You Are Charming, Quiet Man

My brother was talking to the animated Fred, who when he talks, likes to keep his right hand in his pocket while his suit jacket is buttoned. For some reason, when he does that, it reminds me of a 1960's James Bond.

Fred had waved hello to me. I smiled broadly and waved hello to Fred. My friend excused himself and went back into the front hallway. I did not see him the rest of the night.

I approached Fred and my brother, who finished up speaking with Fred and went on to talk to someone else in the house. Fred kissed me on the cheek hello and made some small chit chat with me. He told me Belina was there by motioning behind him where she was on the couch; I waved hello to her. Fred then made it a point to tell me Quiet Man was also with him and told me to say hello to him. I ignored Fred when he was saying this and changed the conversation to Fred which works every time with Fred.

Why should I approach Quiet Man? I don't approach men first, its just the way I am-sometimes. Anyway, he needs to work for it was how I felt.

After I was done speaking with Fred, I had entered the billiards room where they had on display various items, paraphernalia that the owner had apparently paid alot for and was very proud of because he also had little cards made up like in a museum about the stuff. I caroused over the items and had not one little bit of envy for any of it.

I entered the living room and Quiet Man was no where in sight, but Belina was still sitting on the couch, alone. I wondered why she even came; she did not know anyone except Fred and Quiet Man and was not involved in any of this group's activities. And she was not talking to either of them.

I approached Belina and said hello to her. She seemed very grateful that I came over to her. She is as I said before, quite striking, even with her out of the bottle blond hair. I had not planned to have a full blown out conversation with Belina, so I did not sit down with her.

As I turned around to head into the kitchen, there was Quiet Man behind me, up against the wall he was holding up before.

His smile was broad and friendly.

"Aaah" he said in that sultry accent of his, "Good evening." My heart raced and I felt my face flush.

I smiled as he reached for my hand. He kissed it, and when his head came back up, his eyes
looked into mine as if what he saw made his smile broader.

He pointed out that we were both drinking wine. I told him when my friend and I went to the bar, they suggested the merlot, which was smooth as silk. He had the same in his glass.

While I was talking to Quiet Man,this little annoying creepy man who I had met at another party earlier in the year was there that night. He hit on me that first night and he was drinking. He knew Quiet Man and called him by name. Quiet Man acknowledged him in an un-important way.

The Creep could not shut up nor stop interrupting us. He imposed by asking me for my card. I told him I already gave it to him, but reached into my bag to shut him up. He then asks Quiet Man, why does he get the good looking ones. I was incensed, and turned around and said to him because you are married and he is not! Quiet Man laughed and just looked at the Creep while he left.

Quiet Man escorted me into the kitchen. They had stopped serving hor douvres and began dinner, buffet style. By the time Quiet Man and I entered the kitchen, there were not any seats, so we took to the counter where they were preparing the food. They served us rather than us serving ourselves, which was nice.

Quiet Man took a plateful of lamb-yuck, I was thinking-lamb makes me gag. I was served sliced steak and some vegetables.

Quiet Man only had the lamb. "It's my favorite" he relished in his accented voice, while he ate it with his hands. I thought it was odd, he used his hands.

Fred, Belina and my mother were seated at the kitchen table, which looked more like a dining room table. I felt sort of odd, standing there with Quiet Man, since everyone else was seated. I knew the caterer and he kept staring at me, while directing his crew, which made me uncomfortable. The caterer is a gossip.

Quiet Man and I were engrossed in conversation. We spoke about cars, travel and politics. It was hard to keep my mind on what he was saying because he has this way about him when he looks at me. His eyes are kind, yet fixated. He seems unfettered by anyone else around him and by what he does. If he wanted to look, he looked. If he wanted to stare, he stared. He was so full of a stoic self confidence, it oozed from him. It was intriguing.

It was hard to eat while he ate and watched me. He was advising me of his travels to England where I once lived. He mentioned he goes to England often. For what? For cars, Jaguars, he said.

He laughed at anything I might have said in error due to how he un-nerves me. While he was licking the fat from the lamb off of his fingers, while thinking why did he eat with his hands, he did it in such a sensual manner, or I was just imagining it was.

After he finished his lamb, he was done. He did not take dessert, despite the chocolate fountain they had. Out of nervousness, I picked a couple of peices of fruit and dipped them into the chocolate.

My mother at this point was interrogating Fred and Belina and I heard Belina say to to my mother that whether he wants to believe it or not, she has a boyfriend! Now the boyfriend was in some other country, so the whole Fred-Belina thing was really weird.

After while, Fred and Belina rose from the table and joined Quiet Man and I. Again Fred, like a hanging Albatross, goads Quiet Man into taking me out for a drink. Quiet Man had laughed and jokingly said "let's go!" but I chided him that since my mother was with me, he had to bring her as well-HA!

After Fred and Belina with the boyfriend in another land left us, Quiet Man looks at me and shakes his head asking me to go outside with him while he has a smoke.

We went through the paneled french doors to the patio. He lead and I followed. I was more than giddy with delight! His charm was overwhelming to me, and I could not get enough of it at all.

It was a chilly night. I took a look around and admired the brick patio with the nice furniture.

I sat on one of the brick steps and Quiet Man stood in front of me, putting his foot next to me while he lit up.

The moon light was beautiful and I can't remember what we spoke about. My phone rang. It was an old boyfriend who was now married looking to see what I was doing. It was about 9:30 pm and he lives in another part of the country. I was annoyed he interrupted my time with Quiet Man who was interested in who called me. I told him off handedly and continued on.

I was happy we got along and were able to endlessly converse, but again, we were interrupted.

It was Belina. She made her excuses to me and told Quiet Man she had to leave.

When she went back inside, I was turned to watch her go.

Quiet Man reaches for me to help me up and inside. He told me he was sorry he had to leave. I was getting annoyed.

While inside, Belina was explaining to me she had to go home to pack since she had an early flight to Europe the next morning. She kept telling Quiet Man to bring her home and return to me, which he begged off from doing.

I was standing there in disbelief.

I was thinking why in the heck did Belina come if she had an early flight and had to pack? Fred was in full agreement. I felt like slapping Fred.

So, the night ended with Quiet Man kissing me on my cheek good bye and hurriedly following Fred and Belina out the front door.