A Life Less Ordinary (25 page)

“Another?”
he asked.

She
checked her bottle and shrugged.

“Sure. 
Why the hell not?”

~~~~~

Babe
kissed Zeke the second the bar door closed behind them and they stumbled across
the paved road, laughing between deep, searching kisses, their hands fumbling
at the other person’s clothes.

They
finally made it to Zeke’s motel room and Babe pressed him against the door, devouring
his mouth and then his neck as Zeke fumbled for his room key, which Babe
seductively removed from his fingers and used to open the door, all without
losing their grip on each other.  Zeke stumbled backwards into the room,
laughing as they almost fell to the floor.

Zeke
retained enough presence of mind to remember to take the key from the lock as
the door closed behind them. 

It
was the last rational thought he had for awhile.

~~~~~

Manny
nursed her beer for a half hour, listening to the band warm up and chatting
idly with the bartender and the people on either side of her.  She noticed
people were still coming in and as far as she could tell, there were no longer
any empty tables or chairs to be seen.

She
regretfully swallowed the last of her beer and lowered it with a sigh.  She
began to fumble with her purse, motioning to the bartender for her tab.

“You
can’t leave now!” he protested loudly, and Manny froze, her eyes wide as
everyone within earshot echoed his sentiments.

“Ladies
and gentlemen!”

Manny
twisted around to look at the stage as almost everyone else burst into loud,
raucous cheers and whistles, stomping their feet and clapping.

Shit. 
Have we dropped into the middle of a Stephen King novel?

I
sincerely hope not.
 

Let
me tell you, I’ll be seriously pissed if we have.

Manny
swallowed.

The
emcee waited for the noise to die down before he asked the crowd, “What night
is it?”

Everyone
roared, “Friday!”

“I
can’t hear you! 
What night is it?
”

“
Friday!
”

“That’s
right!  And you know what that means!”

The
crowd burst into a cacophony of noise.

“That’s
right!  It’s time for -”

The
entire crowd shouted, “
Last Dancer Standing!
”

The
emcee waited for the cheers, whistles and applause to die down before he
continued.

“All
right, for those few of you who are new to our little town and our little bar –
and I can see a couple of you – Last Dancer Standing is our Friday night dance
contest.  We sort everyone in the bar into twenty teams.  Each member of the
team then takes a turn in a line dance.  Those who dance the best get to stay
for the next round.  Those who don’t, are eliminated.  We continue until we
have the -” he pointed to the crowd.

“
Last
Dancer Standing!
”

“Exactly! 
The team with the -”

“
Last
Dancer Standing!
”

“-
gets two free drinks
for every member of the team, and an appetizer to share with their teammates. 
The next four teams get an appetizer to share with their teammates.  Now, there
are two things that new people need to know.  Number one:  the teams are
randomly assigned.  And number two:  no one sits out this contest. 
No one!
 
If you can wiggle a finger – hell, if you can wiggle your nose – you’re in the
contest!  Now, at some point tonight, your bartender or waitress will have
given you a little square coaster.  On the back of it you’ll find the name of
your team; there’s a matching centre-piece on one of the tables in this bar. 
When I say “go” - find your teams!”  He paused dramatically.

Manny
could see Harvey from the corner of her eye.  He was leaning against the bar
beside her, munching on popcorn.  A huge grin split his face and his dark eyes
were bright with interest.

Oh,
this
ought to be
fun
!

“
Go!
”

~~~~~

Zeke
stared up at the ceiling, Babe’s head pillowed on his bare chest.  She was
dozing lightly, her breath ghosting across his skin, one long, shapely leg
draped over his.  He frowned as he lightly stroked his fingers against her
shoulder and back.

“She’s
fine,” Babe said sleepily.

He
started and met Babe’s half-closed eyes.

“I
thought you were sleeping,” he murmured.

“Just
dozing.” 

She
smiled, leaned up and gave him a quick kiss, followed by a slower, deeper one. 
She dropped her head back to his shoulder.

“You
were worrying about her, weren’t you?” she continued sleepily, “your Auntie
Em?”

“Well,
I did leave her sitting alone in a bar in a strange town,” Zeke muttered
guiltily, shaking his head.

“This
is Ringo,” Babe laughed.  “Trust me, she’s probably safer in that bar than if
she was sitting in her own living room.”

Zeke
huffed a chuckle.  “Well, she was pretty tired.  We’d walked a long way today. 
I suspect she left almost immediately after we did.”

He
paused, remembering their walk to the motel, and flushed a little.

“Well,
hopefully not
immediately
after us,” he amended.

Babe
laughed huskily.  “Too bad if she did – it’s Friday night.”

Zeke
frowned down at the top of Babe’s tousled head.

“Yeah?”

“It’s
Last Dancer Standing.”

Zeke
laughed.  “Last Dancer -
what
?”

“Every
Friday night.  Everyone who’s in the bar has to participate.  Well, except
staff, of course.  Everyone’s put on a team and has to take at least one turn
line dancing.  Trust me, it’s a great time.”

Zeke
blinked at the thought of Manny sitting in a bar alone and having a dance
contest – with mandatory participation – suddenly rear its ugly head.  While
she’d certainly proven herself open to new experiences and meeting new people,
his mind boggled at the thought of Manny, with her tightly bound hair and
prudish-maiden-aunt face actually unwinding enough to
dance
, line or
otherwise.

He
would have loved to have seen her expression when she realized what was going
on, though.

“Zeke?”

“
Hmmm?  Oh – sorry. 
That sounds...cool,” he said and tried to give her a sincere smile.

“It
really is a great time and it gives everyone something to look forward to
during the week.”  Babe lifted her head and looked at the bedside clock.  “They
should be getting to the top ten in about thirty minutes.  Do you want to go
watch?”

Zeke
yawned and shifted into a more comfortable position.  “I don’t know...it’s been
a long day.  And strenuous,” he added with a wicked grin.

Babe
smiled seductively and purred, “It’ll help me get my second wind...”

“Let’s
go.”

