Marks and Scars

The First Spark

The song that was playing finally ended, and Cathleen danced back into her seat. She was laughing, waving her dance partner off when he tried to follow her back to the table. She let out a sigh and took a large gulp of the ice water sitting next to her drink. “He is not my type,” she told me seriously, darting her eyes back to her dance partner. I laughed- but immediately stopped when I spotted Tyler on his way back to our table with a smug grin on his face and a colorful fuzzy blue colored drink in his hand. 

“You let Tyler make you a cocktail?” Cathleen wondered, as Tyler set the glass down in front of me. 

I shrugged, but Tyler answered for me. “If she drinks it, dinner is on the house.”

Cathleen’s mouth fell open. “Kara, you are going to drink that.”

I made a displeased expression at both of them, but picked up the drink anyway and took a sip. It wasn’t awful, and to my surprise, the taste of alcohol was well masked. Which was surprising, since it was well known how heavy handed Tyler could be. Or maybe, the margaritas had dulled my taste buds. Speaking of which…

“I’m hungry!” I declared.

Tyler smiled victoriously, even though I hadn’t made any comment about his specialty drink. 

“What do you want?” Cathleen asked me, trying to smother her laughter.

I was about to answer when something just over her shoulder caught my eyes. My mouth opened, but the words died before I could say anything. Time slowed down- or at least, my heart did. It hadn’t stopped completely, but it had slowed dramatically, each beat suddenly much heavier - almost painful. 

Behind Cathleen, all the way on the other side of the patio against the green iron lattice-patterned fence, were a pair of eyes so cold yet so stunning that it stopped everything around me. It took a moment for me to get past the eyes and see him.  

Everything about him screamed to run away. His dark hair was either perfectly messy or perfectly styled to appear messy, framing his tanned face. His eyes were dark and piercing. He had a strange pattern of tattoos climbing up his left arm, disappearing beneath the sleeves of his black t shirt

Everything about him seemed to be something I should avoid. Including the size 4 piece of redheaded arm candy that was hanging around his neck, staring daggers in my directions with her piercing green eyes. That’s what made me shake my head and snap back to my conversation with Cathleen.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Cathleen was turned around in her seat, craning her neck from side to side. “What were you looking at?”

Tyler, too, was staring in the direction I had been looking, the corners of his mouth pulling down in a slight frown.

I took another swig from my drink- and gagged. There it is I thought to myself as the liquor burned the back of my throat. I took a gulp of Cathleen’s water as she turned back around and laughed after realizing what I’d done. 

I looked at Tyler. “What did you put in there?”

Tyler was holding back laughter. “Just don’t chug it and you should be fine.”

“But seriously, what were you looking at,” Cathleen asked, refusing to let it go and darting a glance over her shoulder again.

“I thought I recognized someone from work,” I shrugged it off. Tyler had resumed his troubled frown and I struggled to change the subject. “But seriously, I’m hungry. Cathleen, do you want to order another appetizer?”

“Why don’t I bring you guys more fries?” Tyler offered.

“And ranch,” Cathleen conceded with an enthusiastic nod. 

Tyler disappeared again. I took another tentative sip of my drink. Cathleen was yammering on about a concert in Charleston that she wanted to go to in November. I nodded, listening. After a few minutes, I slowly let my gaze drift back to him, no longer able to fight the urge. He hadn’t moved- not a muscle. He was still sitting in the same relaxed position on the barstool, elbows folded on his table, his stare set on me. I jumped when I immediately made eye contact and looked back to Cathleen. 

To my dismay, she’d noticed. “Kara, if you don’t tell me what you’re looking at, I’m going to lose it,” she warned, her voice low.

I fiddled silently with my now near empty cocktail glass. The table seemed to be spinning a bit. 

“Oh. my. god!” Cathleen suddenly half whispered, half squealed. “Was it him?!”

