Chapter 15: Water Dance

The limo dropped them off at the Hotel Royal Plaza, and Dave led the way to the suite. As soon as they had arrived at the hotel, Gunther and Anya excused themselves to use the restroom. Together. Carolina and Jess exchanged knowing glances, while Missy and Dave just strolled to the elevator, hand in hand. The elevator was fairly slow in coming and Gunther and Anya arrived, breathlessly, just as the doors slid open. Jess noted that the couple looked rather disheveled, and Anya's cheeks were flushed, and smiled at that. The elevator took them to the top floor, and they made their way to the Presidential Suite. Gunther and Anya were impressed by the surroundings, and asked Dave about them.

"So David, you are obviously quite well off, what sort of business are you involved in?" asked Gunther.

"Well, that's quite a long story, but the short of it is that I am a real estate developer who has a few other investments in North America and Europe," replied Dave.

"Well you appear to be rather successful in your speculations," replied Anya, gesturing to the grand surroundings.

Dave didn't take the bait, "I've had some success lately," he said simply.

Gunther and Anya's curiosity wasn't necessarily satisfied with the answers that they received, but they let it go, their sense of propriety overcoming their innate curiosity.

Dave moved to the wet bar in the room and prepared a pitcher of drinks. The Austrians were bemused at the wide and exotic selection of liquors and mixers that Dave was adding, but the result was a chilled peach colored punch that was served in daiquiri glasses. "This is what I call my Island Punch," said Dave.

Missy and Jess had been on the receiving end of the Island Punch before, and as such, carefully sipped their drinks, wary of its potency. Anya and Carolina on the other hand, took experimental sips and huge grins appeared on their faces. "This is wonderful Dave!" said Carolina, taking a huge swig. Jess winced. Anya followed suit, and Missy thought to herself that these girls would be a handful later on if they didn't slow down.

Dave, however, cut them off at one drink. Gunther was sipping his, enjoying the complexity of the cool beverage. "What exactly is this composed of, Dave?"

Dave grinned conspiratorially, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you," Anya's eyes opened wide at that. Dave's grin became a chuckle. "I'm just kidding Anya, I'd be happy to give you the recipe later. (Editor's note: the recipe is below for your perusal)

Island Punch: (1 serving = 8 ounces)

1.5 oz pineapple juice

1.5 oz cranberry juice

1.5 oz orange juice

1.5 oz Malibu rum

1 oz sloe gin

1 oz Bacardi 151 rum

Mix ingredients then place in shaker with ample ice, shake vigorously for 45 seconds then pour into daiquiri glass.

Dave served him and Gunther another glass of the punch but resisted the two sisters' outrageous attempts to get more of the delicious beverage. He gave them bottles of water instead, and they pouted. Dave told Gunther that he was interested in dancing tonight, not babysitting two ladies in his suite, lovely as they were, and Gunther simply laughed, and started amusing everyone with tales of his own travels. Anya and Carolina had been to the United States once, but only to the East Coast, visiting New York, Boston and Washington DC for a week. Gunther, on the other hand, had been to both coasts, having spent some time in San Francisco, New York, and Colorado, where he'd gone with skiing buddies. Dave extended an open invitation for the ladies to visit Southern California, and they happily agreed they would take him up on his offer when they had free time. Anya laughingly said she was sure they would really want to go when it started getting cold in the winter.

Gunther continued with a bawdy description of the ski team's exploits in Colorado and Missy laughed. "They really do that?" said Missy, wide-eyed, and Gunther nodded.

"Yes, it was quite cold, especially when we were taking the lift, but once we jumped into the hot tub, of course being naked didn't matter," replied Gunther.

"Well, I'm not too sure about the skiing, but being naked in the hot tub with the Austrian ski team doesn't sound too bad," joked Jess, which triggered a round of laughs.

As it was getting close to midnight, they decided it was time to get ready to head to the club, and the ladies took turns prettying themselves in the bathroom. Missy, however, felt no such need, and planted herself firmly on Dave's lap to wait for the others. "How are you doing babe?" said Dave.

"Great!" replied Missy, giving Dave a shy kiss. "I'm having the time of my life here, and they seem like good people," of course referring to the Austrians. "I'm still not used to how open people are about sex here though!"

Dave laughed, "Well, yeah that is something you'll have to get used to."

The ladies had finished their ablutions and it was time to head out to Es Paradis, which was located back in San Antonio.

As Dave was following the others to the limo, walking fairly close to Missy, his cell phone rang, and he followed the others into the limo while talking. "Hello? Oh hi Mom!"

"Dave, we got the present you sent us for our anniversary, you didn't have to do that!" said Dave's mother Annika.

"Oh, it was nothing mom. I hope you guys enjoy Paris!" replied Dave. "We're going to be there at the same time as you guys, I scheduled a night free for dinner with the two of you, assuming you won't be too busy on your honeymoon!"

Dave could hear his mother's blush over the phone. "Oh you! We will never be too busy to have dinner with our son and daughter. Have you met anyone special there in Europe yet?"

Dave smiled, and then raised his voice from the discreet tones he was using earlier to one that everyone in the limo could clearly hear. "Have I met anyone special here in Europe? Well, sort of. I've been spending quite a bit of time with a very special person. I think I might even be starting to fall in love, '

Missy's eyes went wide and she looked at Dave with an unreadable expression on her face, then blushed. Jess looked at Dave, then at Missy, then back at Dave, then broke into a wide grin. "Hey Dave, let me talk to Mom," said Jess.

Dave passed over the cell phone and Missy laid her head on his shoulder. He familiarly patted her on the head, getting a mock slap from Missy. "I'm not a dog, David!" she said, playfully.

