Same Cast of Characters
hadn't planned on my blog being week after week so heavily a recap of my weekend clubbing and dating experiences. That said, here it is, a recap of my weekend clubbing and dating experiences. For those of you new to my blog, you may wish to back up 2 or 3 entries before reading this one.
Friday
My friend Apollo (this is his real first name) called me up early Friday evening suggesting we check out the club scene. If his other female friend had been along, we probably would have spent the night at The High Dive. As it was, it turned out to just be me and him, so we went to Club Xtreme, one of my haunts. Apollo seemed amused at my easy way with approaching and talking to women, something he wishes he had a greater facility for. I talked to two or three of the cuter women in the club, bought each one a drink, and got an informal promise of a dance later in the evening (the crowd hadn't really started dancing yet.) I introduced Apollo to some of the women, as circumstance and location allowed, and exaggerated Apollo's position in the computer industry, calling him the next Bill Gates. To be a little more accurate on this point, I also said Apollo would probably be a Millionaire by the time his is Forty, and that's not such a ridiculous goal for someone in our line of work if earnings are invested wisely. Would that I had started my career as a computer programmer at a much earlier age -- 30 is a bit old to just be starting, and the last decade my career has been a bit stagnate. It can also be said that being a Millionaire today is certainly not what it use to be, if by Millionaire you include all of one's 401K assets, company stock options, and your house's market value.
I wore what might have been a rather loud red-white-grey-black tie, but I was dressed in black shirt and black slacks, and I think it was a good contrast. I mention this because I dress a little more professionally than the average High Dive or Club Xtreme goer, and I'm also of a greater age then the average High Dive or Club Xtreme goer. I often get asked if I'm the owner or manager of the various establishments I frequent, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by what happened this night when I approached an attractive lady named Toni to ask her to dance. Before I had said a word, she dived into her purse saying "I know what you want, here it is," and fished out her driver's license. At this point, I'm sure she thinks I'm the owner. I take the license and examine it with exaggerated seriousness. "I'm 28" she pipes cheerfully. If I where to have guessed before hand I would have guessed anywhere from 25 to 35, so I'm surprised she acts as if being carded is something that happens to her constantly. On the other hand, she is a bit on the short side, so maybe she does get carded a lot. I hand the license to her, and say as drolly as I can manage over the loud music, "you know I don't have anything to do with the club don't you?" She seems amused, lets me buy her a drink and promises me a dance later. I return to Apollo, tell him what happened, all of which he finds hilarious.
The dance floor is still mostly empty. Two ladies are dancing close by to the wall where Apollo and I are standing. I recognize the thinner and younger of the two has someone I have danced with in the past, but who has turned me down for dances consistently for quite some time. Perhaps the original dances a year or two ago where pity dances. Most likely she quit dancing with me because I have forgotten her name more than once in the past, and have no memory of it now either. I don't plan on asking her to dance tonight, but her friend is not so subtly checking both Apollo and myself out. Without warning she dances over to Apollo and does a little freak on him. Apollo begins to dance awkwardly, but she dances away after just a few beats. I don't think it has anything to do with Apollo's dancing, but rather just a little tease on her part, for someone new to the club.
Two very attractive women enter the club. I thought there was little chance in meeting them, but I certainly couldn't help glancing in their direction on a more than occasional basis. I would have expected these two to be surrounded by men the majority of the evening, but they seemed to be sitting at the bar alone, so I approached, said hello and offered them a drink. They were polite, turned down my offer of a drink, but didn't avoid a little light banter, before I excused myself to go find Apollo and see what he was up to. I hadn't expected anything to come of this short exchange, but later in the evening Bell, Lindsey, Apollo and I where all in the same general vicinity, so we struck up a conversation, and Bell took me up on my earlier offer of a drink. Bell was from Chicago and in med school studying to be a pediatrician. Lindsey was also in school, but from Arizona, both originally from the Champaign, Illinois area, and only in for the weekend to visit. They made to head over to The High Dive, but not before suggesting we follow, much to both my and Apollo's amazement. We tagged along, and before long they suggested we go to the Barfly, another nearby bar, so we piled in the girl's car and headed over. Barfly was unsatisfying in entertainment value, and after only a minute or two, we decided to go. It was already 1:30 AM, the bars would be closing at 2 AM, so it was suggested by the girls we go out to eat. They dropped us off at our cars, and we were to meet up at Steak 'N' Shake (a 24 hour restaurant chain). Apollo and I arrived within seconds of one another, and I suspect we both exceeded speed limits a bit in getting there. We gave the girls a good 20 minutes, but it became apparent they were not going to show. I don't think it had been the girls' intention initially to stand us up, but it was only a five minute drive to the restaurant, so we called it a night without bothering to sit and order anything. We assumed the girls had gotten lost, or gone to the wrong restaurant, then given up on us. They had both been a little tipsy, and I also couldn't help worrying a little that perhaps they had been in an accident. Earlier in the evening they had let both Apollo and I know that they would be at The High Dive the next night, but Apollo had business out of town, else I think we could have persuaded them to go to dinner before and evening of dancing. Now it seemed unlikely our paths would cross again.
