Distractions.....distractions.....

I confess that I did some writing unrelated to Nano today.  And as I posted it on another blog, I scrolled down to a story written awhile ago.  And I thought that perhaps my detour wasn't completely in vain.  That perhaps a reminder of the way a woman might view R4 could help my nanonovel.  I reread the first part of a short vignette written early in the summer.  And R4 was there with bells on....except that his name was Mitch.  And this time it was Beth's head that was....spinning.  The excerpt is below.



Beth sat at the bar, stirring her diluted drink.  It was 11:30, later than she usually stayed up, and everyone else had gone to their respective rooms.  She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t, but the noise of the bar soothed her restlessness somehow.  It had been an enjoyable night, commiserating with friends, laughing, even a bit of dancing.  She really should go to bed; they were all supposed to eat breakfast together the next day.  Maybe after she finished this drink.  As she watched the last piece of ice spin around the center of the glass, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

“You’re still here?  I thought you’d be settled into you room like everyone else.” Mitch sat down beside her.  She eyed him for second and then shrugged, turning back to her lone piece of ice.  “Waiting for someone?” He asked casually.

As she smiled and shook her head, the thought floated through the back of her mind that she might have been waiting for him, and the thought annoyed  her.

“That drink looks sad,” he commented, motioning to the diluted liquid in her glass.  “You like beer?”

Beth made a face.  “Not particularly.”

“You’ll like this one.”  He caught the bartender’s eye and used a name Beth had never heard before.  The bartender smiled at Mitch and plunked a bottle in front of each of them.  They were cold, and they smelled like……beer.  But Mitch seemed to be waiting for her, so she took a sip.
Crap.  It was good, really good.  And that annoyed her too.  She took another sip reluctantly.

“Well?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s the best beer I have ever tasted,” she said, smiling.  But when he grinned smugly she made a face again and said, “but it’s still disgusting.”

He threw back his head, laughed, and took a long pull of the beer.  He knew she was lying, but in true gentlemanly form didn’t say anything.  She felt a little sheepish and took another sip.  Then, without warning, she yawned.  Ugh, she always yawned when she was nervous.

“Sleepy, Beth?”

“No…..not really.”

He turned back to his beer, and she watched him out of the corner of her eye.  How the hell did he get into her head anyway?  He wasn’t exactly her type…..a little too skinny, a little too sure of himself, and probably smarter than she was, which irritated her most of all.  And it wasn’t as if she didn’t have “tricks” of her own, tricks that she had used with a respectable degree of success in other situations.  But she had subtly – and a few times not so subtly – used almost all of them on Mitch, and he seemed……amused at best most of the time.  He was really infuriating.  While she sat there silently fuming, she became aware that he was saying something.

“You aren’t hearing a word I’m saying, are you?” He laughed.  “You’re somewhere else.”

“Just thinking.” Damn.

“About anything of significance?” He raised his eyebrow again.

“Not really…just thinking.” Damn.

“Well….you look tired.  Maybe you should go to sleep.”

God, what an irritating man.  Beth took a long pull of her beer, set it down a bit more forcefully than necessary, and walked away without a word.  After several steps she turned back to watch him for a moment.  Mitch was still drinking his beer, chatting with the pretty bartender.  She laughed and took Beth’s unfinished beer off the counter.  And on an impulse, Beth fished a card out of her purse and walked back toward Mitch.

He startled when she put her hand on his shoulder, and before he could say anything, she leaned down and gave him a smoldering kiss, pulling away when he recovered from the shock and began to kiss her back.  She put her lips next to his ear, pressed the card into his hand, and said, “This is the extra key to room 1629.  In fifteen minutes we’ll either be having sex, or I’ll be asleep.”  And then she turned on her heel again and walked away, willing herself not to slow down or look back all the way to her room.

Back in her room, she did not allow herself to speculate as to whether he would come to her room or how she would look at him the next morning if he didn’t.  She pulled off her dress, bra, and panties and tossed them onto the bed.  Fishing her pajamas out of the suitcase, she thought about whether or not she would be able to sleep.  Oh well, she had her pills if necessary.  Her pajamas on, she walked to the closet and hung her dress on the rack.  Her undies were placed in the laundry bag provided, and her shoes were placed neatly next to each other.

Beth heard the door click as she was brushing her hair, but she did not stop what she was doing.  She kept brushing with long, quick strokes until Mitch’s face appeared in the mirror.  He held up the key before placing it on the bathroom counter.  She put down the brush, facing him and challenging him to kiss her – she’d had enough of this dance.