Izzy and Eli (2 page)

Izzy assured her best friend that she was a big girl (no pun intended) and she could take care of herself.

“Don’t worry about me, I think I’ll wait for Eli to get done with his act,” she said.

Nikki gave her a dazzling smile, not only because that released her from any further friend obligation, but she seemed genuinely happy Izzy was hanging out with a real live guy. Not some hero from one of her books.  Again, like Ben and Jerry, her book boyfriends were always there for her.

She watched Nikki and Chase negotiate their leaving, before he left, Chase stopped near Izzy on his way back to the stage to get his gear.

“Don’t let Eli fool you, he seems happy-go-lucky but he’s pretty sensitive.  Give him a chance and don’t make any assumptions about his intentions. Eli is a straight shooter. You can believe everything he says, yeah?” Chase said, giving her
the look
.  Izzy managed a nod.

“Good girl, have a great night.  And don’t worry I’ll take good care of Nikki. You’ll get her back safe and sound, I promise.”

With that he headed to the stage and then he escorted Nikki out the door.

Izzy sat and contemplated her drink. She was fighting with herself. Part of her wanted to run, the other part wanted to jump the nice firefighter and make babies with him in the bar bathroom.  Not the classiest thought, but her naughty bits were seriously demanding a vote.

She had been oblivious to the dancers on the stage once Chase had hopped off and made his grand gestures towards Nikki. Now she heard the announcer again and turned her head to the stage.

“Alright ladies and I think I see a gentlemen back there, we have another hunk lined up for you! Put your hands together for a five-year veteran of District 17. Former smoke jumper for the forestry service, yup ladies you heard me right. He’s not only a local firefighter, he jumps out of airplanes, willingly! And now he jumps out of airplanes for the fun of it. Give it up for Eli!”

The lights went down and the music boomed up.  And there he was. Standing, smiling that huge goofy grin. Instead of some thumping techno song, an upbeat pop song came on. Eli smiled right at Izzy making her heart stop.  Then it kicked back into gear when Eli started dancing.

Well, he sort of started dancing.  There was a lot of hopping around, some weird leg kicks. Then he broke out the cabbage patch and Izzy thought he even did the Erkel.  Lord, he was a terrible dancer, but he looked like he was having a blast. And his smile and enthusiasm was infectious. Izzy found herself smiling a big goofy grin back at him.

She started to clap along with the song, she even got the courage to give a hoot and a “Take it off baby,” which had him whipping his already opened shirt off and flinging it in her direction.  A few skanky ho’s in the front row tried to snake it out of the air, but Eli was a good aim.  Izzy caught his shirt and held it up as the trophy it was.

Then when Eli winked and turned to the other side of the stage, Izzy took a deep inhalation, her nose buried in the fabric.  Hot damn, it smelled good. HE smelled good. If nothing else, Izzy was taking the shirt home as a souvenir.

Looking back to the stage, Izzy had a mini heart attack. She was so taken by his smile, she actually missed ogling the sculpted, muscled, tattooed, tan chest in front of her. He must work out every day, she thought. Or every hour even. How did you even get muscles like that? Seriously, the man had muscles under his arms on his chest. Had the medical community even named those muscles? Did they need take Eli to a special laboratory to study his freakishly perfect physique?

Ok, Izzy was starting to hyperventilate between her inner dialog and the half naked man dancing in front of her. Oh shit, he started doing the running man. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. So she laughed, she smiled, and she even waved at the man dancing his heart out for kids.

At the end of his song, Eli made turns, doing an elaborate bow in all four directions. The loudest applause when he did his bow to the back of the stage where no one was sitting, but allowed the entire bar an unfettered view of one delightfully tight ass. Again, the naughty monkey looked over his shoulder at Izzy and gave a wink.

Gawd, those winks were going to undo her.

She watched as he hopped off the stage and headed straight back to her. So it wasn’t a hallucination earlier when he was standing next to her. As soon as he reached her, he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“What did you think?” he asked planting his fine ass onto the stool next to her.