Saturday
Like a love sick puppy I start the evening at The High Dive. I make a few rounds through the club, but no Bell or Lindsey in sight. I'm not really surprised and hadn't really expected to run into them. I'm a bit unnerved to see Maryann on the dance floor, a person I dated on and off for over a year, this last time ending in a rather large blow up. She's with her friend Jon, and they are dancing with hedonistic abandon. All I can think to myself is how much I wish I had a reasonably attractive women on my arm right now to make Maryann jealous. It is a stupid thought, one because I doubt it would make Maryann jealous, and two, why should I care to make her jealous? Still I have a strange pang of remorse at seeing Maryann, I really wish things had worked out between us, but on the other hand, one has to realize when one is being played for a sucker. I'm sure she must have seen me, as I have seen her, but neither of us make any gesture or nod of recognition, even later in the evening as we slide past one another in the narrow hallways of The High Dive.
There don't seem to be many likely prospects for me at The High Dive, so I head over to Club Xtreme which is just next door. I'm greeted with friendly smiles by Bell and Lindsey who just seem to be getting there, and also seem in an unusually good and manic mood. This turns out to be doubling surprising, because Bell starts off by asking if Apollo and I made it to the Steak 'N' Shake, and apologizes for not being there, as she was issued a DUI en route. This seems very plausible to me, and I realize, I should have been even more concerned for the girls safety the night before. The girls both hand me some disposable cameras, and for the next 10 minutes or so, I am their personal photographer, as they jaunt around the front of Club Xtreme and The High Dive. They then leave to drop their purses at their car, and tell me they will return directly. Some minutes pass, and I see them cross in front of the club a couple of times through the window. After 10 or 15 minutes, I decide to go over to The High Dive, and run into Bell and Lindsey on the sidewalk, who take me in tow, and we head back to the Xtreme. It isn't long before they are bored with the Xtreme, which will be busy later, but for now is much slower than The High Dive. At The High Dive, there is a crush of people, and I feel a bit like a hanger-on with the girls, who are not yet in a mood to dance. I excuse myself from them, explaining I will be back later, and hope to see them, but for now am heading back to the Xtreme. They tell me, that they will probably be back to The Xtreme sometime soon as well. By now I have already lost track how many times I have gone back and forth between the two clubs, and this isn't going to be the last of my crossings by far. I worry the doormen will become inpatient with my bar hopping, but they remain in good cheer. I think they see I am in pursuit of a couple of attractive but flighty women, and I think I have become well known at both bars for being a big spender and good tipper.
Back at The High Dive, I run into Nicole, the women I had gone out with to The Legion last Sunday, she seems aloof, and I don't know if she is mad at me. I was irritated with her the week before, so don't know what I should expect. I approach, she smiles, we talk a little, I apologize for leaving early last Sunday, and explain that I was feeling more than a bit neglected by her that evening, and that perhaps I'm a bit moody. She seems nonplused by my explanation, but still distant. I retreat a safe distance, besides I'm really hoping Bell and Lindsey will come by again soon, and am not overly interested in buying drink after drink for Nicole if she's really not interested in me.
After sitting pensively for a while I get up to make a quick round of the dance floor. I pass Nicole, but she doesn't seem to notice me. Out next to the dance floor is Cindy, the first girl I had talked to and bought a drink for the night before. She had promised me a dance, but it had never happened. I chat with her a bit, but it is clear to me she is just being polite. Earlier in the day I had had a phone call from Twanda, another person I have a spotty dating record with, I begin to think to myself about how the day and night is shaping up with me chasing or interacting with the same women over and over again.
