Let the Right One In

Chapter 1: Thursday, Trivia Night

She saw her walk into the bar out of the corner of her eye. Not wanting it to be obvious that she was watching her, she took fleeting glances while sipping her drink. Black jacket over a red blouse. Dark blue jeans. Long blonde hair. Messy. "Not messy, natural" she thought to herself, correcting her first judgement. She couldn't discern from her quick glances whether her eyes were blue or grey. She thought she detected a slight limp on her left side but couldn't be sure. Not that it mattered either way. She was stunning. She watched her scope out a good place to sit, hoping that she picked a seat near her. In the next second, she hoped she didn't.

She noticed her too. All it took was quick glance over the bar for her eyes to land on the beautiful brunette sneaking glances her way. She wondered if, in her short glimpses, she could see her looking her over as she approached the bar where she sat. Grey sleeveless tank that exposed her sides. Smooth brown skin. No bra. Her shirt stopped a few inches short of the waistline of her black and grey pants. Just a sliver of her back exposed. More when she leaned forward. Sexy. Long dark brown, curly hair. Another fleeting glance her way. Brown. Her eyes are brown.

"Is this seat taken?" an angelic voice asked over the rumble of different discussions happening around them. She turned, finally getting her first, uninterrupted look at her. Blue. Her eyes are blue. "Stunning" she thought to herself.

"Nope" she said simply before returning to her drink. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her shrugging out of her jacket. Her red blouse, now fully exposed, was a low V cut in the front and revealed the bare skin of her back, covered minimally by the thin threads of fabric that tied together creating an X. She put her jacket on the back of her chair then took her seat. The bartender came and greeted her, asking her if she wanted the usual. She was a regular here. She smiled a brilliant smile and nodded. The bartender made her drink and set it in front of her. Smile still beaming, she thanked her.

"Can I have another please?" she asked before the bartender got busy with other patrons.

"Sure thing" she said before turning and grabbing the bottle of whiskey she'd already poured her two drinks from. She topped off her drink then returned the bottle to its place and went on to attend to other customers.

"Do you have a partner?" the angelic voiced asked. She wasn't sure if she was talking to her or not so she wasn't sure whether to look up from her glass. She didn't want to be one of those people who sees someone waving and instinctively waves back, even though they've never seen the other person before, only to find that they were actually waving at someone behind them. The waving in this scenario being talking. Was she talking to her or someone near her? She looked to her right and no one was sitting there. So she looked at her.

"Me?" she asked pointing to herself. She gave a curt nod. Her smile was blinding.

"Yes. Do you have a partner?" she asked again.

"Umm…n-no" she said hesitantly. This woman was insanely beautiful and the moment she saw her, even if only through the corner of her eye, she wanted to take her home. But she couldn't. Well, she could. But she shouldn't.

"I don't either. Do you want to be mine?" she asked with a raise of an eyebrow and a hopeful tone. "Wow, she's forward", she thought to herself. "I mean I'm not that great with trivia but I'm not…. completely terrible" she said hoping to reassure her.

"Oh" she said realizing that she wasn't asking if she had a partner as in a girlfriend. She looked at the board behind the bar that she had noticed when she first walked in. Thursday, Trivia Night. She wanted a trivia partner. "Umm…yeah sure" she agreed.

"You thought I was asking if you had a girlfriend didn't you?" she asked seeing the look of clarity come over her.

"No" she said quickly, obviously lying. She looked at her and received a knowing glance. "Yes" she admitted with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry. I…"

"No" she said quickly, stopping her from apologizing further. "No, it's fine. I…. I was being presumptuous" she said slightly embarrassed. "Trivia would be fun" she said reiterating her desire to partner up with her.

"Great" she said briskly. Her smile was back full force. She slid her drink down and hopped down from her stool, grabbing her jacket and sitting on the stool directly next to her. She caught a whiff of her perfume. Or was it shampoo. Something fruity. As she made herself comfortable, she flipped her hair back off her shoulders to cascade down her back. Shampoo. Definitely shampoo. "Your first time here?" she asked curiously.

"Is it obvious?" she asked bringing her glass up to her lips.

"No… it's j… I come here a lot for the trivia nights and I've never seen you here before".

