sugar babies…
around one thirty in the morning…the atmosphere at the bar had gone from mellow to….well …you could feel… the soft touch of desperation rolling slowly in…kinda smoke like..gathering in corners and spreading out…. under the swanky lounge chairs and … curling up … toward the bar…
……no wait…that is REAL smoke…oh yeah….im in virginia they still smoke out here….how did i get out here??? jeeezuz…. somebody shoot me… oh yeah…he offered to drive…
girls were forcing laughs…their faces shiny… their lipstick had turned garish… when they leaned back against the divans…they closed their eyes… and you could tell that for them… the room was spinning… more from the cocktails than the dj
the boys were feeling the pressure to make a move soon…or be resigned to going home solo… so they were kicking up their game… and being more touchy feely than they had been earlier in the evening… with one eye checking for other options that were still attainable given the time restraints… it wasnt helping them that mother nature was cock blocking with cold and monsoon rains coming down in sheets …combined with the general apathy that has permeated DC during the last few weeks of an extended primary season… well …poor babies…. it was gonna be an uphill battle…i leaned in and wished one boy luck with a girl who was probably cute when she hadnt been rained on…..he passed his hookah….
oh yeah…fucking hell..im in a eurotrash hookah bar in virginia….somebody pleazzze shoot me
the waitress…was bringing drinks a little slower… trying to get a head start on getting out of there… she was rounding up credit cards…. smiling a little harder…. last call isnt too far off.. she reminds me of someone….i cant think who…maybe kardashians crazy loud sister?? maybe….
but i have to admit…im glad i decided to come out….. i dont do much of ANYTHING that i dont want to…but…i let him talk me into it…. i didnt want to go out..and i certainly didnt want to go out to virginia….(best Tshirt spotted at the black cat last week ..Virginia is for Losers) i DEF… wouldnt have agreed to a hookah bar….
but…. i suck at saying no….
and he offered to drive….
and with sex on wheels..STILLLLLLL in intensive care….out at the dealer….damn… youd think german car parts wouldnt be THAT hard to come by…
so i let him take the lead …..and we headed to an anonymous arlington bar…. it was nice to be in a new neighborhood where nobody knows you… you dont nod slightly to anyone as they acknowledge that you are with a new boy from across the room…with a knowing …if only slight lift of their glass…nobodys eyebrows raise when you walk by with that…”hes cute ..call me later” look
questions piss me off these days… i dont know why…im just not in the mood for them…..and he didnt ask many…sooo that was good… we shared some apple tobacco…he knew the waitress….so the ice never rattled in my glass… and the dj worked a mellow groove between LA cool and NY hot…. the people watching was kind of bland… so when he leaned in and kissed me …it was a welcome diversion…but frankly… i was in a melancholy mood and it was gonna take more than a few vodka tonics and some PDA… to pull me out of it…
and then it comes back to me…ummm yeah…im in hookah bar… one fortyfive ish… a.m… im hungry… i had wiggled out of an earlier dinner date….. (i told you i hadnt wanted to go out) so i hadnt eaten… and the vodka tonics were gonna start to catch up to me…
like i said he didnt want to talk…and that was fine with me…i preferred it…
maybe having sex on wheels in the shop has me soo melancholy…maybe the rain…maybe the cold…. maybe i should go to LA… just for a few days… maybe im over thinking it…maybe im over thinking everything these days…i was getting grouchy…i was ready to switch to ginger ale….i just wanted to get back to my place…crawl into a warm dry bed…. snuggle down… but….here i was in VA at two in the morning…
thank god….he made the right offer…
and well….
bob and ediths is too hard to pass up…
fried eggs and grits…
then he put his ride into gear (sometimes i forget how much i like to watch boys drive) and we headed back across the river…
home…
the lesbians were wrapping up their party next door…. and one of them was sitting in a wheeled office chair while her friends pushed her down the sidewalk …spinning…in the rain…
two kids “security personnel” brought me an end of the night “goodie bag” from the club owner… and ….well….its nice to be back in my neighborhood…
and
then….in the morning… i wake up to a text from the rockstar…
hes in town…
want to get breakfast???
