Walking down the street Adrian searches his pockets. The vibrations of his phone alerted him. It was his friend calling.
"Where the fuck are you bro? It's already 10."
"I am on my way. Don't worry Mark, I will be there in time. I had some work to sort out" said Adrian.
Adrian broke into a slight jog as he was behind schedule. He reached his destination in a few minutes. He was standing in front of a pub. He entered the pub and scoured the area to find his friends. He saw a couple of people waving their hands to signal him. He hurried to the bar and sat down.
"Wow you came in so early today." said one of his friends sarcastically. "What took you so long? We were almost about to leave."
"Sorry, I got caught up in something." Explained Adrian.
"Was it to do with Emily?" asked Edberg.
"Yeah, I ran into her on the way. We were chatting for a bit."
"Oh, did you forgive her already?." Mark said with a chuckle.
"Dude could you stop. She cheated on him. I'm sure he is going through a lot right now." Said Michael.
"No, I'm fine. She was a bitch who was double timing. I don't really want to talk about that right now." Adrian said as he started sipping his beer.
"Seems you still haven't forgiven her for that." said Edberg.
"Would you have been able to?" Adrian fired back.
"But still. It has been weeks since you found out and have broken up with her. What were you guys talking about? I don't think you guys will be getting together again." Said Michael.
"It was work related! Can we please stop talking about her? I don't want to discuss my failed relationship tonight." Saying that Adrian downed the whole glass of beer and ordered a new one.
After a few hours the boys were completely plastered. Adrian was doing a bit better but not a lot. He knew that he would throw up if he kept on the same pace. Something about meeting his ex brought some old memories and feelings to surface. Adrian never really had much alcohol tolerance. He could handle a few beers before getting completely knackered. In comparison the other boys could handle their alcohol pretty well, but none as well as edberg. He has consistently outdrank every person he has met. He was already feeling down because of Emily and he didn't want to ruin the day anymore, so he ended his tab and called it a day.
Before leaving, out of the corner of the eye he glanced at a really beautiful girl. She was sitting a few stools away from them. He looked at his friends and told them about that girl.
"Dude, who is that girl? I haven't seen her around here much." Adrian said with a slightest hint of buzz.
"Oh I have seen her. She owns a coffee shop in the real posh area of the city.. Damn she's hot." Edberg informed.
You could always count on Edberg to know a random person.
"Dude, is she alone? Where are her friends? Girls like that don't come to pubs alone." Said Michael.
"Why do you want to go give her some company?" Edberg questioned.
"But looking at the situation at hand we all are too hammered to even talk straight. Just forget it. She is out of our league anyways." Mark said as the pessimist he was.
"We are but Adrian and Edberg are pretty sober." Said Michael looking at Adrian. "Well sober enough to talk straight."
"I'm good, thanks." Said Edberg, taking another sip from his glass of Guinness.
"You guys want me to go talk to her. Are you guys out of your mind? I just broke up with a girl. I don't have the conviction to talk to another girl."
"Dude, that was weeks ago. You have had a long time. And moreover she cheated on you. You won't be called an asshole for getting a girlfriend after she cheated on you." Said Michael.
I guess he's right. I could go and talk to her. Worst case she just turns me down. . .
But what about the best case?
At that moment Adrian's imagination ran wild with all kinds of images. His face had a great smile.
"There it is. Adrian's shit eating grin. Go get her bud." Michael said.
"Just try not to ruin things for us if you fail to get her okay?" Said Mark.
Adrian stood up and fixed his shirt. And with a powerful yet nervous stride he walked towards the lady and sat down next to her.
"Hey there, I haven't seen you around here before. Are you on your own?" Asked Adrian.
The lady turned with a slight surprise on her face but you could tell she was expecting something like this to happen.
Adrian would have also picked up on that if he hadn't been so flustered.
"No, this is the first time I came to the pub. What about you? You come here often it seems." The lady spoke with an attractive voice.
"Yeah, I visit this place once every week or so with my mates."
"The ones sitting over there?"
"Yeah. How could you tell?" Said Adrian rhetorically.
"Well they are staring at us pretty intently." Adrian looked back and met his friends' gaze, at which point they stopped looking.
"I apologize on their behalf." Adrian said with a hint of embarrassment.
"Where are you from then?" The lady asked.
"Oh I live nearby. I moved here 5 years ago to find work."
"Did you?" the lady asked.
"Yea I work in the IT department of a business firm. I manage the data in the background, making sure everything is correct."
"Must be pretty difficult work."
"Well it's just sitting in front of a computer for long periods of time. It does tire the body out. That's why I come to this pub sometimes. It's not very crowded and I have gotten friendly with the owner." The lady seemed surprised about the last comment. "Well what do you do?" asked Adrian to continue the conversation.
"Oh, I own a coffee shop in the high rise area."
"I haven't really been to that part of the town too much. It's too expensive for the likes of me."
"Well, be sure to come around there. I will be sure to give you a good discount."
"Ok" said Adrian, sipping a little from his pint of beer, "Are you waiting for your friends?"
"No, I just wanted to go for a walk and came across this pub. It didn't seem so crowded, so I stopped for a drink."
"Well, would you mind me accompanying you tonight?"
"No, I don't mind that. Actually, I would prefer it if you would." The lady said while grabbing his arm.
Adrian's face flushed with red for a second. He managed to calm his nerves down. Then he thought.
Wait, I don't even know her name.
"Sorry but I never got your name."
"Ah, sorry I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn Watson."
"Adrian Furze."
They both shook hands and got back to talking.
Tonight is going to be amazing.