I head back to The High Dive again for what would be the last time this evening. I run into Bell and Lindsey and we share a table. Lindsey and I head to the small satellite bar right next to our table, I offer to buy her drink, but she declines, I had already offered Bell, but she was still finishing one. The bartender gets our drinks which he assumes I'm paying for, so Lindsey lets me, its only a Budweiser anyway. We sit and chat for awhile until a good song comes on, at which time the two girls jump up to make for the dance floor. They explain they are going to dance to this, their current favorite song. I hesitate a bit, unsure whether I'm invited to dance with them. Both women are small, Lindsey is maybe five foot six and Bell would be lucky to top out at 5 foot, but they push through the crowd like a snow plow, and I quick follow in their wake, thinking about how there would have been no way I could have made the same trip with ten times more time if they had not been clearing a path. I'm not sure how they are doing it, and have to assume they are not being shy about just muscling and elbowing past the crush of people -- something that probably only petite women can get away with.
The High Dive has a two tier dance floor, the upper tier being where I had seen Maryann before. She's still there, and Bell and Lindsey, come to occupy a space there also, just within in arm reach of Maryann. This is all fine by me, and position myself to dance with Bell and Lindsey, but they immediately close in on one another, and are dancing in a provocative fashion that most men enjoy watching, but which I find a bit off-putting at the moment, as I do not feel comfortable just pushing myself onto the tangle of arms and legs, so sulk off to a distance with my drink. After a minute or two there is a commotion in their general direction, but I cannot see it directly. It seems to be a fight, so I push forward, and see three or four men apparently groping Bell and Lindsey, so I intercede quickly. The men are small, Hispanic or Asian, and have a distracted almost drugged look to their eyes. It isn't their ethnicity I find off-putting, Bell herself is American Asian. In fact her Asian features make her all the more attractive to me. I mention this only, in that they seem to feel a greater ability in coming on to Bell by virtue of some shared ethnic bond, that and their age of course, which is probably 20 years my junior. Bell assures me she is fine, the men are friends of some sort, but I am wary and the situation seems strained. I can't overstate how creepy these men seem to me, and by side effect tarnish my image of Bell and her friend Lindsey. That image would be further tarnished again very soon. I had backed up a bit from where Bell and Lindsey where, but kept them in view. I didn't see where it came from, but there was another surge, and the start of a fight. The two principles turned out to be Lindsey and some other blond on the dance floor. I think both girls are more loaded tonight than I had realized (though short of drunk), and have probably given several people offense somehow. The bouncers evict Bell and Lindsey from the top platform, but not the club. Lindsey explains the other blond had attempted to push her off the platform. This would have been a four foot drop, onto a crowd of people, hardly life threatening, but viscous and uncalled for if true. Then again, I doubt the girls are good judges of the actions of others around them by this time, and could easily interpret an unintended elbow as an attack. I guess it's safe to say I see they're getting a little out of control. I check on the girls one last time, make sure their OK, and tell them I'm heading back to Club Xtreme. I hope I seemed gallant, but I'll probably never know if they saw me that way. I had given my business card to the two of them earlier in the evening, writing my phone number and that of Apollo's on the back. I don't expect to hear from either of them, but stranger things have been known to happen in this universe. Apollo later thanked for me passing along his number in his absence -- I know he was quite smitten with these two girls as well, though they might not be the angels we had originally thought them to be.
