By Micki L. Bailey

She sat at a big round table out in the front area of Stooges with several of their friends. This table was generally considered “their” table. It accommodated lots of people, and the view of most of the rest of the bar was great from here. It was a high table, so the chairs that “the gang” now sat in were tall.

Roger was, she presumed, still in the back room shooting pool with Sonny. After they arrived, he’d sat at the table with her and their circle of friends and chatted pleasantly, drinking beer from a mug and occasionally sliding his hand seductively up along the inside of her thigh, under her skirt. Making her wince uncontrollably while she tried to act as nonchalant about it as he did.

At her wince (or sometimes gasp), he would laugh a tiny laugh, sounding conveniently like a response to something that had just been said at the table. And she couldn’t resist glancing sideways at him, at his unmistakably stunning profile, and he would quickly wink at her with an affectionate little smile. She winced again, inside, with anticipation of him touching more than just her thigh later.

It had been months since they’d legally bonded with each other. And she was more in love with him now than she could ever begin to describe for anyone. Roger was her hero. Her healer and comforter. Her lover and best friend.

Her eyes scanned the rear of Stooges now, with the constant hope of landing on his utterly pleasing visage. But some of the pool room was barely in view from where they sat. So she redirected her attention back to Diane, who was humorously detailing Vinnie’s eating habits for the group.

Diane was an old friend (and flame) of Roger’s who’d met and fallen head over heels for Vinnie at the wedding. She presently lived and worked in advertising in Manhattan, but Vinnie was slowly persuading her to turn her too-short weekend visits into one permanent stay. Her beautiful brown eyes flashed wildly around the table now as she jokingly described Vinnie’s “barbaric” fist-hold on a fork.

“Just like a Cro-Magnon Man!” Diane said gleefully. Her perfect-complexion cheeks were flushed with her story and her red wine. Beth and Carolyn laughed, nodding their heads. Tricia, Tim’s date, smiled and licked salt off her margarita glass. Don had just left his seat by Carolyn for the jukebox.

Drew, one of the single guys in their group this evening, sat next to Roger’s prize, noticing the way she occasionally and sometimes unconsciously searched the whole place for her beloved. She and Drew were “buddies,” dance partners and confidantes. He watched out for her when Roger wasn’t around, and she watched out for him when he drank too much. They laughed together now at Diane’s melodramatic wit.

A short time later, the table next to “the gang” filled up very noisily with another group of rather rowdy friends. From her seat beside Drew, she glanced over at the commotion and instantly observed a striking young girl who seemed to be very animated and very much in control of the situation around her.

This young woman wore a fashionable floppy hat over her long, ivory-colored hair and looked to be about 18 years old. Her well-proportioned body wore the flower-print sun dress well, and her lively blue eyes missed nothing and no one at her table. She was young, gorgeous, and completely on top of things as she spoke loudly to her companions.

The “older” crowd at the other table briefly looked at each other and silently rolled their eyes. They were familiar with the Gen-xers and tolerated them now at their hangout. Even if they didn’t look old enough to be in such a place. Each to his own, right? So “the gang” quickly forgot about their boisterous neighbors and resumed their own conversation.

That is until about twenty minutes later when they all unmistakably heard the stylish blonde screech almost breathlessly to her friends. “Who in the hell is THAT?”

Drew nudged Roger’s wife, and she looked up just in time to watch the sleek and arresting Mr. Lococco saunter agilely across the room towards the bar. The tiny blonde highlights in his brown hair somehow caught the dim bar room lights. He wore tight black jeans, a black dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up (of course), and black scuffed boots. Glorious darkness.

As she expelled a gush of air from her lungs, she realized that the “youngster” had found him a feast for the eyes too and was gasping now at his presence. She glanced over at the girl and found her riveted to Roger’s every sultry move, spellbound by the sight of him. Then she turned her attention back to him, not wanting to waste a second of him.

“Hey! Check it out! Marilyn Monroe wants your man!” Carolyn whispered across the table to her.

“I think she just soaked her size two panties, babe!” Diane giggled quietly.

Roger calmly and coolly ordered another drink from the bartender. Then, without realizing the tremendous commotion he was creating, he turned and proceeded to walk back to the pool room where another game awaited him.

But just for one brief second did he glance over at his wife, where he knew instinctively she was sitting, and wink at her. Never did he notice that all eyes at two tables were on him. He saw only her, and her heart somersaulted in her ribcage. She smiled to herself.

