Hola...

[JOHN MURPHY]

John grabbed a shot and clinked it against her glass, tipping it back and looked at her.  If she was drinking then maybe her pseudo uncles would let them just chill; or maybe they wouldn't, maybe they'd be watching them like hawks.  She asked him how many margaritas he'd had and he made a face, shrugging, "A few, I guess.  Can't have too many margaritas though, right?" he quipped, starting to enjoy the little play on words.  But she was tipping back another shot and he was right behind her, noting just how short she really was beside him.  And she had a sense of humor at least, joking about the walls.  She started telling him about this band she liked and he smiled at her enthusiasm wondering what band she was talking about; she seemed to really like them.  She offered that he probably thought she was insane but he responded, "Alright let's see who it is first," and was about to ask what they were called when she hit shuffle and he paused at the all too familiar guitar riff.  it was literally his band.  His intentionally super elusive band, where he was the lead singer and wrote the lyrics out of the deepest, darkest parts of himself.  And she liked them.  He just couldn't break it to her, not right now.  He hardly knew her.  He couldn't jeopardize the bands anonymity.  And also, the way she was dancing and singing, he didn't want her to be embarrassed.  So instead, he said, "Oh you're not insane.  I really dig this band too."  he wanted to say, yeah I know the feeling when you can't quite express what you're feeling.  That's why I write songs about it.  But he didn't.  "How long have you been listening to these guys"  you ever see them live?" he asked, trying to dance along beside her but he honestly wasn't the greatest dancer.  Not the fast paced jumping around stuff, he could manage a slow dance or two here and there.  He was a little relieved to see that she didn't seem to know it was him though, that was the thing.  he thought for a moment maybe she knew, but it didn't really seem so.

[MARGARITA JOSEPHINE RIVERA]

Mary had turned the music up as loud as she could, ignoring the playful annoyance coming from the people at the bar. She grabbed John's arm, pulling him toward the center of the restaurant, singing along to the words like she was standing in the middle of a packed auditorium. He had asked her a question, and she started to talk but realized the music was loud. She rolled her eyes at herself slightly before grabbing his arms and standing on her toes to get as close to his ears as much as her height would let her. "I've been listening to them since high school. I went to a show, but they are like.. really secretive," she said, shrugging her shoulder. "I mean that's cool, right? They just want normal lives. More celebrities should do that. It takes away from the obsession of them as people and makes you focus more on what they're saying, you know?" she said, waving it off. "I'm blabbering." But she couldn't help but think how adorable it was at his attempt to dance. Being short sucks, but she guessed she never really wondered what it would be like to have such long limbs that you didn't know what to do with them. "I will teach you to salsa," she said, patting him on the arm before she went over to the iPod, also giving them each a chance to have another shot. As she scrolled through the music, she changed her mind, clicking on Take Me Dancing. "This song is called Take Me Dancing, so I feel like I cheated," she said, taking another sip of her margarita before she walked over to him. "Okay so, .. we're going to do a tango instead. And it's slow.. since you have to learn," she said, clearing her throat. She pushed her hair behind her shoulders. "Your hand is going to go here," she said taking his hand and placed it on the small of her back. She took a moment, listening to the music before she placed her hand on the upper part of his arm. She took her right hand holding it out so that she could hold his. "The song will pick up toward the end of the song.. and I think that's supposed to represent how he.. you know at the beginning he is lost and looking for something to pull him back in. And then he wants to go dancing, which is obviously just a metaphor. But he gets spun around with this girl and life stops going in slow motion and suddenly it's like everything is... exciting, and energetic. He gets his happy ending," she said, waving it off. "What a normal person would say.. it picks up at the end, so we can go a little faster,"

[JOHN MURPHY]

So she really didn't seem to know about his little secret and that was a relief to him.  That was a conversation he wasn't even sure how to actually have.  But it was really nice for a change to hear someone talk about how much they really appreciated the music, and to tell it to his face, even unknowingly.  She was telling him she was going to teach him how to salsa, which, okay she could make a good effort.  he had rhythm but he'd always had a little problem with coordinating his limbs.  Once, they had been average sized and then all of a sudden they weren't anymore and he was towering over his friends and the baseball bat he used to swing seemed extra far away.  "Yeah... I uh, could use some help in that department," he offered diplomatically.  "Oh okay, tango." As if he understood the difference.  She placed his hands on her back, and he noticed a few of the bar crowd were slowly seeming to filter out for the night.  That was good, because he definitely was about to put on a show, but probably not a good one.  Entertaining maybe, if you like laughing at the expense of tall lanky guys with extra long appendages.  And maybe he'd had just one margarita enough to let his wall down for a minute or two and dance with her.  Maybe without it he might've been a little apprehensive.  It was harmless, though wasn't it?  They were just dancing.  "It's been a while since anyone's taken me dancing," he said quietly.  He knew she wouldn't understand fully what he meant.  Maybe she did deep down but didn't obviously now to attribute it to him.  But it was still true. 

