Well, my fucking cold came back. My ears are so stopped up that I can't hear jack and I feel like shit. But I go anyway. I have to. It turns out that Teri's friend's name is Janet and she has taken a liking to me. So all week there's this big buildup. Now, I'm socially obligated. Bill thinks I'm nuts. He says if I'm sick, I'm sick. Don't go. Well, it don't work that way in the South. Besides, everyone assures me that after three beers I'll feel great anyway. They were absolutely correct. Dead the next day but well for the night.
Janet's attention is flattering but she is more friend material. If I'm not sexually attracted to a women, then I'm just not interested. This is a fault with my personality and I'm sure I have passed up some wonderful girls in the past. Hmmm... This might be a new area to explore. Women as friend only and no sexual attraction. Probably won't work. Male and female were not designed that way.
Anyway, here is an opportunity so I pursue it more to keep from ruffling feathers than anything else. Janet is extremely late and I'm thinking "I didn't even get out of the gate." Sorta relieved. Sorta disappointed. Maybe this is a trick from the Rules. But, ultimately, Janet shows. And guess what? We had a pretty good time. Teri's friends and Janet are all farm girls. They breed Rottweilers and Janet is a retired horse breeder turned web designer. Pretty good bunch. They are in the same boat Keith and I are in. Just on the edge of being in and moving back and forth across the edge.
Mike Butler showed up. Drank 12 beers while I was there. His pickup line is "Hey, nice breasts." You can imagine how that one goes over. Of course, you never know. Try it on 10 girls and at least maybe one will respond positively. Depends on where you go.
P.S. Drank six glasses of beer. Haven't done that in years. Also, apparently the in thing is for the women to use the men's restrooms. Some interesting conversations take place in there. I could get used to it.
All of us go here after the concert. Dance with Janet and her friends the whole time. Leave about 1:30 am. This staying out late on a school night has got to stop. I get almost no work done the next day and it's Hell trying to stay awake in the afternoons. I had a good time. Dancing without the pressure of pursuit. Very liberating.
Keith and I arrive at 10:30. This is a little early but it is better to be one of the early ones. If you get there too late, most of the single girls have already met someone or are on the dance floor dancing with themselves. We run into Leah and some of her friends. Keith dances with Leah and I dance with her friend. After a few songs, we go to the bar and talk. Talking in Have A Nice Day is like talking on the Dayco factory floor. Yelling in each others ear. Anyway, I'm not interested in her friend and look elsewhere. I'm not having much success so I ask Leah to dance. When we finish, I Keith and I are standing on the lower rail just watching. I notice a blonde behind us dancing away by herself. I'm watching and she's getting every guy that passes to smack her on the ass. I tell Keith and we both watch. She sees us looking and starts to really shake it. She starts a bunch of pelvic thrusts and points in our direction. I'm mesmerized. Paralyzed is more like it. This was too much for me to handle that night.
Beside us on the rail were a group of girls. Keith had been trying to get me to go over to one of them and ask for a dance. As usual, I'm chicken but I go for it anyway. Mostly because the blonde alternative scared the Hell out of me. I go to the closest one and get her attention. I ask "Pardon me. Would you like to dance?". She said "Sure". I was so surprised I just stared. Then she said "Yes" and we went onto the floor.
We dance for about four songs and I tell her "Let me know if you want to stop." She said "I never stop". I'm thinking "We'll see" and the dance endurance contest was on. An hour and a half later she called it quits. Just in time for me. My throats dry, my knees are sore, and I'm incredibly hot for this girl. We introduce ourselves and I offer to buy water. Valerie says OK. We go to the back of the bar and talk and rest. I ask her to dance again. She says no but we still talk. Then "Macho Man" comes on and she wants to go at it again. We dance until Have A Nice Day Closes.
We leave together and, of course, I've forgotten her name. Well, I took the bull by the horns and just asked. She said "How can you forget a beautiful name like Valerie?" But I did get through an awkward situation. I'm attracted to her more than the others so I remembered to pursue. I said "Let me give you my card and if you would like to get together and do something next Saturday let me know." She noticed that my email address was on the card and was surprised that my home phone was on the card too. I told her that I liked communicating by email. No explanation for the home phone. We then talked about the dangers of the street and exchanged street stories. All this while I was walking her to her car. We said goodnight and she got into her car and went home. I went home thinking "Her name is Valerie, Valerie, Valerie..."
P.S. Here is the what I learned about Valerie at Have A Nice Day: