Big Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Aurora Dupree Read Free Book Online

I don't usually meet many guys in bars.
    It isn't that I'm self conscious. I'm not. Really. I have no problem talking in front of people, eating in front of people, or pretty much just being myself when the occasion calls for it.
    But bars? Never really saw the appeal. Sure, it was fun to go out dancing once in a while, and it was always amusing to see how much more guys appreciated some 'junk in the trunk' when they were out shaking a move on the dance floor. But most of the time I don't approach strangers, and they don't approach me. Maybe the bars I hang out in just don't attract that sort of clientele, I don't know. Whatever the case, I'd rather eat some ice cream and watch Hoarders on TV while laughing to myself than go out drinking.
    Usually.
    Tonight was different somehow. I could feel it. I had the itch to get out of my apartment, make my way downtown. I'm not exactly sure why. Maybe it was a full moon, or I'd had too much coffee this morning. No one was urging me, either. My friends were all out of town, and my co-workers were all busy. So I headed out by myself. It was a bold move for me. But there was something in the air, and it was the kind of night where you just had the feeling something good was going to happen.
    Anyway, I'm rambling. As it happened, I ended up at this bar I never in a million years thought I would end up at. It was a dank, grimy dive, a rock n' roll bar called Ride the Lightning. Now I like rock n' roll as much as the next gal, but in that place, I felt decidedly unhip with my thigh-length skirt and modest, if low cut, blouse. There were more tight pants, leather jackets, tattoos, and piercings than I had ever seen in one place before.
    I'm not sure why I decided to go in. I don't believe in fate, but something must have drawn me to a place that was so far out of my element. So as I sat at the bar and ordered a glass of white wine from the bartender with a Mohawk and more metal in his face than a dentist's office, I certainly felt a little out of place. The jukebox was blaring a punk song, the pool table balls were clicking and clacking against each other, and I was drumming my feet, sipping my wine and wondering just what the hell I was doing there.
    They say there are a few moments that change your life forever, when you know that the future will be irrevocably changed. I didn't realize it at the time, but when Clyde Strummer sat down next to me at Ride the Lightning, and ordered three shots of whiskey, things would never be the same.
    I heard him talking to the bartender like they were old pals, but I didn't turn around immediately. Whoever it was was being loud and obnoxious, talking over the high decibels of the music with a laid back drawl.
    “ Yeah, three whiskeys, it's just that time of the night. Two for myself, and one for the lady here.”
    I still continued to sip on my wine, thinking he was talking about someone else. I didn't realize he meant me until he slammed a shot down in front of me and pointed at it, raising his eyebrows.
    That's when I got my first good look at him. He was handsome all right, with long black hair, prominent biceps tattooed to oblivion, several necklaces swinging above a ripped Guns N Roses T-shirt. But I was taken aback, and a little peeved.
    “ What makes you think I want a shot?” I asked. “I don't even like whiskey.”
    He shrugged.
    “ Doesn't matter to me.” He downed the first of his own shots, knocking it back like it was water. “You just looked so lonely over there with your wine, I figured I'd give you a pick-me-up.”
    The song on the jukebox changed over to another rollicking number.
    “ Oh man, I love this one,” he said, banging his hands against the bar in rhythm with the song. He turned back to me, smiling. “I love a girl with curves, too, if I may be so bold.”
    “ Wow,” I said, not sure if I should be offended or take that as a compliment. “You just say whatever it is that's on your mind, don't you?”
    He put his hands