Dire(74)

We turned a corner and suddenly we were surrounded by crowds of college students. Evidently this was where everyone hung out on Friday night. The door to the bar was wide open, but a large guy who couldn’t have been more than twenty-two or so sat at the door. I showed him my license and he grunted something. I assumed that meant I was fine so I trailed the others inside.

The bar was smoky and crowded as I followed the others. One long bar spanned the back of the space, and loud music blared from speakers somewhere.

“I’ll get us a pitcher.” Chad dropped Reyna’s hand, and we searched around for a place to sit.

“Shaun, hey.” A guy called him over. Reyna and I followed him.

“Hey, man. Mind if we join you?”

The guy looked Reyna and I over. “No feel free.”

Sometimes being a girl did come in handy. I took a seat next to Shaun, knowing Reyna would want the two seats on the other side of the table so she could sit with Chad.

I made some more awkward conversation. That seemed to be the theme of the evening. When Chad arrived with the pitcher of beer I gulped down my cup in record time. I needed something to take the edge off. After about an hour we left the Boot and piled into Chad’s car to drive over to a place called the Bull Dog. This one had a different crowd. It seemed a little bit older, but definitely still college.

As I stood sipping my Abita beer, it was a local beer I was told I had to try, I largely tuned out the conversation of the group we were with. They’d stopped even pretending to include me, and it wasn’t worth the effort to push myself in. Instead I people watched.

That’s when I saw him. Tall, broad, and blond, he stood out in the sea of students. Even flanked by two equally tall and attractive guys, he commanded all of my attention.

He was too far away to see the color of his eyes, but whatever they were they probably fit perfectly with his chiseled features. The guy could have been a model. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t pull my eyes away from him.

“What are you staring at?” Reyna asked. She’d separated herself from Chad for the moment.

“Nothing.”

She followed my line of vision. “Oh. Which one?”

“Blond.”

“Of course.” She laughed.

“Hey, I’ve dated guys with dark hair.”

“Yes, but when given the choice you want a blond.” She brought her beer to her lips.

“So? We all have our preferences.” Reyna always went for the brooding types, although Chad didn’t fit that description.

“Go talk to him.” She nodded toward him.

“Yeah… right.”

“Why not? If he isn’t interested you never have to see him again.”

She had a point. That was the upside of being hundreds of miles from home.

“Come on. Live a little. He’s gorgeous. You can’t give up this kind of chance.” She placed her empty beer bottle down on the table.

“Only you can make talking to a guy sound like a monumental life event.”

“Not a monumental event, but a fun one. Go ahead.”

“Fine.” Normally I would have just stood there staring at the guy, but she was right. What’s the worst thing that could happen? I wouldn’t have to worry about running into him again or anything.

I finished my beer and set it down before forcing myself to walk toward the three inhumanly attractive guys.

I stopped right next to him. “Hi.”

He didn’t say anything.

I tried again. “Hi there.”

He gave me a funny look. “Hi? Can I help you?”

“Can I help you?” His friend with the black hair elbowed him. “Ignore his manners, he’s rusty.”

“Oh.” Humiliation had taken on new meaning.

“Shut up.” He glared at his friend before turning back to me. “Is there something I can do for you? Do we have a class together or something?”

I wanted to run, but I forced myself to hold my place. “No. I was just saying hello.”

“Ok, hello.” He just stared at me, and I was ready to be swallowed into the floor.

His friend with brown hair shook his head before turning to me. “Sorry about him.”

I couldn’t take a second more. I spun around and headed back to Reyna.

“How’d it go?” she asked. She’d already returned to Chad’s side so I didn’t want to talk about it.

“I’m not feeling great. Any chance you guys want to go home?”

Chad put his hand around Reyna’s waist. “We can definitely head back.”

I probably earned points from the guy, my request meant he’d get laid sooner. “Thanks.”

“Should we wait for Shaun and the others?” Reyna asked. Shaun disappeared within twenty minutes of us arriving at the second bar. He’d run into some of his other friends.