Dinner is Prompt-ly at Eight - 21. Chapter 21 You Betcha!

You Betcha!

By Cole Matthews

Protagonist – John, the architect from Minnesota

Goal – Wild and free

Obstacle – The bartender from Seattle

Action – Learns to foresee the future

“John, you have never done a crazy thing in your life,” the lovely blonde bartender said, setting down his gin and tonic, light on the gin. “What makes you think you’d like something like that?”

John cleared his throat, annoyed and clearly frustrated with Belinda’s reaction to his announcement. “The very nature of a kinky relationship is that it’s dark, right?”

Belinda brushed her bangs back behind her ears and snorted at him. “Please, nobody who’s actually kinky says things like that. I’ve been there, done that back in Seattle when I danced at the S&M club. Did I ever tell you about the toe licking money?”

John blinked in response. He couldn’t imagine what ‘toe-licking money’ could be and if it could actually be a thing. The fact his favorite bartender at his weekly drinking hole had once earned such money seemed bizarre in and of itself.

“What’s—"

“Never mind,” Belinda said, wiping down her speed rail with a damp, blue cloth. “You don’t have a single exciting bone in your body. A foot fetish is one of the tamest hobbies you can have. The fact it alarms you only proves my point. You are vanilla through and through.”

John didn’t know how to respond and he thought Belinda would ridicule whatever he said next. When he initially told her about his dreams, he thought she’d be supportive. Belinda had always encouraged him to date, go do different things, experience life in ways he didn’t find comfortable.

John went to work in an office, an architectural firm, Monday through Friday, dressed in a suit. He brought his sack lunch every day with a tuna salad sandwich, two ounces of chips, an apple or a banana, and a pint of milk. Except Fridays. Fridays he took his administrative assistant and his clerk out to lunch. He usually had a salad. Okay, he always had a salad.

Maybe he was a bit boring.

“I’m telling you, this dream was pretty wild. There was this guy dressed in leather and denim and he had tied me up. I’ve never had such thoughts before.” John watched out of the corner of his eye for any other customers who could be listening. His Saturday afternoon chats with Belinda were pretty solitary, as the bar didn’t pick up until happy hour at 4 pm. That’s why he came by early to chat with her.

Belinda was now staring at him, her hands on her hips, akimbo, and her mouth hanging open. “Really!?!” she said, and then shook her head as to clear it like an Etch-A-Sketch. “A leather daddy tied you up? You know, they say still waters run deep, but really John, a bondage fantasy?”

John looked around nervously, but they were still all alone. “Please keep your voice down. I don’t want others to hear about my, well, my dreams.”

“I’m just surprised,” Belinda answered. “When you said you had a kind of kinky dream, I thought maybe a guy you picked up forgot to brush his teeth or left his socks on during coitus. I never would have guessed you’d fantasize about a guy tying you up and doing unspeakable things to you.”

Belinda was his ‘dirty little secret’, in a strange way. She was a disconnect from the rest of his life. The bar, the Fickle Hamster, was not close to his condo or his workplace. It was on the other side of the city. He dropped in after a particularly horrid Christmas shopping trip, and struck up a conversation with her. She was completely different from him. She was a free spirit who moved from place to place, never had a serious relationship, and worked in a transient business pouring drinks and chatting up customers.

But, she was someone John could trust. Belinda had been his sounding board for over a year now. He confessed to her because she was safe and it would never come back to bite him on the ass.

Thanks so much for reading about of fun, and literary filled weekend.