Think? Izzy couldn’t think. She was almost 100% sure his lips had just made contact with her cheek, but the electrical zip of sensation from those lips short-circuited her brain. She was staring at him, mouth open, like a guppy.

“Babe, what did you think?” he asked again, “not too bad huh?”

“Uh, yeah, no, you were good,” she managed to mumble. Her brain was not connected to her mouth yet. She needed to tread carefully.

“Oh, good, I hoped you’d like it.  So what are we doing later? I’m hungry, let’s grab a snack here then we can go get dinner,” he said his head pivoting looking for the waitress.

“Um, were we going out?” she stuttered. Had she missed some major part of the evening where they’d had a long deep meaningful conversation about their hopes and dreams, then made a date for later, and then planned the rest of their lives together? Shit, she really hoped she hadn’t missed that.

“Of course, unless you have plans for the night? I’m sorry I didn’t ask. I was so excited to talk to you I forgot to get your info, you probably already have a boyfriend. Fuck me, do you? Shit, I didn’t think about it. Please tell you don’t have a boyfriend. You’re not wearing a ring so I assume you aren’t married,” he finished in a rush.

“Uh, no, no boyfriend, husband or even a cat,” Izzy said.

“Oh, good, that would have sucked. I got so excited talking to you, I jumped the gun. Good no boyfriend so that means we can go out. You do want to go out don’t you? I mean with me? We’ll have fun I promise,” he said earnestly.

He looked sooo hopeful, like a puppy begging for a treat.  And who was she to deny this freaking hot man anything he wanted. I mean she was attracted to him, of course, you’d have to be dead to not get a girl boner over this guy.

But he was moving so fast, that Izzy didn’t have time to let her nasty little self-doubt monster start in on his usual tirade.  The bastard had a megaphone and would yell the meanest things to Izzy inside her head whenever something good was going to happen. Seemed like he’d lost his megaphone or was scrambling to keep up with Eli, because Izzy felt like she was barely keeping up herself.

“I guess we can hang out, if you don’t have something else to do,” she offered.

“Nothing better than hanging out with a beautiful girl,” he said back, and fuck a duck, he winked again.

Before she could figure out how to respond to that, because of course she would never have put herself in the beautiful category, the waitress appeared.

“Wings or fries?” Eli asked.

“Huh?” Izzy responded, still reeling from the beautiful comment.

“Wings or fries? I can’t wait for dinner, you like fries? Let’s do loaded fries and a water for me. You want another drink?” he asked to Izzy.

“No, I’m ok, thanks,” she said back, still not sure how to handed the tornado that was Eli.

“So tell me about yourself. You already know about me, firefighter, smoke jumper. But what do you do?” he said turning himself so he was facing her, his knees brushing hers.

“Well, um, are you sure you want to know about me?’ Izzy couldn’t help but ask, the whole situation was so surreal. She was worried she was passed out in the ladies room and this was some horrible alcohol poisoning hallucination.

“Of course I want to know about you, how are we going to get to know each other. Besides our dates are going to be awful boring if we just sit around and stare at each other”, he said grinning up at her from a pair of long dark ebony lashes. You know those lashes that aren’t fair on boys.  No matter how much mascara or crimping tools used, we could never achieve the same effect.

“I’m sorry did you say dates? As in more than one?” she asked, confirming.

“Of course, aren’t you going out with me tomorrow? Oh crap, you don’t like me! Shit, sorry, I just jumped right in feet first like I always do.  My momma always says I leap before I look. Here I am assuming you’re thrilled I came over and started chatting you up. I’m probably not even your type, shit I’m sorry Iz,” Eli said, hanging his head, looking toward the table. 

He looked so sad, Izzy was horrified at the idea of him thinking she didn’t like him.

“I totally like you Eli, every girl in here likes you. You’re hot, adorable, dance like a dork and like chili fries, what’s not to like?” she said leaning forward to make sure he saw she was being sincere.

Looking up from the table where he was spinning a beer nut he said, “Really? You want to get to know me? I think you’re really pretty Izzy. I wasn’t kidding when I said you look like an Angel. I can’t wait for my mom to meet you.”

