DIRTY DANCING ON SUNSET AND A ROOMLESS HOTEL ENCOUNTER
The lights inside the Sunset Strip bar flashed silver, bronze and sexual promise among the shadows. Sam and Gia talked and watched the action as the bandleader made a muffled announcement. "You know the progressive?" Gia asked.
"The dances from the fifties till now?"
"Want to try it, win free beers?"
Gia and Sam went on the floor with five other couples. The rest of the crowd circled the dance floor. Many of the men were there to watch Gia who had tucked her five-eight, figure skater's form into a mini-sheath that could cause lesser clergy to shed their vestments.
The dancers performed the twist, Brazilian samba, bump, disco, salsa, funk, the works. The outclassed competition gradually dropped out as Gia and Sam attained dirty dancing unity. As the last song ended to applause, Bruno, with bandaged nose, shouldered through the crowd and appeared at the edge.
"See that big guy muttering on the left? He's trouble." The bandleader tapped Sam and Gia on the shoulders and they turned. Then Sam remembered Bruno, saw the roundhouse right coming and jerked his head back and to the right. The blow was still hard enough to put Sam on his back, and he slid on his shoulders into the crowd. Bruno looked pleased and started after Sam. Gia delivered a karate kick to the side of Bruno's jaw that sounded like the thwock of a tennis serve. He caved in on himself like a detonated building and lay on his back, eyes open and glassy, body jerking.
Heather barged out of the crowd spitting, swearing, kicking and throwing punches. Gia neatly sidestepped and dropped her mid-stride with a short right hand to the point of the chin that left her draped across Bruno, both peacefully napping.
The bandleader gave his band mates an approving, corners-of-the-mouth turned down sideways head nod. Sam rejoined Gia. She took his hand, and they strode out of the club with the chilly, straight-ahead stare of runway models. The crowd parted wide, even the bouncers stepped back.
Walking on Sunset, Sam asked, "You think he's dead?"
"Just coldcocked, twitching in dreamland, shithead even had a nice expression on his ugly puss. Now, there's a yahoo. What do you think the wooly mammoth is six-seven? You okay?"
"It was glancing, knocked me off balance. At least six-seven, probably three- hundred. Does your foot hurt, your hand?"
"No, caught them both on the button. You know, like hitting a ball on the screws, you don't feel a thing. It helped that my shoes have a hard toe. You had trouble with him before, right?"
"He tossed me in a bar. Andy broke his nose."
"I'll bet his jaw's broken now, too, a few loose teeth. He'll be back, you know, after both of us this time. He'll need to reestablish his rep after getting decked by a woman. We'll need Andy, too. How big is he?"
"Six-four, maybe two-thirty. Who'd you learn karate from?"
"Natalie's father. He was a black belt. We went to a tough high school in D.C. You couldn't take shit and survive."
"Gotta remind myself not to talk back to you. The guy . . ."
"The new boyfriend of your cute 'n glass-jawed ex girlfriend."
"How'd you know that?"
Gia shrugged. "You don't have to be Sherlock to figure that one out. Nice abs, her shirt popped up when she landed on Bluto. You still canoodling with her? He thinks you are?"
"I was finished with her before . . ."
"Good. Since I already chilled her I won't have to again. I'm territorial like an eagle or a wolf. I mate for life."
"You mad at me?" Sam asked with a sidelong look.
"You're on probation. Just make sure no more pissed-off boyfriends of ex girlfriends show up. I don't want to get a reputation around town as a bad girl."
"I think you already achieved that."
They passed a hotel entrance and Gia stopped. "I have to go in and fix my makeup."
"But you don't wear makeup," Sam protested.
"So I'll put some on and fix it."
"You're cuckoo."
As they entered the lobby a pinch-faced desk clerk gave them the hairy eyeball. Sam asked a goosey bellhop where the facilities were, and he pointed to a stairway leading to the mezzanine. Sam finished first and stood at the railing looking down into the lobby. Gia snuck up behind him, kissed his neck, gave running bites, nibbled at his ear and whispered, "You taste good enough to eat."
"Easy, wild thing, this ain't the right venue."
Gia pointed to a dark corridor. "What do you think's down there? I like to explore the dark unknown. Are you coming, or are you a fraidy-cat?"
"Okay, mistress of the night. Don't blame me if we get busted."
"Maybe they'll let us share a cell if we explain we couldn't afford a hotel room."
They walked into the increasing darkness. Gia saw a faint light on the left, pulled a curtain and asked, "What is this?"
"Probably trouble."
Silhouetted by dim light, a standing couple embraced. Gia said, "Excuse us, my darlings."
"Hey, they're mannequins," Sam said as he stepped into the space. "This is the right venue."
"Naked and eager mannequins."
"She has no arms, the Venus de Milo." Sam said.
"Venus de Hotel and her hunky date."
Sam tapped the male mannequin's shoulder. "May I cut in?"
"You cut in and I cut out."
"I thought you liked him."
"I do. I wasn't cutting out alone. Gia twirled the male mannequin and sang, "I haven't a hope or a prayer in this sad affair . . ."
"What do you do with an armless woman?"
"Take a flight of fancy, Apollo. Venus may not have arms, but she has many charms." Gia placed the male mannequin back in the embrace, took Sam's arm, and before closing the curtain looked back and said, "Goodbye, wistful lovers."
The lobby sounds and light faded as they walked deeper into the corridor. Floor-to-ceiling drapes hung on the right. Sam pulled a drape. "Wonder what's back here? Oh, it's furniture storage." Sam stepped in leading Gia by the hand and closed the drape. They kissed and caressed hotly. Soon, amid breathing and murmuring, clothes were pulled up, yanked down and stepped out of.
Gia pleaded in a whisper, "Hurry, Sam." He picked her up with two hands at the waist, walked them to a couch, and they fell on it in a frenzy.
(This scene was excerpted from the contemporary novel Larceny of Love.)
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