hand I would have to reach over the lady, grab the offending hand, twist your arm off, and beat you over the head with it. Not very appealing.”

“Of course you have a second option; you can move very quickly and punch this lady in her face. That, unfortunately for you, would result in my taking my right foot and smashing you in the face with it several dozen times until you are unconscious. That option is also not very appealing.”

“But, luckily for you, there is a third option. You can take your belongings and leave peacefully, in which case you will no doubt arrive at your home tonight, without a hospital bill. This option, I assume, would be preferable to you, as I don’t think that you are a masochist. Your choice, tough guy!” This last said with a growl.

The brunette’s former partner realized that his attempt at intimidation was not going to work. He looked Julian over, up and down, and decided that fighting him was not worth the trouble. “Man the hell with you and her too! I don’t need this grief!” He said as he gathered his things and left in a huff.

At that moment, the couple who had been winning all night made their presence known. “Hey! Do you have next? You’re gonna need a partner.”

“Okay.” Julian replied.

He walked over to the pretty little brunette, who was now seated at his table, as she was still fuming from the recent confrontation. “What a jerk that guy was! What, he bought me a couple of drinks so he owns me? I should have kicked him in the balls! If I ever…”

“Hey lady!” Julian called to her.

“What! You think that now that you saved me I owe you something? Should I give you my number now out of gratitude?! Maybe I should F…..”

“Hey lady! You want to cool down for a sec? First of all, I saved you because I don’t like bullies and assholes, and he was both. Second, if you don’t want to give me your number, that’s fine. I’m not ugly, I’m sure some lady won’t mind giving me hers. And no, you don’t have to have sex with me because I did something nice for you, okay?”

The pretty brunette’s face changed from angry to chagrined, but skeptical. “Then what you do you want from me?”

“I just wanted to know if you would be my partner for this game.”

“Oh. Damn, I’m sorry. I guess I just assumed that because one guy was a jerk…..”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to explain anything. You just went through some crazy stuff and got threatened by a guy who is much bigger than you. It’s just natural that you’d be angry. Look, let’s forget all of the BS and play some pool. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the outsiders holding reign over my table. And make no mistake; this is my house, and my table.”

“O-okay. But only if you promise that you won’t dump games. I hate to lose.”

“Cool. Get ready angel; because we are gonna run this table all night. Now, at the risk of getting kicked in the jewels, what are you drinking?” He smiled as he led her to the pool table.


Chapter Two – Connection

Julian was tired, but in a good way. Emily, he found out that was the pretty brunette’s name, was lying with her head across Julian’s chest as they basked in the afterglow of a spirited session of love-making. He hadn’t intended for this to happen, but as the night went on and they kept winning every game they played, Emily had grown friendlier.  After they got tired of beating everyone and gave the table to a couple of friends of his, Julian and Emily spent the rest of the time until closing getting to know each other better. Julian realized that he was really becoming attracted to Emily faster than he had with anyone else he had ever met, and so, apparently, had she become attracted to him. They had many interests in common and this helped the attraction become mutual and stronger as the night wore on.

When closing time had come, he asked her if she wanted him to take her home, or if she wanted to come to his place. She decided on his place, and so here they were. Her hair felt good draped across his chest. It was long, silky and soft. She smelled great. Between the scent of whatever perfume she was wearing, and her sweat inter-mingling with it, her scent was almost irresistible. He could lie like this, just holding her and feeling her head against his chest, and feeling her breath tickle his chest, forever. In this position he felt masterful, strong and completely satisfied. It almost felt like they had been dating for many years.

“Wow! This is amazing! I don’t think I’ve ever been attracted to someone so quickly. I feel like she’s been in my Life since the beginning. She fits perfectly in my arms, like she belongs there. Okay, this is great, but take it slow. You don’t want to scare her away. Though I’m pretty sure that not much in this world scares her.”, he thought to himself.

Emily shifted and raised her head to look him in the eyes, unanswered questions lying there in her eyes. She wanted to ask him something, or tell him something, but she was holding back. Then, a determined look came into her eyes, like she had made her mind up about something.

“Julian, I have to tell you something. I know this is kind of sudden, and I won’t blame you if you say no, but in the very short time I’ve come to know you, I’ve become very attracted to you. So much so, that I would like that we see each other regularly. Maybe we can have something special, I don’t know. I’ve never had that with anyone, but there’s something about you that seems special to me. I can’t put my finger on it, but I know it’s there. What do you think? Do you feel the same way? If not, I’ll understand, but I just want you to give it some serious thought.”

She said all of that in a rush, as if she thought that he wouldn’t let her speak her mind. Or like he would just vanish into thin air before she could finish. She sure appeared to be sincere, and he wanted her to be. In truth, he felt the same way about her. In fact, her words sounded like they were plucked from his mind. It was kind of scary, but exciting too. He decided to open up to her, which for him was very scary. He had been hurt before by callous women who just wanted to use him for the night. When he inevitably felt more for them than they had for him, they would shut him out and stop calling him. It hurt him that they couldn’t be honest enough to tell him the truth, instead of just vanishing from his life like he didn’t matter. He screwed up his courage, and took a chance.

“I’m glad that you said that because I feel the same way, but I was afraid to tell you because it was so soon and I didn’t want to scare you away. I’ve never felt about anyone like I feel about you. It’s….strange. It feels like there’s this connection between us that’s ancient, like…hundreds, or thousands of years old. As if I knew you in another life, or lives if that makes any sense. I feel so close to you, yet I only met you tonight. I won’t pretend to understand, I don’t. But I’m not going to let that, or anything else for that matter, get in the way of what seems like a very special connection. To deny it would be stupid. Besides, I don’t think I could deny it. So, yes, I want this to be a regular thing too. I hope that’s what you want to hear, because I don’t think I could stand it if I made you unhappy in any way.”

Julian said it all in a rush, just like Emily did. He was afraid that if he didn’t get it all out, that she would not understand what he was feeling. That she might be scared off by his intensity. Julian felt emotions intensely. He didn’t show it all the time, so people thought he was standoffish, unsociable. Of course this was far from the truth, Julian loved being in the company of other people. It was just that he couldn’t stand stupid people, and New York was filled with them. Every other person he saw or came in contact with was an idiot, at least to his mind.

Emily was now positively beaming. She radiated happiness like a cat purring. She melted into his arms and squeezed him tight, like she wouldn’t ever let him go. He liked that, very, very much. He was in a happy daze, wondering what he did to merit all of this good luck. He looked at her, lying on his chest and pulled her up so that her face was over his. He kissed her, deep and long. He looked into her eyes and smiled. He didn’t know where he was getting the energy from, but they were going to make Love again, and he had a feeling that they would repeat that act all night long. And that was perfectly alright with him.