The week went by slow as usual and nothing spectacular happened either. Walking Lainie, meeting Jamie, going to Uni, walking Lainie again- well, you get the idea.
I haven't seen the mysterious jogger again, though. Not that I was specifically looking for him but it wouldn't have been surprising to see him again, since we always walk to that same park in the morning.
Saturday arrived and I spent all day thinking about how I could maybe still get out of this. But knowing Jamie, there really was no way of not going.
I decided to put on denim skinny jeans and a black open shoulder top. Since I haven't done my make up in a long time, I wanted to put some more effort into it. I've filled in my eyebrows, put on eyeshadow and mascara and a dark red lipstick. "You still got it, Ames", I thought to myself, as I checked the mirror one last time. "Not so sure about the lipstick, though"
I removed the deep red from my lips and smiled a little as I felt quite good about my appearance that night.
After two pumps of perfume and filling up Lainie's food bowl, I put on my coat, grabbed my purse and made my way to The Oak Tree.
When I arrived, Jamie was fashionably late. I've decided to wait outside even though it was quite cold.
"Amy?", I would recognise this squeaky voice anywhere. I turned around and saw a grinning Audrey walking towards me. I remember how much I was hoping she didn't come here with Jason. "How are you holding up, girl? It's been so long"
I forced a smile and pressed out a quick "Hi".
I hate the way Audrey is always so cheerful and how she acts as if we're friends when in reality we both just can't stand each other. I knew she only came over to rub whatever is going on between her and Jason into my face.
"I didn't know you knew about The Oak Tree as well. It doesn't seem like your kind of scene", I said.
"Oh, well", she grinned and I knew what was coming my way. "Jason showed me this place a couple of weeks ago and I quite like watching the science students embarrass themselves on stage" She laughed and I felt like I had to throw up at the sound of that. "And what brings you here? A date maybe?", she smirked.
"I uh-"
"Amyy!", Jamie came to my rescue and pulled me inside without even looking at Audrey.
We sat down at a booth close to the bar and Jamie asked what I want to drink.
"Something with a lot of alcohol in it", I said before resting my elbows on the table and letting my face fall into my hands.
Jamie got up and rushed to the bar.
I could see Audrey walking in with a couple of girls, laughing. As much as I hated seeing her smile, I was glad to see Jason wasn't with her.
We had a couple of drinks and Jamie decided she wants us to do a duet but after playing the "my ex boyfriend's new girl is here"- card she accepted my refusal. Because we both had a few too many drinks already, she decided to do a solo instead. "Order another round for us for when I get back", she said and stumbled on towards the stage. I giggled and made my way to the bar. The melody to Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" started playing as I reached the bar and I burst out in laughter.
Jamie used to do an amazing Broadway-worthy performance to this one in my parents living room when we were younger.
I was laughing so hard, I stumbled to the side and bumped into someone. "Sorry", I laughed and held onto the strangers arm with one hand and onto the bar with my other one.
"You have a weird way of greeting people by knocking yourself over"
I looked up and recognised the jogger from the park grinning back at me. Only now he obviously wasn't in his sportswear but in black skinny jeans and a black button up with tiny white dots all over it. Even though it was quite warm inside he was also wearing a black leather coat on top. I have to admit he looked even better than the first time we met. And his cologne smelled really nice as well.
"Oh!", I exclaimed. "I'm so sorry"
"That's alright. If that's what it takes to meet you again, I can take it", he laughed and gestured to the empty bar stool next to him.
I blushed a little but felt a somehow dizzy anyway so decided to actually sit down for a second before I knock someone else over.
The barkeeper came over and asked for my order. "Two more", I said pointing to the table Jamie and I sat at.
I could feel the man's eyes on me but he turned away laughing silently when I raised my eyebrow at him as if to say "What?"
"So what do you do when you're not strolling around bumping into people?", he asked playing with the beer bottle in his hand and tilting his head to the side to look at me.
"I'm a student at-", I saw Audrey making her way to the bar. We shared a brief moment of eye contact before I turned to the stranger in front of me again. "Pretend I said something funny!", I blurted out.
He looked confused for a second but burst out into laughter immediately, resting his one hand on my shoulder and holding his belly with the other. He squeezed his eyes shut and had his mouth wide open which made me actually laugh along authentically.
Of course my poor attempt of preventing this from happening, didn't stop Audrey from coming over.
"Amy!", she fake smiled. "You having a good time?"
I nervously shifted in my seat and forced myself to smile as well. The stranger let his hand slowly slide down my arm and then pulled it back onto his lap, taking a sip from his beer.
"I don't think we've met", Audrey turned to him. He looked at her, still drinking and raised an eyebrow. "I'm Audrey", she then added. He put his beer down on the bar and instead of replying to Audrey he turned around and ordered another one. I covered my mouth to keep myself from laughing out loud.
Of course Audrey couldn't let it go though and turned back to me: "So.. who is your awfully quiet friend here, Ames?"
I always hated when she called me that as if we were friends, so in my rage I grabbed the strangers hand, which made him turn around a little surprised. "That's-", I started mumbling. "That's Chris. He's not from around here"
He looked at me in confusion and I squeezed his hand a little. I wasn't even looking at him, I was smiling at Audrey but I knew he was smirking.
"Well", Audrey started. "It was nice meeting you, Chris. Maybe I'll see you around." He gave her a halfhearted smile and intertwined his fingers with mine before she turned to me with one last glance at our hands. 'Chris' started caressing the back of my hand with his fingers and Audrey's eyes widened a bit. "Amy", was all she said before grabbing her drink from the bar and walking back to her minions.
As soon as she was out of sight, I pulled my hand away and used it to cover my face. "I'm so sorry. Oh God", I mumbled into it.
"I'll be your Chris anytime", he laughed and I blushed again.
"I'm so sorry", I blurted out again. "I shouldn't have done that"
He gave me a light smile and put his hand on top of mine, that was now resting on the bar again, locking eyes with mine. "Don't worry about it"
There it was again. His soft voice.
"You're a really good actor, you know?", I tried to get the awkwardness out of the way. "I mean, that laugh? Really convincing"
He chuckled and then shrugged: "Natural talent"
"So am I supposed to call you Chris for further interactions or will you tell me your real name?",I laughed.
"You can call me whatever you want", he smirked and took a sip from his new bottle of beer.
Thinking back now, the amount of blushing in those few minutes is actually embarrassing.
I didn't know what to say to that, so I nervously pulled my hair behind my ear.
"Sebastian", he said after a while. "My name is Sebastian"
"Well, Sebastian", I smiled. "It was nice bumping into you again"
Looking over to the stage, I saw that Jamie was just making her way over here.
"Are you leaving already after these?", he asked pointing at mine and Jamie's drinks in front of me.
"I think my friend and I have had enough for today", I laughed."Clearly." Jamie came stumbling over and just about caught my arm, otherwise she would've crashed to the floor.
Sebastian laughed: "Clearly."
Smiling, I got up and put my arm around Jamie.
"Well", he added with a light smirk. "Too bad"
Jamie lifted her head, looking at me and then at him.
"Why don't you join us at our booth?", she said to him then.
Before I could say anything else he shrugged and said "Sure", grabbing his bottle. He paid for our drinks and we walked back to our booth. Sebastian sat down beside me and I couldn't help but notice Jamie's big grin at the sight of that.
