Page 3 of See You Soon

"Shut up Ari. You need to loosen up, finally sleep with someone, have fun, military or not, because guess what, he's coming back to you in three, two..." Meredith was no longer looking at me but rather looking at someone behind me. My eyes widen and butterflies start heavily, thrashing around inside of me. Meredith starts to walk away, disappearing into the crowd as I feel a tap on my shoulder. I bite my lip and turn around, slowly.

Unsurprisingly, I turn around to the same man at the bar but now he’s towering over me. He’s tall, my guess is over six feet easily and a nervous smile spreads across my face.

Now that he’s standing in front of me, his muscles are on full display, his frame was massive and I can tell he keeps up with his physical fitness. He’s intimidating and it’s hard for me to look him in the eyes without the hot warmth in my cheeks burning. My heart’s pounding from the immediate attraction. His straight white teeth with sharp incisors are pulled into an irresistible smile and I can't help but notice his dark blonde facial hair is grown out over his jawline. It's sexy.

"Danny."

He reaches his hand out for mine to shake and I’m hesitant to take it. This feels like a bigger moment than it is. Like I can already see our ending before it begins. Grabbing his rough textured hand in my small one, he squeezes me gently.

"Ari."

Chapter2

ari

Danny still has my hand in his, shaking it. He smiles and I laugh as we shake hands awkwardly longer than usual.He knows what he’s doing.

"Did you want to dance?" I ask. His hand is still shaking mine.

"No." He stops shaking my hand and instead leads me toward an empty table away from the dance floor. I follow him, with my hand holding his. My eyebrows raise at his curt reply.

No? I guess he's not the dancing type. Neither am I.

"I want to get to know you more and can't really do that on the dance floor while the music is blasting really loud." He pulls out a chair in front of me and I sit down.

"That's fair... what would you like to know?"

"What's a girl like you doing in a bar like this?" Danny sits down in front of me.

"Well, I just graduated nursing school. I'm stressed. Happy. Relieved. I don't go out often at all but tonight was special, to say the least."

"Huh." Danny studies me before continuing. "Well, congratulations."

"And what about you, this doesn't really seem like your type of scene,marine." I gesture towards the building.

"Sailor, actually."

Oh, Navy.

I nod, the conversation sinking into me while I admire the mystery of Danny.

Did I really want to get more involved in this conversation?

The more I talk to Danny, the more intrigued I was, and I really had my walls up from my past relationship with a marine. Military is military, it's all the same to me.

"What'sa girl like methen, what did you mean by that?” I ask, referring to his first question.

He pauses, and he squints at me.

"Broken."

His tone is serious, his gaze trying to figure me out. His smile gets replaced by his beer. He takes a sip but he’s still staring straight at me. For the first time since we met, I was a bit speechless. I didn't know what to say.

How did this stranger know what I’m truly feeling inside?

There was a pause between us. Moments were going by in silence as Danny waits for me to respond.

I can feel my throat tightening up and I want to cry. I let out a short laugh as my eyes water. I blink the tears away, hoping he won’t notice. I look at the dancing crowd behind Danny, trying to look for Meredith as a sense of distraction.