Beach day saturday morning.

I kept hearing that one weird phrase over and over again.

It was so weird, it didn’t even make sense.

I didn’t know why, but every time I would settle myself into my booth, book in one hand and cool glass of soda in the other, I would always hear that simple phrase being spoken in a hushed tone of voice between friends; almost conspiratorially.

Ugh, weirdos.

“It’s ‘beach day saturday morning.’”

“Yeah, ‘beach day saturday morning’, that’s right.”

“It’s easy to remember now we know. ‘Beach day saturday morning’, I know! We totally need to go check out the new...”

Who knows what that was supposed to mean.

I really didn’t know what was going on. I thought hey, maybe it was a new type of drug? Well, I’d be sure to keep a keen eye on my cola. It was odd, it seemed like there was a new, different and interestingly weird phrase circulating the club every other month or so. I didn’t pay much attention to it though, I just came here for the loud music and to read.

With that thought in mind, I turned my attention back to the book held between my fingers, my other hand clutching the glass cup of soda that I had vowed to keep an eye on. I didn't want anything to happen, no drama. I just liked the atmosphere in this club, and I knew that it would help me relax after a hard day.

Yeah yeah, I know. Who goes to a club to read? Me, that’s who.

My eyes flicked over the uniform printed words typed onto the pages of the book and I smiled against the chilled rim of my glass. Don’t tell anyone but… I was here for pleasure reading and this book was just… in one word, amazing… if you know what I mean.

I’m kinda… well… I like reading... erotica. There, I said it.

It was just like, all of the fantasies that I’ve had except explained by someone else back to me in a beautiful story form, and better explained. I sighed happily and turned the page of my book, the deep backbeat of the music reverberating off the walls so the booth I was currently sitting in vibrated to the rhythm. This was just another reason why I liked reading here, it almost made what I was reading feel way more real.

I don’t know how much time passed by, but I know that I had just tipped my head back to drain that last sip of soda out from my cup and discarded it on the table, bringing my cold hand up to my chest so I could warm it up from the constant contact with the chilled glass. Like I had promised myself before, I hadn’t set my drink down once throughout that evening, not once. It was getting a little late but I wanted to finish my book, I didn’t have anywhere else to go and frankly… I needed to know how this story ended, then also avoid going home without sporting a serious hard-on… Yes… I’ll need to work on that.

I felt the cushion to my right sink down lower under the weight of a body and a finger pushed my book gently to the table. I didn’t bother hiding my frown as I folded over the corner of the page I was on and closed the book before setting it on my lap. I didn’t need everyone in the club -including this man- to know my literature preferences.

“Hey there cutie.”

I sighed inwardly.

Oh no, not another one of these guys. Seriously, people, I’m just here to read my lovely perverted books in peace. Although... you’re not too bad to look at now that I think about it.

My eyes traveled up and down the stranger who had interrupted my reading, not so subtly checking him out with a bored expression and a raised brow, my annoyance from the unwelcome interruption making me bold. You could tell from my expression that I wasn’t impressed, although on the inside I was more than intrigued.

I mean, anyone could see that this guy had that ‘it’ factor that had people hooked from the first time he aimed that dazzling and jaw-dropping smile at you. It was the sort of thing that left you breathless without him having to do anything but look at you… It was just like the things that happened in my books… and I didn’t really know if I liked the feeling that this… man gave me in my core. It was like I was burning from the inside out and it made me fidget uncomfortably, the book which I was trying to hide being shifted just a little farther under the table so the unknown man didn’t see.

“Hey,” I replied quietly, mentally smacking myself directly after the word had left my lips and dropped onto the table.

Well, that was smooth.

“What do you want?” I spat out quickly after my first initial ‘hey’, I didn’t want that to be the first impression of me to this… dude who had interrupted my reading. I wanted to get this done and over with as soon as I could.

“Well, I was planning on doing some light flirting and then ask you what you were reading. I’ve been watching you for a few minutes now and you seem to be enjoying it. I do love a good book.”

He replied, a friendly but confident smile on his face.

I could feel myself flush and my eyes flicked down to my lap, where my hands were unconsciously pushing the book further under the table.

“U-Um...” I found myself stuttering out.

Great. I thought.

