smile. Either he heard us, or he was reading our minds.
“I don’t know, but it seems like we’re going to be in for a
pretty good night,” I said. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. What was she
thinking? Was she thinking she was going to have him tonight? Did she think I
was going to just sit back and let her have her way with him? Well, it was her
birthday after all, but I guess I still wasn’t sure.
Before I could continue down that negative train of thought,
a waitress appeared, and Blake gave her a hug. He
seemed to know everyone in the place, and certainly had us guessing as to who
he really was. She came over to ask us what mixers we wanted, and Blake whipped
out his wallet and handed her a black American Express card.
Who is this guy ?
Hallie and I kept looking at each other every time someone
recognized him. He certainly wasn’t a celebrity, but he was definitely treated
like one.
“You guys having fun?” he asked, as the waitress poured a tray full of shots for the group.
“Yes,” we both said, trying to be heard over the loud
thumping music. We were right next to the DJ booth, which was suspended over
the dance floor on the balcony. He was some famous DJ that people kept trying
to get photos of, and he was very much into the music. You could see him
thumping and moving around with the beats he was playing. It was almost like a
show in and of itself.
“What shall we cheers to,” Blake asked, holding his shot
glass up to ours.
I looked at Hallie again, and we both smiled. “Cheers to the good life,” I said.
“To the good life,” he said, and Hallie repeated it. We took
the shots down, and immediately had another one in front of us.
“Okay, one more to get us going, then we can pace ourselves
with some regular drinks.”
Pace ourselves ? I was already feeling drunk. I don’t imagine
there was going to be pacing on anyone’s part that night. But I smiled and
laughed anyways, taking the next shot, which was the smoothest tequila I had
ever tasted.
“Wow, what was that tequila?” I asked.
“Pretty good right?” he asked, smiling again. He was
probably underplaying it. I didn’t want to come off corny and ask him who he was, but I really wanted to. I could tell that Hallie
didn’t really care because at that point, she was dancing and grooving in
place. We had a small section of the balcony to ourselves, so we could move
around within the velvet-roped off VIP area we were in.
“I’m glad we met you tonight,” said Hallie.
I shot her a quick glance. We? Not we, me.
“I’m glad I met you guys as well,” he said, but he was
looking right at me when he said it. I could feel that energy exuding from him.
I knew that look. I knew it all too well, and I could see Hallie get uneasy.
“I have an idea,” he said.
“Oh?” Hallie asked. She seemed just as interested as I was.
“How about we have some real fun tonight,” he said.
“Real fun?” I asked. I was game for just about anything.
“Yes, real fun,” he said. I could see Hallie’s eyes light
up.
“Sure, I think,” I said.
“Yes!” Hallie acting far too overzealous, but it was her
birthday after all.
Then, Blake put his hand in his pocket and brought us near
him. We huddled together, and he opened his hand up to reveal greenish-blue colored
pills with little skulls on them.
“What’s that?” I asked.
Hallie just smiled. We knew what it was. We knew all too
well.
“These are happy pills,” he said, with the widest smile I
had seen on his face that night. “I think that the occasion calls for it, don’t
you?” Blake said.
“Happy pills?” Hallie asked. I could see her smiling from
ear to ear. I don’t think she needed to be any happier than she was at that
very moment. I can’t recall ever seeing her more happy than that in fact. She
was ready for anything the night could bring. She nodded her head at me, vehemently.
I looked him in the eyes as he looked back and forth between
Hallie and I. I