I was staring morosely into my wine glass as a man dropped onto the bar stool next to mine.
"Hi," he said, "I'm Mitch" He offered his hand, and I shook it reluctantly.
"I'm Kelli," I replied briefly.
"You look kind of bummed, Kelli. I'm not a bartender, but I am a pretty good listener. What's up?" Mitch asked.
Suddenly the urge to unload was strong. "Well, I'm upset with my friend over there, Jade. She always begs me to come out with her after work, but when I do, halfway through the evening, she ditches me. Well, she doesn't really ditch me, she just gets carried away with all the male attention she attracts that she forgets about me. Then Monday at work, she apologizes over and over. After a few weeks, I forgive and forget, then she begs again and I come out with her again. I'm getting tired of it. I guess it's not really her fault, though, I mean look at her. She's gorgeous. She attracts men in herds. They all cluster around her, trying to impress her or get a date. It's so depressing."
I gestured to the end of the bar, where my friend held court with most of the men in the room. My modest charms paled when compared to her almost six-foot height, lush (although surgically enhanced) figure, and waterfull of sexy red hair.
"I call them Jade's Brigade. She doesn't sleep around, she won't go home with any of them, she just seems to crave being the center of attention for the evening. And I'm the cliched wallflower hanging around hoping for her leftovers."
"Aww now, you're being way too hard on yourself," Mitch said. "I know my fantasies tend to feature petite blue-eyed blondes."
I blinked at him, not sure if he was serious or joking. "Well, thanks for letting me vent."
"Any time," he said "Besides, if you ask me, she's the cliche and those men are fools. You're the real woman."
'Oh man', I thought. 'If that's a line, you've got me.'
I smiled and really looked at him for the first time. He was tall and slim, with dark hair and eyes.
"Now it's your turn," I said. "Tell me about yourself, what do you do?"
"Oh, boring computer stuff," he said deprecatingly.
"Come on, tell me," I coaxed. "I co-oped for IBM in college and also did a little programming. I'm a computer geek from way back. Besides, my computer never bores me." I smiled inwardly, thinking about a couple of the websites I like to visit.
He laughed and we proceeded to get to know each other, talking about our jobs, then moving on to movies and current events. He was funny and smart and I realized I was enjoying our conversation tremendously. The sting of Jade's desertion had eased.
We lapsed into a companionable silence, watching the antics of Jade's Brigade and their attempts to one-up each other while competing for her attention. We shared a smile as we watched two guys literally jockey for position, one of them taking an elbow in the ribs. As our eyes met, I felt a little spark passing between us.