Back at Club Xtreme, I enter to find Nicole dancing alone on a crowded dance floor. She smiles, and motions me over with a rolling come-here finger motion in time to the beat of the music and with the sway of her hips. It is far too seductive to resist. If I hadn't mentioned it before, Nicole is very attractive. Bell is very attractive. Maryann is very attractive. Tawanda is very attractive. I probably do not deserve the good fortune to be in the company of pretty women as often as I am, and yet, the company is superficial in many cases, and platonic in almost all. I think to myself, I would be better off with a women a little plainer than those I tend to go after, but a look around shows there to be a large sea of women I would consider beneath my taste in appearance, mainly do to excess pounds. There are a comely few, upon whom I fix my sights, and nothing in between it seems. Call me shallow for this (I'm sure many do), but I work out often, keep myself lean, and am probably considered extremely muscular and hopefully good-looking by most. To me, it seems an effort of will or work, to be pleasing to the opposite sex, so I fail to understand why so many women are overweight, if as I hear over and over, a woman's looks are so very important to her. No doubt I come off sounding piggish with this opinion. For me, most women would only have to remain relatively thin (I'm not talking Kate Moss here) to be attractive. I have invested a great deal of time and effort in keeping my self attractive, add to this being a hard worker and potential good provider, and I think I can demand my mate to invest a little energy in trying to remain attractive for me as well. This sounds conceited even to me, but there it is.
Nicole fixes her attention on me for the rest of the evening, and we dance to several songs together in a row. At the end we chat, I offer her a drink, which to my utter amazement she politely turns down. She suggests we get together for dinner the next day, Sunday. She'll call me once she gets back from church. I wonder if I had misjudged Nicole's interest in me from last Sunday's evening out, and agree with considerable enthusiasm.
There's only a half hour left till closing, so I decide to call it an evening on a high point. There is one thing to note about popular dance clubs in Champaign, the party doesn't really get going till well after 11, though you risk waiting forever or not getting in if you don't get there a little before. Once in, almost everyone stays till closing. Closing is 2am in Champaign and Urbana. Early by some big city standards, but an hour longer than ordinance allowed just two months ago. By and large the party going crowds, mostly U of I students, just shifted their party going to an hour later.
Sunday
I hadn't planned on clubbing Sunday, but Nicole didn't call until very late in the afternoon -- almost evening. I had eaten, she'd eaten, so it was agreed we'd dine some other night soon, and go to a Christmas party at the Legion. It was going to be an early evening, as we would get to the Legion before eight, and I had told her I would like to leave around midnight. Things pretty much went according to this plan. Nicole danced dance after dance with me, but she also asked for four double shot Rhemys (an expensive cognac) over the course of the evening. She danced with a couple of other men too, but always returned to dance with me as well, and It was clear I had the majority of her time and attention, but I was also buying expensive drinks, one after the other. She also encouraged me to meet other women, so it was definitely a mixed signal night. I did dance with a couple of other women that night, both who had approached me first and asked me to dance. It may have just been my two and a half long islands talking (I spilled one), but I thought my dancing on whole was in a real groove this evening. On one of Nicole's jaunts with other men, I got the phone numbers from both Attila (again this is not a name I've made up) and Natasha who had both asked me to dance. When midnight rolled around, I can't remember if it was I or Nicole that suggested we head for the door. I had thought she'd been holding her liquor quite well, but now, not so much. She has a pleasant friendly agreeable demeanor, but is wobbly on her feet as we make to leave. By the time we make it to the door, she is leaning on me heavily to navigate at all.
It'd been more than an hour since my last drink, so I felt safe to drive, but I think to myself to be especially careful with my driving on the way home, it would be foolish to think I was at 100% attention and efficiency. I was sure I could pass a breathalyzer, but that's not the same thing as being totally safe. Then again, maybe I'm just self deluded. I didn't think about the irony of trying to boost my driving concentration after alcohol consumption, the day after learning friends of Apollo and mine had been stopped for DUI. I drive without mishap, in case you think this foreshadows some tragedy, dropping Nicole safely off at her home, then leaving with a the lightest of kisses. I could probably have gotten more romantic with her, but taking advantage of someone who is obviously drunk holds no interest for me. Nicole and I had made love once some time ago. She had called me up out of the blue and called me over. She had probably been on the edge of being drunk then, but not so much that I felt guilty. The love making while welcome was a bit awkward for both of us. Since there was no repeat, I assumed she had considered it a mistake, or found me as a lover to be wanting. I do not feel insecure this way, and am experienced enough to know that between some people, they either click sexually or do not, and it is hard to say what factors are involved. Still it would be nice to try and improve on this impression if it is one she is left with, especially as she is leaving town to move to Atlanta in just a couple of weeks.
Well that was the weekend, and long as this entry is, I am still omitting some interesting details from all three nights. I'm ceratin I could go on for another page or two about Attila or Natasha alone. Attila called me today, and wishes to go out soon, so I will have more to say about this soon. Then again maybe I will get back on track with other subject mater of a more profound nature than my erratic dating life.
