He looks pretty well-off. Seems to be wearing expensive clothes. And he is quite well-groomed. He might just be of use to me. She thought to herself, while staring Alexander down.
“I think we might be.” she finally said after a few seconds of silence. Turning to her friend, she continued, smiling kindly:
“Would you mind if we caught up tomorrow?”
Her acquaintance threw them both a meaningful look, then winked at Stephanie, kissed her on the forehead, grabbed her purse, and left the two alone. After just a moment, Alexander was asked:
“So, contender, what are your intentions?”
He smiled awkwardly, taken aback by her frank approach. “Well, firstly, I’d like to get to know you better. You seem like an interesting person.”
“I see.” she replied coldly, almost as if uninterested. “You know,” she continued, tapping one of her long, dark manicured nails on her almost-empty glass, “you can start by offering me that drink you were so surprised no one offered me before. I’m thirsty.” she concluded.
Alexander was head over heels with her attitude and unbreaking eye contact, constantly measuring and, in a way, devouring him even. He had never received this kind of attention before. Not like this. He didn’t waste a second notifying the bartender and not long-after he had their drinks.
“What’s your name, admirer?” she asked him blatantly.
He couldn’t help but notice how she chose her words in a way that leveraged her position. He didn’t mind it, as he was curious to where it would all lead.
“Alexander, oh, my Princess!” he replied, bowing down in a jesterly manner, which made Stephanie chuckle.
Ha! I made her laugh! Good going, Alex! he thought to himself.
She quickly regained her composure and pushed her hand in front of his face, saying:
“Princess Stephanie.”
He picked up on her hint, took her hand, and kissed the back of it.
“Be blessed by my presence.” she continued, making him laugh in turn.
The rest of the time they spent at the bar went on pretty naturally, with the two of them getting along better than either would have expected. Every now and then, she would make remarks or comments that somehow placed him beneath her, and every time he would play along. It was a childish but enjoyable game for both of them.
Once they got drunk enough to loosen up and hint their way towards leaving the place, he tried convincing her to go to her place since he didn’t want to reveal anything about himself just yet. The less she knew about his status, the better.
“Pfsh, what do you mean go back to MY PLACE?” she said, almost yelling the last two words, without any regard for what those around them might hear or think. “I barely met you, I’m not going to let just any stranger know where I live. Why can’t we go to your place?” she asked inquisitively.
He had to come up with something.
“To be honest, I had a fire last week, so I am living with a friend until I get the insurance money for the apartment.” he told her, faking shame regarding his situation.
“Mhm” she replied, squinting her eyes at him. “Yeah, I don’t know what to think about that.”
He looked at her disappointed, almost in disbelief.
“Listen, listen, listen. I like you. You’re a nice guy. You kissed my hand and all.” she said, almost laughing. “Tell you what, there is a way we can actually do this. If I am going to bring a stranger into my apartment, I need to be absolutely sure that nothing bad will happen to me, do you understand?” she asked, pausing, waiting for his confirmation.