Nonchalant Soiree

(Originally written for a short-short fiction course. Focus was to start with a stolen paragraph and make the rest of the story your own.)

I first saw Shaun Warner in his khakis and a plaid shirt, his blonde hair gelled perfectly in place and his face shining in the neon glow of the hot dog stand outside of Orsini’s. People who recognized him were giving the knowing nod and bubbly girls threw back their shoulders as they smiled their way past. I didn’t take too much notice. I was waiting for Joanna and Mike to stumble out of the bar, and was fixated on finding myself some alcohol-absorbing-non-meat-product nourishment. The closest I would get was a bun jammed with cheese and sauerkraut. You don’t think twice when you are drunk.

Shaun glanced over, “What are you eating?”

I managed to mumble my through the dry bun, “I dunno, do you wanna try?” I held out the half-eaten tube and tucked the stray bits of cabbage into my mouth.

Shaun laughed. His friend Dean didn’t hesitate ripping off a bit. “Tastes like shit! How can ya eat this?”

I smiled, “After eatin’ kangaroo and emu, I can eat just about anythin’.”

Shaun shook his head, “So you did the outback thing to the extreme huh?”

“Something like that,” I nodded and shrugged, managing to down the rest of the bun and chase it with the beer I had hiding in the back pocket of my jeans.

“Got any more of those?” Shaun asked.

Hands up and I twirled around to show that all other pockets were empty. “Nope, but we can share.” And I handed the bottle over. A quick brush of our hands in the exchange sent a sudden surge of electricity through me. The look in Shaun’s eyes and smile told me that he felt it too.

He took a few swigs and passed the bottle back, “Why are you here by yourself?”

“I’m not, waiting for my friends to come out.”

And that is when Shaun made the offer, “Look, Dean-o and I are headin’ back to the hotel, we’ll probably hang out by the pool, have some beers, get some real food. Yer more than welcome to join us.”

It was 3AM, the bars were closed, and sleep impossible at a sweaty 32 degrees.

“Yah, sure. Is it cool if my friend joins us?”

And just as I finished my sentence, Joanna and Mike walked out of the bar. Mike went for the hotdog stand and Joanna approached us.
Dean’s eyes lit up, “Of course she can join us!”

I grabbed Joanna and we went over to Mike.

“Mike, Jo and I are heading off, you OK on your own?” I asked.

His mouth full of a real hot dog, “Sure. Where ya goin’?”

“Swimming,” I smiled and lifted my head to show our new found companions and Joanna laughed at the announcement.

Mike choked down his dog, “What? You’ve gotta be kiddin’! Do you…nevermind.” He never finished his sentence and shook his head in disbelief.

We walked in the direction of Shaun and Dean who had now hailed a cab and were waiting for us to climb in.

I turned back to Mike, gave a quick wink and said, “Black Pearl for breakfast, 11?”

Mike nodded and gave a thumbs up, and Joanna, Dean, Shaun and I crammed into the back of the cab.

Joanna and Dean went into the hotel for the air conditioning. Shaun and I swam, drank, ordered room service, had sex, and watched the stars fade and the sun rise. I liked him, but not enough to see him again. He wrote his cell number on my hand but as I left the hotel I licked my palm and rubbed it off.

I found Mike and Joanna at the Black Pearl later that morning. Mike was buzzing and could hardly get words out of his mouth.

“Whadja do last night, whad happened?” he asked.

I just smiled and exchanged a quick glance with Joanna, figuring she had already filled him in on her part of the story and briefly mentioned mine. Besides, it was fun tormenting Mike.

“You did it didncha? I can’t believe you! You are unreal, but you have no idea do you? Do you know who that was?”

I shrugged my shoulders, shook my head, “Sure, his name was Shaun and in town for a tournament of some sort.”

Mike seemed to stutter over his words. “That guy Shaun, is a cricket player, the best cricket player in Australia. You just fucked the Gretzky of the cricket world.”

I laughed at my own naïveté and looked for any trace of the number on my hand, but it was gone.