“I-It’s a… r-romance.” Came my intelligent answer. I groaned mentally again.

Curses! That’s the best you could do? Just lie! Say something boring so that he can just get bored and shove off so we can get back to reading this beautiful smut!

The man -who had a very nice head of sandy brown hair now as I inspected him closer… Not that I was looking or anything- ran a hand through his thick locks and smiled. It was a very nice smile, one that didn’t have any crooked teeth in it and the man did have a nice curve to his face so that it showed off his pearly whites just perfectly whenever he decided to grace anyone with their presence… Again, not that I was looking or anything.

“Oh, I like romance too.” He smiled kindly, his eyes showing genuine intrigue.

“What’s it called? Maybe I can look it up at the library tomorrow.”

He goes to the library? O.M.Goodness, I think I found my soulmate.

I found my mouth opening, fully intent on telling this brunette the name of the book I was currently reading before I halted and hurriedly snapped my mouth shut. Um, there was no way I was telling this man the name of this particular… book.

“I-I-uh, I don’t think you would like it,” I said quickly, trying my hardest to bail myself out of this uncomfortable situation I had somehow talked myself into. I really needed to work on my people skills.

The side of Brunette’s lip quirked upwards and he let out a small chuckle.

“Oh? Try me. Explain what it’s about and I’ll be the judge to see if I’d like it or not.”

Well, I just put my foot in it. Great, what am I going to do now?

“W-Well it’s… H-He was… He met… T-They-uh… At the p-park…” I scrambled through my mind to try and form some semblance of a sentence to tell this man, my fingers clutching at the spine of my book under the table, dead set on never letting it see the light of day after this embarrassing conversation was finally over. I also think that I might never see the light of day after I finished this conversation.

“Here, how about I just look at the cover? If you don’t want to tell me about it I could just look at the cover and learn the title of it that way, if you don’t mind of course.”

Brunette’s hand innocently reached for my book under the table, his head quirking to one side at my odd behavior. He seemed genuinely interested in what book I was I reading, his eyes alight with curiosity at the prospect of a good book; and I couldn’t smell a drop of alcohol on him. Well... that was refreshing. Usually, the men who came and pestered me were just looking for a quick Friday night hookup and didn’t understand the true love for books - not just the type I had now mind you - I had.

“U-Um… I-I don’t think so.” Came my well-educated response, my face visibly scrunching up into a cringe as I thought about how this other man would perceive my actions. I was being so awkward, like I didn’t even know how to talk to another person let alone have an actual conversation. (Well… Granted, I didn’t but we don’t really need to talk about that now do we? The answer is no, no we don’t.)

The brown-haired man’s head tipped to the side once more and he arched a perfectly shaped brow at me, eyes full of playful curiosity.

“Oh come on, I’m sure it’s not as bad or boring as you’re trying to make it seem. I love when people are actually interested in what they are reading and I’m curious now as to what you are reading. I won’t tease you about loving books if that’s what you’re worried about, I love books myself so I don’t see the problem.”

I was hyper-aware of his hand slowly but surely creeping toward the book held in my clutches as I hid it under the table. My bottom lip was drawn between my teeth and my adam’s apple was bobbing up and down as I swallowed nervously with my thoughts running rampant through my head. I needed to come up with something to get out of this situation, and fast!

“Well, you can’t.” I blurted out quickly, my hands whipping the book out from underneath the table as fast as I could, fully intent on shoving it into my book bag until Brown Haired Backstreet Boy who apparently had lightning fast reflexes managed to grab it and yank it out of my fingers before I could complete my task. I gasped as it was tugged from my fingers and lunged at the book which was now out of my possession.

“Oh come on now just let me see.” He chided, easily avoiding my sloppy attempts to grab the book back from him with me practically falling into his lap as he held it away from me.

“Give it back!” I shouted, jostling around wildly and not caring that we were indoors. I was very sure that no one would mind since the loud beat of the music and the stomping feet of the dancing patrons drowned out the sound of my voice.

“Stop it now.”

It was a command.

His voice was low but hard as steel and -as I now noticed- his silvery blue eyes bored into my own. I gulped, immediately halting in my fruitless attempts with both of my hands haphazardly grasping at thin air in the moderate direction of my stolen book.