"Yeah, it's my first time here" she admitted.

"Well, it's always pretty fun" she said reaching for a new coaster to set her glass on. "I always have a great time". She was very upbeat. Her smile and her chipper attitude were both so bright they were blinding. It almost made her physically cringe. Upbeat and chipper wasn't exactly her type but for some reason, this time it wasn't a deal breaker. "I'm Arizona by the way" she said offering her hand. All she received was a sideways glance. Arizona laughed. "I know what you're thinking…." she said still smiling. It was amazing that she could smile so big for so long. She wondered if her face ever hurt. "and I…"

"Wasn't named after the state" she said finishing her sentence.

"No, I wasn't" she said surprised. "How'd you know?"

"Oh, I didn't. I just hoped that it was something more significant than "I was born there"."

"Well, it is…. much more significant than that" she assured her. She nodded while avoiding eye contact with her, refraining from looking at her as much as possible. Her smile was hypnotizing and her eyes were intoxicating. She was already under the influence of the whiskey in her glass. She didn't need to be under the influence of anything else.

"Joey" she said finally introducing herself.

"It's nice to meet you, Joey" she said genuinely.

"It's nice to meet you too…. Arizona" she said with a lot of interest in her name and a lot of interest in her. Interest aside, she had no intention of starting anything. Arizona was incredibly beautiful and seemed like a very kind person. She seemed the kind of person you didn't want to see just once. Maybe she was being presumptuous again by thinking that she would even be interested in anything at all, let alone just one night. Not that it would matter. She couldn't. Well, she could. But she shouldn't. "So, how does this trivia game work?" she asked moving away from her musing about the potential of something serious with her new companion.

"Oh, we'll get an answer sheet and they'll ask the questions. We write down our answers and turn them in at the end. They tally the results and the winners get free drinks for the rest of the evening" she explained. "No phones of course. That would be cheating".

"Of course".

"We used to win quite a bit" she said slightly bragging.

"We?" Joey asked with raised eyebrows.

"My friend Richard used to come with me all of the time" she explained. "He's excellent at trivia. But he ditched me for his wife so…." she said with a shrug and phony disappointment.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll try my best to fill his shoes".

"Let's just keep it fun" she said obviously not caring much about whether they won.

"Winning is fun" she quipped. Arizona laughed and even that was enchanting.

"Winning is fun" she agreed. "So, Joey…. "and with that she knew what was coming. It was inevitable. You come to a bar alone and sit next to someone who's also alone and eventually you start making small talk that builds the attraction and eventually ends up in someone's bed. At least that's how it usually went for her. "Is that short for something or were your parents expecting a boy?" And there it was. The first getting to know you question from a long list of getting to know you questions she'd undoubtedly be asked tonight.

"I just… I always ran with the boys; you know? Roughhousing and sports. I hated dresses and dolls. So they all started calling me Joey and it just stuck" she explained before finishing the last gulp of her drink. She couldn't remember ever explaining that to anyone. Usually, when someone asked, she'd simply say it was a nickname. With her, she took the time to tell the whole story. She pondered changing her mind about trivia and coming up with some excuse about why she needed to leave. She was really interested in this woman. Too interested. She couldn't go down that road. On the other hand, there was no reason that she had to go down that road. Maybe, this could be nothing more than one night. And if one night was all she could have with this stunning woman then maybe she should make the most of it. They would probably never see each other again anyway, right? Problem solved. "And I'm guessing that you were named for the USS Arizona?" she asked. "Sunk December 7th 1941 at Pearl Harbor". A look of surprise came over her face.

"Y-yeah" she said breathily. "H-h-how" she stammered, "how did you guess that?"

"Well there aren't too many other significant reasons to name your kid Arizona" she said. "Actually I don't think there are any other significant reasons to name your kid Arizona" she said getting a laugh from her trivia partner. "Anyway, I was stationed in Hawaii for awhile. I visited the memorial a few times. It was…. beautiful. It was the first thing that came to mind".

"Oh, you wer…."

