Biker's Virgin

"What did you do?"

"I told her I wanted to talk to her, time and place to meet me and everything."

"And, she didn’t show?" he asked. I shook my head.

"You gotta tell me what it is, Rome. Her pussy better be gold plated or something."

"I love her, that's what it is."

"You sure she feels the same way?" he asked.

"I know she can, she just doesn't want to," I said.

"Then maybe you should stop fighting her on it," he said. I signaled for another beer.

"It's been a year, and I haven't stopped thinking about her."

"That's because you're not trying hard enough; you're still trying to go out with her. Stop talking to her and let time and distance do their thing. You'd be surprised how well you forget when you don't give yourself the responsibility to remember." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not fucking someone else."

"Sometimes you don't have to. Good head gets you off the hook for almost anything," he told me. I laughed, shaking my head. There were a good number of beautiful girls at the bar. That girl Gina and her friends had been looking over every so often. One of them was a blonde, so that alone drew my eyes to her when she looked over here. Her look was wrong, but not bad. She seemed tall, built more athletic than Ron was.

"I'll leave that to you."

"I'm serious, man," he said. "Is she even still single? Did she wait for you this whole past year?"

"She's seeing someone, but it's not serious," I said, not knowing really whether I was right about that. He hadn't come up the last time we talked, but even if he had, I didn't want to give Don more ammo than he already thought he had.

"Then you're in the clear. You know what you don't lack, Rome? Options. I'm telling you, man. Take them."

Maybe he just hadn't met his Ron. When he did, he'd get it. On the other hand, maybe he never would and was okay with that. I didn't operate that way. It wasn't as simple as getting it wet with another girl. What I had done was throw away a relationship with the woman I loved because I was an idiot and thought I was doing the right thing by her. I was an idiot for thinking I'd be able to just move on, too.

I just didn't want the mistake to mean that I'd fucked up every last chance that we had together. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing I didn't fight for this. It still sucked, though. She was pushing me away, and it felt like shit.

"You good?" Don asked as I started on my third beer.

"Great," I said sarcastically. He said he was going to get us some more shots and stood up, walking to the bar. I looked at my bottle wishing I hadn't driven here. Then I could really get wasted. Maybe even drunk enough to take Don's advice. He came back with a tray of shots and set it on the table. I counted them, then counted again because I was sure I was seeing double. I looked up and saw him herding two girls into our booth. The blonde and Gina from earlier.

He introduced me to the women, to the blonde in particular as she sat next to me. Packed into the booth it wasn't a tight squeeze, but I was immediately uncomfortable with having her there.

What had Don told her? I hoped he hadn't promised her anything. I had enough alcohol in me where I didn't know whether I'd say fuck it and take her home or send her on her way disappointed. He doled the shots out, making a toast. I sucked it down, feeling it burn. Yep, that was it for me, I was cutting myself off.

"So, you play football," the blonde said to me. She was Kayleigh.

"I used to." She told me that she liked that, putting her hand on my thigh. I thanked her and offered to get her a drink. She took that as encouragement, running her hand up my leg, closer and closer to my crotch. I tried to distract her asking about her friend, the third girl who hadn't come over with Don. Apparently, she was married and headed home early. Why was I jealous hearing that?

"Hey, Rome? You good?" Don asked.

"What?" I asked. The hand was gone, but she had moved closer and closer the whole conversation, pressed against me.

"Gina and I are gonna head out. You'll make sure Kayleigh gets home safe. Won't you?" he asked, winking. He was about to score and thought I was, too. That had been his plan from the start bringing the girls over.

"You have nothing to worry about," I said to Gina, not him. The girls said bye and as soon as Roman and Gina were out of sight, Kayleigh’s hand was back on my thigh.

"You wanna get out of here?" she asked. It wasn't fair to compare her to Ron; I was heavily, heavily biased. She was pretty. Her skin was tanned, even though I didn't know how she got that much color this early in the summer. Her eyes were hazel, rimmed with black makeup, and her lips glossy.

"Sorry about it, Kayleigh. Not tonight," I said.