she walked in like she owned the place

she may have

how in hell would i know the difference

she came over sat at the table next to me and stared at me like i was some kind of stain on the chair cushion

she pulled out a pack of smokes and carefully tapped one out

she held the pack towards me

i hesitated

it had been a long time since i had one of those but they still called out to me

occasionally in dreams i still smoked and woke up with the taste of stale smoke on my breath

what the hell

i nodded and she tapped one out for me as well

i grabbed the book of matches on the table and lit one and cupped it towards her

she leaned forward and as she lit the thing i got a pretty good eyeful of her

she was attractive

i would say she was my type but i could say that about pretty much any lady sitting next to me with a low cut top that was leaning over

i lit mine and blew out a cloud of blue smoke into the air

didn’t cough

felt proud about that

she blew out a cloud as well and just looked at me

so what do you do

i stared at the cigarette and thought for a moment

you could say i’m between things at the moment

she nodded and ordered herself a white wine and got me another glass of whiskey with a couple drips of water

thank you

she smiled and stared at me in a predatory way that was alarming and alluring in a single instance

my pleasure

i took a long drag and watched the bartender pour our drinks

i’m mike

she watched as i blew out the smoke

i know

that surprised me and smoke got into my eyes and i felt them water

she laughed as i rubbed them

you don’t remember me, do you mike

oh shit

i tried to casually search my mind for where we had met before but if there were a bell, i’d be damned if i could ring it

it’s okay

but i could see it wasn’t, not really

i’m sorry

she laughed at that and our drinks arrived and she took a nice long drink as i tried to recall where we would have met

you’re not sorry

i really wasn’t

more surprised than anything

last week, we met here

that didn’t help

i’m here a lot

she nodded and put out her smoke and tapped a fresh one out

i know, you told me

seems i told you a lot

she shook her head no

not really, you just sort of rambled on about nothing

sounds like me

she laughed again

i liked her laugh and what it did to her low cut blouse

you had me laughing the entire evening

that doesn’t sound as much like me

she laughed again

i was on a roll

we didn’t

she looked shocked

you don’t remember

sure, sure, it’s just

no, we didn’t

i didn’t think so

now finish your drink

why, what’s the hurry

you told me you don’t do that on the first date

that is definitely something i would say

well this is our second date

i felt the blush creep up my cheeks and it wasn’t from the whiskey

i don’t even know your name

she raised an eyebrow

if you can do half the things you said the other night i’ll remind you

turns out her name was lillie

my second favorite flower