Sam stares at her from across the bar and his heart skips a beat. Did she really smile at him?
His mind tries to go through all the possibilities: He talks to her and she turns him down, that was the most likely scenario. He talks to her and she finds out how boring he is, that was what he was afraid of, he was never the best conversationalist. He talks to her and he gets her number, that would be incredibly unlikely but fortune favors the bold.
Sam downs his liquid courage and prepares himself. “Do you come here often?” No, that was too cliché. “Do you play soccer, ‘cause you’re a keeper?” Too corny, she would probably walk away before he finished. “I can’t help but notice how beautiful you were from across the room.” Direct and straight to the point, maybe that will work.
He walks towards her and his mind draws a blank. She’s even lovelier up close. Sam stutters and his mind races to find words of any kind to start with, finally it settles with “Hello, I’m Sam.”
She smiles back and giggles. “That’s funny, my name’s Samantha. It’s nice to meet you.”
“You’re name’s also Sam? What a coincidence.” The inside of his head is a mess alternating between finding topics to talk about and thinking about how melodic her voice is.
“Do you mind keeping me company? I was supposed to meet my friends here but they aren’t coming so I’m just here all alone.” She smiles again and Sam is caught offguard.
“…sure, that’s no problem.” He gulps and hopes that he can do this. “Do you come here often?”
“Not really, I’m not into bars like this. I like any place with a dance floor. I was just here for a friend.”
“What happened to them?”
“Some emergency at home, now I’m all dressed up with nothing to do.”
“I’m sure we can find something you’re interested in.” Sam smiled, but in his head he was praying that line would work.
“What do you have in mind?” She asked.
“I know a place that you might be interested in. The dance floor’s pretty big and the DJ’s supposed to be amazing. I mean, if you don’t mind going with me.”
“Why not? Might as well salvage this night.” She takes his hand and his mind is filled with fireworks.
Tonight was a welcome surprise.
How did he end up here?
They went dancing, that much he knew. Maybe had one too many drinks. He remembered leaving his car at the club because he was too tipsy to drink, and now…
Now he was with a beautiful girl in her apartment. Their clothes were on the floor and their lips were locked.
He couldn’t believe this was happening to someone like him. He was at the bar to drown his sorrows after losing his job, he never expected to end up like this. Sadness could wait, now was his time to enjoy.
Sam pushed away all the doubts that usually plagued his mind, they were unwelcome in this moment.
He can feel the heat from her skin, and the warmth of her breath on his neck. He wanted to caress every crevice of her body. She dug her nails on his back, it may have hurt but there was too much adrenaline between them for him to notice.
He looked into her eyes and saw something, what was it? His mind brushed that thought away, he wanted to focus on what was happening.
He leaned back and basked in her beauty. This was real. This was the moment. This was all that mattered.
If he paid attention he would have noticed when her nails grew longer and her teeth became sharper.
Sam finished her midnight meal and put on her clothes.
It was another night of cleaning up, but at least she had a good meal out of it.
She still couldn’t believe her game still worked.
Men were so predictable.
Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the Mandarangkal myths
Mandarangkal Illustration by Julius Arboleda