When I looked up, I made a startled noise. He had gotten off of his bar stool and seemed to be heading our way. No, no, no, no dammit... don’t do that!

Cathleen hopped down from her seat and smiled at me devilishly. 

“What are you doing?” I asked her slowly.

“I’m going to go see if I can find my dance partner again, I think someone wants to come over and say hi to you! And I don’t want to get in the way.”

“Don’t leave me!” I hissed. 

She winked at me coyly before prancing away in the direction of the band again. 

When I looked back in front of me, he was just stepping up to the table. He was watching me with guarded eyes, but smiled softly. “Mind if I join you?” he asked.

I was just about to tell him no, that my friend would be back shortly, but I was interrupted by Cathleen’s shrill scream. “Take my seat!” she yelled to him, “I’m going to be a while.”

I stared in Cathleen’s direction darkly. 

He chuckled quietly as he slid into Cathleen’s vacant seat.

“I’m Jeremy. I’m sorry for impeding on your time like this. But…” he trailed off. I stared up at him, nervously stirring the ice in my glass with the straw- even sitting down, he was towering over me. 

“But?”

“What’s your name?” he asked with a small shake of his head. 

“I’m… Kara.” I had considered giving him a fake name, but couldn’t think of anything immediately. 

“Kara,” he repeated, and I hated how lovely my name sounded with his voice. “It suits you.”

I smiled slightly. He was odd.

“Are you from here?”

“Savannah?” I asked. “Not originally. I live here now- but just moved here a couple of years ago.” 

He nodded. 

“Are you? From Savannah?” I asked, struggling to carry on the conversation.

He nodded, another gentle smile. “Where are you from originally?”

“Um…” I fumbled with my hands, trying not to fidget too much. I wasn’t normally this awkward in social situations, but he wouldn’t quit staring at me, and his eyes were intense. “Colorado.” I finally managed an answer, and I was relieved at the steadiness in my voice. 

“Ah, so that’s why you don’t have an accent,” he murmured. It didn’t seem like he was talking to me in that instance, but I replied anyway. 

“Well for one: we’re in Savannah. Most people don’t have accents because most people in Savannah aren’t native to Savannah. You don’t have an accent either, by the way. Two: I think you’ve heard me say a grand total of maybe ten words? That’s not really enough to determine the source of someone’s accent.”

I stared at him. As I spoke, he just leaned back in his chair, the same small, tight grin on his face. The hardness in his eyes had cracked a bit- he looked a little smug. 

“What’s going on with your… face?” I asked cleverly. “Why are you looking at me like that?” 

He shrugged slightly. “I was just listening. I like your voice.”

I frowned a little. His appearance already led me to believe that letting him lead me on would be a disaster. But I didn’t like his blunt demeanor either. 

“So, Kara, do you have any plans for the rest of the night?”

I looked to my left, at where Cathleen had disappeared. What was going on? This never happened to me. I had never come off us approachable, for some reason. Or maybe I never looked like the type a guy would want to approach. I was dull and quiet compared to Cathleen- or anyone for that matter. So I was used to watching her receive most of the action.  

“My friend is throwing a party- it’s not far from here, and I’m late. But, I need a date… if you’re interested?” he continued. 

He was staring at me, waiting for an answer. 

A war was raging in my thoughts. The alcohol was probably impairing  my senses a little bit, because I wanted to say yes. He was incredibly good looking. But I must be crazy, I’d just met him. Stranger danger had been ingrained in my brain since I was young. He reeked of bad decisions and regret. For all I know, he could have been some kind of twisted predator. 

Before I could say no, he reached his hand across the table and covered my first with his large palm. I lost all my sense and melted beneath his hand. I looked up into his eyes. Something akin to electricity was crackling all around my hand where his skin made contact with mine. It pulled me forward, everything around me vanishing, and there was only him. 

It made me drunk.

It made me stupid. 

I opened my mouth to say tell him yes when-

“OKAY! Another refill Kara?”