He looks over towards her, how beautiful she is, he thinks to himself as she catches his wandering eyes and smiles, her cheeks flush as they get hit by a rush of blood, he returns the smile with his own and picks up his glass and walks over to her.

“Do you mind?” He asks, motioning to the empty seat beside her.

“No, please, company would be a grand adventure,” she says, playing with the straw in her drink.

“I’m Derek, and you are?”

“Do we really need to know names?” She asks with a laugh.

“Names are given to us so we not only know when we are spoken to, but to also allow others to know what to call us when they are in fits of ecstasy.”

She laughs again, “Sure of yourself,” she says as she twists the straw around in her glass, stirring the liquid into a whirlpool like state.

“I’m neither sure, nor unsure, but it always helps to be prepared,” he says with a broad smile.

“Jessica,” she replies, as she places a hand on his, he feels a coldness rush through his body from her touch, he nervously smiles, as he feels his foot begin to jiggle up and down sporadically, as if someone had just turned on a jackhammer. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sorry, I don’t know what’s come over me,” he says as he grabs his leg with both hands and pushes it to the ground firmly.

She smiles and laughs, “How long?”

“Sorry?”

“How longs it been since you’ve been out here, in the real world?”

“Is it that obvious?”

She laughs once more, “Very, I’d say a few years, six maybe?”

“Eight.”

She smiles, “Divorced?”

“Separated.”

“You or her?”

“I caught her screwing our next door neighbour three weeks ago, apparently they’d been doing it for some time, so I’d say me.”

“Kids?”

“Two, Kevin and Sally, you always this thorough?”

“Only when I’m interested.”

He smiles, “So how about you?”

“All of the above, a year ago I discovered my husband had been sleeping with my brother, when I say discovered, I mean I caught them fucking in our bed. I’d been away for work and came home early, with all intentions of surprising him, and well, found them doing the deed. So, I left, moved out here and started a new life.”

“How’s it working out?”

“Honestly, some days it’s the worst decision I made, others, it’s the best, how about you? Regret anything yet?”

“Not hitting the neighbour, that’s a big regret,” he says with a laugh.

“There’s still time for that, believe me.”

“Nah, I wouldn’t give either of them the satisfaction, I’m after the be happy bullshit, that always seems to be the winner.”

“Ah yes, be happy, otherwise called, lie your arse off to them and hope they get jealous.”

“Something like that.”

“So Derek, now that we know each other a bit better, do you want to get out of here and find somewhere a little more elegant, so we can continue getting to know each other? This place is a total dive.”

“You’re the one who picked this place not me.”

She smiles and slaps him on the arm, “Stay in character honey.”

 

END

 

Elegant is today’s Daily Prompt