Beautiful Stanger

"The way you flirt is shameful"

Patrick jumped at the sound of a voice suddenly so close to his ear.  He was propping up a random bar ordering drinks and trying something different- flirting.

Some people could manage to flirt as easy as breathing, knowing just what lines to say and the right tone to say them in to tease and hint at something more.

Patrick had never managed to get the hang of it.

His last attempt at flirting-  'hey, nice outfit...it matches your eyes, and makes you look...y'know...nice?' had made himself cringe as he'd said it. And surprise surprise, it didn't work.

That didn't mean he appreciated a random stranger appearing out of nowhere, telling him that his flirting was shameful. Patrick knew that already.

He also didn't appreciate how the stranger had a tall glass of something in his hand, and how he was biting on a cherry stem. The stranger even managed to make that look flirty, and Patrick felt like he belonged back high school in comparison. Mystery stranger was like finding out you had pizza for lunch, and Patrick was the home made lunch in a soggy brown bag.

The stranger grinned around his cherry stem, and Patrick ordered another drink. He was far too sober for this.

After downing his drink in three quick gulps, he ordered another to have something in his hand and decided to try again.

He waited until someone stood next to him at the bar- on his left side, since mystery stranger seemed content to take a seat at his right side and just watch him- and tried the subtle flirt approach.

This mainly consisted of catching their eye, giving them a nod and eyebrow raise like 'hey...how you doin'?'. Needless to say this approach didn't work either, and the young blonde turned her attention back to the bartender before making a hasty retreat.

The mystery stranger just laughed, and Patrick stared down at his drink. He really wasn't any good at this.

His parents had suggested he try speed dating or something- as a way of getting out of the house and meeting new people. It was supposed to be his first step towards maybe dating someone again, but he found even the idea of that quite daunting. There would be so many people for him to talk to, and he would have to try and impress people enough for them to agree to give him a date.

It was a little bit too much pressure.

Instead he made a compromise- he went to the bar the same night they were hosting the speed dating and he would attempt to talk to people at the bar. There would be more of a chance that there were people who were there for the speed dating, and not out on a date.

At least the stranger didn't feel the need to give him a running commentary on how rubbish he was doing.

Instead, mystery stranger just turned his attention to Patrick.

He leaned in closer once again, and Patrick got distracted for a moment trying to pinpoint the exact colour of his eyes. Hazelnut?

He snapped out of it when the stranger opened his mouth, though.

"I've been checking you out"

Thankfully Patrick hadn't been drinking at the time or he was sure he would have choked from how sharply he inhaled a surprised breath. Or worse- snorted it out of his nose. Always attractive.

He had to turn and look behind him, to make sure that the mystery stranger hadn't actually been talking to someone else. The stranger laughed, and winked at Patrick.

How did he make it look so easy?!

When Patrick ordered his next drink he also got 'one of whatever he's having' for the stranger, figuring he might as well pay him back with a drink if he couldn't repay him with a compliment or pick up line.

It was as if Patrick had forgotten all about his attempts at flirting and his attention was solely on the guy sat next to him.

Time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye even though they hardly made conversation at all, and before he knew it, the mystery stranger was getting up from his seat and putting his jacket back on.

He smiled at Patrick, before leaning in once again to speak into Patrick's ear, despite the fact that the bar wasn't loud any more.

"For some reason, I'm attracted to you."

The stranger turned to leave, and Patrick seemed to find the courage he'd been missing all night. He hastily called a 'wait!' to the stranger before he had even made it two steps away from the bar, and carefully grabbed his arm- letting the guy know that he was still free to leave if he wanted to.

Instead the stranger turned back to Patrick, smirked and raised an eyebrow as if to say well?

He was probably expecting Patrick to finally try a line on him, but instead Patrick grabbed a pen from his pocket and scribbled his name and number on a napkin before shoving it into the strangers pocket. There. He had tried.

He let go of the guy and half expected him to leave. What he didn't expect was for him to then grab Patrick's arm and make a grabby motion at the pen. Patrick slowly handed it over, and for a moment wondered if the guy was about to attack him with it, or throw it at him. Maybe he had been to forward?

What he didn't expect was for the guy to grab his arm, push his sleeve up and scrawl his name and number straight onto Patrick's arm.

With that the mystery guy winked and walked out of the bar with a little more sway in his hips than was entirely necessary.

When Patrick finally managed to snap out of it, he looked down at his arm to see a number- with the correct amount of digits!!- and xo Pete scrawled in messy handwriting.

Later on, when Patrick was asked how speed dating went, he tells everyone that it was a success.


*

ONE YEAR LATER.

Patrick is once again propping up a bar- in fact, it is the same bar where he first attempted to flirt.

If I'm smart then I'll run away, but I'm not so I guess I'll stay, Heaven forbid, I'll take my chance on a beautiful stranger

This time however, it isn't speed dating night. It's karaoke night.  

Patrick smiles into his drink, turning away from the bar and focusing on the figure up on the make shift stage, singing his heart out to Madonna.

Pete.

The reason Patrick was sitting at the same bar he once visited was in fact to celebrate a year of being with Pete. And it just so happened to be karaoke night, which according to Pete made it even better.

Patrick wasn't so sure.

...that was until Pete started dancing.

Apparently he was trying to channel Madonna's moves, as he got to the chorus and started doing some hip shaking kind of move, that- despite how ridiculous it looked- made Patrick's throat go dry.

Okay so maybe his flirting was bad, but it had still managed to get him Pete.