Author's Note: Thanks to tip from SouthernCross, I've edited this to remove some bothersome errors.
"Come on, man. You owe me one."
"Exactly how do I owe you one?"
Carlos rolled his eyes. "I did it for you, remember? That redhead at Hot Tamamma's you wanted to see if you could score with?"
"That was, like, six months ago," Rob protested. "And she shut me down cold almost as soon as I opened my mouth."
"Sure, but that's not the point," Carlos said. "I was your wingman on that one, I covered as you went in. So now it's your turn to do it for me."
Rob looked over at the table that held the object of his friend's desire. She was Carlos' type, all right. Dyed blonde, a bit heavy on the cosmetics, lips so puffy that it looked like she was having an allergic reaction to her drink, a blouse that she was almost falling out of. Not a woman Rob would pick to make a pass at, though he wouldn't kick her out of bed either. But of course Carlos wasn't asking him to have anything to do with her, he wanted help distracting his target's one-girl entourage. And that was the problem.
Hot girl's backup was a porker.
Not grotesquely obese or anything like that. She wasn't bulging our of her clothes, a leather skirt and off-the-shoulder knit that Rob probably would have thought looked sexy if it were on a smaller girl. Same with the shortish dark red hairstyle, Rob was into that kind of cut on a woman and he enjoyed bold dye jobs. But there was no getting past the fact that under the cute hair and outfit was a body that was several inches shorter than Rob's and yet must outweigh him by fifty-plus pounds.
"No way," Rob said.
Carlos waved his hands in frustration. "I'm not asking you to get in bed with her, man! You just need to talk to her, maybe dance with her once. How can that be so bad?"
"Would you?"
"If I was your wingman on this, yes," Carlos said. "Are you my friend or not?"
Rob sighed. "Hold up, I need another drink."
Fortunately it was Friday and didn't matter if he went over his usual limit tonight. Rob slugged down the Scotch and soda he'd been sipping and headed for the bar, Carlos following and giving a running commentary on how this was a waste of valuable time, it was vital to strike while the iron was ripe and before the fish got off the pot.
Unfortunately service at the bar was fast for a change. Rob had been half-hoping that by the time he got his drink hot girl and fat girl would have left or met their boyfriends or something. No such luck. With Carlos leading the way they headed over to the table.
"Well, hello, ladies," Carlos began. "I hope you don't mind me saying you're looking very fine tonight, which puzzles me."
"Puzzles you?" hot girl asked.
"That beautiful women such as yourselves would not already have attracted admirers. Clearly something is wrong here, so I have decided to make it right," Carlos said. "My name is Carlos, and this piece of work is my friend Rob."
"Hey," Rob contributed, trying to act pleased.
Hot girl turned out to be named Crystal (figures, Rob thought), while friend was Sara. Carlos continued his approach, talking both of them into seats at the table. Rob didn't think the patter was all that special, but Carlos was smooth and some women did seem to find him amusing so who was Rob to criticize? Rob did his part, throwing in comments when appropriate, laughing at Carlos' jokes, and of course directly addressing Sara whenever possible. If Rob was going to have to do this he supposed he ought to do a good job for Carlos' sake.
Sure enough, after a bit Carlos escorted Crystal off to the dance floor, the latter giggling and smirking. Rob suppressed another sigh.
He noticed both his and Sara's glasses were nearly empty. Going to the bar would be a great way of using up some time. "Umm, you want a refill? I'm buying."
She shrugged. "I guess. What are you drinking?"
"Scotch and soda."
"Waste of good Scotch." Sara's eyes twinkled as she said it so he knew she wasn't totally serious.
"Maybe, but who says this place has any good Scotch?" Rob parried.
"They've got Bowmore 12, it's a decent Islay," she said.
"You drink single malts?" Rob was surprised. He'd pegged her as a flavored vodka type.
"Hell yeah. Who wants to drink something that tastes like hard candy?"
Rob shook his head and chuckled. Guess that showed him for judging a book by the cover. "Two shots of Bowmore, coming up."
"No, I can't let you do that," Sara protested. "They're going to super overcharge you in this place. At least let me buy my own."
"No, no, I insist," Rob said. He figured it would partially make up for the fact he was shining her on.
"Well then, I'm getting the next round, and don't argue."
"You got it."
The bar was crowded and this time it took the usual eternity to get the drinks. Rob followed his standard impulse in this situation and automatically doubled the order so that he wouldn't have to return so often. Then the bartender announced the tab and Rob winced, realizing that he didn't usually double-order the good stuff.
He returned to the table carrying four glasses. Sara looked up from her phone and lifted an eyebrow. "Your friend a Scotch guy too? Because I can tell you that Crystal isn't."
"Uh, no, I just figured we'd go two at once. Bar was hella busy."
She smiled. "In that case I definitely owe you half. What's the damage?"
Rob thought about taking her up on the offer. After all, it wasn't as if he was actually trying to impress her. But it simply felt too sleazy. "Nah, don't worry about it."
"Well if you're trying to get me drunk I have to warn you, it's not this easy."
Her eyes twinkled again and Rob grinned in response. "I assure you I'm a total gentleman, my lady." Easy thing to promise in this situation, he added to himself.
Each took a first swig of the smoky whiskey and by chance they sighed with pleasure at the same time. The timing made them look at each other and break out laughing.
Rob liked the fact that she didn't giggle or "tee-hee" like a lot of girls. Sara had a nice, full laugh that showed she was truly amused and not just putting on an act.
They talked as they drank. Even though they'd never met before Sara turned out to be pursuing a grad degree in public administration at the same university where Rob was doing comp sci. They traded anecdotes about professors and student life which kept them going into the second glass of Scotch, but at that point Rob ran out of things to say.
"Uh, I guess Carlos and Crystal are still dancing," he said to fill the pause.
Sara gave him a look. "It is a club, after all."
At this point Rob knew he should ask her to dance. He didn't. "Uh, yeah. So, see any good movies lately?"
"Not really. I don't enjoy most Hollywood stuff these days, it's all CGI and explosions and CGI explosions," she said. "Not to diss your field if that's what you're studying, I mean I think good VFX are really important but too many directors these days seem to think they're the only thing that's important."
"So you like romantic comedies?" he guessed.
She rolled her eyes. "I like good movies. Most rom-coms aren't, though I'll admit there are exceptions. No, I don't mind action, I just want a good script and plot and acting and that sort of thing to go with it. Like, um, Fury Road?"
"I loved that one!" Rob said. "Yeah, I have to agree. It's true there are a lot of film-makers out there that think if they can grab your eyeballs they don't have to worry about your brain."
"Or your heart," Sara added. "If you don't care about the characters you're not going to care how big the fireball that's engulfing them is."
"Damn, I like this one!" Rob thought. "I just wish there wasn't so much of her to like." As he had several drinks in him his own mental wordplay made Rob snort.
"What's funny?"
"Uh, well, there's this joke I like to tell people, but it's kind of stupid," Rob improvised.
"Well now you have to tell me, silly."
Rob started the shaggy-dog story about the identical twin successor hunchbacks of Notre Dame. Sara groaned at the first punchline, then groaned and mock-hit him on the second.