[MARGARITA JOSEPHINE RIVERA]

Mary stepped closer to him, looking down at their feet a few times and trying not to laugh. But overall, he was doing pretty well for what she assumed was his first time doing this... especially when it had some people in the restaurant who had prying eyes on them. But they were filtering out, slowly but surely. She had her hand wrapped firmly around his arm when the last of them came up to her, "We're heading out." he said, placing a kiss on her cheek. He looked at John, directly in the eye with a stone cold expression. "This place has cameras, hombre" he said, giving him a stern look before heading out. Mary waited until the door was shut before she looked at him and shook her head, "No, it doesn't" she said, laughing as she placed her hand back in his. It was strange to think that someone hadn't taken him dancing. I mean,... it was obvious.. in his skill. But he seemed like someone who was worthy of doing these things with, of getting lost in music and just spending time floating together. But she also knew to not get her hopes up. Anything that she could potentially interpret as attraction on his part was obviously a result of the fact that she had been doing her best to keep him liquored up since he got there. "Um.." she said, looking around at the empty restaurant, before she looked at him, getting an idea as she slowly smiled. "How able are you to drive? I mean.. I showed you my world.."

[JOHN MURPHY]

John almost laughed at himself; he knew it wasn't great.  But he was concentrating too much to laugh, and at least it wasn't absolutely terrible.  As the last few people left John got the good old once over, the 'don't fuck with her' look he knew a little too well.  Even for being well brought up, he knew he had that look.  The tattoos, the motorcycle, that small amount of mysterious factor.  He didn't always say this much, if of course you thought this was him being chatty to begin with.  He glanced back down at her since she'd asked about him being able to drive.  he nodded, "I'm alright."  he'd done a shot with her but he'd never finished that last drink.  His waters were gone though.  "Why, was there something else you wanted to show me?" he questioned out of curiosity, the tiniest of smiles lingering.  If she had any ideas to go anywhere, maybe she would change her mind when she saw his bike.  Maybe she knew better than to get on the back of a bike of a perfect stranger.  Maybe she had some uncles waiting outside waiting to chauffeur her home.

[MARGARITA JOSEPHINE RIVERA]

Was there something else she wanted to show him? Was it a weird thing to meet someone and almost immediately want to open up to them? Except she still felt some sort of wall going up. It was strange. She had a wall up, but maybe he could slip through the gate. There was plenty more she wanted to show him. But she was also very aware that she wasn't exactly sure who she was showing herself, too. She deserved to know him too, right? Maybe not.. He didn't really owe her anything. Poor guy just came in to get a meal. Instead he was getting a whole different ordeal. "Eventually," she said coyly, going behind the counter to put on her jacket. She grabbed a few of the bar glasses, placing them into the rinser behind the bar and then shut the lights off. "But for now... it's your turn to show me something," she said, stepping outside. When she got outside she looked down the street. Other businesses still had their lights on, the locals making their way out of there slowly, too. The crowd here must have intentionally given MJ some time alone with this guy. Which to be fair was really sweet of them. They'd watch her grow up ignoring the opposite sex. Now that she was in college, were they hoping she would let her walls down for someone? Her eyes rested on the motorcycle, placing her hands in her back pockets she turned to face John. "You have a motorcycle..." she said, more as a statement than a question before she smiled slowly. Hot.

[JOHN MURPHY]

John watched her grab her coat and grinned when she said it was his turn.  "Okay, that's fair."  He hadn't been away that long, he still had some places he liked to go.  He used to go to South Mountain with his buddies in high school and just stare at the city until the sun disappeared and the view of Phoenix glowed in all of the lights and night life.  They used to just go and drink and get high and bull shit; they talked about life and girls and school and what they all wanted out of everything.  His band had ultimately decided to forego the record label route up there one night while they tossed rocks into the abyss.  The view was just nice.  It was peaceful.  He followed her outside and shrugged slightly when she turned around and reacted to his bike, "Yeah, is that okay?"  He reached over and picked up his helmet, handing it to her.  Better her safety than his.  He climbed on, letting it roar to life and helped her on behind him before waiting for her to secure herself and taking off.  The ride took a minute to get where they were going but once they climbed the summit he parked the bike and cut the engine.  John stood up, helping her off and motioned at the lit up city they'd been in minutes before, "I used to come up here in high school with my buddies.  We made all of our important life decisions up here.  And some not so important ones," he laughed slightly.  "I grew up over there," he pointed, out toward Tempe.  "My dad works at the university, he teaches english literature," he added in a froufrou voice.  "I think I've read ever classic book they say you should read.  But I couldn't just read them, no we had to talk discuss them.  I remember being like, man, can't I just read it?" he laughed, shaking his head.  his dad was awesome.  John just preferred science and math to whatever literary devices his dad was surely engulfed by on a day to day basis.