Munch, Munch “I have my sights set on a ‘Yes’. That’s pretty

Munch, Munch “I have my sights set on a ‘Yes’. That’s pretty much the first thing I do."  Inside Jeremy’s head a mantra was chanting like Dorothy going through a particularly traumatic chapter of The Wizard of Oz. There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.  Other people have different ways, other people have different ways, other people have different ways.  He nodded, a polite smile gracing his lips. "It’s not about the question I’m asking, but the way they answer it. I want an affirmative from them. Not a 'sure’, god, never a 'sure’. But even 'Of course’, or 'Yup’ isn’t good enough. It has to be 'Yes’. And I have to let them know that’s the right response, so they get to it quicker the second time.” The woman patted down her chest, pulled out a cigarette packet. “Excuse me a minute, have to drag.” She turned that last word into an onomatopoeia, somewhere between a Northern bark and a Mississippi drawl.  He stepped out of the way, turning a half circle until he slotted neatly into the conversation that had been going on behind him. A casual acquaintance was looking slightly bewildered. Geoff,an older man, thrust into the over-enthusiastic bosom of the new bloods and their new-fangled meetings by whichever twenty year old he was currently dating.  “I worry, you know."  It took Jeremy a moment to realise it was him that was being addressed. He looked up, took a sip from his pint, nodded. But the silence wasn’t being filled. It was expectant.  "Why’s that?” He threw Geoff a bone. “Well everyone just seems to be going to such extremes, y'know? Before no one was connected enough to properly explore all this shit, and now there’s websites and meetups it seems like they’re getting onto the really fucked up stuff before they’re even in their second relationship.” There was a shrug, although he’d struggle to attribute it to any autonomous thought from the man. It was a social tick, some habitual world-weariness manifested in that simple movement. He smiled, sipped. “The problem with all of it is just that there’s no time, y'know?” Each time Geoff threw one of those suffixes at the end of the sentence he’d would look up, expectantly, and then he’d nod, as if he’d got his agreement even if there was no such response from Jeremy. “You need to build trust, and that takes a little while. You can’t go for drowning with someone you pick up at a Munch.” It was his turn to sip his pint, and it was an excuse to slip away. Rachel was at the bar, casually browsing her phone when Jeremy sidled up beside her, leant over the lacquered wood, and offered a polite smile. She glanced up for half a second before looking down again.   “Heat or conversation?” She sounded bored. “Hmm?” He finished off his pint and waited to grab the attention of the girl behind the bar. “Did you leave because of the stifling heat or the stifling conversation?” He didn’t have to look to know she was smiling. Smirking.  “Oh, you know me, little column A, little column B. Did you saunter out here because you wanted to make every man in the room watch your hips sway? Or was it because you so desperately needed to get yourself at least half-tight before you go back in?” At this she looked up, and he remembered why he’d pursued her relentlessly for half a year before somehow shifting gear and ending up friends. It was the eyes, and the way they never seemed to stop moving, even when she was looking right at you.  “You know me.” She said, and left it at that. His eyes flicked down to her phone, and went a little wide. Two men were vigorously fucking on the screen. He laughed. “You do realise this is a vanilla pub?” She picked up her drink, smiled, and took a step away from the bar. A step towards him. Her lips grazed his earlobe and she whispered with all the subtlety of a B-52.  “Are you embarrassed for them or because you rather enjoyed that little glimpse into my arousal?” They never could help but flirt with questions. She walked away. Sauntered, her hips swaying ludicrously from side to side.  -- source link

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