Those Blue Eyes

I didn’t feel like going out tonight. It’s Friday. I had a long day at the library. I’m tired. But of course Teresa is dragging me out to her law firm’s 20^th year anniversary. All Teresa does, is brags about the hot guys there.

Newly single me is looking forward to some eye candy.

“I’m so glad you are coming with me tonight Maggie. There are a lot of hot guys there. Black, White, Indian, Asian. You need to explore our opinions girl,” she says with a chuckle.

She has always dated outside of our race but I have always been scared. Plus it’s not like I have all these foreign guys knocking at my door anyway. Teresa just has the best of luck. She’s tall, use to study dance with long brown hair. Her type is anyone with money, both women and men included. I can care less about money.

The lounge where the event is taken place is upscale. I pull out my silk black off the shoulders dress; it’s a real eye catcher. It has a split up to my knee. It’s sexy but classy. I put on my gold heels and jewelry on. My earrings hang, so I create a slick bun with my curls.

Teresa pulled out her freakum dress. Red, tight and thigh length. I know we won’t be leaving at the same time.

“I’m going to get me a rich man tonight.” She looks in the mirror and spins around.

Shaking my head as I say, “Let’s hit the road.”

I check Uber on my phone. Just like that the cab is a block away.

—————————————

And just like that suddenly I felt out of place. Some of the women are in gowns and then men are in suits. It just smells like money all around. Everyone looks so put together, I’m nervous.  Teresa is in her element. She walks so confidently, to the entrance. I slowly walk behind her. Of course she knows the bouncer, so we walk right in.

I notice the chandeliers. Everything is so beautiful. Some people are seated, some are by the bar, and some are on the dance floor. The room is huge, elegant, and full of professional business men and women. My salary at the library is probably what they give their kids for allowance every week.

The waiters and waitresses walk around handing out champagne to everyone. Teresa and I each grab one and tap our glasses.  She looks over and notices some of her coworkers. I follow her led, moving towards them. Hugs and cheek kisses are giving all around.

As I sip my champagne, I see this guy staring. I turn to my left and there he is. He smiles at me. I turn around to see if someone is behind me and see no one. I turn back around and he is talking to someone. He reminds me of Bradley Cooper. The sandy blonde hair, blue eyes and close cut beard. He has on a black suit with a greyish tie. The guy he is talking to I remember Teresa dating him. Robert, he was cool but Teresa wasn’t looking for nothing more than a hit it and quit it.

Mr. Anonymous Bradley Cooper has a glass of what it looked like gin.

He cuts his eyes back at me. He looks out of my league.

I tapped Teresa, “Who is that over there?” She looks over and smiles.

“Oh that’s Tom Reed. He is a lawyer at the firm. He is around 30. He’s hot right?” She winked at me. I can’t help but blush.

“Yes He is.” As I said that, He stops talking to the Robert and looks our way. My head goes down, hoping he didn’t catch me looking again.

I feel Teresa moving by me; just like that she is telling him to come over.

“Why are you calling him over here?” I nudge her.

“Because I see you have a crush on him and if I don’t do this, you won’t. That’s what roomies are for right.”

I hate when she does this. My heart is beating extremely fast and he isn’t even over here yet. I finish my champagne and get another one.

Tom reaches to us and gives Teresa a hug, “How are you Teresa? You look good.” He smells so good.

“Thank you Tom. You look good as well.”

“Why thank you?” I lift my head up slightly. His blue eyes are so beautiful but so familiar.

“Tom, this is my best friend Maggie. Maggie, this is Tom.” He takes my hand and kisses it.

“Nice to meet you Maggie. You look stunning and smell good too.” My cheeks turn red. There is a chill. Something familiar.

“Thank you and nice to meet you as well.” We smile at each other.

Teresa starts the conversation, “So Tom, you know that Maggie is a writer. And Maggie, Tom likes to read those boring books, you like to read. Maybe you guys can hang out or something.”

“Really? What’s your favorite novel?” Tom looks at me directly. I can’t tell if he is interested or not.

“The Alchemist. How about you?

“That’s a pretty good book. Mine is “The Kite Runner.” Wow we have a lot in common.

“I love that book. Khaled Hosseini is an amazing writer. Have you read “A Thousand Splendid Suns?

“Yes I have. Wow Teresa, beauty and brains. I like her.” And I like how you say my name.

“Well I’m going to leave you two bookworms alone. When you are ready to go come get me. I have some mingling to do. Please take good care of my friend.”

Standing alone with Mr. Blue eyes is intimidating.  Alone. He smells good. He inches closer to me. As the jazz band, plays in the background.

“Let’s dance.” He takes my hand and leads me to the dance floor. A lot of the women are watching us. Some of them are making faces at me. It feels good to be alone with him but then again I don’t know his story.

When we reach the dance floor, I see Teresa. She is drunk I can tell. Some random dude is kissing her neck. I guess she is getting the attention she wanted.

We get to the middle of the dance floor and the jazz band is playing, “The Feeling of Jazz.”

“Love this song.” He places one hand on the arch of my back, his other hand our fingers collide into one another.

“Oh and you like jazz too? What album is this from?

“In a Sentimental Mood.”

He lets go of my hand and rubs his hand against my face   “I like you already Maggie.”

“You say that to all the women. I’m not your type.” He looked at me strangely. Wrinkles began to form by his eyebrows.

“How would you know my type? We just met.”

“And how would you know you like me? We just met.”

“I guess it’s a first time for everything right.” He winked. Those blue eyes are memorizing.

“True. So the swirl it is.” He smirks.

“Ha, I don’t look at you and see color. I look at you and see someone who I would like to get to know.”

“We can make that happen.” The jazz band stopped and everyone in the place claps.

Tom grabs my hand, “I’m ready to go. I’ll take you home.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes I’ll meet you in front. Go tell Teresa bye.” He walks away and I start looking for her. I look towards the bar and there she is. I walk over to her but she is tongue-tied with Mr. Lover man.

“Teresa, Tom is taking me home. Will you be okay?

“Yes I will. Have fun and don’t wait up for me.” She and Mr. Loverman start kissing again. He smells of cigarettes and he looks like Jack Nicholson. I guess, this is the rich lawyer she was looking for.

But should I go with Tom, I don’t know him that well. Just in case, I have mase in my bag because I never leave home without it. When I get outside the club, I see Tom standing in front of his BMW. He smiles at me.  Something hits me, those blue eyes. How could I forget?

Summer of 1998, I was at summer camp. One of my counselors was teaching us how to swim. I hated wearing a bathing suit. The bathing suit was black with a rainbow on it. My counselor at the time forced us all in the pool. So as I dip my feet in the water because I was nervous. I felt a push and after that everything went dark. I remember coughing, vision was blurry. Someone was shaking me. I heard someone telling me to wake up. I couldn’t see anything but their sandy blonde hair and blue eyes.

TOM! It is him.  I begin to walk across the street and lights from a car, stop me dead in my tracks.

Someone grabs me, my breathing is heavy.

“What happened, Maggie? Are you okay?

“Yes, I’m okay. You saved my life again…” he looked at me doing that same wrinkle in his eyebrows.

“Again?”

“Summer of 1998, summer camp.”

He stares at me trying to figure out who I am. He analyzes my face for a couple of seconds. Then he says, “Wait you are the girl with the rainbow on her bait suit?”

“What are the odds?” Now I’m glad I came to this party.