“What’ll you have Bill?”
“Hi Dave, give me a pint of bitter and a glass of white wine”
Dave raised an eyebrow at the added request for a glass of wine but saying nothing he took a clean glass and poured my usual beer before turning to take a wine glass. He opened the fridge door taking an already opened bottle of a generically branded white wine and poured.
This was a small country village pub and Dave was always lenient with the rules. He knew full well that MJ was only 16 but wasn’t expecting a visit from the local constabulary any time soon. Besides, the resident policeman was also well known in the village and he would not be too concerned about formalities or pay attention to who was in the pub unless one of the locals drank too much and got out of hand. Life in the village was so informal!
Turning back to me with both drinks, he placed them on the bar in front of me and followed with “that’ll be 7 pounds, 96… shall I set up a tab?”. “please” I responded. I hated fumbling with change.
“so, is that your daughter?” he asked, his focus looking over at the corner?
“yes, her mother is away so I invited her to come with me”
“You’ll have to be careful with her. She’s looking dam hot and there’s a bunch of lecherous lads here”.
I laughed at his comment but felt a little discomfort with his remark about MJ being “Hot”. I knew she was attractive, but my thoughts had always squashed any thoughts of her in terms of anything overtly sexual.
Accepting the drinks from him, I turned to return to the table and looked over at MJ. Dave was right, the clingy dress she was wearing, the subtle makeup, the way her long dark hair cascaded over her shoulders, mentally, I had to agree with Dave. She was definitely sexy.
I returned to the table and handed her the glass of wine.
After taking my seat, we toasted each other and I cautioned her, “just drink it slowly, I don’t want you getting drunk”.
“yes, daddy, I know”, she replied, pouting a little.
She smiled at me and as we started to chat MJ started to look around the room. “This place is so cool” she added, continuing immediately with “I can see why you like to come here, everyone is so friendly”.
I followed her eyes to a small group of youngish guys who were playing darts. One of the guys had turned and was smiling in MJ’s direction, a tall, burly guy obviously either in farming or construction. He nudged another equally well-built guy who was standing close by and he also turned to look and wink at her before turning his attention back to the game.
MJ’s face had flushed, which couldn’t possibly be from the wine, as she had barely drunk any. The dad in me felt a familiar protective urge, but I let it slip, besides which, I had no intention in picking an argument with those guys, there were several in the group and they clearly looked like they could handle themselves.
I decided to ignore them and continued to chat with her. At home she was always a quiet, demure girl, who, like a well brought up Asian girl, respected her parents, but in this setting, she seemed to relax and chatted more freely. We talked about so many things, from my work, to tv shows, to boys. She confirmed that she hadn’t dated yet, despite a great many invitations; Clearly Sarah’s motherly advice had worked so far.
After a while, we finished our drinks and MJ asked, “please daddy, can I have another?”
I pondered her request unsure whether to let her drink a second glass of wine, but I relented and headed back to the bar.
Dave quickly served me, jokingly asking, “trying to get her drunk?” as he poured a second glass, slightly larger than the first.
“Not really, but I’m ok with her experiencing a few things in life, and if she’s going to end up drunk, at least it’s with me and not with some lecherous local yob, who just wants to take advantage of her.”
Dave grinned and nodded in agreement.
I returned to the booth and offered MJ her glass before taking my place next to her and continuing our conversation.
We were about half-way through our drinks when there was a loud roar from the group of guys playing darts, heralding a victory. Another called over to Dave and ordered another round of drinks in honor of the winner.
MJ was again looking over in the direction of the guys, her attention drawn by the celebration. The guy who had smiled at her, was gesturing her over to join the game. MJ politely shook her head, but the guy gestured to her more emphatically, almost totally dismissive of the fact that she was with me.
“Daddy, can I go and play that game with them?” She was alternating the direction of her head between the guys and me, using those same puppy-dog eyes with me.
I pondered the rights and wrongs and all the possible outcomes of what I would be letting my daughter in for if I agreed. I rationalized to myself that I had to be a responsible parent, but then I had already allowed her to come to a pub and drink alcohol. I kind of decided that nothing much could possibly happen to her as I was there, and I was pretty sure that Dave would not put up with any nonsense in his pub. In reality there was probably nothing I could do if things got out of hand, but I didn’t want to spoil her fun and experience her pouty, unhappy expressions, which her mother received any time she limited something MJ really wanted to do.
