Armani’s pov
I wouldn’t actually blame the reason for my loneliness on the fact that I’m always around lovebirds all day long, because I know damn well that I was lonely even when I was in Los Angeles.
But, perhaps, the fact that I’m always around a pair of lovebirds might have made me start to dwell more and more on the fact that I’m indeed lonely.
That’s what prompted me into deciding on visiting the club tonight, because I tried to fight that loneliness feeling away for a while, but nothing seemed to be working out no matter how much I tried.
Back in school, I had a total of three girlfriends throughput my school years.
None of those relationships were significant enough for me to actually miss anyone. I wouldn’t actually say I was the best boyfriend, because all those girls were the ones to end the relationship and not the other way round for once. But, I knew they never genuinely loved me, the second girlfriend, the one I got together with when I was in my second year, admitted that when I accused her of getting together with me for only what she could benefit from me.
Even though it felt like I finally got it right with the third one, in the second session of my third year, it had ended up with her requesting a breakup. In her words, her reasons were that I wasn’t dominant enough and wasn’t masculine enough. That hadn’t sat well with me and it had settled heavily in my stomach for months because I kept on pondering on it over and over again. She had unknowingly hit a stray chord with that one and it took a long while for me to finally stop thinking about it.
That usually weighted me down, which made me refrain from thinking about it too much when I got into my fourth and final year: due to all my past breakups, I decided to not bother trying for love at all in my fourth year, chosing to instead give my all to my studies and the investment I was overseeing on the side.
I shook my head to get rid of those thoughts and then I threw the rest of my drink backwards, while reminding myself that I wasn’t here tonight to dwell on those past thoughts but to loosen up and have fun tonight. Although, the fact that it didn’t seem like I was going to get on the dance floor for a second tonight was very stark in the middle of my mind as I motioned the bartender over and requested for a refill.
As the bartender mixed my drink, I found my eyes straying sideways once again and landing on the woman who was yet to leave my mind for a fleeting second. She had a rolled up smoke dancing from her lips and had her eyes closed and her head thrown back as her body lightly swayed from side to side, clearly just vibing to the music. I felt myself gulping emptily as I let my eyes slowly glide over her swaying body to linger on the curve of her hips and I felt myself cursing in my head over how outrageously hot she is.
“Want a drag?” Her voice made me snap my eyes off the curve of her hips to settle on her face, and to my shock, she still had her eyes closed and her head tilted backwards a little. A fleeting moment later, one of her eyes cracked open and she flicked her left hand in my direction, indicating that she had been referring to the rolled up smoke.
How she had realized that I had been staring at her while her eyes had been closed, felt insane to me.
I found myself staring at her for a few more moments before I awkwardly shook my left hand at her, which still had an unlit stick of cigarette in its loose grip as I responded. “Uh, thanks, but I have one over here.”
Her eyes landed on the unlit cigar for a moment and then one part of her lips twitched along with her left eyes, like she suddenly found something funny as she spoke next. “Do you actually really smoke?”
I instantly felt busted, like she had seen through me at once, and that made me get defensive at once, because the look in her eyes as she asked that question made me feel like I’m currently standing on shaky grounds. “What do you mean by that? Of course I do smoke.” I shot back at once.
The side of her lips twitched again and it looked like she wanted to say something next but decided against it almost immediately and instead settled on a hum before returning to taking a long drag from her stick. When she puffed the smoke out, the swirl of smoke oozed out slowly from her mouth and it looked so fucking hot, I felt desire lick up all my insides at once while I kept asking myself how it was possible for someone to be this insanely hot.
When she leveled me with a gaze in the next moment, it felt like she knew what she was currently doing to me, telling from the knowing, teasing gleam in her eyes right now. A fleeting moment later, she leaned towards my side, eyes dragging over my body as she spoke in a low, teasing voice.
“Wanna buy me a drink, cutie?”
A breath stuttered in my chest at once and I felt myself nodding instantly, because words chose to fail me in that moment. Having her this close was making me feel so many things at once, and nerves were definitely a part of them.
She regarded me for a few moments before flashing me a smile and then she shook her head before reaching out and caressing my cheeks in what I’d term as fond, right before she spoke. “Oh dear, you’re so fucking cute. But, I already have an open tab.”
I felt dumb when she pulled away from me and threw the rest of her drink down her throat.
I was still trying to figure out what had just went down between us and I was supposed to say next when she leaned towards me this time and declared.
“So, wanna leave here… with me?”