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“Go on, then. I noticed a cute guy over there who I wanna go talk to.” I nod my head in a random direction to sell the fib.
Her head whips to me, her eyes wide with excitement. She seems even more excited at the prospect of me finding someone than her talking to the guy she obviously has a crush on. “Really?”
I nod with a smile. “Yep. So don’t worry about me, go talk toBryan,” I draw out his name in a sing-song voice like we’re middle school students teasing each other over boys we like.
She giggles again. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
“Okay,” she squeezes my arm again. “Have fun! And definitely text me if you need me, okay?”
“Of course. Don’t keep Bryan waiting!” I playfully pat her butt as she walks off towards him. I stand where I am and look at them as they start talking, smiling as I can tell how into each other they both are.
I turn around and take in the rest of the room now that I’m alone. Now that I’m flying solo on operation one-night-stand, the whole idea feels a little more intimidating.
How exactly are you supposed to initiate these things? Do I approach some guy? Do I wait for some guy to approach me? Having been with my (good-for-nothing, cheating) ex since early freshman year, I never got the hang of the whole hookup thing.
“Hey.”
The greeting directed at me stops me in my tracks as I wander around the bar. I turn to look at the guy who uttered it. He sports a pirate costume, eyepatch covering his eye. The eye that’s visible is a nice shade of blue, and with a thick head of dark hair, he’s easy on the eyes.
Nothing like the guy with the skull face paint, but let’s be real.
“Hi,” I answer, forcing down my anxiety and summoning a smile. “Good to see you made it to shore safely.”
I silently kick myself for the lame joke. But, like I said, flirty banter isn’t really something I’m experienced with.
He responds to my joke with a blank expression on his face. “Shore?”
“You know … from the ship?” I gesture towards his costume.
He looks down at himself, face still blank. I’m not sure if my joke was just that bad, or if this guy is a little slow on the uptake.
Suddenly, his blank expression cracks with something that resembles realization. “Oh,” he says. “Because I’m a pirate.”
I raise my brow and nod slowly. “Yeah. That’s what I was going for.”
He leans down, surprising me with the sudden proximity. “I don’t have a ship, but I do have an apartment to myself two blocks away.”
A knot of tension tightens in my stomach, but it’s not a pleasant tension like I felt looking at the guy with the face paint earlier. Sure, a no-strings-attached one-night stand is what I’m looking for, but I’m a little put off by how ruthlessly direct he’s being about it.
“Uh, how about we get to know each other first?” I ask.
His cheek puff and he blows out a long sigh that whistles with disappointment. “Yeah, I guess,” he answers with a shrug.
“You go to school here?” I ask, sidling next to him.
He just glances around the room with a totally disinterested expression on his face. “Uh-huh,” he answers, not even looking at me.
I furrow my brow, a little annoyed at how blatantly uninterested in conversation he is. But, remembering what the mission is—a meaningless hookup with any passably cute guy to finally start getting over my ex—I press forward, hoping to salvage the interaction.
“I’m thinking of transferring next semester. Do you like it here?”
He shrugs again. “It’s okay, I guess.” Then, he looks at me and wiggles his eyes in an obnoxious way that makes my stomach turn. “One plus is there are some really nice off campus apartments. You ready to see mine, yet?”
My brow lowers as I level him with an irked gaze. The audacity of some men.
“No, thanks,” I say; adding, before turning around, “Enjoy the rest of your night.”
