Page 23 of See You Soon
“That's him." Meredith nods her head at Emilia, motioning behind me, down the counter.
"Just don't turn around," Meredith orders me. She leans in and continues to whisper in Emilia's ear covering her mouth to Emilia's head.
"What? Who?" I ask, looking at Meredith and then at Emilia.
"Oh my gosh you mean, Navy dude?" Emilia squeals, looking behind me, her pale cheeks blushing a rosy shade.
"Hush!" Meredith corrects her while nudging her into her ribs, with her elbow.
Shit… do they mean, who I think they mean?
My body stiffens. Panic ensues every nerve inside of me. I mouth to Meredith.
"Danny?"
Meredith nods and my heart skips a beat. I try to keep it cool and move my body slowly, turning behind me. I want to confirm it with my own eyes. I turn around slowly, rocking my head to the tune of the music, trying to be less conspicuous.
Sure enough there he is. No wonder it's so hot in here, the devil is sitting two chairs down.
There's one man in between us, an older man with gray hair who's paying no attention to his surroundings but only to his phone.
Danny’s sitting down with a glass of what looks like whiskey in his hand. He's twirling the glass of alcohol in his hand, lost in thought and for the first time since seeing him last,he's the one that looks sad this time. Still, he looks gorgeous as ever dressed so simply. He's wearing a black sweatshirt, a baseball cap, and what looks like his dog tags under his shirt. Heat encapsulates me and rushes in between my legs. It should be a crime for Danny to look so undeniably handsome. Even his side profile causes me to lose my morals and it isn't fair.
Already turning my head, something catches my eye and I stop midway before I go back to shooting glares at Meredith. A beautiful perky blonde woman, wearing a very revealing dress that barely covers anything, sits next to Danny on the right side of him. Her beach-wavy hair jumps up and falls over her shoulders as she sits down, giving Danny a kiss on the cheek and stroking his arm, massaging him.
I knew it.He has a girlfriend. It explains why he got so weird after putting his mouth in between my legs.
I turn back around to face Meredith and Emilia. They both are analyzing what just happened and empathy is written all over their faces. They both frown and Emilia touches my shoulder, reassuring me.
"I'm fine. Honestly, it’s whatever, I had a feeling something was up." I shrug. But it was a lie. It wasn't fine. This man had his teeth on my nipples just a few days ago and now he's sitting next to his girlfriend as it appears. He's a fucking slime bag. My body grows cold, the heat subsiding and vanishing as quickly as it appeared. All I wanted to do is go back to the dance floor and not let my last night with my friends go to waste.
Gabriel finally approaches us taking our requests for new drinks. Meredith orders more tequila shots and I had already taken about three sangrias before this, so I passed on ordering more drinks, settling for one of the shots.
"Alright, I gotcha ladies." Gabriel winks at Meredith.
"Gabe! I need another drink here for the lady." A deep voice roars over the music and I've come to know that voice all too well. Danny calls over to Gabriel and I watch him realize who Gabriel’s talking to. At first, Danny looks shocked to see me but then his expression disappears in a flash, replaced with a wicked smirk.
Gabriel has his palms, supporting himself up with the counter, and looks over to Danny and the girl next to him.
"And what would the lady like?" Gabriel asks nonchalantly.
Danny then grins at me and that grin looks so new to me, there's something so sinful about his smile. He's never looked at me like that before and it takes me back, uncomfortably.
Was he drunk?
"A sangria." He calls over to Gabriel, his blue eyes never leaving mine and I know he did this to be spiteful.
I mouth the word,asshole, to him hoping he gets it through his mind I'm catching onto his antagonization. He knows that's my favorite type of drink and now he's ordering it for 'the lady'. His grin widens even more when he sees my eyes glare at him. He looks unashamed knowing I'm seeing him now with a different woman on his arm. Literally. The results prevail: he's another slimy military guy.
"You got it, Danny!" Gabe responds.
"Wait you know him personally?" Meredith asks Gabriel while tugging on his sleeve, stopping him from leaving.
"Yeah, that's Danny Rider. He's a good friend of mine. We served together. I'm out of the Navy now but we still keep in touch. There's not a thing I wouldn't do for the man. He saved my life multiple times in Afghanistan.” Gabe says, his words rushing out of his mouth, hurrying to go get all of our drinks done. Gabriel whips around and starts on all the orders.
I turn towards Meredith and Emilia.
"Do you want to leave?" Emilia asks.
