I walk straight to the hotel lobby bar. There are a pair of bartenders behind the bar. I don't know the woman but I know the man, he greets me with a smile, "What can I get you?"
I have only ordered three or four drinks from him in just as many years, but its always been the same drink. Makes me appreciate Indie even more.
"I'll have a Captain and Coke please."
He smiles again and walks away. The bar itself is not very busy, yet it takes him five minutes to get back to me. Indie would be laughing by now. He places a tile coaster in front of me and as he places my drink upon it I reach in my back pocket for my wallet. I turn to see Laticia standing behind me.
"Roberto, this is a very good friend of mine, I'll be picking up all of his drinks tonight." She shoots him a smile and a look, his only response is a nod and a quick retreat to the other side of the bar. "You think I could get your bartender to come work for me?"
"Indie? Well she isn't My Bartender. She's just a woman that likes to hang out there and serve some drinks. You're more than welcome to ask her if you like." Laticia and I both know that we are just making a point of making small talk before she tells me why she asked me up.
"So why did you ask me to come on up?" Thank goodness neither of us deals with small talk.
"Now you see that's why I like you so much James, straight to the point. Well then follow me to the observation deck." Laticia turns and heads towards the casino.
She is wearing a back less black dress that starts at the neck and ends just above her ankles. Her hair is pulled back just enough to expose the back of her neck, and the slit in her dress is just high enough to expose her left calf as she leads me. She leads with such grace, and walks with self confidence, it wouldn't be hard to fallow this woman anywhere she wanted you to go.
As I follow her I cant help but smile to myself and remember a friend of mine from so many years gone. I never met her, but this is how I always envisioned her.
Strong, beautiful, and always in control.
Laticia leads me to a door behind the registration desk, and the up a single flight of stairs and down a hall way. She slows her pace as we come to a security door at the end of the hallway. She taps in the pass code on the number pad and motions me to follow as she opens the door.
I was rather surprised as to what I saw as I entered. I was expecting a wall of monitors, workers at keyboards, and the sound of security personal trying to keep an eye out for the bad guys. Instead what I saw was a very large lounge that over looked the casino. It was set up more like a studio flat than an observation deck. There was a kitchen on the far wall, a single door that I imagined lead to a bedroom, and the rest of the open space was filled with some small tables, a couple of couches, a few televisions, and a very elaborate stereo system. Leticia walks into the kitchen as I just stand near the door we entered from. "Welcome to my place James, make yourself at home."
I felt a little bit out of place.
"James would you like another drink?"
"No thanks I'm good." I looked down at my glass it was just ice. Perhaps I should have said yes.
I began to feel a lot out of place.
I decide to head over to the wall of windows to look down over the casino.
I don't look to her as she walks towards me, in the reflection of the glass I can see her extend her hand towards me. "I made you a drink anyways." There I stand one empty glass and one full. "So wondering why I asked you up?" I turn to look at her, but she isn't looking at me. She is looking into the casino, I pick up that she is focusing her attention to something particular on the casino floor. I look back to the floor, I try to guess her gaze and then I see what she is looking at.
Laticia takes a sip from her glass, "Do you know her?"
I cant see her face, but I know her. She's wearing a similar dress as Laticia. Her back is to me, but I know who she is. We once had a talk, many years ago about her decision to get that tattoo, I had never seen it before tonight, but I know its her.
Its an amazing piece of art on her back and she shows it well. Just above her waist and all the way to her shoulders and neck. She described it to me once but at the time it was just a painting her eldest soon had done. Its a mired of forms and the elements. I see she went with thick dark lines and deep shading. I can see the "village" from my vantage point, the lines are very clean and distinct. Very few woman can pull off a single back piece tattoo, but she has. As I continue to think about her I haven't noticed that she has turned towards me and is looking up at me. I take a step back.
"Don't worry she can't see you, this is one way glass."
Laticia doesn't understand.