All is fair in love and war.

She knew he was no good for me and in some sliver of redemption I did too. I was determined to "Laura-ize" him, ya know missionary date. The kind of thing a good Christian girl would do. I see the horror on your faces as you read this, but level with my 21 year old self. I hadn't fallen so hard for someone before and even though I was no stranger to being around boys or a boy I really liked. I clearly loved the "hooking" them part. I loved the chase, the intense wonder if I could get them to go crazy over me and then decide from there. I was winging it. I absolutely loved this time in my life. There is nothing greater than the decade of my 20's. I remember smells back then, first foods and wanting so badly to become something I was proud of. Each step I was taking was getting me closer to the Laura I am today and as I share my story remember that I am HUMAN, 100% HUMAN. That means I make mistakes, I have consequences, I've made bad decisions, I've learned lessons, I've taken risks that I've paid dearly for and I bleed just like the rest of you. I just don't think everything I've been through is a waste, no on the contrary it's Priceless. I was putting so much in front of my walk with God. I had been raised in a conservative home for so long reciting the "Christian" lines we God fearing people say and just taking every single backwards ridiculous behavior in. I was sick of it. I wanted to like my life, I wanted adventure, I wanted excitement. I was not going to spend my time being a martyr for the cause. Their cause sucked and I knew it. I was on my own. With my salvation intact of course, just put on the shelf for awhile. You can shake your head all you want. Most people won't be honest with themselves where they put Jesus most of the time. I never once denied him being in my life, I just told him aloud most of the time whether it was in my car or in my apartment or at work or the gym......I was going to do it my way. If I got struck by lightning than so be it. The reality check here is that we don't get struck by lighting. He allows us to make our own decisions because he wants us to choose him. Ask him to walk with us and to take over where we are not fairing. I told you I didn't want him to enter into this because I liked it. I wanted my chest to hurt and tighten up each time I thought about that night he saw me on the sidewalk. I played it over and over in my head. Everyday waking up in my fantastic apartment was just icing on the cake. It's what I thought about every hour of the day until the weekend came. I couldn't get to Friday night fast enough. I just had to get through a day of cutting hair on Saturday, take in a quick power nap (you'll learn this hairstylist loves naps), hit the gym so I'd be revved up to go out dancing. I would call my friend as I was heading back to my apartment, she'd meet me there and we'd finish getting ready to hit the club! We had a blast living life that way for months on end until this crazy saga began. It became a game to find this mystery man. For weeks I would dress up in something that I thought would catch his eye. Let's face it, I LOVE CLOTHING. I never wore the same outfit dancing twice for 5 years. I know what it takes to be a dedicated "Dancer Girl". I wanted so badly to find him that it began to consume my thoughts. She knew it too. I think she actually was a little jealous. I mean I had this driving purpose in me, while she was going through a nasty divorce. I wasn't even in love while she had experienced love and war. I wanted to be there for her but the reality was we were at different times in our journey's. I looked at her in the car as we pulled into the parking garage. I said "Look, we both want to write our own stories, you have yours, I have mine. Let's leave it at that and enjoy this night"! We are the kind of girls that are naturally perky and bubbly. We knew how to have a good time and didn't need to let drama ruin the night. Besides, it had been 6 weeks since I saw the mystery man and it didn't look like we were ever going to see each other again. I had to try to let him go. Or did I? If you've never been to dance clubs you are not aware of how smart and sophisticated they start out the night slowly pouring everyone's innocence down the drain with every alcoholic drink they make. It is always a little slower in the beginning of the evening because the introverts are winding it up with every sip. I, on the other hand, came out like the energizer bunny had just been let out on the dance floor. I didn't care that we were the only 2 dancing. She was always trying to find the local fool who would fall for batting lashes to get her a free drink. I've got to give her props, her curly hair and slutty top got exactly what she wanted. I knew her game the moment we got there was to take from people what we couldn't get from the ones who had already come along. It's true not everyone stays in your life for the whole time you're alive. But it would have been