The comfortable coolness of the year had long been purged by the sheer volume of people around me, the sidewalks of Bourbon Street, the extremely loud and vibrant jazz music mixed with people’s footsteps, talking and drunken screeches and various other sounds. People on their balconies throwing beads at people who were showing their bare chests or various other body parts, the scent of grease dripping, pounds of powdered sugar laden beignets mixed with the absurdly sweet of spilt Hurricanes and other mixed drinks along with who knows how many different types of daiquiris and other drinks that had been spilt on the brick roads, though there was this underlying scent of just…filth, not like dirt, sod or plant like dirt, but from random people having gone to the bathroom on the brick streets. Floats passing by covered in flashing lights, people covered in more feathers and beads than actual clothing or other detailing, leaving so much skin exposed they’d be more covered standing there entirely naked.

            I laughed to myself as I made my way through the streets on my usual rounds during Mardi Gras, I’m Baton Rouge born and raised, but I’ve jumped on over here to the capital when I got a very good job…luckily too, the restaurant understands how much people love this time of year and gives us pretty much a few weeks of off time do to the absurdly long lasting hangovers caused by this time of year’s partying.

            “Well…hello” I said lowering my glitter covered glasses as I walked into one of my usual haunts, there was someone I hadn’t seen before at the bar, but he looked like he was more than comfortable standing there. I smiled softly as I, in my slightly pickled stupor, flounced over to the bar as I stood beside him, “Hi, are you just passing through town for the party?” I asked, he looked over at me with his head slightly cocked over, he was taller than me which isn’t odd, just rare, I’m pretty average height, so he was maybe lower six feet tall or so.

            “No, business meeting ended just in time.” He laughed, he was broad chested and shouldered, but thinly built, like an Olympic gymnast almost, dressed in a charcoal colored full three piece suit, white button-down and an emerald colored tie and matching pocket-square in his left breast pocket, polished black dress shoes and a long darker gray duster coat wrapped over his arm, but his blazer was still on, though the buttons were open.

            “I’m only curious because I’m dropped in here a handful of times and never seen your handsome mug around before.” I added leaning over a little as I reached out and rested a hand on his forearm as I left my empty yard on the bar to my left. His arm was like touching a brick wall through his shirt and blazer.

            “I don’t get time off frequently.” He added before taking a drink of the whiskey he had.

            “Well, Mardi Gras is a wonderful time to finally be…free of work, no?” I asked, slinking a little closer, he laughed.

            “Doll, you have no idea what you’re doing there, do you?” he asked

            “Oh, I am confident that I do” I laughed as he looked at me, he was a bit older than me, maybe in his mid to later-thirties, sharp features and warm tanned skin, shorter brown hair cleanly styled back and pristine, but heavy scruff…but his eyes were so strange, they were almost too green looking, his eyes were large and had a defined up-flick to their outer corners, thick and extremely black lashes framing his eyes like liner, but they nearly looked neon green…like a high-lighter almost. His nails were painted black and filed to points around his glass, some jewelry of gold about his person and as he smiled at me, this lopsided smile showing defined blinding white canine teeth. “I’d love to show you just how confident I am about my knowledge of what I’m doing too” I added as I rested both my hands on his forearm, his hand was a fair bit larger than mine.

            “Interesting” he purred, “Are you always so…forward?”

            “Not this forward, but…well, how could I resist someone like yourself?” I asked, “My place is about fifteen minutes away” I added, “Dustin”

            “Jamie” he said, the J as a Spanish H instead, so he pronounced his name more as “Hi-may” rather than “Jay-me”

            “And isn’t this time of year made for doing whatever you want, whenever you want, no matter the consequences…free of any and all inhibitions till we give up all of our sins and vices before Lent if you are of the religious sort?” I asked, my head lulling side to side as that had been my second…maybe third yard of strawberry lime daiquiri with…probably one or more extra shots of rum in them despite their size. He laughed

            “Are you of the religious sort?” he asked before necking his drink

            “No…not at all, but who doesn’t love an excuse to drink till we’re drowned in alcohol, eat to our hearts content and fuck like wild beasts till dawn’s light burns its way into our memories?” I asked, he nodded a little at that, obviously fairly interested in how I was acting towards him, I am usually much more coy, much more elegant in the way I present myself and how I talk, but…due to the alcohol, I was acting far more upfront with my attraction to him.

“Likewise, though…some of us do have professional images we do like to keep pristine for most of the year…though this time of year does allow us to enjoy the more carnal desires of the body: alcohol, food, the touch of another’s flesh” he said, tilting his head over as he looked at me, “And I am someone who does take…great gusto to those matters when I am not working” he laughed

“I’d love to hear more” I added as I leaned into him a little. He licked his lips a little as he looked at me, this intense scent was radiating off of him as I stood close to him, all I could really pick out was expensive smelling cologne, my chest against his upper arm, one of my hands along his upper arm and my other on his forearm, softly around his wrist as I looked up towards his face.

            “You said your place was fifteen minutes away?” he asked