Izzy started to choke, “Your mom?” she said huffing to catch her breath.

“Not right away of course, maybe in a few weeks. I want you all to myself for a while. What do you think of hitting the farmers market tomorrow? I really want kettle corn, then maybe we can hit a movie, and then dinner?” he said rapidly without taking a breath.

“How do you even know you want to see me after tonight?” she asked.

“Well, are you a serial killer? Or a compulsive gambler? Maybe a narcoleptic kleptomaniac?” he asked his eyebrow rising up at her.

“God, no! Of course not. Wait, how can you be a narcoleptic kleptomaniac?” she had to ask.

“Well you go to steal something and take a nap instead. Very common don’t you know,” he said giving her
the wink.

Izzy laughed out loud, either the nutty nature of his comments or that damn wink had her loosening up.  So she had a nice night with the crazy hunk, what’s the worst that could happen?

“So, your job?” he asked again, seeing she was going to at least hang with him for a bit.

“I’m a vet tech, I’ve worked with the same veterinarian for five years. I love animals, they’re easy. All you have to do is show them kindness and of course feed them. And they will love you forever,” she said. Animals, she found very early on don’t judge. They don’t care if you are fat or skinny, popular or a social leper. As long as you had a lap to cuddle and were free with the treats, they would never let you down.

“Oh awesome, I love animals, how many do you have?” Eli asked looking interested, but not fake.

“I can’t have any at my apartment right now, someday though. I really want a dog and a cat, maybe a fish. I’d name him Fred, the fish that is,” Izzy said smiling shyly at Eli.

“No pets, that’s sad. We should get you a puppy. You can keep it at my house for now. That’s a great idea, we can go puppy shopping next week!” he said bouncing in his seat.

“Um, puppies are a huge commitment. Maybe we can see how our evening goes?” Izzy offered quietly. She was more than a little freaked out that the model gorgeous man in front of her wanted to buy her a freaking puppy! Oh and meet his mom, and ordered her chili fries!

“There I go again, but really, you need a puppy,” he said earnestly.

Luckily, Izzy was saved by further comment by the arrival of a massive plate of chili cheese fries. Gawd she was hungry, plus all that booze with no dinner wasn’t helping. But she had a standing rule that she never ate in front of strangers if she could help it.  She totally knew everyone wasn’t fooled. But she just couldn’t bring herself to be the one that hit the buffet first.

“Dig in! You don’t mind if we just eat off the plate do you? I never understand why they bring those extra little plates to put appetizers on. I mean who wants to put a little serving on a plate and nibble at it. No way man, chili fries deserve the respect of digging in and not messing around!” he finished with a flourish, emphasizing his point by stuffing a handful of dripping, oozy fries into his hunky mouth.

“Oh, I’m ok,” she tried, giving a small shake of her head. Shit this was embarrassing, her second rule was to never discuss food with strangers. Let alone beautiful hunks.

Stopping with a fry mid way to his mouth, Eli paused. His eyes narrowed a bit like he was contemplating something. Then shoved the fries in and chewed slowly. It took an eternity for him to swallow. Or at least to Izzy it did, considering she was watching every chew like it was  going to be graded on a test. And she couldn’t lie, when he swallowed, that long neck with his strong corded muscles standing out, totally did it for her.

Watching him wipe his fingers on a napkin, Izzy knew she should brace herself.

“Alright, this is a shit time to do this, but I want this out of the way. Izzy, do you like how I look?” he asked.

“Well, yeah,” she whispered back.

“Good, I like how you look. Do you like my body? Do you find me attractive?” he asked again.

“Well, yeah, duh,” she whispered again. That got her a smile. Squeee!

“I like your body and I find you attractive. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be sitting here. I like girls that look just like you. Well actually, you’re a little on the light side for my taste. But I figure I can work that to my advantage. That means I can take you out to all my favorite restaurants or keep you home and cook for you. And if I can convince you that I’m a good cook, I can also feed you whenever I want.” he said leaning forward towards her.

