How to Meet Someone in the City: a story in 60 seconds

Do you dare to date?

Bodies swerved. A strobe flashed hot white. Mounted lights cast the dance floor in a pink mist. The sound system boomed.

A girl turned to her friend. “My feet hurt. Can we sit?”

The friend shouted back above the music. “What?”  

“I want to sit down!” she called out again as they continued to dance. “My feet…they’re getting blisters…”

Her friend frowned. “But we have such a great spot.”

A guy wiggled through the crowd up next to them. He glanced down and smiled. Neither girl acknowledged him. He stepped closer and bumped into one of the girls with his thigh.

The girl cast her friend a pleading look. She sighed and rolled her eyes before ushering them from the dance floor toward a small seating area near the bar. The guy watched as they left.

“Can we go home?”  

“I thought you wanted to meet someone tonight,” the friend answered.

“I did, but it’s too dark to see, and too loud to hear, and everyone’s too drunk to talk.”

Another guy walked over to where they were sitting.

“Can I buy you guys a drink?” he slurred.

The friend flashed a smile and stood up. “Sure. I’ll have a vodka soda.”

The girl watched in disbelief as her friend walked with the new guy over to the bar. She immediately took out her phone and texted that she was grabbing a cab…

The bouncer nodded at her as she left the club. Halfway down the block was a food truck selling hot dogs. She limped over to it, careful not to irritate the blister on her heel. A moment later, a guy got in line behind her.

“Nothing washes down a shitty night like a hot dog,” he said with a goofy grin.  

“My night wasn’t shitty,” she muttered back.

“Fair enough,” he said. “Want to see a movie with me tomorrow?”

She blushed. “That’s very forward of you, but is a movie really the ideal first date spot?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Dark, loud, and we don’t have to speak to each other…what’s better than that?”