Misery County

Chapter 2 - Part 1

The bar was painfully crowded - everyone was shoulder-to-shoulder. Cassie sat on her stool, looking over the main floor, scouting out her prey. She was getting plenty of beguiling looks from the men in the bar, but not just any one of them would do. No, she was looking for a certain type.

"Hey there. Can I buy you a drink?" A young man in a flat-brimmed cap was the third of the evening to try his luck.

Cassie flashed an apologetic smile. "Sorry, handsome, I'm looking for someone."

"Well, if you don't mind me saying, he's one lucky guy."

"You don't know the half of it," Cassie laughed, fully appreciating the fact that the joke was lost on him.

"You have a good evening then, ma'am." And with that, the young man blended back into the crowd.

As Cassie watched him do so, something else caught her eye - another man. He was built heavily, not with fat, but rather with pure muscle. This was a bit out of the ordinary for his type, but she recognized what he was nonetheless. The traits that helped her do so were subtle but unmistakable - angular facial features, grizzled hair and beard, and lithe limbs in spite of his core musculature were just a few of them. To the untrained eye, they might seem like nothing meaningful, but Cassie was no layman. It was time to take a chance.

Hopping down from her awkwardly tall stool, she made her way through the crowd and toward the man. She felt butterflies in her stomach as she approached her target. This was far from the first time she'd done this, and she'd been getting exceedingly better at it with each try, but she felt nervous nonetheless.

The man turned to face her. They made eye contact. Cassie looked down coyly for a moment before meeting his gaze again with a shy smile. It was all an act, of course, but he didn't need to know that.

"What's your name?" he said as she reached him.

Very direct, Cassie thought. She supposed the personality matched the creature within.

"I'm Cassie. What's yours?" she responded with a finger between her teeth.

"They call me Chopper," the man said.

What a douchey name. His type was known for that, though. It may not have been the name he was born with, but it was no doubt the name he was born again with.

"Well, Chopper, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to buy me a drink?"

"What are you having?"

"How does Sex on the Beach sound?"

"Sounds great, but what will you be having to drink?"

The man roared in laughter at his sad attempt at a joke, and Cassie forced a laugh right along with him. She wondered what would be more excruciating - this pitiful foreplay, or what she was going to do to him when it was over.