I nodded my head and with that, she grabbed her glass of wine and scurried off to where the guys were standing. They all greeted her, introducing themselves one by one. MJ looked so small compared with this well-built group of guys. She stood there, watching the game and how it was played, periodically taking sips of her wine.
Then the attention of the group turned to MJ and it was clear that she was expected to take a turn at the game. She took a dart and somewhat awkwardly aimed and threw it at the board, missing completely. The guy who had invited her, moved over and took up a position behind her, his sizeable frame partly obstructing my view. He rested his left hand on her hip, while the other took hold of her right forearm and guided her aim. Together she threw again. The dart flew towards the board, dropping slightly before hitting a 17. The guys cheered and MJ took another dart. The guy, still positioned behind her, guided her right hand, leaning a little closer to her head. She released the dart, which again few towards the board, this time with a little more power, landing on the 4. 21 announced one of the guys noting down her score and deducting it from the total.
MJ and the guy stepped aside, as another guy took his darts and started to aim. 20 with the first and again with the second, and then double 20 with the third. 80 announced the scorer. I turned my attention once again to MJ who was standing next to the guy who had helped her. I couldn’t fail to notice that his arm was still around her, his hand on her thin waist. I felt a slight pang of concern, a little irritated with him for taking the liberty to keep touching her. They were chatting and she was continuing to take sips from her wine, clearly seeming to be happy, so I again decided to let it go so she could have some fun.
A few more rounds later and it was MJ’s turn again. She moved over and took a dart. The guy positioned himself behind her, this time pressing close to her and putting his left arm around her tummy as he pulled her into him. His right arm stroked slowly down her bare right arm before taking hold of her wrist to help her aim. MJ released the dart, barely missing the 20 to score a 5. The guy shuffled against her, adjusting her position and pulling her into him a little tighter. She scored a 20, followed by another 20. 45 announced the guy keeping score.
MJ happily jumped up and down, letting out an impromptu squeal. As she moved out of the way for the next player, she was followed by her new friend. She took a big gulp of her wine, still seeming elated about her achievement. The guy sidled up alongside her, closer than he maybe should have and immediately put his arm around her. I watched closely as almost immediately he started gently rubbing the small of her back. This rubbing went on for a few minutes, but although in my book, his actions in touching my daughter seemed somewhat inappropriate, I concluded that it was relatively harmless and decided to let it be. He was alternating between stroking her hair, which hung freely down her back, and gently circling his hand on the small of her back, slowly working his way lower, to the point where his hand was resting on her butt, which he gave a little squeeze, but MJ seemed too enthralled with the game to notice or pay much attention to.
One of the guys had called for another round of beers and I was surprised when someone handed MJ a pint. She gulped down the remaining wine, putting the now empty glass down and happily accepted the pint of beer, glancing with a somewhat sheepish look over in my direction, hoping maybe that I hadn’t noticed or that I wouldn’t call her back from what she was doing. This made me increasingly nervous, but I again rationalized that at least she was still in my sight but determined that if things started to get out of hand, then I would have to find a way to extricate her from the group.
I’m not sure where the thought came from but part of me started to wish that I was the lucky guy subtly enjoying her attention, a thought which I quickly tried to dismiss from my mind. Dave was right, she was definitely turning into a sexy woman and I was quietly contemplating how I was going to keep her from venturing off into the world of horny guys and dating.
I finished my beer and wandered across to the bar offering my empty beer glass to Dave, he took it and filled it again.
“I see she’s made a few friends”, said Dave.
“yeah, was just thinking about whether to intervene or not, but I don’t want to spoil her fun, not as long as it’s relatively harmless, and I’m not quite sure how to disengage her, without upsetting her”.
“go sit yourself down and leave them to me, those lads are constantly on the prowl for fresh meat and they’re a rough bunch, but they won’t mess with me”, responded Dave, winking at me and nodding in the direction of my booth for me to go and sit down.
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