Pulse (19 page)

“This isn’t the place for that.”

I turned and looked up at the man standing next to me. He wasn’t smiling at me, just staring back at me with no expression on his face. It was a look I was all too familiar with. For a second, I was surprised to see my boss standing right next to me. He looked strange in a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt. It was a reminder that I wasn’t supposed to see him that way. I quickly through the thoughts of my boss out of my head and turned my attention back to my drink.

“No place for what?” I asked him.

“Being bored.”

“What makes you say I’m bored?”

“You’re standing at the bar and lazily stirring your drink.”

“That’s not all I’m doing. Maybe I’m waiting.”

“And what exactly are you waiting for?”

I looked up at him and squinted my eyes. Despite how hard it was for me to fight the smile on my face, Rafael remained stoic and seemingly apathetic.

“You look familiar,” I said. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

“No. You’ve never seen me before in your life.”

His eyes shifted has he looked me up and down. He turned back to the bar and swallowed the rest of his drink. He slammed the glass down onto the table and began to walk away. As I watched him leave the club, I was still busy trying to figure out what exactly he was up to.

“Now what?” I muttered to myself.

I leaned up against the bar and pressed my palm against my chin. I looked down at the empty glass Rafael had left. There was something down next to it. It was smaller than the coasters scattered around it. I looked around to see if anyone was watching then reached for it. I picked it up and it only took a second for the smile to come across my face.

“What’s that?”

I jerked my head around and my friend Danica was suddenly standing next to me.

“I think it’s a hotel room key,” I said.

“A room key? Wow. You’re really putting it out there, Alice. He’s got some balls, whomever he is.”

“You’ve gotta admire that.”

“So, what? Are you actually going to go to this guy’s room?”

I bit my lip and looked back at my friend. The inquisitive look on her face was replaced with a smirk.

“It’s just one night, Danica. That’s all it is.”

“Hey, you don’t have to tell me, Alice. There’s a time for work and there’s a time for play. You’ve worked hard this week, I’m guessing. You deserve a night to get off.”

I flipped the hotel room key around in my hand. I wasn’t thinking about work or anything related to it. All of my stress was gone. All I was focused on was tonight.

“Yeah, just one night,” I said. “Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you still have a pulse.”

Author’s Note

Thank you for taking the time to read the story of Alice Pratt in
Pulse
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