Falling in Love Again: A Valentine's Day Proposal

“I heard that,” Regina said coming back up.

“I’ll still be your neighbor Soph, don’t worry,” George winks and bumps me gently on the shoulder.

The band on stage kicks into a cover song the crowd knows well.

Cupping my hands over my mouth I yell over the music, “Who’s here to party?”

Sure, it’s cheesy, but I couldn’t care less because my energy pumps the crowd and sends people flooding to the bar and out onto the dancefloor. It gives us a minute to breathe and I notice the sleazy guy from before is finally gone somewhere in the crowd. When the band takes a break, everyone attacks the bar at once.

I make a mental note to mention to Maria that perhaps taking a couple waitresses to help with crowd control would be smart. At least on nights where we’re at max capacity and have a band. Because honestly, I can’t handle getting in the middle of another fight with only one good eye at the moment and have a band.

Before I have time to think there’s a lady yelling at Regina for another beer. She’s not moving fast enough in her opinion. Just another day at the office.

Chapter 2: Thomas

The paparazzi d

on’t follow me the way they did after the big break up, and while it’s not as much as they did before, they do, however, still follow me. Most of the time they simply yell inappropriate things about Rosa to get my reaction. I try not to give them one because I know, it will only add fuel to a fire I’d just rather let die out already.

I know they do the same to her. We were together for almost three years and I appeared as a love-sick Romeo on countless episodes of her reality show. The time I spent on the show was not the proudest time of my life, but it could have been a lot worse. The constant reminders and cat-calls certainly don’t help. The public seems caught up in a reality they can’t have and won’t let me live the life I want.

It was never a thing when we first started dating. Her sister had a huge scandal with a major athlete and it put their whole family on the map. Overnight we went from nights in with a pizza to nights out on the club scene making appearances. Her schedule became impossibly busy and I found it hard to keep up with her.

Looking back now I wish we’d kept our lives a lot more private. Then, when the breakup happened it wouldn’t be so hard to see a tabloid talking about what could have been or accidentally turn on the show and see us together. Every time that happens it stings just a little bit, though not nearly as bad as it had in the beginning.

The girl I’d been hooking up with didn’t know who I was at first. I’d even dropped the name of the reality show to see if she’d watched it. She’d told me she didn’t watch that fake crap and then reached for my belt buckle and unzipped me giving me the best blow job I ever had. The fact that she thought I was just some average Joe was a huge turn-on.

I didn’t argue with her that a lot of it is real and just put together to be the most entertaining. The producers cut it in a way that puts certain people in better light than the others. I was happy she really didn’t know who I was. It was a refreshing change of pace and made things significantly easier. It also took stress off from me. I really hate talking about all that crap.

It wasn’t until this last month she found out. She’d actually been flipping through the channels and happened to see me. It was almost unbelievable it had taken her that long.

“Didn’t you ever think the guy on the front of some tabloids looked like me.” I had asked her as we were getting dressed. We’d just had a crazy hot little bump and grind in the parking lot of the bar she worked at after they’d closed. We really enjoyed public and risky places to have sex.

There’s just something about the risk of getting caught that intensifies the sensations. Like, at any moment, someone could walk by us and see my bare ass or her as she’s bent over the trunk of the car screaming out her orgasm. It’s exciting and makes me hard just thinking about it.

When I asked her, she thought about it a minute, “I don’t know, I guess I just never really paid attention to what was on them. They are gossip rags. Hardly a good source or news. I had zero intentions of reading them so I don’t typically make a habit out of even flipping through them. Maybe I’m oblivious to my surroundings.” I had carefully watched her face, trying to decide if she was trying to pull one over on me or if she was being sincere. The deeper I stared into her eyes, the more I realized, she was being truthful. She’s a refreshing change not interested in my money or notoriety. I know she’s not swimming in trust funds or fast cars and not once in all this time has she suggested anything of the sort. Part of me isn’t sure how to be with a woman who isn’t pining after something from me.

“Well, maybe you just didn’t want to see,” I supply.

She just shrugged. “Not likely. I think those things are an invasion of people’s privacy. I mean sure, you were on a reality show, so it opens you up to that sort of thing. But still, I have my own life to worry about and don’t really have the time it takes to care about someone I may never meet.”

Ouch! “Don’t pull any punches, doll.”

She had lifted her shoulder and licked those beautifully full lips and I had to adjust myself. She grinned at me slowly sinking to her knees, “Why would I? We’re just having a good time.”

I smile thinking about it. We’d had a good time again after that conversation and again and again.

Now that I see her a little more frequently, I’m taking more precautions. First, I drive my car to a parking lot downtown and call for an Uber to pick me up down the street from where I park. It feels a little like a James Bond move and heightens the experience. I always did think I’d make a good spy.

Once I get in the car I tell the driver to take me to a package store that’s close to The Spot. I get out of the car and look around after paying to see if anyone has followed me. I know. It looks like I’m trying to do something illegal. I just don’t want to bring the craziness into Sophia’s life, and she’s been on my mind a lot more than I really care to admit. I like that she’s a nice normal girl with a kinky side to her that doesn’t have expectations of breakfast in bed the next morning or trips to Venice and fashion week.

So far, so good. I really am old news. As long as I don’t do anything to attract their attention, they hopefully have decided I’m not worth following anymore. Keeping my head down, I jog across the street and walk around the back of the package store. From there, I make my way through the empty parking lots to the back of the bar.

I make it to the back without incident. I can hear the music pulsing from outside as I lean my back against the rough brick wall. The lighting back here is dim, almost criminally so and for a second, I wonder how safe this really is for her walking to her car at night. I shake it off and quickly get back into the mood of why I’m here. A hookup and that’s it.

Something rustles near the dumpster and I freeze. Is it possible someone spotted me. I’ve been very surprised the length some people will go to get a photo. Especially when Rosa and I were still together, it became the norm to see them popping out of dumpsters, jumping in our cab, or hot footing it across the street in traffic. It was a bit unnerving.

Hot and ready, is what I text her to let her know I’m out back. The only thing I can do is wait for her to let me in and pray that someone doesn’t happen by and think I’m trying to score drugs. I snort. Wouldn’t that just be an awesome headline? Ex-boyfriend of reality star is so distraught he’s reduced to buying drugs from a seedy dive bar. It’s not that the bar is that bad. It’s just never great to be spotted behind one this late at night. My PR folks would have a field day cleaning up that kind of press and the break up alone gives them enough work to do.