No Illusions
The club was crowded. The music was loud; people were dancing and holding their drinks up high. Everyone was celebrating. The big occasion? Just a regular Saturday night at the most exclusive nightclub in town.
Beautiful people dressed in the latest fashion, talking about the most interesting things in the world. By the bar, the music wasn’t as loud as it was at the dance floor area, so it was the perfect place to meet fascinating people and have amazing conversations with them - that could, hopefully, lead to something more.
The bartender literally played with fire, throwing colorful liquids on the air and catching them smoothly, while shaking a bottle with his other hand. He entertained the audience spitting fire and serving them delicious drinks.
Even though there were a lot of people, there was a man sitting by himself near the bar. He didn’t seem to get affected by the crowd, the music or the fact that just getting inside that club was a near impossible dream for most people.
Unlike many who went there just to be seen, he wasn’t trying to get anyone’s attention. Au contraire, all he wanted was to observe people and keeping a low profile was the key.
His hypnotic light blue eyes were tired of searching the crowd for an actual challenge. He could read any person like they were an open book. He wanted something intriguing, exciting. But everyone just seemed too obvious, too easy to decipher.
He found himself staring at the floor, lost inside his own thoughts; he could be lost in them for hours. But when he saw two feet standing right in front of him, wearing red ridiculously high heels, he looked up to see who they belonged to.
The woman standing too close was gorgeous, her lipstick as red as her heels. Eyeliner made her eyes seem even greener and her black hair made the perfect contrast with her flawless pale white skin. She was wearing a tight black dress and a smirk on her face. If he was a regular guy, he’d be seduced just by looking at her. But he’s exactly the opposite.
“Is this seat taken?” asked the woman in a soft tone.
The man looked at her from up to down, squeezing his eyes just a little bit when he was done analyzing her. From that look alone, he already knew more about her than her shrink did. He suddenly started talking fast, every word shot from his lips and hitting her straight, like a bullet.
“You’re so insecure that no matter how many men stared at you when you entered the room, you needed the attention of the only one who didn’t seem to notice your presence. You put on too much makeup, but that doesn’t have anything to do with vanity, it just means that you have to cover yourself with some sort of mask to be capable of even going to a club. You want to look mature and edgy, but in reality, you’re just a scared little girl. You were bullied because of your high grades and nerdy clothes and thank God, you haven’t lost all of your intelligence trying to be someone you’re not. You have a bit of lipstick on your teeth, it’s barely noticeable, but that indicates that you began wearing makeup recently and not when most girls do. You have a black elastic string around your pulse and you wear it because of an old habit, when you were much younger you could only concentrate if your hair was put up. Even though you don’t need it anymore, you still wear it just in case you feel homesick. You are definitely not from this town and I’m guessing you grew up somewhere sunnier because there are discreet freckles on your nose and not the ones you are born with. But there’s still something else…”.
The man stopped talking for a second and realized the woman had her eyes wide open and her mouth was half-open. He probably had guessed everything right. But there was something more. He knew there was. Oh, yes! Now he’s got it.
“The only reason you decided to ask me if that seat was taken is because a man offered to pay you a drink if you flirted with me and instead of guessing some private facts about you, I’d be seduced and act like a normal person for once.”
Her mouth opened a little bit more. She was clearly impressed with his guessing skills.
“Don’t worry.”, he said. “You haven’t wasted your time, I’ll buy you a drink, but only if you lead me to the gentleman who made you that offer. I didn’t know Dr. Watson was coming to the club tonight.”
The woman walked in front of the man, laughing a little bit while thinking “He’s exactly like his friend described!”. When she stopped walking, there was Dr. Watson, holding a dry martini and leaning against the wall.
“Sherlock, my friend! If you keep acting like this, you’ll never find a date! Not even with my help!”
The woman smiled politely and walked away.
What he didn’t find out was that she wasn’t really interested in the drink Dr. Watson offered her. She was interested in the genius who described her perfectly. Mr. Holmes didn’t know how attractive his powerful mind could be.