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"I feel that," she agreed, and she touched her glass to mine once more and glanced around the room.
"Could use a new someone to take the edge off, though," she remarked, as cool and calm as she ever was when it came to talking about men. She was happily and utterly single, and seemed to have no intention of changing that anytime soon. Sometimes, I wished that I could have taken on her level of remove about the whole situation. It would surely be better than spending all my time twisting and turning inside my own head as I tried to figure out what I was meant to be doing with my life.
"I don’t think you’re going to find anyone new here," I pointed out with a chuckle. The upside of coming here every time we wanted a drink was that the guy behind the bar always knew what to pour us; the downside was that it was about the worst place possible to meet new people, given that we knew almost everyone who came in and out of here.
"I don’t know, look at them," she replied, and I glanced around to see where she was looking. Sure enough, there were a couple of guys sitting at the bar that I hadn’t seen before. They were younger than us, even younger than Mallory, but they were stealing glances in our direction like they could hardly believe their luck at having found us.
"They’re practically teenagers," I protested, and Mallory cocked her head to the side and hit me with a hard look.
"And? They’re obviously over eighteen if they’re drinking here..."
"Some of the kids at the school are nearly eighteen," I reminded her, and she waved her hand.
"Come on, you can see they’re older than that," she pointed out. "Look at them. They’re men, not boys. And they’re checking us out. Why don’t we invite them over here and we can see what they’ve got going on? Worst that happens is that we get a free round out of this."
"Fine," I replied. "But don’t act like you’re trying to set me up, alright? I’m not looking to get together with boys that young."
"Oh, come on, it’s just a little flirtation," she replied, and she turned to face the two of them and offered them a broad smile. The younger one, his face all but actually lit up when he saw her looking at him. I couldn’t help but laugh. She just had this effect on men, it seemed. I would have been jealous, but those weren’t exactly the kind of men that I was out here trying to attract. I doubted the two of them had given any thought to their futures. Well, the futures that went beyond the hangovers that they were going to be dealing with tomorrow morning, that was for sure.
They joined us at the table, pulling around extra chairs so that they could sit, and Mallory tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled at them both.
"So, what brings you here?” She asked. "Looks like you’re new in town."
"Yeah, we’re traveling through for a gig," One of them, the younger-looking one, replied. "Not staying for long. I suppose you are regulars here?"
"Something like that," Mallory agreed. "I’m Mallory, this is Abi. We teach at the school not far from here."
"Oh, teachers, huh?" The other one cut in. "Not going to get us in trouble for not doing our homework, are you?"
"That depends," Mallory replied. "On whether you’d be willing to get the next round or not..."
"Come show me what you take," The younger one told her, and they got up and headed to the bar, leaving me and this young man sitting there facing each other. He smiled at me.
"I’m Matt," he introduced himself. "And don’t worry, I’m not going to embarrass myself by trying to put the moves on you."
"Why not?" I replied without thinking, and I felt an instant flush run up my neck. I tried to cool it off. I had to be a little more gathered, a little more together if I was going to sell myself as some desirable, sexy woman. Even though I had no intention of going anywhere with this boy tonight, I could at least use him for a little flirtation.
"Your friend seemed a little chattier," he remarked, and he shifted forward on his seat to get a little closer to me. "I thought you might just be going along with this."
"Well, maybe I haven’t decided yet," I replied, cocking an eyebrow. He grinned. I smiled back. Something about the red lipstick had me feeling some type of way, and I could feel that flutter in the base of my belly, the flutter of knowing that this man wanted me, that he desired me. It had been a long time since I had allowed anyone to make me feel that way, and for good reason – it was normally too dangerous for me to think about letting anyone else anywhere near me, not after what had happened with my ex. But here, I was in control. I was calling the shots. And that meant that if I wanted to flirt, I would damn well flirt a little.
Mallory and her man headed back to the table, and I noticed that she was already pressing herself up against him a little – she was clearly already a little cheerful, and I couldn’t blame her. Spending all that time around kids all day made it hard, occasionally, to remember what it was like to strike out into the world and be an adult. She was clearly ready to remember. And maybe I was, too.
The rest of the night, I was surprised to find, was pretty fun. It had been a long time since I had just allowed myself to flirt with someone for the fun of it, but I flirted with Matt like my life depended on it, and I found myself having a good time. I made it pretty clear that I wasn’t interested in going home with him and he was totally cool about that, apparently, like me, just enjoying the attention that came from a stranger in a pub who didn’t hold any preconceptions about you and just wanted to have a good time. I got a little tipsy but not too drunk, and kept an eye on Mallory to make sure she was staying the fun side of boozy.
By the time that the night drew to a close, she was practically hanging off the arm of her man, Callum, and they were clearly all ready to head home together. I didn’t begrudge her the good time; in fact, I was glad for her, that she still seemed so able to cut loose and have fun like that without thinking about the kind of person she wanted to settle down with. I hugged her goodbye, and Matt walked me to the cab that I had called to pick me up outside.
"Thanks for the drinks," I told him, and he shook his head.
"Thanks for the company," he replied. "You did us a solid. Don’t know how we would have entertained ourselves if we hadn’t met you."
The cab pulled up, and I glanced over at it; I knew that the night was over, and I was more than ready to get home. I had been blessed with a guy who didn’t seem too pushy about getting something more, thank goodness, so when he opened the car door for me and gestured for me to get inside, I smiled up at him.
"Thank you," I told him. And before he could reply, I closed the door behind him, and told the driver where I was headed. He might not have known it, but I was thanking him for reminding me just what it was like to have my mojo back after all this time. For reminding me that I could flirt with the best of them. And reminding me that, even if it hadn’t been him, there were still men out there who wanted me, and who I could want right back.
It was amazing what just a little red lipstick could do for a girl, huh?
Chapter three
