An Evening

It was a great evening.
The group of friends that had gathered to have a beer and listen to some good music in the cozy pub had grown since the start of the evening.
Friends called friends who called friends and told them all to come hang out.
And so by this point only about a handful knew each other really well.
Most had never met.
But it was a great evening.
An evening when all the strangers in this one place united to be one we and just chill a bit.
An evening to make new friends.
.
Now he,let's call him John, had been eyeing her for a while.
She talked, laughed and made listening an interactive part of the conversation.
Within five minutes of arriving everybody knew her and she seemed to have gotten to know almost everybody, without playing the desperate limelight seeker.
There was something about her.
He was on the opposite end of the pub though.
And plainly walking up to her and just start talking would seem lame.
.
He kept check on how much of her beer she had left.
Slowed down to only sipping his.
And what do you know they just happened to be heading to the bar at the same time.
He tried to come up with some clever first line for a while.
But since thinking to long would mean she'd get her drink and go again,
he settled for simple "Hi."
She turned and for some reason looked confused but happily surprised and answered with a bouncy "Hi!"
.
She had a nice smile.
"I think we're here with the same crowd, so i just thought i'd introduce myself. I'm John." he said.
"Oh yeah you're here with.."
"Yeah, me and him are workmates."
"Ok, nice. Good to meet you John."
"Good to meet you to......... uhm, hey i was just talking to some of the people here and we were thinking of doing something next weekend also, so maybe you'd like to tag along. I could like take your number and let you know during the week maybe?"
"You want my number?"
"Yes. Well not just yours, i'm just making it possible for all these nice people to meet again."
"Ok..but..i'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that i'm the first person you're asking to give out her phonenumber. Am i right?"
"Well yeah. ok so, you caught me there."
"John. All you had to do was ask for it no cover story needed."
"Oh, so, can i have your number?"
"Well John, the thing is i'm kind of in that place in my life right now when i'm figuring myself out, you see i've always been kind of an emotional rollercoaster when it comes to relationships. First i thought it's because basically i've only stumbled upon jerks so far but then i realized i was suspiscious of the first jerk before i even knew he was a jerk and still i somehow hoped he'd be nice even though i kind of just knew he was anything but. And so i thought it has to be me, i've gone through a long line of theories, everything from psychological issues to asperger syndrom to an hormonial imbalance to who knows what, it's like an obsession with me to figure out what's wrong with me. But you know what i've come to that i really hope is my last theory?"
"Uhm.i don't know, fate?"
"Oh i wish. No i think my mother was right. You know she told me once that i've been miserable all my life, and i think that might be it. I'm just a miserable selfdestructive person by nature!" she said with an enthusiastic smile. "And you see the reason why i'm telling you this is because you seem like a nice guy. If we'd be to meet again let's say on a date, i might really like you, and so maybe we'd go on a couple more. Let's say everything goes really great and we keep seeing each other for a while. Well isn't that nice you might think and yes it is. It's just since i'm the person i am. I will from the moment i start sensing that there's a real risk of me liking you for real start convincing myself that i'm wrong, i will start looking for faults in you to find proof that you really aren't the nice guy i see you as. And it won't stop there, it will affect you to coz' i'll start looking for ways to provoke you to show your ugly sides, and believe me i am goood at that. And so one day you won't be able to stand it anymore and we'll split and i'll tell myself you were just the jerk i thought you were."
"Oh... well maybe.."
"Yeah i know, maybe you're the one guy who's patient enough to take it and see if it dampens with time. Well you should know no one has succeeded so far, and those who got closest, who just kept liking me and taking it. Not that they lasted very long either. Well they kinda started get boring and wossy in my eyes after a while."
"I see..."
"Yeah, but hey i'll tell you what, if you really feel that you're different and that i'm somehow so special that you just can't help yourself. Well here's my number, maybe if we just stick it out through the boring face it'll get good."
She had scribbled her number on a coaster and when she placed it in his hand she looked at him with her spry eyes and told him she had to get back to her friends now.
She gave him one last great smile over her shoulder when she walked away.
Then she jumped right into some captivating discussion about something.
.
He remembered her big eyes filled with energy and her great smile.
And so he called her the next day.
There was just something about her.