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I kissed her and slipped it over my tank top, then grinned down on it. “Don’t worry, baby. I didn’t get you one, but you can ride my banana later if you want.”
She laughed, grabbing my chin to shake it playfully and then she made her way to the bar. “I wouldn’t have worn blue if I knew you’d be yellow. We look like Bananas in Pyjamas, Ollie.”
“I don’t have a fucking clue what you just said to me, but I’ll have you know pajamas are a Bishop weakness. We can’t help it,” I said, standing behind her and touching her hip a little possessively. “This is just the first of four, so pace yourself, okay? The last one is the best. The whole damn reason for this.”
“Ay, diós mio.” She leaned over to order us something off the special menu and then leaned in closer as others crowded our space. “I guess people really like banana stuff, huh? Every drink has bananas in it. I got us both something different so we could taste them.”
Objectively, the drinks tasted like shit, but I wasn’t really there for the alcohol. I got just tipsy enough off the first few to steal the cowboy hat off a lovely older gentleman and line dance for Mia to a song I’d never heard before, and her laughter was worth it. I tossed in a couple of dance moves I’d learned off of social media or at other bars until that hat was making me sweat, then gave it back and kissed her silly on that dance floor.
It was already the most fun I’d ever had on a date, and it was only just beginning.
The next bar was called Slippery Slope and it took me seeing a banana peel welcome mat to connect the dots for that one, but Mia walked right past and ordered us some new drinks the second she saw it was a karaoke bar. “I need tequila if you think that is happening, Papí.”
“Oh, it’s happening. Whether I gotta get up there and serenade you by myself or you come with me, I’m doing it. Gonna be obnoxious about it, too,” I teased, kissing all over her face when I saw a couple of guys looking at her. “Sing with me.”
“I like the idea of you serenading me, baby.” With guys all around us checking out her ass, it was amazing to see how she stared at me like I was the only guy in the room.
“Pick a song then, gorgeous. Any song you want.” I took another shot to brace myself, then sat down with my eyebrows raised to wait for her to decide.
Mia took one for herself and slotted between my legs. “I don’t think we’ve ever really talked music, huh? What are your top three bands? And I won't make you pick one, I know that’s cruel.”
“Even three is cruel. But if you make me pick, I’d say Dirty Heads, Stick Figure, and Jimmy Buffett. But I get down with just about anything. Sea shanties, salsa, the Tristan & Isolde soundtrack...” I kept going, only stopping when she held up her hand.
“We’ll have to watch that together one day, I actually haven’t seen it.” Mia chuckled at my offended look and leaned in to kiss me. “Can you sing something just for me?” Her giant brown eyes bore into mine. “What song would you hear and instantly think of me?”
There wasn’t a question, as cheesy as it may have been. “You’ll see. Get a good spot, baby. You’re not gonna want to miss it.”
I dashed away to go ask the DJ if he had it, which turned out to be a stupid question. I had to wait for two other people to go in front of me, then downed another drink for nerves right before heading up to that stage. The words on the prompter were completely and utterly unnecessary as Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” started, and my extra ass was dancing and had half the bar singing with me by the first chorus.
I just couldn’t see any of them but her.
Whether it was hope or a pipe dream, I wasn’t sure, but I swore I could see her falling in love. Mia moved closer to the stage, walking like she was in a daze, and when I got to the last bit of the last chorus she was wrapping her arms around my neck and moving with me.
The entire bar was watching us, watching me sing and dance for the woman of my dreams, and I ended up dropping the mic in favor of kissing her.
“Mine, Mia. My Mia.”
“Yours, baby. Only yours.” She leapt into my arms so quickly her dress almost rose but I caught it just in time for the bar to start cheering . “You’re still crazy, Ollie.”
But her face was nothing but adoration and love, and I hoped to hell she held onto that when my drunk ass got to the last stop of this bar crawl later on.
The third bar was named Go Wild, but the owners had covered “Wild” with bananas, making me snort way too damn loudly. “Guess they figured we’d all be too drunk to notice by now, huh?”
“Well, we’re drunk enough to laugh about it at least.” Mia interlocked our fingers and ordered us some shots, skipping the special menu entirely. “No more bananas; it’s time for Patrón.”
“Oh, thank fuck.”
We didn’t stay very long since we still needed to be able to walk at the final stop, but the fucking tequila was making me nearly as horny as her dress was. The combination was killing me even though most of my brain cells were focused on the crown jewel of the evening — the International Banana Museum.
Housing over twenty-five thousand different banana-themed items, they were the benefactors of that fantastic bar crawl and the whole reason I’d chosen this as a date. I covered Mia’s eyes the whole shuttle ride there and carried her through the front doors, but had to put her down quickly when a statue of a monkey hugging a giant, phallic banana sent me into an absolute laughing fit. “Fuck, it’s better than I dreamed.”
“Oh my —” Mia snorted, then laughed harder than I’d ever heard her. We were both insufferable as we explored, laughing at so many bananas I’d have had us evaluated if I wasn’t so intoxicated. She grabbed some banana taffy and opened it right there, knowing damn well she’d have to pay for it before we left but I couldn’t tell her to stop. It was adorable seeing her this way with her hair tousled and cheeks blushing, that gorgeous face lit up with laughter.
That right there was what I’d been after all night. That moment when she let reality drift away, the pressures she felt at work and home, the high standard she held herself to.
This was Mia, unencumbered, unburdened, and stunning.
I chased that high — I pretended to deep-throat a phone shaped like a banana after trying to make a phone call with it, I did my best impression of a monkey as I chased her around one of the rooms, and I couldn’t stop myself from buying one of the banana suits and getting a picture of us like that.
