Jake Understood
Page 26

I vaguely noticed a bunch of women in the front row whistling at me and shouting some vulgar shit as my hips swayed. My mind was too focused on Nina’s beautiful smile to care. When you’re on stage, the bright lights make everything out in the audience look dark. For some reason, Nina just glowed in the midst of it all. Her hair, her eyes, her smile were all I could see, all I wanted to see.
The people in the crowd were really getting into my rendition of Fat Bottomed Girls and were now clapping in unison. Some ladies were standing up and shaking their asses around. It was a hot mess.
Sweat soaked through the back of my shirt, a result of the hot stage lights. When the song finished, I grabbed a napkin and used it on my forehead. Nina gave me a standing ovation as she wiped her eyes.
A couple of girls stopped me as I was heading back to our booth. I was trying not to be rude but really just wanted to get to Nina. Before I blew them off, one of the girls handed me her phone number, which was a pretty desperate move. I knew Nina saw it because my eyes had been on her the whole time. I was hoping she didn’t think I asked for it. I later dumped it into the leftover flames from our Pu Pu Platter to show her just how little I cared about those digits. I had to question my actions, though. What was I trying to prove when I should have been steering her away from me instead of making it obvious that I only had eyes for her?
While our time at the karaoke restaurant was coming to a close, the night was just beginning when it came to fending off my feelings for her. Even the Gods were joking about it on my behalf.
“Aren’t you gonna open your fortune? Take the one facing you. That’s the one meant for you. I’ll go first,” Nina said. She cracked one open and discarded the cookie. “When one door closes, another opens.”
She seemed to be pondering what that meant. My thinking was…it’s a damn cookie. Don’t take it seriously.
Until…
“Your turn,” she said.
I grabbed my cookie and split it open. Without even reading it, I joked, “Big-butt girl make man smile.”
Nina giggled. “No sir!”
“I’m kidding. I’m kidding.”
“What does it really say?”
The smile on my face disappeared pretty quickly as the words on the slip of paper registered.
Now is the time to make a move.
If I didn’t know better, I would have thought this cookie was busting my balls. There was no doubt that under the circumstances, that message seemed made for me. I just didn’t know what to do with it.
Nina kept innocently looking at me waiting for a reply.
I coughed. “Now is the time to make a move.”
She nodded slowly for the longest time before saying, “Interesting.”
“It is…very interesting.”
Her eyes were fixated on my mouth as I scraped my tongue ring against my teeth, something I did a lot when I became anxious. We were both definitely feeling quite happy after polishing off the scorpion bowl. I couldn’t take my eyes off her and was probably making my attraction way more obvious than normal because of my inebriated state.
***
The weather outside was ten times colder than it had been earlier in the evening. Nina was only wearing a light jacket. There were no cabs in sight, so we decided to walk until we came across one.
I could see my breath. “So, did you have fun?”
“More than I have in a long time.” Her teeth chattered as she spoke.
“Good. I’m glad you took my little performance for what it was, and I hope you know I meant everything I said tonight.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. “I was so broken up over my brother earlier, and once again, you managed to turn a miserable moment for me into something crazy good.”
The look of trust in her eyes cut through me.
I’m going to end up devastating you.
The alcohol had loosened my inhibitions, so when she started to shiver, I didn’t think twice about rubbing my hands vigorously along the tops of her arms to warm her as we walked. While we weren’t totally sloshed, we were both definitely under the influence, and that made me wary about what might happen when we got home. As much as I’d vowed not to let anything transpire between us, I never fully trusted myself with her. Not to mention, we’d never been almost-wasted together.
Even though it was a cold night, the stars were shining brightly in the sky. She looked up as we were walking. “Look how clear the sky is, how pretty the stars are tonight. It makes you want to just reach up and touch them,” she said.
I don’t know what possessed me to say, “Some of the most beautiful things are those we can only enjoy from afar. The unattainability makes the attraction more intense.”
Yes, I’m talking about you.
“So, if the stars were something we could easily touch, they wouldn’t be so fascinating?” she asked.
“I’m not sure about that. What I do know is there are some magnificent things that are beautiful but that also can hurt you if you get too close. The sun is an example. It can burn.”
Nothing like talking in code while drunk.
“Like fire…” she said.
Fire.
Me.
She knew what I was getting at.
I barely noticed that we’d stopped walking. I looked straight into her eyes and whispered, “Like fire.”
The city moved around us as we stood still facing each other in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Sometimes, if you’re willing to withstand a little pain in life, you might discover a pleasure that you never would have otherwise known existed. Remember that saying, Jake? You taught me that,” she said as she slowly moved in closer to me, our breath mingling together in the frigid air. “Some things might be worth getting burned for.”