Friday
My friend Apollo (this is his real first name) called me up early Friday evening suggesting we check out the club scene. If his other female friend had been along, we probably would have spent the night at The High Dive. As it was, it turned out to just be me and him, so we went to Club Xtreme, one of my haunts. Apollo seemed amused at my easy way with approaching and talking to women, something he wishes he had a greater facility for. I talked to two or three of the cuter women in the club, bought each one a drink, and got an informal promise of a dance later in the evening (the crowd hadn't really started dancing yet.) I introduced Apollo to some of the women, as circumstance and location allowed, and exaggerated Apollo's position in the computer industry, calling him the next Bill Gates. To be a little more accurate on this point, I also said Apollo would probably be a Millionaire by the time his is Forty, and that's not such a ridiculous goal for someone in our line of work if earnings are invested wisely. Would that I had started my career as a computer programmer at a much earlier age -- 30 is a bit old to just be starting, and the last decade my career has been a bit stagnate. It can also be said that being a Millionaire today is certainly not what it use to be, if by Millionaire you include all of one's 401K assets, company stock options, and your house's market value.
I wore what might have been a rather loud red-white-grey-black tie, but I was dressed in black shirt and black slacks, and I think it was a good contrast. I mention this because I dress a little more professionally than the average High Dive or Club Xtreme goer, and I'm also of a greater age then the average High Dive or Club Xtreme goer. I often get asked if I'm the owner or manager of the various establishments I frequent, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by what happened this night when I approached an attractive lady named Toni to ask her to dance. Before I had said a word, she dived into her purse saying "I know what you want, here it is," and fished out her driver's license. At this point, I'm sure she thinks I'm the owner. I take the license and examine it with exaggerated seriousness. "I'm 28" she pipes cheerfully. If I where to have guessed before hand I would have guessed anywhere from 25 to 35, so I'm surprised she acts as if being carded is something that happens to her constantly. On the other hand, she is a bit on the short side, so maybe she does get carded a lot. I hand the license to her, and say as drolly as I can manage over the loud music, "you know I don't have anything to do with the club don't you?" She seems amused, lets me buy her a drink and promises me a dance later. I return to Apollo, tell him what happened, all of which he finds hilarious.
The dance floor is still mostly empty. Two ladies are dancing close by to the wall where Apollo and I are standing. I recognize the thinner and younger of the two has someone I have danced with in the past, but who has turned me down for dances consistently for quite some time. Perhaps the original dances a year or two ago where pity dances. Most likely she quit dancing with me because I have forgotten her name more than once in the past, and have no memory of it now either. I don't plan on asking her to dance tonight, but her friend is not so subtly checking both Apollo and myself out. Without warning she dances over to Apollo and does a little freak on him. Apollo begins to dance awkwardly, but she dances away after just a few beats. I don't think it has anything to do with Apollo's dancing, but rather just a little tease on her part, for someone new to the club.
Two very attractive women enter the club. I thought there was little chance in meeting them, but I certainly couldn't help glancing in their direction on a more than occasional basis. I would have expected these two to be surrounded by men the majority of the evening, but they seemed to be sitting at the bar alone, so I approached, said hello and offered them a drink. They were polite, turned down my offer of a drink, but didn't avoid a little light banter, before I excused myself to go find Apollo and see what he was up to. I hadn't expected anything to come of this short exchange, but later in the evening Bell, Lindsey, Apollo and I where all in the same general vicinity, so we struck up a conversation, and Bell took me up on my earlier offer of a drink. Bell was from Chicago and in med school studying to be a pediatrician. Lindsey was also in school, but from Arizona, both originally from the Champaign, Illinois area, and only in for the weekend to visit. They made to head over to The High Dive, but not before suggesting we follow, much to both my and Apollo's amazement. We tagged along, and before long they suggested we go to the Barfly, another nearby bar, so we piled in the girl's car and headed over. Barfly was unsatisfying in entertainment value, and after only a minute or two, we decided to go. It was already 1:30 AM, the bars would be closing at 2 AM, so it was suggested by the girls we go out to eat. They dropped us off at our cars, and we were to meet up at Steak 'N' Shake (a 24 hour restaurant chain). Apollo and I arrived within seconds of one another, and I suspect we both exceeded speed limits a bit in getting there. We gave the girls a good 20 minutes, but it became apparent they were not going to show. I don't think it had been the girls' intention initially to stand us up, but it was only a five minute drive to the restaurant, so we called it a night without bothering to sit and order anything. We assumed the girls had gotten lost, or gone to the wrong restaurant, then given up on us. They had both been a little tipsy, and I also couldn't help worrying a little that perhaps they had been in an accident. Earlier in the evening they had let both Apollo and I know that they would be at The High Dive the next night, but Apollo had business out of town, else I think we could have persuaded them to go to dinner before and evening of dancing. Now it seemed unlikely our paths would cross again.
