The Waiter by Bradleigh Collins (bill gates books recommendations .txt) 📕

was whipped into a frenzy until suddenly one of the aerialists busted through the paper ceiling. Then another. And another. This kept happening until there was no more ceiling.

Balloons and confetti and water fell from the sky, covering the entire audience. The performers were bouncing down to the floor and then flying back up to the rafters. Then I noticed one of them place a safety harness on an audience member and quickly scoop her up into the rafters with him. I looked to my left. Another performer was harnessing Josh, who had the biggest smile on his face. “This is fucking awesome!” I heard him yell, and then he went flying.

I was laughing uncontrollably as I watched Josh fly over us. All of the sudden, one of the performers dropped down right in front of me. “Hi Sammy!” I turned and looked at The Waiter.

“Sam, this is my friend Nick. He’s going to take you for a ride.”

“Oh my god!” I screamed, as Nick wrapped the harness around me. I was absolutely terrified. But everything was happening so fast that my fear didn’t have time to stop me.

“Hold on to me!” Nick said. And then up to the rafters I went. At first, I closed my eyes. Then I opened them to see Josh flying past me. I was laughing and screaming at the same time. I was also holding on to Nick for dear life. There I was, flying high above a crowd of people down below as confetti and balloons and water rained down on all of us. It was exquisite. And then I was right back down on the ground in front of The Waiter. Nick unhooked me from the harness. “She’s a natural!”

“I knew it!” The Waiter said, grabbing me and pulling me back into him. My heart was pounding.

“That was amazing!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, hugging him while simultaneously jumping up and down.

The show went on for another hour or so and was filled with dancing and stomping and chanting and what I can only describe as aerial art. It was like watching the circus and being part of the circus at the same time.

When it was over, the majority of the audience exited out onto the street while we followed The Waiter back to the bar for the after-party. I was wet and sweaty, as were all of us, and I didn’t even care because I was still so high from the adrenaline rush.

“Now I need a drink,” I said to The Waiter.

“Coming up.” He led me over to the bar. The DJ started playing Terrence Trent D’Arby’s “Dance Little Sister.”

“Oh my god! I worship this song!” I immediately started dancing.

“Who is this?” The Waiter asked. I looked at him like he had two heads.

“Seriously? I don’t know if I can know you anymore if you’re not down with the sheer perfection that is Introducing the Hardline According to Terrence Trent D’Arby. It’sone of the best albums ever made.”

“I thought he was dead,” The Waiter said. I fake fainted into his arms. He laughed. I continued dancing.

“Dude, that was insane!” Josh said as he and the others bellied up to the bar. “Thank you so much!”

“Yes! Thank you!” Lucy said.

“Of course. I knew you guys would love it. Nick will be out in a few minutes. I’ll introduce you to him.”

“He’s probably got bruises from where I dug my fingers into him.” I stopped dancing long enough to take a sip of my martini. “What if I was afraid of heights?”

“I don’t think you’re afraid of anything.” If he only knew.

He sat down on a bar stool. Then he grabbed me by the waist with both hands and pulled me over to him. Instinctively, I placed my hand on his face, tracing the outline of his perfect cheekbone.

“That was so much fun,” I said. “This has officially been one of the greatest nights of my life.”

“We’re just getting started baby.” He gave me a long kiss and then ran his thumb slowly back and forth across my mouth.

“These lips are gonna be the death of me,” he said.

“People made fun of me in grammar school because I had big lips. They called me Mick Jagger.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. Now those bitches pay big money to get lips like this.”

“They’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.”

Now the DJ was playing Christina Aguilera’s “Genie in a Bottle.” The Waiter buried his face in my neck, moving his lips randomly across my skin.

“You smell so good. What is that?”

“Gucci Rush.”

“It’s sexy.”

Everything about this night was sexy. The show was sexy. This song was sexy. The Waiter was definitely sexy. And for the first time in months, I actually felt sexy too.

“There he is,” The Waiter said as Nick walked over to us.

“Oh my god, thank you so much!” I said to him.

“Did you have fun?”

“It was amazing! I can’t believe you guys get to do this every single night.”

“Did he tell you we’re going into business together?” Nick asked.

I looked at The Waiter. “No, he didn’t.”

“Yeah,” The Waiter said. “We’re opening a new concept gym. Aerialist training, boxing, martial arts, that kind of stuff.”

“That’s incredible,” I responded. “Where?”

“Not sure yet. We’re scouting places now,” Nick responded. “Mr. MBA here is the brains. I’m the brawn.”

The Waiter laughed. “I’ve been taking boxing lessons from this guy for the last two years. He’s the best.”

We stayed at the after-party for another hour drinking and dancing and chatting with the cast. We left around one-thirty. Kyle and Lucy headed downtown to their apartment on the Lower East Side while Josh, Katie, The Waiter and I shared a cab uptown.

“Two stops,” Josh said, as he hopped into the front seat of the cab with the driver. “Seventy-seventh and Broadway then Riverside and Tiemann.”

I sat in the middle between Katie and The Waiter. I knew that if Josh and Katie weren’t in the cab, The Waiter and I would be making out like crazy. The sexual tension was palpable.

“What are you guys doing