FLASHES; ✔️

Chapter One;

Chapter One

"Another one, please," you stated quietly towards the general direction of the man behind the bar.

He offered you something of a sympathetic look, probably assuming that you were there to drown away your sorrows for the night, and he wasn't entirely wrong about that. It was only four o'clock on a Friday night, but from the looks of things, the bar was going to picking up speed in the next hour or so. You needed to get as much tequila in while you could before you just became another face lost in the crowd.

The bartender brought over the bottle and placed it in front of your empty shot glass, but he didn't pour. "Everything alright?"

You avoided eye contact, keeping your eyes on the bottle in front of you, trying to make out the design against the dim lighting above you. "It's my birthday," you stated rather dryly.

"Well happy birthday," he said and you could hear the smile in his voice. You just kept your eye on the bottle, willing him to just pour and walk away. "Are you waiting for your friends to join you? I'd be more than happy to set you up with a VIP section."

Not being able to help it, you laughed. It was only a little bit forced. "All my friends bailed on me tonight."

It was true. Brianna had last minute plans with her newest boyfriend, Olivia and her husband had a special date between the sheets since she, so loveably, informed you that she was at her ovulation peak and then Janet just flat out said she would probably still be too hangover to function from the night before.

Quality friends you have.

"Oh." This time you stole a look at the man in front of you. His name tag read Carl and you could tell that he was beyond uncomfortable at the moment, his dark eyebrows creased in concern. "Well then," Carl cleared his throat and gave you a generous pour of the murky looking liquid. "Consider this one on the house and flag me down when you need another or five."

With a nod at him, you picked up the little glass and tossed it back, feeling the burn hit the back of your throat. Now you just needed to wait for it to hit the rest of you.

---

"Carl," you grinned as he poured you another. "When's your birthday?"

He offered you a small smirk, showing only a couple of teeth to the side before stealing a glance at someone else on the other end of the bar. "It's two days after Christmas. Why? Plan on getting me something?"

You knew he was teasing and probably having a field day with the fact that you were feeling all warm and toasty, but you hadn't been cut off yet. Although that could have something to do with the fact that you were borderline flirting with your bartender – after all you had gotten all dolled up in a black mini dress and bright red pumps, might as well put it to good use.

"Maybe," you winked and then giggled, pulling the shot he had just poured you closer.

"Savor that one for a bit," your new tall and tan friend said. You had been eyeing him every so often, catching those muscles in his arms from time to time. "A couple large parties just walked in," he fished around in front of him before magically producing a large glass of ice water. "I'll be a bit busy, so sip on this in the meantime."

Groaning when he walked away, you rolled your eyes before downing your shot and spinning around on the bar stool, for the first time all night, taking a look at all the other bar patrons around you. Carl hadn't been lying when he said several large parties came in; one looked like a bachelorette party, another was a group of tall looking gentleman and then some stragglers here in there, but they all looked to be waiting around for something interesting to happen or someone else to join them.

Deciding that now might be a good time to get up and check out the music options at the other end of the bar, you hopped down from your stool. Getting down a little too quickly, causing the room to spin a bit, you braced yourself against the top of the bar before letting out a little giggle and heading over to the digital DJ.

It was your birthday, dammit; might as well get one thing you want.

After a brief scroll over what options were available for music, you rolled your eyes and headed into the "W" section. "I don't even know who half these artists," you whispered to yourself, starting to see the names blur together a bit.

Finding the song you wanted, you clicked it and waited a couple of minutes while the current song was finishing its repetitive chorus, you stared intently at the screen waiting to see the title of your song appear. Finally the steady beat of a drum started rolling through the speakers.

"White Stripes fan?"

You jolted, not expecting someone to be standing behind you. Turning around, you saw one of the tall men from one of the groups had broken away from his huddle. You only knew that because he stood out with a grey dress shirt and dark jeans compared to the mixture of black and white that he had been surrounded in. Stealing the moment to take him in, you noticed that his brown hair was messily styled like he had just ran a hand through it before walking out the door and his jaw line was covered in a decent amount of scruff, like he had shaved about a week ago.

Offering a small grin, you gave the gentleman a shrug before answering him. "I figured that you couldn't go wrong with a classic."

He laughed lightly, barely noticeable over the beat coming from the speaker next to you. He awarded you with an amused smirk "You could not be more right."

This time you actually gave him an enthusiastic grin, leaning against the nearby high top and nodding in the direction of his friends who seemed to be eyeing him intently. "Did your friends send you over here to put on something better?"

He stole a quick glance at the men while shaking his head, still keeping that steady smirk on his face. "Do you want me to be honest?"

"Only thing I've ever wanted in life," you encouraged, really starting to feel the effect of basically half a bottle of tequila pulsing through you.

"I made a bet with them," he stated proudly. "I said that I could leave with the most attractive girl here tonight."

Something lit up in the pit of your stomach, but you weren't sure if it was the booze or the way that the pair of green eyes were raking themselves over your figure. "Any luck finding her?"

His gaze hardened for a moment as you could tell he was trying to be serious. "Have you taken a look around here? You are by far the most gorgeous woman here."

You chuckled, causing a small snort to escape before pulling yourself together enough to jut out your chin in the direction of the bachelorette party who were tossing back shots quick enough that it was putting your tipsiness to shame. "You have a whole crowd of them over there."

He made a face, not even giving the, now squealing, group a second glance. "Now why would I want to take advantage of a drunk woman trying to live it up on her last night of freedom?"

"Who says I'm not drunk?"

He grinned. "Prove me wrong when we get out of here."

You stole a glance around the place, barely thinking about the risks of heading home with a stranger before chewing your lip momentarily. "Lead the way."