Unnatural Affinity (2)

“What is that supposed to mean?” I snapped. My face felt flush and if the lights were brighter, he’d see it. I chalked it up to my frustration, but deep down I knew it was because this gorgeous creature was so near.

He shook his head, strands of midnight cascading across his smooth forehead, dismissing what he’d said. “I apologize. You just have an aura about you that makes you…stand out more than others.”

I had to crack a smile. “You read auras?”

He shrugged. “I guess you can say that. What about you? Anything interesting?”

Nothing worth talking about.

But I could humor him. I looked down the rest of the bar to find more people had gathered, but my coworkers had it handled. When I gestured to assist they shooed me off, which was strange because we’re not allowed to have secluded conversations with customers like this. I looked back to Kale who was patiently waiting.

“I start a new job in three months,” I replied.

A slight movement of his lips into a frown. “Why three months?”

I grinned. “If I tell myself I’ve got the job now, then I’ll be amped for when the interview comes. It’s going to take some time for a lot of these companies to get back to me.” I paused when I saw him smile. I averted my gaze for a moment to regain my composure and my staggering heartbeat. “Plus, it’ll be nice to say I have a new job in the summer.”

“Where have you applied?”

I sighed, thinking of the long list. “Literally every big company in Los Angeles. There is one company I’m hoping to land before the rest.”

A sip of beer, steady and delicious. “What company is it?”

“It’s at a marketing company,” I said, not really wanting to give the name away in case I jinxed it, “and if I get the position I’ll be starting out as an employee at a smaller company within the organization.”

“Congratulations. This calls for a celebratory drink.”

I poured myself a shot of vodka and grabbed a lemon. We clinked glasses and drank to the new job I would hopefully have in the summer. I found quick refuge in the lemon and Kale did his best to hide his laugh with a fist to his lips.

“Don’t laugh at me,” I scolded with a slight laugh of my own.

“Thank you for talking to me,” he said after finishing off the rest of his beer. His eyes were soft, but the unusual shimmer in his eyes remained. They weren’t so demanding anymore. “I’ll let you get back to your bartending. I hope your new job is what you’re looking for.”

It wasn’t until he said it, did I realize I had grown inquisitively comfortable around him. I barely spoke to anyone outside of my family about my job ventures. My closest friend, Khloé, who also worked here, knew about it but she kept the information to herself at my request. It was refreshing to have someone outside my family encourage me, especially someone I didn’t know.

“Thank you, Kale.” My words sincere.“I probably won’t ever see you again, but I hope you have a successful life too.”

I held my hand out for him to shake instead, he took it and kissed it with the loveliest touch of his lips, like feathers of the softest birds. I felt the plumpness and shape of his mouth against my skin, feeling the fine hairs on my neck come alive. The contact of our skin in that small moment was sizzling as tings of electricity pulsed through my body. My heart jumped recklessly in my chest, and my brain was in a frenzy trying to send signals to my mouth to speak. Just beneath my shorts, a familiar and uncomfortable feeling started to brew.

He looked at me from under hooded emerald eyes covered in long lashes, the look smoldering to the point of hypnotic. In the depth of those eyes, I saw a darkness that sent warnings to each of my nerve endings, but for now, I ignored them. Kale was a customer that unfortunately I wouldn’t be seeing much of and at the moment he was encouraging me to leave the bar for a new job.

He released me and walked away with a parting crooked smile.

I drove myself into bartending for the remainder of the night to keep my mind off the man who temporarily knocked me off my normally sturdy platform. When we finally closed down around four in the morning, I waited for Khloé, since we parked next to each other.

“What were you and hot stuff talking about earlier tonight, Max?” she asked, throwing an arm over my shoulder. Honestly, I was a little ticked she was watching that closely. Khloé was my dearest friend, always had my back and I had hers, but I wasn’t in the mood for her questions. She wants me to settle on finding an actual boyfriend rather than the boy toys I tend to keep around and dismiss whenever I feel like it.

I pulled my jacket a little closer at the thought of him and I knew the chills weren’t from the temperature. “Nothing. We were just talking.”

She wagged her finger in denial. “Not even close. There’s talking and then there’s talking. I saw the way he looked at you.”

I tried to brush it off. “That’s nothing new Khloé and you know it. We’re bartenders. Guys ogle us all the time.”

She nodded in thought. “True. But very rarely do we ogle back.”

I faltered in my steps and she cackled when she knew she had me. I ignored her and walked off to my car while she tried to catch up, her laughter ringing throughout the empty LA predawn air.

The sky was still dark, the sun not yet making its debut, but there were tinges of light shades of purple and blue in some areas where the sun was trying to make its shine. The city was quiet, very few cars on the streets. The few people out and about were minding their business, walking their own personal roads to the beat of their own drums.

“I’m sorry,” she said when she’d finally caught up. She still had a hint of playfulness in her tone. “It’s just I know you’re leaving soon and it seems like you two really hit it off. What if you don’t ever see him again?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s one guy, Khloé. Stop being a hopeless romantic.”

She poked me on the cheek. “If you say so. But in all honesty, this is a pretty big city. You’ll probably run into a celebrity before you see him again. I know we’ll both be dead sleep by the late afternoon, but let’s go shopping when we wake up.”

I hugged Khloé, appreciating the extension of care. “Yeah, I need some interview clothes.”

Not really needing to dress up for the interview for this job, I hadn’t invested in any real work clothes. My life prior to this was as a student and my repertoire never required it, as my attire was always jeans and a comfortable tee.

After we parted, I drove to my one-bedroom apartment not too far away from the club and washed all the makeup off my face before crawling into bed to put a close on Saturday.