Saturday
Like a love sick puppy I start the evening at The High Dive. I make a few rounds through the club, but no Bell or Lindsey in sight. I'm not really surprised and hadn't really expected to run into them. I'm a bit unnerved to see Maryann on the dance floor, a person I dated on and off for over a year, this last time ending in a rather large blow up. She's with her friend Jon, and they are dancing with hedonistic abandon. All I can think to myself is how much I wish I had a reasonably attractive women on my arm right now to make Maryann jealous. It is a stupid thought, one because I doubt it would make Maryann jealous, and two, why should I care to make her jealous? Still I have a strange pang of remorse at seeing Maryann, I really wish things had worked out between us, but on the other hand, one has to realize when one is being played for a sucker. I'm sure she must have seen me, as I have seen her, but neither of us make any gesture or nod of recognition, even later in the evening as we slide past one another in the narrow hallways of The High Dive.
There don't seem to be many likely prospects for me at The High Dive, so I head over to Club Xtreme which is just next door. I'm greeted with friendly smiles by Bell and Lindsey who just seem to be getting there, and also seem in an unusually good and manic mood. This turns out to be doubling surprising, because Bell starts off by asking if Apollo and I made it to the Steak 'N' Shake, and apologizes for not being there, as she was issued a DUI en route. This seems very plausible to me, and I realize, I should have been even more concerned for the girls safety the night before. The girls both hand me some disposable cameras, and for the next 10 minutes or so, I am their personal photographer, as they jaunt around the front of Club Xtreme and The High Dive. They then leave to drop their purses at their car, and tell me they will return directly. Some minutes pass, and I see them cross in front of the club a couple of times through the window. After 10 or 15 minutes, I decide to go over to The High Dive, and run into Bell and Lindsey on the sidewalk, who take me in tow, and we head back to the Xtreme. It isn't long before they are bored with the Xtreme, which will be busy later, but for now is much slower than The High Dive. At The High Dive, there is a crush of people, and I feel a bit like a hanger-on with the girls, who are not yet in a mood to dance. I excuse myself from them, explaining I will be back later, and hope to see them, but for now am heading back to the Xtreme. They tell me, that they will probably be back to The Xtreme sometime soon as well. By now I have already lost track how many times I have gone back and forth between the two clubs, and this isn't going to be the last of my crossings by far. I worry the doormen will become inpatient with my bar hopping, but they remain in good cheer. I think they see I am in pursuit of a couple of attractive but flighty women, and I think I have become well known at both bars for being a big spender and good tipper.
Back at The High Dive, I run into Nicole, the women I had gone out with to The Legion last Sunday, she seems aloof, and I don't know if she is mad at me. I was irritated with her the week before, so don't know what I should expect. I approach, she smiles, we talk a little, I apologize for leaving early last Sunday, and explain that I was feeling more than a bit neglected by her that evening, and that perhaps I'm a bit moody. She seems nonplused by my explanation, but still distant. I retreat a safe distance, besides I'm really hoping Bell and Lindsey will come by again soon, and am not overly interested in buying drink after drink for Nicole if she's really not interested in me.
After sitting pensively for a while I get up to make a quick round of the dance floor. I pass Nicole, but she doesn't seem to notice me. Out next to the dance floor is Cindy, the first girl I had talked to and bought a drink for the night before. She had promised me a dance, but it had never happened. I chat with her a bit, but it is clear to me she is just being polite. Earlier in the day I had had a phone call from Twanda, another person I have a spotty dating record with, I begin to think to myself about how the day and night is shaping up with me chasing or interacting with the same women over and over again.