His hand snaked up and cupped her cheek before he continued, “And even if you want to fight me on putting on weight, I’m ok with that too. Because you are already perfect the way you are.” He finished rubbing his thumb across the apple of her cheek.

“You like fat chicks?” Izzy all but shrieked at him. She was so caught off guard she didn’t mean to yell that at him. But did that man in front of her that looked like an underwear model just tell her he would like to feed her and make her even bigger? And that is what he liked? She was confused, scared, and more than a little freaked out.

She also realized too late, that Eli was not going to take kindly to her words. She could see this because his hand stopped caressing her cheek and his jaw tightened. Then his eyes narrowed. Then he hopped off his stool and walked straight towards her until he was standing between her legs. Izzy had to tilt her head back to look up at him.

His hand came up and firmly cupped the side of her neck, his other hand slid around her waist and squeezed her towards him. Then he leaned down so that his mouth was right next to her ear.

“Don’t you ever, ever, let me hear you call yourself fat again. That is a mean hateful word that people use to belittle one another. You are not fat, you’re a goddess. You are soft and round and all women. I want to run my hands over every roll, every ripple. I want to touch and taste every inch of your body. I want you to let me bathe you, then rub you down head to toe with lotion, I’m thinking vanilla scented, but we can negotiate. Then my sweet angel, I want to get you into my bed and fuck you senseless. I want you to sit on my face, so I can eat out that sweet pussy of yours. I want you to ride my cock so I can play with your tits and watch them bounce as I fuck you. Then I’m going to roll you over and fuck you doggie style so I can slap that ass and watch it jiggle as I plow you. Then sweet beautiful Izzy I’ll roll you over and fuck you on your back so I can make sure to watch your face as you come. Then we’ll have dessert. Now does that sound like I just like fat chicks?” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, his hot breath, brushing over her ear and neck. And he waited.

Izzy was trying to get her mind to connect with her mouth. She licked her lips and whispered back to him, “Yes, it totally does sound like you like fat chicks.”

She felt his body give a jolt at her words, he pulled back and looked into her eyes.  Hers were confused, his were sparkling. Then he threw back his head and gave a huge open mouth laugh, drawing the gaze of many a fellow bar patron. As his head came back down, he looked into her eyes and wrapped her in a huge bear hug.

“God, you’re adorable, Angel,” he said into her ear again. Then he pulled back and placed a soft, closed mouth kiss on her lips.

Giving her another squeeze her took his seat and pushed the plate of fries towards Izzy. “Eat and talk,” he ordered.

So Izzy started eating, and the fries were amazing.  Then she started talking, she told Eli all about her job, her best friends, her family. She even went in to a little about some of her insecurities. She didn’t know why she shared these things with him. But something told her that she could trust Eli with her deepest secrets. He listened, nodded, and asked questions.  Then he told her about his life, his big family. His friends at the station and his love for extreme sports.  How his last long term relationship had been in college. They had grown apart, but still talked.

Izzy liked that, she hated how some of her relationships had ended. They always wanted her to change, go on a diet, workout, not that she didn’t enjoy being active. It was just way more of a chore than a hobby.  But they apparently thought that if she loved them enough, she would change for them.  She tried, honestly she did, but it was never enough and they would always end things.

But Eli was the first man that ever flat out told her not to change. Well, not to shrink anyway.  She was utterly bewildered, this was uncharted territory and she really wished her girls were here to guide her. No, Izzy thought, she was a grown up. This was something she needed to wade through on her own. Crap, now she wanted ice cream.

They finished up their fries, talking and laughing. They completely missed the rest of the guys dancing as they were so caught up in each other. She wasn’t sure they even declared a winner.

“Hey you wanna head out? I know a great place for shawarma,” Eli said to her. “I love shawarma, then we can go out for ice cream.”

“Ok, I guess, I’ve never had shawarma,” Izzy said honestly.

“What! How can you not have had shawarma, it’s rice and chicken and freaking rocks!” Eli said enthusiastically throwing up a pair of devil horns on his hand.

Laughing at his antics, Izzy said, “Shawarma sounds awesome.”