Page 32 of The Stars in the Sky
Blue Clear Sky
SO, WILL TOOK US all to a steakhouse.
After Amelia and I returned, helped Jimmy put the horses away, and cleaned up, and Ryan finished surfing and showered, we all dressed to go out. Amelia and I both put on little dresses, mine electric blue, and shorter and tighter than her longer, strappy, black one, but her red platform heels were higher than my silver stilettos. Will wore a black western shirt and his usual jeans and boots and looked yummy. When I saw him, I couldn't help but whisper in his ear, "I dare you to wear a cowboy hat."
He looked me up and down in my dress, planted a wet kiss on my lips, grinned, and went into the house. He returned with a black cowboy hat, the first time I'd ever seen him wear one, which made him look dangerous, in addition to his usual sexy. Ryan wore his surfer jeans and button down plaid shirt and looked lickable too.
Then we piled into Will's big truck, boys in front, girls in back, because we were with cavemen, and drove up north to Santa Maria to a restaurant that Will liked.
We walked into the steakhouse and I could tell immediately why he liked it. It was the epitome of "Beef, it's what's for dinner." It felt Western, with low ceilings, dark wood paneling on the walls, and branding irons as decoration. The home of some famous Santa Maria steaks, both Amelia and Ryan seemed excited to check it out.
But Will told me, with undisguised disgust, that he had gone online beforehand to make sure that they had a vegan meal, which, I found out, consisted of all of the side dishes that the restaurant had on one plate—baked potato, mashed potatoes, sweet potato fries, broccoli, mixed vegetables with broccoli, and corn. Like Will, the restaurant didn't know what to do with me. Good thing I thought this was funny and I didn't really care what I ate this evening.
It was also thoughtful of him to find out beforehand.
We were seated in a booth, all squished together, and ordered drinks, Amelia and I going immediately for cosmos because that's the kind of girls we were, the guys ordering beers.
After dinner, this restaurant became a saloon with a dance floor, which started immediately adjacent to us and ended up at a full bar. Country music played, ghastly twangy stuff, but a few people were dancing, which was fun to watch. Those country boys can move, swirling their partners around, unafraid to be seen dancing. Will had only had one beer, Ryan, two, while Amelia and I had three cosmos each. There was no way around it, it was going to be a sloppy evening.
After we ate our meal, and were relaxing, talking, and drinking, a new song came on. Will grabbed my hand and pulled. "C'mon. We're dancing."
I'd never danced to country music before, but I loved to dance, so I didn't argue. I was curious about what made him want to move.
"Why are we dancing?" I asked.
"Because I like this song," he said. "George Strait."
There was that George Strait again, he must be his favorite singer. The song said something about how you were giving up on love, when it fell out of the blue clear sky.
This was how I learned that Will could dance. Even in my heels, he towered over me, and spun me around easily, moving me where he wanted me to go, gently leading and guiding me with one hand on my waist and the other holding my hand. For such a bulky guy, he moved really well, which I should have guessed given how good he was in the bedroom.
I'd never had this much fun dancing with a guy before. Most guys I knew just sort of jerked around spasmodically or moved like they were in a trance. They dancednext to you, notwith you. But Will knew what he was doing and moved me around the floor, like he'd spent all of his life on a dance floor. It was simply fun to dance together, as a couple, as partners. Yeah it was country music. I got over it. He smelled good, he looked wonderful, and he moved so gracefully, in charge and having fun.
At the end of the song, he smiled, dipped me, then pulled me up and kissed me deeply.
I wondered if my internal swoon was audible.
The bill came and everyone argued about who would pay for it. Will won because he said that he’d invited everyone out, which earned him a kiss on the cheek from me and an "I got the next one" from Ryan.
And then Amelia said, "Marie and I have an idea. We know where we want to go next. It's a surprise. Are you guys up for it?"
Will and Ryan looked at each other and at us and Ryan shrugged and Will muttered, "Oh shit," and put his cowboy hat low down on his face.
I clapped my hands. "Excellent."
Once we got back to the truck, I pulled out my phone, found the link to the strip club that Amelia and I had scoped out earlier online, and gave the guys directions, street by street, without telling them our destination.
When we pulled in the parking lot, both of them turned around to look at us, and the looks on their faces were hilarious. Ryan looked turned on, Will looked both amused and aggravated.
We walked into the Peppermint Panda, a large club, with a bizarre-looking, randy panda bear as a mascot. Amelia and I, three drinks in, both thought that the name and mascot wereawesome.Hilarious. We talked with the bouncer, and found out that there was no cover charge, but a two drink minimum—and each drink was twenty dollars. A hostess escorted us into the club, music throbbing, Will holding my hand, Ryan holding Amelia's.
Oxblood leather half-booths lined all the walls of the club. In the center, to one side, a dozen mostly naked girls occupied bar stools, waiting their turn. In the center, on the other side, perched a raised catwalk with multiple poles, lined with bar stools on all sides, presently being used by a lithe, athletic blonde who could really hold herself up on the pole. What was clearly a bachelor party on one side of us watched her carefully; a bachelorette party on the other side seemed more interested in their drinks. Looking around, it was a comfortable crowd, not intimidating or scary, with groups of guys, single guys, and couples.
The hostess stopped us at four bar stools right in front of Ms. Athletic Blonde, and a scantily-clad waitress immediately came up and took our drink order, two more cosmos each for me and Amelia, beers for Ryan and Will, two each. The waitress brought back eight drinks for the four of us and I looked at all of the alcohol and giggled uncontrollably. After an argument between Will and Ryan, Ryan paid.
Then Will leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, "I don't know whether to spank you or fuck you for this."
"Both, I think," I whispered back and he let out a groan.