I head back to The High Dive again for what would be the last time this evening. I run into Bell and Lindsey and we share a table. Lindsey and I head to the small satellite bar right next to our table, I offer to buy her drink, but she declines, I had already offered Bell, but she was still finishing one. The bartender gets our drinks which he assumes I'm paying for, so Lindsey lets me, its only a Budweiser anyway. We sit and chat for awhile until a good song comes on, at which time the two girls jump up to make for the dance floor. They explain they are going to dance to this, their current favorite song. I hesitate a bit, unsure whether I'm invited to dance with them. Both women are small, Lindsey is maybe five foot six and Bell would be lucky to top out at 5 foot, but they push through the crowd like a snow plow, and I quick follow in their wake, thinking about how there would have been no way I could have made the same trip with ten times more time if they had not been clearing a path. I'm not sure how they are doing it, and have to assume they are not being shy about just muscling and elbowing past the crush of people -- something that probably only petite women can get away with.
The High Dive has a two tier dance floor, the upper tier being where I had seen Maryann before. She's still there, and Bell and Lindsey, come to occupy a space there also, just within in arm reach of Maryann. This is all fine by me, and position myself to dance with Bell and Lindsey, but they immediately close in on one another, and are dancing in a provocative fashion that most men enjoy watching, but which I find a bit off-putting at the moment, as I do not feel comfortable just pushing myself onto the tangle of arms and legs, so sulk off to a distance with my drink. After a minute or two there is a commotion in their general direction, but I cannot see it directly. It seems to be a fight, so I push forward, and see three or four men apparently groping Bell and Lindsey, so I intercede quickly. The men are small, Hispanic or Asian, and have a distracted almost drugged look to their eyes. It isn't their ethnicity I find off-putting, Bell herself is American Asian. In fact her Asian features make her all the more attractive to me. I mention this only, in that they seem to feel a greater ability in coming on to Bell by virtue of some shared ethnic bond, that and their age of course, which is probably 20 years my junior. Bell assures me she is fine, the men are friends of some sort, but I am wary and the situation seems strained. I can't overstate how creepy these men seem to me, and by side effect tarnish my image of Bell and her friend Lindsey. That image would be further tarnished again very soon. I had backed up a bit from where Bell and Lindsey where, but kept them in view. I didn't see where it came from, but there was another surge, and the start of a fight. The two principles turned out to be Lindsey and some other blond on the dance floor. I think both girls are more loaded tonight than I had realized (though short of drunk), and have probably given several people offense somehow. The bouncers evict Bell and Lindsey from the top platform, but not the club. Lindsey explains the other blond had attempted to push her off the platform. This would have been a four foot drop, onto a crowd of people, hardly life threatening, but viscous and uncalled for if true. Then again, I doubt the girls are good judges of the actions of others around them by this time, and could easily interpret an unintended elbow as an attack. I guess it's safe to say I see they're getting a little out of control. I check on the girls one last time, make sure their OK, and tell them I'm heading back to Club Xtreme. I hope I seemed gallant, but I'll probably never know if they saw me that way. I had given my business card to the two of them earlier in the evening, writing my phone number and that of Apollo's on the back. I don't expect to hear from either of them, but stranger things have been known to happen in this universe. Apollo later thanked for me passing along his number in his absence -- I know he was quite smitten with these two girls as well, though they might not be the angels we had originally thought them to be.
Back at Club Xtreme, I enter to find Nicole dancing alone on a crowded dance floor. She smiles, and motions me over with a rolling come-here finger motion in time to the beat of the music and with the sway of her hips. It is far too seductive to resist. If I hadn't mentioned it before, Nicole is very attractive. Bell is very attractive. Maryann is very attractive. Tawanda is very attractive. I probably do not deserve the good fortune to be in the company of pretty women as often as I am, and yet, the company is superficial in many cases, and platonic in almost all. I think to myself, I would be better off with a women a little plainer than those I tend to go after, but a look around shows there to be a large sea of women I would consider beneath my taste in appearance, mainly do to excess pounds. There are a comely few, upon whom I fix my sights, and nothing in between it seems. Call me shallow for this (I'm sure many do), but I work out often, keep myself lean, and am probably considered extremely muscular and hopefully good-looking by most. To me, it seems an effort of will or work, to be pleasing to the opposite sex, so I fail to understand why so many women are overweight, if as I hear over and over, a woman's looks are so very important to her. No doubt I come off sounding piggish with this opinion. For me, most women would only have to remain relatively thin (I'm not talking Kate Moss here) to be attractive. I have invested a great deal of time and effort in keeping my self attractive, add to this being a hard worker and potential good provider, and I think I can demand my mate to invest a little energy in trying to remain attractive for me as well. This sounds conceited even to me, but there it is.
