Sterek Stories - A Collection - I

To be young and in love - part 4

Maddy heavily leans against her arm, the result of one too many Cosmopolitans. "How 'bout that one? He's hot!"

Alex looks in the direction of her friend's gaze and spots the guy she's talking about. He's handsome in that All American way, with blond locks, broad shoulders and a symmetrical face. She wouldn't be surprised if he played football in college; she can picture him easily in a Varsity jacket. "He's okay," she shrugs.

"Okay?! Just okay?" Maddy cries out incredulously. "Every mom wishes for such a boyfriend for her daughter. Even grandmas want him!"

Alex snorts a laugh. "Oh my god, you're gonna order some water next round. You're talking nonsense already and we've only been here an hour!" She jostles Maddy's shoulder amicably. "Besides, I'm not looking for someone to take to Sunday brunch with my parents."

"Oohh, you want a bad boy!" Maddy immediately sits up straighter on her bar stool. "We're gonna find you a bad boy!"
Alex saves her drink from where Maddy slams her hand repeatedly on the bar, psyching herself up for the quest for a so-called 'bad boy'. Apparently this bar is the perfect spot for that type, because Maddy points out one after the other.
"That one!"

"He has an Apple power button tattooed on the back of his neck."

Maddy raises her eyebrows in question. "So that's a no?"

Alex shakes her head firmly. "No."

"Okay, fine, I guess he's more of a hipster than a bad boy anyway," Maddy aquisces and she lets her eyes wander over the crowd. "How 'bout him?"

She squints her eyes at the dark haired thirty something Maddy is pointing at. He's close to the dance floor and the moving lights make it difficult to really see him. "I slept with him already," Alex says when the lights hit him just right for her to recognise him. "Arif or Asif or something. I think he's a lawyer of some kind."
Maddy hollers something about her being a mynx and Alex pushes her off with a laugh. Then her eye falls on a small group of people on the other side of the long bar. She catches sight of dark stubble across a sharp jaw and strong arms that stretch the short sleeves of his black T-shirt.

"Ohh, me likey," Maddy coos next to her. "He has hot friends too."

Alex orders another drink - and a water for Maddy - from the bartender and surreptitiously checks out the group of friends across from her. They're on one end of the bar that stretches along the wall, closest to the entrance, and she and Maddy are on the other end where the space opens up to a dance floor in the back. It looks like they just got in: she watches how a male swimwear model helps a petite redhead out of her coat, next to a young looking guy with messy hair who flails with one of his arms stuck in his jacket. Dark stubble guy stills him with a hand on his shoulder and frees him of his jacket in one swift movement. The young guy is talking to him at high speed, though Dark Stubble doesn't seem to react much to his words. There's three other people with them, a blonde with bright red lipstick and ample cleavage, a black guy with the broad looks of a linebacker and a tall curly haired guy wearing a scarf.

"Does the modelling agency from around the corner have a company outing or something?" Maddy wonders out loud. "They all look like they could be on the cover of a magazine."

That's exaggerating a bit, though Alex has to admit they all look really good. To her, Dark Stubble is the best looking one, although Maddy is waxing poetically about the swimwear model and she can see his appeal too. However, she's not planning on walking up to the whole group and introducing herself out of the blue. As long as they're on opposite ends of the bar, she's happy to just watch from a distance.

She settles in with Maddy, who thinks she has deserved another Cosmopolitan after emptying her glass of water, to do a bit of people watching. Seven people in particular. Alex tries not to stare, though she feels pretty safe from this distance. The bar is crowded, they can't hear her and there's a good chance they won't even notice her from that far.