The Moon Faced Girl

The bottles of ‘Corona’ flow freely, two bottles for the bargain price of £3.50 before 10.30 on any evening. We come back from the bar with four at a time; we’re men on a mission. We have our beer shelf in front of us and a table closely behind us, so close that little space is left for people to walk between. A brunette taps Tim on the shoulder and asks him to shuffle up, he politely complies while I take his lead and do the same. As she walks behind me I feel two hands hold my hips and linger, slightly longer than they really should. As I pat my trouser pockets to ensure my wallet still remains I look to my right and this woman with a round face looks back and smiles. I try to smile back without appearing to flirt or look too worried. She disappears into the crowd below us. Tim taps me on the shoulder “She likes you mate” he tells me in earnest; “Nah, she just wanted to get past, and that’s all” I counter.

Twenty minutes later and I feel another tap on my shoulder and there is the woman again with the round face, a big round white moon of a face, this time I get a better look. She’s about thirty five, not small but built stocky enough to intimidate me, not ugly but nothing that would stir any chemistry in me. “Excuse me” she asks, I automatically shuffle forward again to let her pass and wait. A moment passes but she doesn't move, I try not to look at her. She taps me on the shoulder again, “No, I don’t want to get past this time” she laughs. “Can I ask you something?” she whispers looking more serious. “Fire away” I tell her with a drunken confidence, I’m expecting her to ask me to buy her a drink or something. “Would you mind if I did this…” and then she stops talking and moves her round face into mine and kisses me. Shock roots me to the spot and all I can too is kiss her back and hope it ends quickly. Years seem to pass and there is no give up, then thankfully she pulls away. She smiles at me and waits for a response. Slowly I say the only words that enter my head at this moment, actually two letters “O.. K..”. She smiles again and walks away back into the crowd. Next to me I can see Tim’s shoulders rising and falling with laughter, “I told you mate!” he laughs and slaps me on the back.

Another twenty minutes pass, along with some more beer. The moon faced girl suddenly appears to my left like a magician’s assistant, simply popping in out of no where. I glance over at her and she smiles in my direction. “Tim I think now is the time to go and mingle with the masses below” I tell my drinking partner. “Wayne just do it mate, go with it and take a hit for the team” he urges me. I look back at her one last time “No” I say defiantly already moving further down. “I would!” Tim tells me, “That doesn’t inspire me any” I answer back. So we head into the crowd and the increased music volume.

The drinking never ceases, Tim doesn't do the dancing thing so I dance behind a pretty blonde in a white dress. Tim shakes his head but soon she leans her back against mine and dances up and down me. And so I dance with the pretty blonde and the night begins to look up. A girl in the blonde's group smiles at Tim and Tim takes note. Near me is a giggly brunette, but she looks different, I can’t explain too well why but she just looks a little out of place. She is very attractive, lots of gentlemen are paying her lots of attention but she doesn’t seem to be taken in. Normally in Bar Med a good looking lad hooks up with a good looking lass, those are the rules, regardless of intelligence, linguistic skills or any other attributes (good or bad), just the physical. But this girl is chatting to good looking lads, really ‘listening’ and then brushing them off. I turn to Tim and point to her, “I bet two things about that lady, one, she isn’t local and two, she has a good education, degree level”, he takes a good long look at her, taking in her measure, “No” he disagrees, “Local girl” he remarks. “Right!” I tell him, “I’m off to find out” and off I wonder in her direction. “Excuse me” I shout to her, she looks at me and I wonder if she feels the way I did when the moon faced girl stopped me, I have become the moon faced man! She really is very beautiful and I almost falter, “You know how everyone people watches, well me and a friend saw you from across the way and you sparked a conversation, of sorts, well I think that you’re not a local and I have a strong suspicion that you’re degree educated, while my mate disagrees.” She looks at me and giggles, “I’m from Horsham and I’m as thick as shit” she tells me, “Sorry” she laughs, “Bugger” I reply. She looks at me expectantly and I realise that I should probably say something else, the brush off would quickly follow, but in my drunken state I’m annoyed that my powers of observation have abandoned me, so I shake my head at her and walk back to Tim. “You were right on both counts” I tell him.

The music ends and the lights come up, Tim is smiling at the girl who smiled at him earlier and she returns it with interest and steps back into the group of moving people, disappearing forever. We leave wishing it wasn’t ending so soon. I’ve drunk more tonight than I have in previous weeks and without my final two pints of water from the bar, I know I’m going to be ill and I was.

A hangover for the morning and another night of adventures all thanks to ‘Bar Med’.