Christina worked the hotel front desk at the University student center. She was a fourth year junior with a year to go on her Phys Ed major and worked a few nights and weekends for the extra cash. I was doing the same as a security guard, working while finishing my business degree that year. When I wasn’t walking my route or studying in the office, I spent most of my downtime hanging around the hotel lobby talking to all the cute hotel desk clerks, as did most security guards. Chris was freshly twenty one years with that slim college girl figure, but had good curves in good places, not to mention having some of the prettiest brown eyes I’ve ever seen on a girl to this day. And like most girls on campus, she wore her fair share of jeans and t-shirts to show off those curves, a look that will always turn heads, especially when accessorized with a baseball cap and a ponytail. Chris pulled that look off well, but for work, she had to dress it up a bit, which none of us minded cause that meant skirts to the knee that showcased her lower hourglass and those volleyball toned legs. On nights when she let her amber curls down, falling just below her shoulders, any guard talking to her was automatically considered on break, and the rest of us understood completely.

But Chris wasn’t just eye candy. She was a sweetheart to talk with and was as smart as she was pretty. I she explained to me once the physiology of the ankle I twisted playing basketball at the rec center. I told her it was great that she knew all that, but did she know anything to stop the damn thing from hurting. She laughed and smiled and said, “Maybe,” with an eye-wink accent in her voice. Moments like that would happen every once in a while, where she would flirt with me, batting her eyes and running her fingers up and down my arm, but usually only when she wanted me to steal her a drink or some dessert from the cafeteria (I was security, I had keys, I had perks). I never really took her too seriously when she flirted. I thought I was just one of the many that she bewildered with her feminine charms. Of course, that didn’t stop me from trying to distinguish myself by making her laugh as often as possible, but it was more for seeing that smile along with those eyes whenever she laughed. Sometimes, I would make her laugh so hard she would let out one of those little laugh-snorts, then she would laugh even harder, which, of course, made her even prettier. We were good friends, but I would wonder once in a while if she would ever go for a guy like me. Then I’d hear the voice in my head say, “Yeah right. She can have anyone she wants to, so what makes you think that she’d dig you?” Even though she was single most of the time I knew her, I couldn’t help but think that she was way out of my league.

The school year passed and brought us to the end of finals week. I had already stopped working at the student center for a month and a half, finished all my finals, and with two days to graduation, I figured I’d get every last minute of my college partying done. My roommate Jay and I promised ourselves we would “Ride the Rail” at Molly’s before I left town, which meant drinking all 12 beers they carried on tap for the honor of bragging rights and a free T-shirt. So we headed out on our quest that Thursday, along with his girlfriend Cheryl, and her friends Lily, Michelle, and another girl whose name I can’t recall, but played a definitive role in the course of events that evening.

Michelle was Cheryl’s roommate, and from what Cheryl told me, Michelle had been diggin’ me since she met me at the beginning of the year. I thought it was sweet and thought Michelle was a nice enough person, but I knew she wasn’t the girl for me. She was overbearing and unnecessarily pushy and thought she was cuter than she really was, which made her that much less cute. I just wasn’t attracted to her, so I avoided her passes and romantic innuendos with amazing accuracy for the entire year.

On the flip side of the spectrum, I met Lily for the very first time that evening. We talked a lot while all of us were pre-drinking at our apartment before we left for the bar. She had a great smile and was easy to talk to. Our conversation brought out one of those soul connecting moments, not in that “let’s get naked” kind of way, but in that “I dig where your coming from” kind of way. She was graduating that year as well and was engaged to her long term back home. Her face lit up when she talked about graduating, getting married, and how great her future was looking.

It was cool to talking Lily, someone that had so much passion and happiness for life, but we could both tell Michelle was getting jealous of our connection, so as the night and the drinks progressed, so did Michelle’s attempts to get as close to me as possible. As she pushed into my conversations with anyone and everyone else, she would put her arm around me, or lean her head on my shoulder, or put her hand on my knee or my back or a few of my other places that pain me to mention. Even with all the alcohol in my system, my skin would shiver whenever she touched me. Lily stayed on the sidelines to everything that was going on and shot me these cheesy smiling looks, laughing on the inside about the whole thing. I shot her looks back that ranged from disgust and terror to nausea and mild illness.

Though Cheryl, Lily, and Michelle didn’t attempt to ride the rail with us, their other friend tried to match me and Jay drink for drink. We were on round 10 when we all happened to notice nameless girl wasn’t looking to healthy. Before anyone could finish asking her, “Are you okay?” she proceeded to throw up into her beer glass. This may have caused a lot of attention at other bars, but at a college bar like Molly’s, you might as well just keep score. The girls quietly walked her to the bathroom to clean her up and see if she if she could be salvaged for the evening while Jay and I finished off rounds 11 and 12. When they got back, Cheryl said she was going to take her friend home, which meant that Jay was going with her, which meant leaving me alone with Lily and Michelle, which I had mixed feelings about but went along with because I was drunk.