~~~~~

Zeke
and Babe walked into the bar just as the emcee was introducing the top ten.

“This
has been a great night!  A record number of participants with lots of great –
and not so great – dancing.”

The
emcee paused as the crowd laughed and everyone looked towards one table where
one young man hid his face, then stood and gave the crowd a sweeping bow as
they applauded.

Zeke
glanced at Babe, one eyebrow raised.

“That’s
Mikey,” she shouted into his ear above the noise.  “He’s always the worst
dancer here, but he’s always willing to try.”

Mikey
sat down, the crowd quieted and the emcee continued.

“And
now we’re down to the top ten!  They’ve been given ten minutes to rehearse a
line dance for their chosen song.  When this dance is finished, we’ll determine
the top five who will then do one more dance after which there’ll be the -” he
pointed the microphone at the crowd.

“
Last
Dancer Standing
!” the crowd yelled, including Babe.

Zeke
grinned at Babe’s enthusiasm.  The crowd quieted as the band walked back on
stage and picked up their instruments.  They started playing a country song
that wasn’t familiar to Zeke but was apparently very popular with the ladies in
the crowd, judging from their whistles, catcalls and laughter.

He
crossed his arms and leaned casually against the wall, looking around the bar
with interest.  This was going to make a great story for his blog, he thought. 
He smiled indulgently at Babe who was moving to the music and singing the
lyrics beside him.  He blinked as the chorus began and the crowd erupted into
even louder screams and applause and whistles.  He looked at the dance floor
and his grin widened as he watched the ten women gyrating suggestively to the
music – at various levels of coordination and grace.  If these were the ten
best dancers in the bar, he thought, he would have hated to have seen the
others.

His
grin disappeared and he abruptly straightened when he realized the second woman
on the left was Manny – with her hair hanging down, her shirt tied up and
moving her shoulders and wiggling her ass like no prudish-maiden-aunt he’d ever
seen.

He
didn’t like it.

He
didn’t like it one bit.

He
watched, scowling furiously, as the dance finished to the cheers and hoots of
the crowd and he watched grimly as Manny bounded off the dance floor towards
two tables of people he assumed were her teammates judging from their cheers
and pats on her back.

He
met Babe’s quizzical look and he quickly smoothed his face into a smile.

“Manny’s
over there,” he said tilting his head and taking Babe’s hand.  “Let’s go say
hi.”

They
threaded their way through the crowd and came to a stop behind Manny just as
two waitresses delivered tequila shooters and small glasses of 7-Up to the
group.  Zeke watched with an unhappy frown as the drinks were distributed.

They
all lifted their shot glass, shouted “Slammers!”, tapped the glasses twice on
the table then drank the shot and chased it with 7-Up.

Zeke
waited until Manny put her glass back on the table before he leaned forward and
growled in her ear, “Isn’t it past your bedtime, Auntie Em?”

She
shrieked and spun around with a hand to her chest.  She gaped at him, her eyes
wide with shock, her cheeks flushed with exertion and tequila.  Then she caught
her breath and grinned.

“Zeke!”
she cried expansively, spreading her arms wide and almost hitting the person on
the other side of her.  “
Hi!
  Did you see me?”

Zeke
smiled coldly.  “Oh, I saw you.”

“Wasn’t
it
awesome
?  What a great idea for a contest!  This has been so much
fun!”  She spun back to the table and staggered slightly.

Zeke
quickly steadied her, his hands on her shoulders.

“Whoops,”
she said, laughing a little.  She looked over her shoulder at him through her
curtain of hair and grinned.  She leaned slightly towards him and whispered
conspiratorially, “Thanks – I’ve had a little bit to drink.”

She
turned her face back to the people at the table, leaned forward and cried,
“Hey, everybody!  This is Zeke!  Remember I told you about him?”

Zeke
was suddenly the focus of eight pairs of eyes and he hoped his face wasn’t
showing his growing anger with the situation, made even worse by the fact that
Manny was definitely more than a little drunk.  His Auntie Em who only ever
drank one or two beer before primly calling it a night.  Or the occasional
glass of wine with dinner or, he conceded, at a wedding reception.

This
Manny was shooting tequila like a pro and seemed perfectly comfortable with her
shirt tied at her waist over low-slung jeans that left her tummy exposed, a
tummy, he noticed, that poofed out a little above her waistband but was
otherwise surprisingly flat, considering how plump she was.

He
shook his head and quickly switched his attention to the other people at the
table who were loudly greeting his and Babe’s arrival.

Manny
spun back to him and said, “I wasn’t expecting you back tonight after you left
with...um...” She blinked at Babe, her brows furrowed as she searched her
memory.

“Babe,”
the woman in question offered with a gracious smile.

“Babe! 
Right, right, right.”

“You’ve
been having fun, I see,” Zeke drawled, watching as the waitress delivered
another round to the table.

“It’s
been a blast!”  Manny nodded emphatically then quickly shushed him as the emcee
called for the crowd’s attention.

“
We have the final
five!  The Margaritas!  The Rummies!  The Morgans!  The Slammers!  And the
Martinis!  Send up your dancers!”