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I stared off and did what came naturally to me: I made a list in my head. Life could always be boiled down to lists of pros and cons. Stripping away all the emotion until the only things remaining were the cold, unpliable facts.
The Cons of Talking to Cute Librarian Guy:
1. I was a nerd who was bad at meeting new people and even worse at small talk.
2. He could be a total douchenozzle.
3. He might not be interested in me at all, leaving me embarrassed for the rest of the night.
The Pros of Talking to Cute Librarian Guy:
1. It would shut my sister up.
2. I could get it out of the way and go back to the party.
3. Ithadbeen a long time since I’d dated anyone, and I probably needed to practice my cheesy pick-up lines.
4. Cute Librarian Guy was, in fact, cute.Verycute.
The first item on the Pros list was what convinced me. I knew my sister. She wouldn’t leave me alone until I at least went up and talked to the guy. I wanted to get it out of the way so I could go back to enjoying the night. We had only been here an hour, and we had the rooftop reserved until midnight.
I knocked back the rest of my drink and handed the glass to my sister. She let out a happy little giggle.
Okay. Here goes nothing.
2
Amber
I smoothed out my dress, took a deep breath, and walked inside. Yet as I approached the back, I realized I didn’t have any excuse to be there. We had drink service on the rooftop deck. There was no reason for me to come over tothisbar.
I’m not very good at this. Michelle was right: it had been too long. Not that I ever had any killer moves to begin with. But I was buzzing nicely from the three drinks I’d already consumed, so I placed my purse on the bar next to Mr. Dressed Too Nicely and waved my credit card at the bartender.
“Two of whatever this guy’s having,” I said. “One for me, and another for him.”
The guy blinked at me behind his glasses. “Oh, um, you don’t have to—”
“I insist,” I replied. “You kept looking over at me like you wanted to buymea drink, so we might as well skip past all the dumb formalities and get straight to it.”
He gave a little half smile and said, “Smart.” Up close, I saw that he had a smattering of freckles across his cheeks, and his eyes were an intense shade of blue that matched his tie.
The bartender looked at each of us, shrugged, and then started making the drinks. For the next minute or so, we both stood there awkwardly. Once again I was painfully aware how bad I was at this sort of thing. I was a nerdy girl who was a lot more charming via text or email. When a screen was masking my social discomfort. If not for Michelle’s birthday, I would never have come to a place like this.
The bartender placed two drinks in front of us. It looked like a Jack and Coke, with an added maraschino cherry on a toothpick. I smiled and raised the glass.
“I like your choice of drink…?” I said.
“Thank you,” he replied.
I closed my eyes and chuckled. “I was giving you an invitation to introduce yourself.”
“Oh.” He ran a hand through his sandy-blond hair. “I’m Jude.”
“Amber.”
He smiled painfully. “I must admit that I am not very good at this sort of thing. I rarely come out. It’s so chaotic in the city. I would rather be at home relaxing.”
I cocked my head. “I was thinking the exact same thing. Cheers to us, then. A pair of introverts.”