Jay and Cheryl said they’d get her friend home and into bed, then meet back up with us at the club next door. We were all pretty hammered, but we still wanted to drink and dance into the morning hours. As Lily, Michelle, and I walked over, Lily took my hand, pulled me close, and asked me, “Are you gonna be alright? Michelle’s pretty wasted and I think she wants…” I cut Lily off with a heavy sigh and said, “I know, I know. I think I’m gonna need your help with that.” Lily smiled, winked at me, and never let go of my hand. We felt Michelle’s envy burning through us as she followed a few steps behind, watching me and Lily hold hands and share a secret conversation, but Lily and I were having a drunken good time, so it didn’t matter so much to us then.

The club was dark and loud and body to body, so we had to fight our way out on to the dance floor. Lily and I started dancing together, and for a moment, I had one of those “all things are right with the world” feelings. Next thing I know, I started to feel hands and fingers all over my arms and my back and my other places that pain me to mention, and I felt that shiver in my skin again. I realized that if you’re trying to avoid someone touching you, it’s a bad idea to be dancing next to them at a club on a body to body dance floor. So my dance floor strategy was to dance myself away from Michelle. I stepped and turned and moved around, trying to dance myself behind Lily, getting her between me and Michelle. It would work for a little while, but then I’d feel those hands and get that ill feeling again. I felt unclean and disgusting, like Michelle was a hungry butcher and I was a raw side of beef on a dirty cutting board. Lily just smiled and laughed at me the whole time.

After a short while, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I danced back behind Lily, grabbed her shoulders, pulled her to me, and said right into her ear, “Help me!” She turned and smiled, then turned back to Michelle and said, “We’re gonna go get a drink,” and before Michelle could even respond with an, “okay, I’ll come with,” Lily clamped down on my hand and yanked me off the dance floor, moving like we just robbed the register. I looked back and saw Michelle fighting the crowd to follow us, but Lily just kept on pulling me through, pushing through the crowd like fullback running a lead block. We stopped when we found the far end of the bar and I thought we were safe, so I hugged Lily a thank you and let go of her hand.

I looked back to see if Michelle was in sight, and turns out she was. She saw me and started to maneuver through the masses towards me. I turned to tell Lily, but Lily had disappeared! It was too dark and I was too drunk and I lost her in the crowd! I turned again and saw Michelle gaining ground, so I panicked and bolted across the bar towards the bathrooms.

Just before I reach the men’s room, I happened to look over to my right, and a pretty girl with long amber curls wearing a white t-shirt and jeans catches my eye. It was Christina from the hotel desk. She was sitting on one of the floor speakers against the wall with a beer in hand, dancing and singing and smiling, having a drunken good time like the rest of the bar. I made my way to her to say hey. She saw me coming and let out this big, “Oh My God!” then spilled her beer when she tried to put it down next to her. She threw her arms around me and rocked us back and forth as we hugged. I put my arms around her and pulled myself into her. I told her how good she looked and she told me how much she missed me at the student center. My mind got lost in the moment, wondering how I got this girl, this beautiful girl, this out of my league girl, into my arms.

Then reality crashed and I remembered being hunted by Michelle the drunken groper. Chris and I hadn’t let go of each other yet, and because she could see what was happening behind me, I asked her, “Hey, do you see a blond girl that looks like she’s looking for me?” Chris said, “Hold on…Wait…Yeah, she sees you. She’s coming this way.” I said, “Oh shit!”, and tried to pull away, ready to evade capture. Chris told me, “Wait a second,” and I felt her arms get tighter. Chris wasn’t letting me go, and I could feel Michelle getting closer and closer. All the while, Chris was just holding me and saying, “Wait, just wait.” My heart started pounding and I could feel the panic rushing through me again. What was she doing? What was I going to do? What the hell was going to happen?

I felt Chris’ arms let loose a little, so I started to pull away, looking for a direction to run. But Chris stopped me, keeping her arms crossed behind my neck. I turned to her with frustration and confusion on my face, but she just looked back at me with that smile along with those pretty brown eyes, and that’s all it took to paralyze me standing there.

Next thing I know, Chris ran her hands from the back of my neck up through my hair, pulling me back to her as she closed her eyes and tilted her head a little to the left

and she kissed me.

Between the panic and frustration and bliss and disbelief and alcohol, my mind was spinning, still wondering what was happening even though I was in the middle of it all. But despite my confused state of mind, that kiss was one of the most amazing kisses I’ve been lucky enough to experience. I don’t remember how long it lasted, but the moment seemed like both a second and an eternity. Either way, I know now that the moment, that unforgettable moment of an incredible kiss, will last forever.

Chris gently pulled back and our lips parted. She let out a heavy sigh and I felt her warm breath on my face for a second, then we opened our eyes and they met again, mine still in a mild state of disarray. Chris diverted her eyes for a moment to survey the room, then said to me, “Okay, she’s gone.”

Still holding her and never taking my eyes from her, I smiled and said, “You didn’t have to do that.”

Chris looked back at me with those eyes and that smile and said with that eye-wink accent, “But I wanted to.”

So I stopped running and stopped wondering and ran my hands up her back to the nape of her neck, pulling her back into me as I closed my eyes and tilted my head a little to the right

and I
kissed
her.

Copyright © 2007 Dempsey Lagrimas Jr.