Dave leered at her, "You certainly aren't," and Missy blushed again.

"So, you guys are coming to Paris? Cool! That was nice of Dave," said Jess into the phone. "I think Dave was totally serious about meeting someone. Yes, he is. Yes, she is very pretty," Missy looked over at Jess at that comment. "Yes you probably will get a chance to meet her," Jess said, playfully. "Ok, I love you too, we'll talk to you soon. Bye."

Jess then snapped the phone shut and handed it back to Dave. The Austrians looked amused at the entire situation, and Missy was still quite embarrassed, but happy to hear Dave's words. Dave broke out another pitcher of the Island punch, and the ladies swilled it down. The mood was festive in the limo as they approached San Antonio, and Es Paradis.

They rolled in right around 1 AM and Jess led the way to the dance floor. It was pretty packed on a Saturday night, but they managed to claim a section of dance floor that was fairly clear. Es Paradis was a very ornate nightclub decorated with roman columns with lots of marble everywhere and quite a bit of greenery. The section of the dance floor they were on was raised up with two columns nearby, flanked by speakers, and was a little alcove that was separated from the main dance floor by two steps. A marble bench was at the back of the alcove, and for some reason no one had made it up there yet. It seemed perfect as it would give people a chance to rest when they were tired and watch the others dance.

Dave walked to one of the many bars and grabbed a tray of mojitos and brought them back to the alcove. He found Anya and Gunther dancing together and Jess and Carolina grooving next to them. Missy was sitting on the bench watching, and Dave sat down next to her, setting the tray of drinks on the other end of the bench, after grabbing one and handing one to Missy. She sipped at the mojito and smiled happily. She leaned over to Dave to talk, as it was quite loud in the club. "I think my tolerance for alcohol has increased quite a bit since we started our trip. I suppose drinking a couple glasses of wine with every meal and all the other stuff we've been drinking will do that though!" Missy almost shouted.

Dave nodded. "That happened to me too, the first couple times I came to Europe, people seem to drink quite a bit here when they go out," They sat on the bench, casting occasional glances at each other, as if to reassure themselves that the object of their attentions hadn't suddenly disappeared, and sipping their mojitos. When they got down to the bottom of their refreshing drinks, they sat for a minute, than suddenly, almost simultaneously, hopped up. Dave took Missy's hand and they moved into the dance floor, starting to move their bodies to the rhythm.

Carolina took another sip of her mojito and realized she was pretty drunk. She shrugged and tipped her glass, managing to get about half of it down her throat and the other half down the front of her dress. She shrugged and set the glass down on the bench and continued dancing. Jess was in much better shape, as she paced herself far better than the young Austrian girl, and continued to move to the rhythm as Carolina's movements became less graceful and more spastic. She sighed softly and put her arms under Carolina's shoulders and gently led her to the marble bench. Perhaps a brief rest would help her. Dave had brought a couple glasses of ice water on the tray as well, and she held the glass to Carolina's lips. The smaller girl drank greedily, and Jess kept tipping the glass until she'd more or less finished it, a small stream of it dripping down her chin and onto her dress. Carolina sighed and lay back on the bench, laying her head against the marble railing behind her. A little rest would do her good, she thought.

Anya wasn't in much better shape than her sister. Despite the higher proclivity of the Europeans' to alcohol, she has severely underestimated the potency of the Island Punch and she was, to put it simply, fucked up. Pounding the mojito had been more or less the last straw, and she could barely stand. Gunther carried her to the bench and lay her next to her sister, also giving her a drink of water. The two blond girls slid down slightly and lay back to back. It was definitely a Kodak moment.

Gunther sat down next to his girlfriend and her sister, and Dave, Missy, and Jess had the dance floor. All of them had had quite a bit to drink during the day and evening, but they were all in good shape. Part of it was the fact that the Europeans weren't used to the lifestyle they'd been living for the past ten days, and part of it was the fact that they'd drank their beverages at a slower pace, but regardless, they were having fun dancing.

It was approaching 3 AM, and the resident DJ, DJ Sammy, was entering the DJ booth, with great acclimation. DJ Sammy had gained worldwide popularity with his remixes of some Bryan Adams songs, and he was beloved in his native Spain. He started his set with his trademark "Heaven" and the crowd cheered. The club was literally shaking from people jumping up and down, and Jess was captivated. This was awesome! "Dave, is it always like this?" she asked.

"Not always, but people do like to jump around a lot here. In a bigger club like Privilege or one of the ones in Prague, it can be kinda nuts," replied Dave.

"Sweet!" said Jess, looking forward to their visit already. Dave smiled.

DJ Sammy's next track was from the same CD, another remix of an 80s tune, The Boys of Summer, and it was also greeted by raucous cheers and jumping. Missy smiled, as the original version of this tune was one of her favorite, and she moved prettily to the beat.

Dave moved to the beat as well, but although this was one of his favorite songs as well, it was mildly depressing to him. The wistful nature of the song was clear, and in a moment of abject clarity, he saw himself many years in the future, pining over opportunities lost. He then seized on what he thought to be the central message of the song, not worrying about the past but looking for and taking opportunities when they came about. Dave knew that he needed to move on from his own past, and decided that he wasn't going to let his past demons hurt his chances for future relationships. He didn't want to look back on his life twenty years in the future and wonder what might have been.

Knowing what he needed to do and actually doing it were two different things, and Dave knew it would be a while before he could trust people, but he knew there was one person he could definitely trust that he wanted to talk to right now. Dave walked up to her and whispered in her ear. "Jess, can we take a walk quick?"