"Alright everyone" the bartender said speaking into a microphone. "Welcome to trivia night. For those of you who've been here before, you know the drill. For our newcomers, pick a partner then come on up and get your answer sheet and a pen. As always, no phones please. Just use the beautiful brains you were born with. I'll repeat each question twice and you get a full minute to write down your answer before we move on to the next question" she said going over the rules. "We'll tally the results at the end of each round until we have one team standing. So put your last orders in then get settled in for a fun game of trivia". She put the microphone down and began helping the other bartenders make drinks for the women who came up to order before the game started. She saw Joey's glass was empty. "Another?" she said pointing to her empty glass.

"No, I'm okay for now. Thank you".

"What about you beautiful?" she asked giving Arizona a flirty smile.

"Sure, I'll have another". She got her fresh glass and made her another vodka tonic then placed it on the coaster in front of her. "Thanks Karin".

"Sure thing gorgeous" she said before moving on to other customers.

"Good friend?" Joey asked curiously. Arizona laughed.

"Not really". Joey's raised eyebrows said she didn't really believe her. "She's just being friendly. It's her job".

"Umhmm" she mumbled.

"So, you, uh, you were in the navy?" she asked finishing her question from before.

"Army…" she corrected, "and I still am. And your family is…"

"Marines" she said. "You just… know things, huh?"

"Well, I figured if your parents named you after a battleship they must have some connection to the military".

"My grandfather died on the Arizona" she explained. For the first time since she asked about the free seat next to her, Joey looked her directly in the eyes.

"I'm sorry" she sincerely apologized.

"He was a very brave man" she said proudly. "My father takes after him. He's very du…"

"Duty. Honor. Country" Joey said finishing another of her sentences. She smiled and shook her head in disbelief. She really understood.

"Yes. And my brother followed his example. He was a marine too".

"Was?" she asked noticing her use of the past tense.

"He was killed in action" she said sadly. Joey was still looking her in the eye.

"I'm sorry" she said softly. "Again" she added with a light chuckle.

"So your family is…." Arizona asked moving the conversation away from her losses.

"A little bit of everything" she admitted. "My father, my oldest brother and I are army. My mom too but she was on the civilian side. She never actually enlisted. My father's retired now".

"Mine too" Arizona chimed in.

"My second oldest brother and my younger brother are Navy and my third older brother is a Marine. My younger sister was in the Air Force but she didn't stick with it. Military life just wasn't for her" she said giving her the whole run down.

"Wow" Arizona said, impressed with their service. "So there's six of you?"

"Umhmm" she nodded.

"And you all have served in the military at some point?"

"Yep" she said nonchalantly. "Family tradition, you know?"

"Ummm, no" Arizona said with a laugh. "I mean I understand service, of course. But I've never considered doing it myself even though my grandfather and my father and brother all did".

"Yeah, I guess… it was an admiration kind of thing for us" she said as she pondered why they all served. "My great-grandfather came here from Africa in the mid-thirties and joined the military. He fought in the second world war. It's how he earned his citizenship. Then my grandfather fought in Vietnam, though that wasn't a choice. He was drafted but it still made him proud to feel like he was following in his father's footsteps. Then my father joined because he wanted to be like his father. We watched him when we were growing up. Anytime he was in uniform it was like he was ten feet tall" she said smiling as she pictured him. "He was a vision of strength and integrity. He was smart and kind and he commanded respect". Arizona was completely taken by how she talked about her father.

"And your mother?" she asked interested to see if she spoke about her in the same way.

"Oh my mother" she said running her hands through her hair. Her smile widened as she thought about her mother. "She was larger than life. Still is" she said happily. "Brilliant and kind and funny and strong. And even though she was always just a step behind my father, we all knew that she could be right out front, leading, if she ever needed to be". She talked about her parents with such pride. Arizona felt every bit of it and shared the same sentiment about her parents.

"I feel like we were raised by the same people" she admitted. Joey laughed. Karin came back over the microphone to get the trivia game started. They both realized they hadn't gotten their answer sheet and pen to participate. Joey reached over and grabbed one for them before Karin started with the first question. They made it through the first round and were one of five teams still in the running. Then they were one of three. Then the last team standing. It was like they were one mind. Whatever Joey didn't know, Arizona did. Together, they won free drinks until closing.