there can be a beautiful symmetry to starting a morning …
the same way you finished the evening…
with a boy who doesnt ask too many questions…and a bowl of grits….
maybe in another life… it would be the SAME boy… morning And night
but frankly…i think i like it my way bettter… at least for now
xoxo
13 comments
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May 14, 2008 at 10:42 am
Lemmonex
Ah, the end of the night scramble for a warm body…we called it stage 12 in college.
And a night bookended by different boys isn’t so bad.
not so bad at all… not so bad at all….life is good..
xoxo
May 14, 2008 at 11:08 am
rothko
I love a story that ends with grits. Nice post!
if youre southern…everything ends over a bowl of grits…sometimes you just THINK its over before the grits…
xoxo
May 14, 2008 at 11:34 am
freckledk
Ooooh….I liked this. Very nice.
We are going to have to get matching VA is for Losers shirts and WEAR them to Clarendon Ballroom on a random Saturday night. Maybe we can take bets as to how long we last before a Bebe-clad suburbanite throws her Cosmo at us?
Or we can wear them on our outing next week and see how many drinks are purchased FOR us?
lol..you DO know how to cause trouble…dont you?!! xoxo
May 14, 2008 at 12:20 pm
vvk
Ugh… I go pretty far out of my way to avoid smoky bars… And the “end of the night scramble for a warm body…” what a sad / silly game.
I wonder how many little men would try and pick fights with me if I wore a VA is for Losers shirt to some silly (and smoky) place in VA.
…lol..virginia is like a little brother..im allowed to poke fun cause..technically i live there too…
others have to be careful!
xoxo
May 14, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Arjewtino
That was a great little twist you put in at the end. Amazing storytelling.
you know me sugar..there is alllllways a twist..xoxo
May 14, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Uncle Keith
I went to Murphy’s in Old Town on Saturday night, and I too was surprised by the smoke. I’ve gotten used to bars in the Peoples Republic of Maryland, where there is no smoking and very little free thought. I had Irish Stew; I would have killed for eggs and grits.
May 14, 2008 at 2:40 pm
SG
oh i know that bar…from when i lived in that suburban sprawl hell. glad you made it out unscathed!
May 14, 2008 at 3:05 pm
homeimprovementninja
maybe it’s because I’m a yankee, but I STILL don’t get the whole grits thing. a southern gal promised me that she would take me to a place with “real” southern grits (as opposed to the fake grits that I bought in a place that pretended to be in the south by being located south of the mason dixon line and deep frying everything, even the napkins) but she was all talk. and I’m pretty sure that grits are grits and that once you’ve eaten one grit, you’ve eaten them all.
And YOU in arlington? For shame! I bet you were with a lobbyist
May 14, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Hammer
Behold the Power of Grits…
Well slap my ass and call me Charlie,
The blonde still goes out when the weather’s gnarly.
(Though it gives us pause and makes us shiver,
That you’d hit the hookah across the river.)
They say all’s well that ends well, and in this case it fits,
‘Cuz if nothing else, it ended in grits.
(Except maybe it didn’t and we can only guess for now,
If after the grits there was boom-chicka-wow-wow.)
In any case, darlin’, when your car’s good as new,
Join me at IHOP – I’ll get us a booth built for two.
May 14, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Ulysses
Nice view from the front window there. Apple tobacco though, really?
Bring your list to open mic (red wool stetson), or ask Velvet how to get it to me. Maybe I could get it done while you’re in L.A.
May 14, 2008 at 11:38 pm
wildbillthePirate
I think this might cheer you up:
May 16, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Tim
that car has you so pressed. never met anyone so affected by 2000lbs of metal and rubber.
a nicely written story. there have to be at least a couple of us living vicariously through you….
May 20, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Jen
You need to write a book honey.