Nicole fixes her attention on me for the rest of the evening, and we dance to several songs together in a row. At the end we chat, I offer her a drink, which to my utter amazement she politely turns down. She suggests we get together for dinner the next day, Sunday. She'll call me once she gets back from church. I wonder if I had misjudged Nicole's interest in me from last Sunday's evening out, and agree with considerable enthusiasm.
There's only a half hour left till closing, so I decide to call it an evening on a high point. There is one thing to note about popular dance clubs in Champaign, the party doesn't really get going till well after 11, though you risk waiting forever or not getting in if you don't get there a little before. Once in, almost everyone stays till closing. Closing is 2am in Champaign and Urbana. Early by some big city standards, but an hour longer than ordinance allowed just two months ago. By and large the party going crowds, mostly U of I students, just shifted their party going to an hour later.
Sunday
I hadn't planned on clubbing Sunday, but Nicole didn't call until very late in the afternoon -- almost evening. I had eaten, she'd eaten, so it was agreed we'd dine some other night soon, and go to a Christmas party at the Legion. It was going to be an early evening, as we would get to the Legion before eight, and I had told her I would like to leave around midnight. Things pretty much went according to this plan. Nicole danced dance after dance with me, but she also asked for four double shot Rhemys (an expensive cognac) over the course of the evening. She danced with a couple of other men too, but always returned to dance with me as well, and It was clear I had the majority of her time and attention, but I was also buying expensive drinks, one after the other. She also encouraged me to meet other women, so it was definitely a mixed signal night. I did dance with a couple of other women that night, both who had approached me first and asked me to dance. It may have just been my two and a half long islands talking (I spilled one), but I thought my dancing on whole was in a real groove this evening. On one of Nicole's jaunts with other men, I got the phone numbers from both Attila (again this is not a name I've made up) and Natasha who had both asked me to dance. When midnight rolled around, I can't remember if it was I or Nicole that suggested we head for the door. I had thought she'd been holding her liquor quite well, but now, not so much. She has a pleasant friendly agreeable demeanor, but is wobbly on her feet as we make to leave. By the time we make it to the door, she is leaning on me heavily to navigate at all.
It'd been more than an hour since my last drink, so I felt safe to drive, but I think to myself to be especially careful with my driving on the way home, it would be foolish to think I was at 100% attention and efficiency. I was sure I could pass a breathalyzer, but that's not the same thing as being totally safe. Then again, maybe I'm just self deluded. I didn't think about the irony of trying to boost my driving concentration after alcohol consumption, the day after learning friends of Apollo and mine had been stopped for DUI. I drive without mishap, in case you think this foreshadows some tragedy, dropping Nicole safely off at her home, then leaving with a the lightest of kisses. I could probably have gotten more romantic with her, but taking advantage of someone who is obviously drunk holds no interest for me. Nicole and I had made love once some time ago. She had called me up out of the blue and called me over. She had probably been on the edge of being drunk then, but not so much that I felt guilty. The love making while welcome was a bit awkward for both of us. Since there was no repeat, I assumed she had considered it a mistake, or found me as a lover to be wanting. I do not feel insecure this way, and am experienced enough to know that between some people, they either click sexually or do not, and it is hard to say what factors are involved. Still it would be nice to try and improve on this impression if it is one she is left with, especially as she is leaving town to move to Atlanta in just a couple of weeks.
Well that was the weekend, and long as this entry is, I am still omitting some interesting details from all three nights. I'm ceratin I could go on for another page or two about Attila or Natasha alone. Attila called me today, and wishes to go out soon, so I will have more to say about this soon. Then again maybe I will get back on track with other subject mater of a more profound nature than my erratic dating life.
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