“Omigod! That was beautiful! I gotta find that man! Do ya think he heard me? Was he winking at me?” The loud young fashion queen was really riled now, much more animated.

“No, Chloe. He COULDN’T have heard you over this music and noise. It was somebody else. Leave ‘im alone,” someone at her table told her, well within earshot of the neighboring table.

“What are you? Stoned? That’s the best thing I’ve seen in weeks! Didya see the way he moved? He’s incredible! Gotta have it.” She’d made her mind up.

“Chloe, he’s a lot older’n you are.”

“Fuck that shit! He’s pretty…………and he’s here…………So I’ll see you guys later.” Chloe had grabbed her tiny leather purse and was gone. In the direction Roger had gracefully glided off to.

At that same moment, coincidentally, the waiter approached “the gang’s” table with a delivery – a sparkling glass of cool white wine.

“Roger said ya might need this,” he said to her as he sat it down in front of her. “And he said to tell ya that he’d be back after the next game.”

She smiled at the waiter and sipped the wine. Roger was always taking care of her. Would she ever have enough time in the rest of their lives to thank him for it all?

“Hey!………Where are ya, hot pants? Ya gonna let that bim waltz her ass in there and seduce him?” Diane was laughing this question out. Her dark, Italian eyes beamed.

“Fuck no………..I’m not worried ‘bout her……….” She really wasn’t. “I know who Roger’ll be leaving with tonight.” And she really did. She was calm, unworried.

Diane chuckled and looked down into her glass. “Yeah……….I gotta hand it to ya, babe………You’re right about that.”

Drew put his arm around her. “But c’mon, sweet cakes…….Let’s tread on back there and check out what’s going on. It’ll be interesting. Whadaya say? Have a sense of adventure!” She looked at Drew and realized that he was completely serious. “Besides, I think ya can take that little girl.” He smiled.

She saw that they were all smiling at her. Waiting for her reaction. “Okay…….What the hell.”

So she picked up her newly acquired wine and allowed Drew to escort her to Stooges’ pool room where her black-clad husband was embroiled in a game with Tim, their downstairs neighbor.

Chloe had seated her pert self along the wall on a high stool very near their game table. Roger and Tim were ignoring their new attention, but Vinnie and Sonny, on stools of their own, eyed Chloe with interest.

Not wanting to be noticed, Drew and his companion sat down on the other side of the room, along that wall, behind Chloe, and watched the ensuing action. They watched Roger as he concentrated on winning, moving deftly and smoothly around the table, leaning over effortlessly and fluidly.

She could discern immediately that he knew she was now in the room although he hadn’t stolen one glance in her direction. She knew also that he was aware of Chloe’s adoring eyes on him. But outwardly he showed no signs of anything except his cunning and calculations to win the game. Her insides heated up just looking at him.

“Hey, can I play the winner?” Chloe asked in Roger’s direction. He ignored her.

“No, but you can sit right there and watch, darling,” Tim said, giving her a quick smile.

“Why can’t I play the winner?” Chloe was bouncing around on her bar stool, and Sonny, the gorgeous playboy of the bunch, was finding this activity quite interesting.

“’Cause I’m playing the winner,” Vinnie interjected from the corner. “Maybe next game, sweetheart.” He flashed Chloe a big, Elvis-like smile.

But Chloe wasn’t deterred. “Well, then……….Can I play HIM at a different table?” She pointed straight at Roger who continued to ignore her and the conversation. With pursed lips and squinted eyes, he was still slinking around the table, checking every angle and possibility.

“He’s winning, sugar. He’ll be here for awhile,” Tim said and picked up his beer mug.

“Damn!” Chloe exclaimed. “Well, he’s gotta lose sometime………..I’ll just wait.” She turned up her own glass.

“I’ll play ya, honey. What’s your name?” Sonny had stood up.

“Chloe. And thanks………but I’d rather just watch him play.” Oddly, Chloe didn’t seem impressed with Sonny. Her worshipful eyes were glued to Roger. So Sonny sat back down and shut up.

Vinnie laughed. “Hear that, Roga? Ya got yourself a cheerleader.”

Standing still now with his pool stick in his hand, Roger cut his eyes over at Chloe for the first time that night. She jumped a little at the electric jolt of his direct attention. But then she regained her full composure.

“Hi! I’m Chloe. Wanna play a game later?” she asked hopefully. “I’m really pretty good.”

Roger smiled for a half second, tapping the stick with his thumb. “Thanks for asking, but I’m a little busy right now.”

