Double Jeopardy (Part I).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  We ( Fall 1995) We made a promise to watch each other’s backs for the last few semesters - stay on the straight and narrow path  -   study hard for exams and knock out our projects and term papers so  we could graduate and move on. Friday is the designated night for us to hang out and unwind - drug and alcohol free.  The Latino dance party scene was in full swing, making appearances at different nightclubs, cantinas, and pubs all around town. I decided to hip Nick to the scene  and tonight it’s starting  at Grand Central Station downtown.

“See them over next to the bar?” I said to Nick as I aimed my head in the direction of the two girls twirling each other and giggling.  The Brunette is more my speed; Curvaceous, olive skin, long, thick dark brown hair, lots of rhythm (for a white girl) rosey cheeks, bubbly personality and lots of energy. Her friend is pale, more introverted, slightly taller and thinner with long, straight, sandy blond, scandanavian-like hair. and large grey eyes shielded behind awkward brown-framed glasses.  She didn’t have much of a shape but she still had those wafer model lines these white guys are so crazy about.

“Yeeeaah” Nick says as he slants his eyes at me with a sly grin on his face and aims his eyes back at the girls. “Good looking out, Ro. You take the brunette and I’ll take the blond.”  Nick has a tendency to leap before he looks in situations like this. He’s a tall, lanky pale dude, Jewish, with short brown hair.  His style is caught somewhere between a white frat boy and Seattle grunge. Sometimes he’s not quite aware of how forward he comes across so I have to school him. “Nah, man you don’t just step up to them” I said as I motioned for him to start moving around as not to look so conspicuous - standing there like a Cape Fear stalker - gawking at the two girls. “You gotta scope them out. You never know if their boyfriends may be hanging around or some other dudes have already tried making their moves.” Nick has a bewildered look on his face then smiles again. “Oh, right. You da man Ro!”  He says as he livens up, slightly flinging his arms and hands to the beat of the music. After a while of scoping the bar no other guys approached the girls. “You ready?” I asked Nick. “You take the lead.” He responds as he’s getting in the dancing mode - sort of gyrating and moving up and down as we make our way to the girls in the center of the dance floor.

“Evening, ladies!” I say to the girls to get their attention. “I’m Romulus and this is Nick.” As I introduce ourselves they casually turn their attention towards us. “Would you like to dance?”  I asked. The taller thinner blond turns her attention to Nick while the brunette turns to me. “Sure!” The brunette says as they separate from each other and dance towards us.

“What’s your name?” I asked the smiling brunette.  She places both hands on my shoulders, pulls me closer and screams “Barbara!”  Just above the sound of the music. “What’s your name again?” She asks while still up to my ear. As the music changed to more of an afro-cuban beat I spun her around, facing away from me. She instinctively backs up to my groin and begins gyrating her hips to the beat of the music. I match her rhythm. “RO-MU-LUS!” I say loudly and deeply into her ear as I place my hands on her waist and slowly inch my fingers closer to her belly.

As I briefly rest my cheek close to her head she puts her hands on my hips and on my thighs as we both slowly drop to the floor. I glimpse over at Nick - he’s moving like a wounded stork but the blond is having the time of her life trying to match his moves. Nick is a talker, so I could tell he was making pointless small talk with that girl even though she was kindly obliging him.

The music shifts from a classic afro-cuban, big band, Tito Puente style romantic music to a more contemporary Miami club scene-type beat, which brings more of the wildness out of Barbara. Our moves become more erotic to the point where the other people on the dance floor started backing away and encouraging us to get more erotic. Nick’s moves start to become a little more lethargic as the night gets deeper but the blond girl is still alive and kicking. “It’s getting late” Barbara says as she makes a few nonverbal gestures at the blond. The blond responds with a time-to-end-this kind of gesture with her eyes and her smile.

“Let’s exchange numbers.” I quickly suggest as the blond tells Nick she’s ready to go. “Sure.” She says as we walk over to the bar to get a napkin. Nick and the blond walks over to Barbara and me at the bar. “How about lunch tomorrow?” Nick suggests as Barbara’s writing down her number. “That would be cool.” Responds the blond. “Oh, my name is Anna.” The blond says as she reaches her hand toward me. “Hi, Anna, nice to meet you” I say with a large smile as I shake her hand.  “See you tomorrow!” Barbara says as they walk out of the back door into the patio.  Nick rams his hands into his pockets, rolls his eyes up and smiles a giddy smile. “Man, check this out,” He says. “They’re roomates!” he says as he pulls Anna’s number out of his pocket. “So what’s the deal with your girl?” Nick asks. “She’s a sophomore and a business major.” I said. “She sounds pretty bright and into her major.” Nick throws his head up with elation. “Anna’s a Math major with a minor in computer science.”  He says. He’s so excited and intrigued about whatever it is they talked about he crushes the sliver of paper with Anna’s number in his hand.

As we’re driving down the empty street at nearly 3am on the way from the bar Nick drops heavy thought into tonight, tomorrow and perhaps the rest of his life with this girl he just met. “Man, these are two holsom girls, man!” He says as he rubs his finger on his lip. “Neither one of them got a drink at the bar either.” I said to add more positive points to the list. “Yeah, man,” Says, Nick. “What’s your girl’s name again?” He says as he wears a more serious look on his face. “Barbara.” I tell him. “Yeah, she’s got some serious curves going on there.” He says with a grin and a nod. “My girl doesn’t have jugs like yours but she’s got that killer waif  body.” He says as he has a brief daydream. “Where are we going to take them tomorrow?” Nick asks as he’s running through his mind the different places around town. “Anna’s a strict vegetarian so lets hit the Chinese joint down the street.” He says as he looks over at me for approval. “Cool, man.” I say to him as I was already thinking the same place. It’s the only place on the strip that’s worth eating anyways.

“These girls are amazing, man.” Nick says as he drops me off at my apartment. “So you’re in on it?” He says with a mischievous grin. “I’m down with it, man.” I tell him as I close the door. “We’ll have to take this slow.” I tell him as I walk towards the door. “These aren’t your run-of-the-mill dumb broads.” I tell him just to let him know what’s up. “Yeah, you’re right.” He says. “Later, man.” He drives off tooting his horn as he exits the parking lot.