'Ugh, I knew I shouldn't have come here' Rae thought to herself as she sipped on yet another margarita.
As soon as they arrived, Liza was drowned out by the sea of men that came flocking towards her, asking her to dance. Her best friend was very pretty, with short dark hair in a bob and the most expressive green eyes you'd ever seen.
It wasn't uncommon for her to be snatched away by potential suitors, but damn if she didn't think it would happen so fast.
The bartender gave her a sad smile and raised the bottle, silently asking if she wanted a refill. She shook her head. Now that she had no drinking partner, it wasn't smart to get too drunk.
Someone came up behind her, but she paid them no mind, absentmindedly stirring her drink with a cherry, then eating it.
"Drinking all by yourself beautiful?"
Rae rolled her eyes. What a cringey line. She turned around to see what poor girl had drawn the attention of someone with such low charisma, and her mouth dropped open in shock, so much so that the cherry stem fell out.
He was talking to her.
He was hitting on her.
She pointed at herself for further confirmation. "Me?"
"Are there any other beautiful girls around? Of course I'm talking about you." The stranger said. "Can I get you a refill?"
Rae shook her head, still in disbelief. No one ever hit on her. In fact, they usually only talked to her to get information about Liza. It was why she had so many dating apps, because she had little to no success in the real world.
Of course now, she was having little to no success in the online world, so she knew this might be her last chance to catch her Romeo.
"No, I'm done drinking for the night. I've already had about three of these" She motioned to her almost empty cup. "I am super bored though. So if you want to stay and talk, that's fine."
"Cool. The names Tony. You?"
"Raeylnn."
"Ooh, I haven't heard that one before. Are you new in town?"
"Kind of...I moved here with my best friend last year. She's the one in a red sundress on the dancefloor."
Rae pointed towards Liza, who was having the most fun swishing her short hair from side to side and grinding on a stranger. She regretted referring to her almost immediately, because as soon as she did that, she visibly saw Tony lose interest in her.
'Fuck. Why did I do that?' She thought as she bit her lip. 'I gotta get his attention back on me!'
"What about you? Are you new in town?" She asked, desperately trying to get him to look at her again. He mumbled something incoherent and continued watching Liza.
She sighed. Raeylnn knew a lost cause when she saw one, and Tony was as lost as they come.
This always happened. No matter how well the conversation was going, she would always accidentally do something that would draw the male gaze away from herself. It wasn't that Raeylnn wasn't pretty, it was that she lacked the self assurance that these men craved. They were most times looking for a confident woman who knew what she wanted, and wasn't afraid to go get it, and Rae hardly fit into that category.
Liza on the other hand exuded confidence, because she wasn't looking for anything serious, so she never felt pressured to over perform or try too hard, and the guys ate that up. To her credit, she tried to teach Rae the art of catching a man, but it was something she would have to learn on her own.
She went back to sipping her drink and being hard on herself in her head.
'Way to go Rae. Why do you always do this? Can't you think of something interesting to say without bringing up someone better looking than you? How are you ever going to find someone to date!?'
She drained her cup and waved goodbye to the bartender. Tony had found someone else to talk to, a bombshell with bright red hair that matched her lipstick. Tony certainly had a thing for brightly coloured women. 'If that's the case then I could never compete with that' Rae laughed to herself.
She signalled to Liza that she was going for a smoke break, but wasn't sure if her friend had caught her signal. Her dance partner had quickly turned into her make out partner. Rae had an inkling she would be going home alone tonight.
She sighed, winding around the sea of dancing, sweaty bodies.
Everyone was all partnered up except her.
How come it was so easy for them?
Was there some secret handbook she was supposed to purchase before trying to find a match? And where on earth was she supposed to find that ??
She took in a deep breath of fresh air. It was a welcome change from the stuffy air inside the club. She brought out a stick and her favourite Hello Kitty lighter, which doubled as a pocket knife if she was ever in a dangerous situation.
She was tipsy, but not wasted, so she slid down the wall beside the club and inhaled deeply.
'Well tonight was a bust.' She thought on exhale. 'It just proved that I'm still terrible at flirting. I blame mom for not letting me have any male friends until the age of nineteen.'
She took another drag, this time releasing the smoke from her nose.
'Of course that excuse doesn't hold water anymore, because I'm almost thirty. I should've taught myself everything I need to know by now.'
She stubbed out the cigarette and threw it into a nearby bin.
This new dating app had got to work, or she didn't know what she'd do.