For some reason, the tone of his voice just made me freeze, like I didn’t even have control of my body when he gave me that command. It was downright scary now that I think about it.

“Good boy.” He praised distractedly, his eyes no longer focusing on me but on the cover of the book that he had just manhandled off of me; during which his left hand had automatically come up to pat me on the head, his fingers carding through my hair expertly. (I’m not sure if he meant to do that.)

I just sat there stock still while a mixture of shock, confusion, and embarrassment flashed over my face. I didn’t know what to do. I was half draped over this complete stranger’s lap with said stranger’s hand still soothingly threading through my hair. All the while his silvery-blue eyes flicked over the book he was holding which - to my absolute horror - I now realized had been flipped open to where I had dog-eared the page earlier.

I opened my mouth to tell him to stop, fully aware of what the protagonists of that certain book were doing on dreaded page 139.

“Don’t.” Was all I managed to whisper pathetically, my bottom lip coming between my teeth as my eyes dropped from his face to the red leather booth cushion we were both sitting on in shame.

I felt it before I heard it. A slow, gradual rumble that grew to full on, head thrown back against the back of the booth laughing.

He laughed, and I felt a shiver run down my spine in rage.

Nope! I’m not going to let this… this… jerk make fun and even have the audacity to laugh at me. I shoved myself off of his lap and snatched the book out of his fingers before he could regain his grasp on it.

“I’m leaving.” I spat, my face beet red while I refused to meet his eyes. I shoved the book into my bag and slammed down the payment for my cola on the table, nodding my head to the waiter who knew my usual routine.

Brown Haired Backstreet Jerk finally managed to regain his breath after he positively died laughing and his hand caught my wrist, making me halt in my conquest of marching through the door of the club in a huff; and instead making a cold stab of fear race up my spine.

“Wait. Don’t go, i’m sorry for laughing I just-”

I whirled around and roughly jerked on the arm that he was holding on to, not quite managing to throw his hand off my wrist but almost.

“No! Just stop it! I don’t want to hear it okay, just leave your judgmental and stuck up comments to yourself and let me go home!”

You’re okay, just keep it together. You’re okay.

The grip on my wrist tightened and I panicked, beginning to thrash around as I tried to get him to let me go. My eyes started to sting as I felt tears gather behind them, just waiting for me to let them free, to allow the floodgates to open and let the waterfalls cascade down my cheeks. (Oh merlin’s beard, now i’m getting cringely poetic.) I wouldn’t let them though, I wouldn’t let them show this man how weak I was when it came to embarrassment or talking to other people. I was getting better… I was, and I was going to prove it. I wasn’t going to let my apparent ‘diagnosed’ anxiety to rule my life… again.

“Stop it now!”

I sniffled but froze immediately. Ugh! Why whenever this man speaks my body just listens to what he says automatically. It’s incredibly annoying! I stopped my struggling but I refused to look at him, fighting the urge to desperately tug at the arm which he still held in his grasp, my free hand coming up to my face to furiously wipe at my eyes before I felt an arm coil around my waist. My breathing quickened and I bit back the urge to let out the scream of sheer panic that was building in my throat.

But, before I could say anything I was pulled against a firm chest and a soothing voice was whispering into my ear.

“Shh shh, breath for me now. It’s alright pet, deep breath in… Deep breath out… In… Out… come on precious, you can do that for me now.” I didn’t catch it than but my heart fluttered at the words he had used to address me. I blamed the stutter of my heart on my panic though, not what he had called me. Yeah, that’s why my heart did that.

I didn’t even realize it but I was hyperventilating, a few tears slowly tracking down my cheeks as I panicked. I shuddered out another sob and curled into the man’s chest, my arms wrapping around his torso as I clung onto him for dear life. For some stupid reason he made me feel safe, and right now I just wanted to feel like everything was okay. I nodded against his chest and focused on evening out my shaky breaths. In… Out... In… Out… Just like he said.

“Good boy.” He whispered when he felt my chest rhythmically, albeit shakily rising and falling as I followed his command.

I really do hate to say it but I all but purred as he spoke those two darn words to me. Ugh, the joys of having a praise kink.

A/N This will be in two parts since this chapter exceeded the Tapas max for characters... oops. :p