“Tips are out. You have to know people to get into the clubs. Or at least, they have to know you. We don’t live in the two thousands anymore,” I stepped in front of Josh as we went straight up to the bouncer who guarded the front of the club.
“Yeah, yeah. I think you could flash a smile and get us into any of these clubs. They’ll let you in just because you’re good looking. And if you show your identification, we’ll get a VIP table, for sure.”
“That’s only because they want me to spend thousands of dollars. The clubs obviously don’t understand how frugal I am.”
“Frugal,” Josh laughed. “Like the million dollars you just spent for a painting? Yep, that’s my friend. Frugal Brandon.” He made a dramatic motion with his arms as he pointed me out to the ladies in the line. “Hey, ladies, this is my millionaire friend Frugal Brandon; come find him when you get inside.”
“Very funny – and technically, I’m a billionaire now.”
Josh continued to laugh as we made our way in and the owner placed us at a VIP table. Although I wasn’t interested in spending a ton of money, I couldn’t exactly turn down the best table in the house. At least a nice VIP spot was helpful in getting the ladies to come visit with us so we didn’t have to roam the dance floor looking for them.
Despite spending so much money on the painting, I really didn’t like spending money all that much. Only when something was really important to me did I fork out enormous amounts of money, otherwise I felt like I lived a pretty normal life. Okay, maybe not a “normal” life like other people would live, but I wasn’t out buying Ferraris or taking private jets each weekend. When I flew on a private jet, it was through my JetCard, and only for very special occasions.
“It was a really expensive painting. But I get if it was important to you and you wanted it, that’s cool. It’s your money, man.”
“Like I said in the gallery, it reminds me of my son.”
“I’m sorry; I was just joking. It’s got to be hard not having him around.”
“Well, let’s get this conversation out of our sadness hole and onto the hot ladies in the club,” I quickly said as I felt myself getting choked up.
My son Noah had passed away from cancer. It was the hardest thing I had ever gone through and had destroyed my marriage, too. Sometimes people talked about how horrible my life was since I had lost my only child and ended up divorced from my wife. I liked to think of my life as being pretty damn lucky, though.
Within a ten-year time frame, I had met and married the woman of my dreams and had the most amazing child ever. I was lucky enough to spend eight years with him in my life and I learned so much about myself as a person. Not only did I learn what true love really was, but I also learned how to prioritize the things that were really important in life. Many people went their entire life without truly being able to see the gifts they had in front of them; my tragedy had certainly given me a clearer vision for my future.
Rose, my ex-wife, and I actually still got along very well. We mutually came to the understanding that we couldn’t stay together and both needed to move forward. Our marriage didn’t end with someone cheating or a huge blow out of a fight. Although I had started talking to another woman, and Rose believed I might have been cheating on her. I hadn’t cheated and I would never have done something like that to her. We simple made the conscious decision that we both wanted a fresh start.
Rose recently found her fresh start with Carlos, an ex-military special ops guy. He was a decent enough guy from what I could tell, although there always seemed to be just a little something off about him when I was around.
“Those two right there?” Josh asked as he pointed at two very scantily-clad young ladies, bringing my mind back to the present.
“Sure, go get them and bring them up.”
“Okay, boss.”
“Don’t call me that. You know I’m not really your boss, right?”
“Technically, you pay me each month to teach you about stock trading. I think that qualifies you as my boss. Don’t worry, I’m telling the girls we are in business together; it sounds way cooler than being a lonely day trader.”
Josh made his way over to the girls and started to talk to them. I was able to see them for a while, but the club was so dark that I soon lost them in the crowd. Being left alone in the VIP section was too lame for me, though, so I made my way across the crowded dance floor looking for Josh when he didn’t return after fifteen minutes.
“That’s a kick ass dress,” I said to a young blonde as I passed her.
“Thanks. I’m Kendra,” she quickly replied and leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. “Dance?”
As much as I hated to dance, I certainly wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity to see her sweet curves move in the tight white dress she had on. My eyes quickly surveyed the outfit and my body reacted with desire. The throbbing in my center had me wanting this girl in my bed for the evening.
Picking up women was how I coped. I had spent a couple of years in therapy talking all about it. But I didn’t see the problem with how I was coping. I was an adult, they were adults, and having fun seemed like a very good way of coping with all that I had been through.
“I’m Brandon. Nice to meet you,” I replied as I moved in close so we could dance.
The thing about meeting girls at dance clubs was that you really couldn’t talk to them, which was perfectly all right with me. Since becoming divorced a few years earlier, I had come to the conclusion that dating and me just weren’t a great mix. More specifically, picking up women from clubs and dating them wasn’t the best mix for me. I was sure there were better women out there, but I just wasn’t ready for that type of commitment, so club girls were what I liked.
When dating a club girl there really were only two possible options.
The first option was that you’d go home together and have a fun night and then one of you would never call the other one. You would both go on about your lives without incident and nothing bad would happen. This was my favorite option when picking up club girls.
The second possible option was that you thought the girl was really nice and started dating her on a regular basis. Sooner or later, she would be unable to cover up her insane personality, though, and you’d end up with death threats or crazy ex-boyfriends pounding on your door. I was not a fan of option number two.