5 - Leather Jacket Wearing Bad Boy

SOME DRUNKEN YEARS AGO

I remember the first night I met Kyle, it was my second year of college and the anticipation had been building for weeks. Exams were over and summer break was just looming around the corners ready to envelope us in our short sundresses and really short shorts. But that week, Sam and I were ready to paint campus red or perhaps more accurately, immerse ourselves in a sea of pulsating lights and electrifying beats. We had both collectively had unforgettable club experiences but that night we had planned to exceed our limits. Scantily dressed in short skirts and high heels, our bodies painted in glitter and our eyes wild and drunk as we stepped into the club, holding unto each other in a fit of hysteric giggles as our bodies burned in excitement.

The music had reached us even before we stepped into the club, the distant bass vibrations and the sound spilling unto the streets, mingling with the laughter and excitement that held us captive.

“Aria, this is crazy!” I could barely hear Sam over the music but I nodded my head at her. Sam pulled me closer to her, she held my mouth open and I felt the harsh taste of liquor burn my throat but I relished in it.

“You’re fucking crazy.” I shouted back as I followed the her to the dance floor, even the walls pulsating with the rhythm of the music, as if they were alive themselves and the ceiling was a canvas of swirling patterns illuminated by neon lights that danced and flickered to the beat.

“Come on, we’re heading to the front. Jeremiah is playing today.” Sam grabbed my hands and pulled me with her. Jeremiah, the student dj has been the guy that Sam had been hooking up with for about a week, “Starving artists are the best guys to fuck, they do it with all their heart because they have nothing else to give – maybe a badly written sonnet with your name awkwardly rhymed in. How do you rhyme Sam with yam?” she had said to me once, with a mouth full of spicy pasta and then burst right into the laughter.

“A lyrical genius, I tell you.” I humored her and she fell off laughing. The thing about Sam was that she was a straight A student but she partied harder than she studied and it intrigued me.

Sam loved liquor, she loved boys and she loved to dance so when I saw her jump on that stage, drunk and excited with Jeremiah’s hand plastered on her waist and she grounded on him – I envied her. She was those kind of girls that could get anything they wanted with doing as little as lifting up her finger, she was the confident kind and men worshipped at her throne meanwhile I relished in her shadow.

I got a few attention from guys but it wasn’t the same, I was terrible at flirting so only the nerdy and boring guys who didn’t care much for that stayed meanwhile I craved for excitement, I craved for the leather jacket, motorcycle riding bad boy, the stereotyped type that was kind of dumb but could make the butterflies flutter in stomach and make feel things that only exist in movies.

As the night wore on, I decided to take a break from the crowd and step outside for a breath of fresh air. The cool night breeze brushed against my skin, momentarily soothing the heat that had built up within me. I wandered a few blocks from the club, reveling in the solitude of the empty streets. But as I turned to make my way back, a chill ran down my spine.

In the dimly lit alleyway, a figure emerged from the shadows. A homeless man, his eyes glazed with desperation stumbled towards me. Fear gripped me, freezing me in place as his intentions became clear.

He moved to grab me, but I stumbled back ready to run for it if the slightest opportunity arises but he was hell bent on blocking my path. Panic rose in my throat, choking me as I realized I was alone and vulnerable.

“Get away from me!” I yelled at him, but he was unmoving with his eyes fixed on me.

I turned around, ready to run away when I heard a voice, strong – manly and commanding with an undertone of sweetness.

“Hey! Leave her alone.” I turned swiftly and my eyes met his but only briefly as he took out a twenty dollar bill and handed it to the homeless man.

“Piss off dude, go get something to eat.”

“This is some bullshit!” the homeless man muttered to himself before stalking and Mr. stranger looked at me, his feet rooted in his spot and I looked at him curiously.

“You Aria?” he said, “Your friend said you might need a ride. Apparently she’s hooking up with my boy Jeremiah.”

“Are you with the band?”

He chuckled before answering, “Not as a singer, gosh no. I just – it doesn’t matter. Car’s parked at the next block if you want, if not – goodnight then.” he said walking past me while I caught a whiff of his sweet smelling cologne but that wasn’t what intrigued me – he had a car? Was he a student or a townie?

I turned around swiftly and followed him.

“You have a car in the city – you go to NYU?”

“Second year – Business management but my second degree,” he said.

“But still, how do you have a car in the city? No one drives a car in the car in the city, how do you – ” I kept rambling until he stopped in front of a BMW and my mouth dropped as he opened up the passenger seat for me.

“Do you want a ride or not?” he looked at me with twinkling eyes, and I pressed my lips together. At that moment, he was indeed wearing a black leather jacket but driving a BMW instead.

“So what exactly is your relationship with the band, you’re not a singer, neither are you a roadie so what is it?” I asked after I was already seated in the car with him and the night breeze kept blowing directly on my face.

“My dad owns a record label and I’m trying to get him to sign them.” he said simply and I watched his muscles constrict on the steering wheel and it stirred something within me which I was going to ignore for the time being.

“So how did you – ”

“Well, it’s hard to say no to Sam and she’s got my boy in a chokehold,” he interrupted my question but shooting a brief glance before asking, “So what do you guys do?”

“Sam’s my roomie. I’m an English major, while Sam’s a psychology major in NYU.” I explained.

“Hmm English, what do you plan on doing with that?” he asked and I shrugged, “I want to write, write anything, maybe I could work with advertising. I’m pretty creative once I get in my zone.”

Kyle looked at me now, holding my stare but only briefly as his black hair fell over his eyes in a seductive manner and the butterflies were back up again, “Maybe we could do something together, I want to go into advertising too.” he said and I smiled at him.

The air remained silent but I could feel the tension brewing in the air.

“Let me turn on some music.” he said the same time I thought of it and we both reached for the stereo, our fingers colliding accidentally and I felt the drunken electricity spark. I withdrew my fingers immediately, placing them awkwardly on my lap as Kyle turned on the radio and the static sound broke the silence that still ensued and Kyle shot me a look.

“Do want to get a drink?”

“Where?” I asked back and looking back, I shouldn’t have asked that. I should’ve said no and told him to take me home, but how could I have that done when my body buzzed with electricity only from a simple touch from him.

How could I kill the butterflies that were already swirling, I was no murderer so I nodded at him. I wanted a leather jacket wearing bad boy, the universe sent me one.

And he ruined me.