"Damn, I wish I was 21. I could use the real thing right now. But that's still a few months away."
"Excuse me, ma'am?" a deep but unintelligent sounding voice said next to her.
"Okay, look, first thing, my name's not ma'am," Jane responded without looking at who was speaking to her. "Second thing, I don't care if you look like Leonardo DeCaprio, I'm not in the mood tonight. And third, if you're as unintelligent as you sound, I won't be in the mood any night. Go away and leave me alone."
"Sorry to bother you. Maybe some other time, Jane."
He started to walk away. It took Jane a few seconds to realize...
"Wait a minute, how did you know my name?"
"We went to high school together. Well, not exactly together, I was a grade behind you. But I'd always hear you talking with your friend in the halls between classes. Daria, that was her name, right?"
"As far as I know, it still IS her name. But she's in Boston at Raft, and I'm back here in Lawndale, due to insufficient funds. Thanks a lot, mom and dad. Um, what was your name again?"
"Robert. Robert Iverson."
"Hmm, that name sounds familiar for some reason. Were you a jock?"
"If you can call it that. I was on the football team, but I spent most of the time on the bench. Sorry again for bothering you. See you around."
"No, wait, come back here."
Okay, Jane, what the hell? she thought. Why am I inviting him to sit next to me? Am I that lonely? Desperate? Stupid?
Robert sat on the stool next to Jane.
"So, what were you trying to say before I did my Joan Crawford impression?"
"I was just wondering if, um, maybe we could, uh...oh, never mind, I'm no good at this."
He started to get up, but Jane grabbed his arm.
"Are you trying to ask me out on a date?"
"No. Well, yes. Not exactly."
"You didn't excel in English, did you?"
Robert chuckled at Jane's quip.
"Actually, that was one of my better subjects. It's just that girls like you make me nervous."
"Girls like me?"
"You know, strong, intelligent, myterious..."
"Weren't you one of Quinn's followers? You're nervous with me, but you seemed to handle her alright."
"But she's everything you're not. That is, you're everything she wasn't. She was never that strong, not around Sandi and the other fashion drones. And she wasn't mysterious. You knew her for five minutes, and that's pretty much all there was to know. And if she posessed any intelligence about anything besides fashion and what was in the teen magazines, she hid it well. The only reason I went with her is because it was expected of the football team to date the popular girls. And besides, it was easy being with her, you didn't have to think too much. Wait, that didn't come out right."
Jane couldn't help smiling at his growing unease.
"You think being with me would make you think too much?"
"Or make it hard to think at all. This was a bad idea. You're way out of my league, so I should just go."
"Out of your league? What do you mean? I'm just a regular girl." She affected a haughty British accent. "A bit more refined, perhaps, than the rest, but I might deign to date a commoner."
Robert laughed. "You're funny. I could imagine being with you, laughing with you. Most of the other girls I've been with, I was laughing at them, more than with them. Um, did that sound mean?"
"Just a bit, but I know what you mean. Do you like art?"
"Art who?"
"No," Jane giggled, "I mean art as in painting, sculpture, cinema..."
"Yes. That's what I wanted to ask you about. There's a Picasso exhibit at the art museum, and..."
Jane chugged the rest of her virgin margarita.
"Okay, I'm ready, let's go. If we skip the rest of it and just go straight for the Picas...ow, brain freeze!"
Robert laughed again.
"Okay, this time you're laughing AT me, aren't you?"
He nodded as he kept laughing.
"Alright, Chuckles, come on. The museum closes in two hours."
She got up, grabbed Robert's arm, and they walked slowly towards the exit.
"Now, as I was saying, if we go straight for the Picasso..."
"Sounds like a plan."
"You really think I'm strong, intelligent, and mysterious?"
"Definitely."
"I notice you didn't say anything about attractive, beautiful, pretty..."
"You didn't let me finish. You're attractive, beautiful, um..."
"Pretty."
"Yes, definitely pretty, and cute, and..."