“Your shot, Roger. Try to get around THAT!” Tim said, diverting Roger’s attention back to the game at hand. Chloe’s moment of glory was gone.

“Maybe later………Roger? Is that your name?” She most certainly hadn’t given up.

Without looking back at her, he said, “Okay. Maybe later, sweet thing………..But I doubt it.”

“Why?” Chloe was beginning to sound as young as she looked.

Roger laughed almost inaudibly now as he stretched out gracefully to take his next shot. Instead of responding to her, he fired his intended ball in to the intended pocket.

Vinnie had been looking over at Drew and Roger’s wife, silently grinning at her finger to her lips urging him to be quiet about the other little game that was going on. He complied willingly.

Chloe pretended to pout for a moment, realizing that most male eyes in the room were on her – except the male whose eyes she most wanted on her. Then she tried yet again.

“Why do ya doubt it, Roger? Why can’t we play later? I’d really like to get to know ya better.”

Drew laughed out loud at this, but Chloe never even noticed. She was staring intently at Roger.

Roger, completing another shot, straightened up and cast his steely eyes on her again. He smiled as he held up his left hand. “Does this mean nothing to you? Don’t tell me ya didn’t see it.” As he twirled the thick gold band on his finger, it twinkled under the dim lights.

“Oh, I saw it, no doubt………..But I didn’t, and still don’t, see a wife to go with it.” Chloe showed what she thought was some real kahunas.

Roger chuckled. He was feeling especially tolerant this night, maybe even cheerful. He pointed the stick in his right hand to something/someone behind Chloe.

“She’s right there……….as pretty as you please.” He blew a kiss, and the intended recipient returned it with a smile. As if it had all been rehearsed. Then he looked back to Chloe, who was fidgetingly glancing back and forth at the two of them, confused.

“Now, if you’ll please excuse me, I’ll finish this pool game. My lovely better half is patiently waiting for me,” he said as he turned back to the table.

Drew had gotten up and walked over to the dumbfounded Chloe. He sympathetically took her hand now. “Hi. I’m Drew. Come over here for a second.” He lead her over to his “buddy” and introduced them.

“Sorry if we scared you,” she told Chloe. “Here’s a little more proof if ya need it.” She opened the locket around her neck, the locket Roger had given her just before their wedding, and showed Chloe their picture together. “And my ring matches his too.”

Chloe, quickly reconstituted, laughed. “Oh, I believe ya. I shoulda known better than to think something like that would be walking around unattached………..You’re a lucky woman.”

“I’m blessed……….The gods have smiled on me.”

Chloe looked confused again, so she changed the subject. And the three of them prattled on a few more minutes. Chloe had just turned 21 the week before, and she was beginning to spread her wings. They chatted about this and other simple subjects until Roger appeared mysteriously and suddenly out of the background. He was smiling.

“May I have this dance, my love?” he asked quietly and softly, holding out his palm.

“Of course you may.”

She accepted his hand and joined him. He wrapped his arm around her waist, lovingly hugging her close to him as they moved as one to the dance floor. Drew and Chloe watched them in silence. And maybe in envy.

“They’re a damn close couple, huh?” she finally said.

“Close? Hell, I’ve always thought that Death itself won’t be able to part those two, if ya know what I mean,” Drew answered.

On the dance floor, Roger held her fevered body next to his, caressing her shoulders and the small of her back. She melted into him, rested her mouth on his throat, and breathed in all of his scents. The salt on his skin was nectar to her lips. How lovely it felt to be in his warmth again, to be moving slowly against him, with him, feeling the blood rushing through him. Was there even any music? Did it matter?

“Chloe came in her panties when she first saw you tonight, honey,” she whispered in his ear.

“She’s just a kid……….Besides…….I’m spoken for.” He slid his fingers through her hair now and gently massaged the back of her neck.

“Yes, you are, sweetheart. And I’d hate to have to clean that sweet, young facial skin out from under my finger nails,” she said, again in his ear.

He laughed silently. She felt it rather than heard it. Then he tightened his grip on her. “Ahhh, baby, you’re the only one I can see. Don’tcha know that by now?”

“I know, Roger. And I love you………..endlessly.”

“I love you too, baby. Just you. Always you.”

They left for home after that dance to do things they considered very much in need of being done at that time. And they left Chloe in Drew’s company.

The next time they saw Chloe, she was again in Drew’s company. Their circle of friends had gained a lively new member.