Allen took a sip of his beer and glanced over at his best friend Joey and his date Lisa moving together out on the dance floor. Allen couldn't even start to call what they were doing dancing, with Lisa pressed against Joey's torso while he had both hands beneath her leather miniskirt from behind.
Allen snorted in amusement and glanced at Jenifer, Lisa's friend sitting across from him. She had barely said a word or even glanced at him all night which was a bit disappointing. The two women couldn't have been more different, with Lisa tall and slim, almost anorexic with long black hair and enough makeup for six women in an Egyptian Goth kind of style, while Jenifer was short and curvaceous, with enough padding to keep Allen's interest going, shoulder length auburn hair and gorgeous blue eyes. She even had a small, upturned button nose that he always thought was so attractive.
Jennifer glanced up and said something, but with the throbbing base and music he shook his head.
"What?" Allen had to shout back.
"It's ok!" Jennifer shouted, "I know you're here because you're Joey's wingman, you can go find someone to dance with if you want!"
Allen's eyes widened in surprise as Jennifer glanced away.
"I'd rather dance with you if you'd like to!" Allen shouted after a moment.
The song ended just in time for Allen to find himself yelling 'like to!' like an idiot in the sudden calm. Jennifer looked up and made eye contact with him and snorted at his expression, their eyes staring into each other's for several heartbeats until Jennifer glanced out onto the dance floor.
"Looks like Lisa and your friend are done dancing for a bit," Jennifer said with a grimace.
Allen followed her gaze and watched Allen leading the way to one of the more relatively secluded couches along the far wall that already had a handful of couples making out. While Allen watched he saw at least two couples giving oral and shook his head before looking back at Jennifer.
"I'd still love to dance with you on the next song," Allen said.
"It's fine," Jennifer hastily replied, "I mean, you don't have to just because, and I'm a horrible dancer anyway."
"I'm not asking because I have to," Allen replied with a smile, "I think you're way prettier than your friend and would love to dance, but if you don't want to that's fine too."
"Really?" Jennifer said with a doubtful expression on her face.
"What, the not dancing part or the you're beautiful part?" Allen asked.
Jennifer snorted and shook her head but was at least smiling now.
"How about both?" Jennifer said.
"It's fine if you don't want to dance annnnnd I really do think you're beautiful," Allen replied, "So if you don't like to dance, what do you like to do."
"Ohhh, trying to be slick, and no, I don't do any vertical dancing on the first date either," Jennifer shot back and then glanced towards where Joey and Lisa were laying together on the couch, his head already between her thighs, "Unlike certain friends of mine."
"What? No! That's not what I meant," Allen quickly added, "I meant, seriously, what kind of stuff do you like!"
Jennifer looked at Allen for a moment and then shrugged, "I know I'm overweight, but I do like hiking and paddleboarding, and I swim almost every morning before I go to work.
"Normal stuff I guess, but I only do the club thing when Lisa bugs me to."
"Joey's pretty good about dragging me out too," Allen replied, "So where do you like to hike?"
"I love Ramona Falls and Sleeping Beauty between Mt Adams and Mt St Helens," Jennifer said.
"No way!" Allen said with a huge smile, "I went to Ramona Falls last week!"
"I never get to do as much hiking as I want because Lisa doesn't want to do that sort of stuff and I can't go by myself with all the cougars and bears and two legged critters," Jennifer said, "I know it's stupid to worry about, but I still do and don't go on long hikes by myself."
"How about Saddle Mountain or Silver Falls, have you ever gone there?" Allen asked.
The next thirty minutes seemed to fly by while they talked about hiking in Oregon and Washington, and after mentioning the Native American pits on a hike overlooking the Gorge in Washington even started talking and arguing about Gobekli Tepe. The fact that someone besides himself even knew what Gobekli Tepe was surprising enough, but Jennifer was smart and confident enough to even debate him about the assertion that it had been built by hunter gatherers or not.
"There's other Tepe's though!" Allen argued with a wide grin, "And those do show habitati..."
The music started playing at that moment and drowned out Allen's words who glared up at the ceiling. Allen looked across the table at Jennifer who was smiling back and realized that he had taken her hand without even realizing it at some point while they talked. Her flippant comment about not dancing vertically with anyone on the first date crossed his mind, but his smile only widened as he leaned over and kissed her.
Jennifer's eyes widened in shock, but after only a second those beautiful blue eyes slipped shut. Suddenly it was Allen's turn to be surprised when he felt a tongue press between his lips to caress his own. Allen wasn't sure how long they kissed but was absolutely positive it had to have been ten or twenty minutes nonstop when he finally pulled away even if the song was still just starting to play.
"Hey, uh, would you like to get out of here so we can hear each other?" Allen shouted.
Jennifer pulled her hand away and suddenly had the look of a deer in headlights. She quickly glanced towards the couches where Joey and Lisa had disappeared to, but a dozen dancers now blocked them from view. When Jennifer finally looked back it was easy to see how nervous she suddenly was.
"I don't know..." Jennifer shouted back.
"I don't live to far from here and there's an all night IHop like a half mile away," Allen shouted, "We can get something to eat and then I'll pay for an Uber for you when you want to go home!"
Jennifer looked back towards the couches a second time before making eye contact with Allen and giving a barely perceptible nod.
"Ok," Jennifer shouted back which sent Allen's heart hammering in his chest.
