Miami

He hated the club scene. Despised it. Detested the way a place could be too dark and too bright at the same time, the way a place could be loud enough to make him crave silence.

More than that, he hated his friends for dragging him here for the second time in as many weeks.

The break-up wasn't that bad. Not really. Not bad enough to warrant the harassment he'd been receiving from Jake and Daryl. The brothers were the best friends Aaron had ever known.

They met in grade school. Jake, a year younger and a grade behind his brother and Aaron, was tormented relentlessly by bullies. Aaron, with a few right hooks and more curse words than a fifth-grader should rightly know, put an end to that. They've been inseparable ever since.

After all these years, attending the same high school; the same shitty community college; hell, they'd even shared girlfriends a few times; Jake and Daryl were convinced they knew Aaron better than he knew himself.

Maybe they were right. Twelve days ago, the first time they dragged him to the overpriced shitshow called "Revelation," Aaron got drunk enough to admit how much his break-up with Trisha had hurt him. He even told them he cried over her. Big mistake. They demanded he find a girl to take his mind off "that heartless whore who couldn't stop sucking dick."

After a few more shots, he was actually drunk enough to try. Aaron had been with Trisha for almost 6 years before he found out she had been cheating on him for the last 3, so his flirt game was a little rusty. He wasn't sure if the dark haired girl in the blue dress that was the same color as her eyes was drunk or desperate, but he was sure she had to be one or the other to accept his advances. Or both. Probably both.

And there he was, twelve nights later, at the same bass-smashing, too-shiny shitshow, 9 shots deep with Jake and Daryl, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Aaron spun around and saw those bright blue eyes, in a green low-cut top and tight black skirt this time. He was too drunk to even try keeping the smile from his face as he remembered kissing her in the cab on the way back to her apartment.

"Hey there, trouble," she said as her hand slid a little too slowly from his shoulder to his elbow.

"Buy me a drink?"

He remembered that she liked Malibu and pineapple juice. She had told him about a wild night out with her friends when the three of them went through 2 bottles of Malibu at some BYOB house party and one of them fell into the bonfire. She wasn't badly hurt but had to get her hair cut short because most of it had been burnt off.

He remembered the blue of the dress she wore twelve nights ago had matched her eyes almost perfectly. He remembered the way her lips looked when they were wrapped around her straw. He remembered the way her lips looked when they were wrapped around him.

He couldn't for the life of him remember her name.

Aaron had his share of one night stands, don't get him wrong. But this girl...those ice blue eyes had set a fire inside him and he was sure he knew her name twelve nights ago. He was even pretty sure he had called it out a few times while she was on top of him.

When she moved in closer and mentioned that she had bailed on her friends when they refused to leave the "shitty-redneck-country-hick-bar" they had dragged her too, Aaron could even remember her smell. Like citrus and cinnamon and fresh air.

He thought to himself that a girl who smelled so good shouldn't be alone in a shithole like "Revelation." Who knew what kind of dirtbag creepers might try to take advantage?

He was drunk enough to be brave at that point, so he slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to the bar. His friends had appeared at the other end of the bar and tried to pretend to not look at Aaron and the girl whose name he couldn't remember. He ordered her a Malibu and pineapple juice and she didn't even try hiding the look on her face that told Aaron she was impressed he remembered.

She was talking to him. She was smiling and giggling and Aaron remembered the sound of it even though he couldn't hear it over the commotion and loud music of this club he didn't want to be in anymore. He wanted to be outside in the cool breeze of that late spring evening so he could watch her dark hair flow around her face and hear her laugh that sounded like waterlogged wind chimes.

Aaron was kissing her before he realized he had leaned into her, one arm around her waist again and his other hand in her hair. He pulled away a little too slowly and looked at those eyes, those blue eyes that had looked up at him as sweat-curled hair surrounded her face and she had laughed breathlessly like she had never had so much fun in her life.

He was drunk enough to be brave so he let her pull him out into the late spring breeze and he watched her hair flow around her face and he was so glad when he could finally hear her giggling as she stepped into the street to flag down a cab. As a yellow car that wasn't a cab honked and swerved around her, she laughed even harder, head thrown back and creases in the corners of the bluest fucking eyes Aaron had ever seen.

He gave in, it was too late to stop. He couldn't possibly admit that he had forgotten the name of her specific brand of beautiful. He was still drunk enough to be brave so he slid into the cab next to her and kissed her the way he remembered kissing her twelve nights ago.

Aaron hadn't realized the cab had stopped until she pulled away. She was digging through her bag before he realized what she was doing. She dropped a handful of dollars over the seat and the cab driver mumbled a thank you as he picked them all up and Aaron cursed himself silently for not paying for the cab. It was the least he should have done for forgetting her name.

They kissed hurriedly at the doorstep of her apartment, the left door of a duplex covered in cracked gray and white paint. Vague thoughts of tomorrow floated through the haze of his drunken bravery, wondering if he should leave before she woke up so he could avoid awkwardly not knowing what to call her. Sure, he'll have been inside her a few times by morning, but it was still too soon to start with the pet names. Right?

His thoughts snapped back to the here-and-now when her keys fell to the ground, landing on his right foot.

He bent and picked them up, a single ring with 3 keys and a shining silver souvenir keychain. It had a palm tree with the word "Miami" on one of the tree's leaves. On the trunk were six pink letters.

Hannah.

Hannah looked at him, grinning. Aaron handed her the keys and as she slid one into the doorknob she paused and looked up at him.

"So..." she paused again. "I hate to sound like a total dirtbag..." her words slurred just a bit as her eyes dropped to her feet.

"I forget your name," Hannah said, and looked up at Aaron like she was sure he would either get mad or get gone.

Aaron snorted a laugh. It turned into a full, deep belly laugh, head thrown back and eyes crinkled like Hannah's had been in the street outside "Revelation."

"Aaron. My name is Aaron, Hannah," he said as he put his hand over hers and turned the key in the lock. They slipped inside as their laughter echoed through the parking lot.

They wouldn't forget any names after tonight.