Anthony Nguyen takes a sip of a glass of the cheapest beers the club had. It tasted terrible and was far too expensive for poor quality booze, but Tony needed to get away from his lonely apartment for awhile and none of Lake Point's pubs had really appealed to his tastes. Besides, the club got a better mix of people his age. No one he knew of course, but then again Tony didn't know a lot of people in town.
"Waiting for someone?" a voice behind Tony asked. He turned to find an effeminate looking young man dressed in stylish dark clothing. The strange fellow had red hair streaked with numerous blond highlights that hung down to his thigh. Or perhaps it was blond hair with red highlights, it was difficult to tell in the lighting of the club.
"Er, no," Tony said. He had no idea what the young man wanted, but the conversation was such a welcome change that he ignored the stranger's curious appearance for now.
"So you're alone then?" the man asked. He took a seat next to Anthony.
"That's one way of putting it, yes," Tony remarked.
"And you'd prefer otherwise?" the long haired man asked.
"Oh god, yes," Tony said. He was caught off guard by his own honesty.
"I thought you might. Over your left shoulder is young woman in a red dress. Don't ask me her name, you'll be asking it from her soon enough. She was supposed to having a night on the town with a friend, but her friend just came down with the flu and canceled. Our friend in red just received a text message from her friend explaining that she cannot come. In the next five minutes or so she will decide it's not worth the effort to be out here alone, head back to her car, drive home, and go back to a life as lonely as your own."
"Lucky her," Tony said, with a certain bitter sarcasm.
The bartender placed a drink in front of the long haired man. Tony could not remember if the man ever ordered a drink. "But that doesn't have to be the way of things," the young man offered. "If before then a young man her age were to come up to her and strike up a conversation, he would have a very good chance of holding her attention. I can't say what would happen from there. Maybe you just have an awkward talk and then part ways immediately after and avoid each other furiously if you ever see one another again. Maybe you strike up a good conversation and decide you'd prefer each other's company over solitude tonight. Maybe you two decide you enjoy each other so much you decide you want it to be for more than tonight. Anything is possible, but you got to give it a shot to get any of those."
Tony gave the woman in red a second examination. She was looking towards the door. Tony turned back towards where the long haired man was sitting, but he was already gone. Disappeared with his drink back into the growing crowd of the club, he supposed.
Tony looked towards the woman in red once more. "Ah, what the hell," he muttered finally. Anthony Nguyen finished his drink, stood, and made his way over to her.