nice to have a posse of people who cared. We were that for one another. We had decided a long time ago in beauty school that nothing was going to split us up. We hadn't factored in my next move. It was a night like any other night. It was about 11:45 pm and the dance floor was poppin'. It was a lot harder to walk through the floor now because so many people were forming tightly knit groups like football huddles. It was a thing to see! Groups of people of all ages there for a number of celebrations. Not everyone was a single sleaze-bucket trying to find paradise. (wink) Given the chance to do it over again that night I don't think I would have. I was having a good time. She was having a good time. I looked up and there he was.......IT WAS MYSTERY MAN. My heart stopped and I grabbed her and pointed him out. I must have looked so desperate because she froze. Her next words were very powerful. "Be careful Laura" "You always seem to get what you want, be careful what you ask for" She was my friend and she loved me, I loved her, but she wasn't at the same place in my life as this mystery man was residing. I didn't want to not at least get his attention and not try to make some kind of contact. Now let's remember the floor is packed, people are drunk, I am NOT. I can see him across the floor with 2 Corona's one in each hand. I don't drink and it's clear he professionally does. I could see he wasn't into the dancing. He moved across the floor towards the back wall which is where I was but I was positioned behind one of the air conditioners so he couldn't see me or my friend. He kept walking when all of a sudden a girl backs up into him. I'm already on the move towards him....HAVE I LOST MY MIND? What the heck did I think I was going to do when I got to him?????? She turns to say she sorry for her broke drunk wickedness had knocked over his one beer and he caught it enough to let it drip on the floor. He turned. He saw me standing there out of the corner of his eye. TIME STOPPED! Only for a second because hussy here had seen first hand how gorgeous he was. She immediately begins to back her mama given booty into this perfect specimen of a man. I did what any crazy naive alpha female would do. I got in between them. Yep. I sandwiched myself like I was paid to stop this party. I laid my head back onto his chest and could hear him breathing against my ear, while the 2....yes 2 beers formed an alcoholic cage around this in -over -her- head- white girl. I take it drunk diva figured out it wasn't him considering I have boobs and she was hoping she'd feel pecs. It's not the most decent night of my life, but it was empowering. She had no idea that while she was backing up into me, he whispered in my ear"I've been looking for you for weeks". I held my breath, before having to stand my ground. Ditsy turns and begins to yell at me because I stole her dancing partner. I have a certain power with my personality and one of them is letting other people know to tread carefully because I won't go down easily. I said "he's with me". (let me remind you we're in a loud dance club) WHAT THE HECK JUST CAME OUT OF MY MOUTH? She just turned and left. Huh? That was easier than I thought. I was so nervous to look him in the eye. I turned around and no sooner I did, He kissed me. He forced me up against his chest and he kissed me. I had never felt the surge of power or the salt of beer like that before. Not to mention Puerto Ricans I heard were saucy lover types. I was 21 what the heck did I know. I never kissed anyone at a dance club before or after that night. I will tell you we must have been putting off killer vibes because I looked up and we had managed to have a circle around us where people were watching. The music stops and my friend has someone she is dancing with and she makes eye contact with me. She can see I have mystery man with me and begins to walk towards me. She looks at me like what the heck am I doing, so I figured she saw me kiss him. I introduce them to each other. In all the dancing and making out I did manage to get his name. Luis. I told him my name and I fell hard. He had an accent that just devoured any sense of reality that I had left. I was going to have a Latin spice fest and no one was going to talk me out of it. His friend didn't look thrilled with me either. I asked him what was up with his friend? He said he had been driving him nuts trying to find me each weekend they were out. I knew she heard him and it clicked. Maybe we were meant to be together. I knew the blood boiling underneath my skin was a first and I surely wasn't going to give this up too easily. The walk of sleaze was different tonight. We both had someone tagging along by our sides laughing and telling us that our outfits looked amazing. What could be better on a Saturday night than to be open to the possibilities ahead. Let's keep an open mind as we move forward into one of the darkest most intoxicating 3 years of my life. PG-13(parental guidance unless 13 or older please)