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.
Recently, I had signed up for a dating company that promised to match me up with the woman of my dreams. It seemed unlikely that such a woman existed, but there was a small part of me that hoped I would find such a woman someday. Didn’t everyone want to find their perfect life partner? I was content to continue playing the field until I found that forever match, though.
Kendra grabbed my belt loops and pulled me toward her. My body throbbed as she held her thigh up against me and wiggled it around. The warmth of her body as it pressed against mine was growing rapidly. Her hands suddenly reached down and grabbed a hold of me as she pressed her lips near my ear.
“My place or yours?” she asked.
“Mine.”
Just like that, I had my company for the evening.
I grabbed her hand and whisked her through the sweaty group of dancers and out to the waiting taxi stand. In the lights outside of the club, I got a better look at Kendra. She was very typically attractive, with long, blonde hair, fake boobs, and a fake tan. She clearly subscribed to all the latest hair and makeup trends and enjoyed getting coated in cosmetics before heading out to the club.
“I need to text my friend to let him know I’m leaving,” I said as I pulled out my phone and we slipped into the back of the cab. “Do you need to let anyone know?”
“Nope, I’m good,” she said in a high-pitched chipper voice.
I sent off a quick text to Josh that he had free-range of the VIP table if he wanted it and could charge to my account there. My gut turned with a little regret for not hanging out longer with him. He worked from home and didn’t get out of the house very often. Our weekend sessions on learning the art of stock trading were often stretched into a whole afternoon of talking just because Josh didn’t get out to talk with people all that much. He was a really likable guy, but he was always trying to earn money and never took breaks to build his social network.
My life was all about balance since my son passed away. Partying hard was an awesome coping strategy, and without it, I wouldn’t have survived Noah’s death and my divorce from Rose.