one night stand.

It's a little after eleven o'clock, and already this place is completely packed. It's standing room only. It might be a crappy, hole-in-the-wall dive bar, but I can't deny its popularity. Although, I suspect that has a lot to do with the cheap beer. Since it's not even half a mile away from Barnett University, and most of these people look young, my guess is that a lot of college kids have taken up residence here. I'm just thankful that Noah was able to reserve a round, high-top table for the three of us to park ourselves at. The lights are low, drunken voices pushing in from all sides, and the music-well, it's even louder than these students cutting loose on a Saturday night. The pulsing beat practically reverberates off the walls. Even though this isn't my usual style of music or venue, my gaze is glued to the four guys performing on stage. "I had no idea that your brother was so hot!" Harper's gaze never deviates from him. "It must be the whole musician vibe he's got going on." Um, hello...no sister wants to hear that one of her friends is panting after her baby brother. I scrunch my nose. "Ewwww! You can't go around saying things like that. It's just not right." In typical Harper fashion she grins, not taking my words seriously. "Sorry, hon. But it's the truth. He is definitely looking good up there." Then she points to the horde of overzealous females who are crowded around the band, looking as if they might rush the stage before the performance is over. "And I'm obviously not the only one who thinks so either." A smirk slides its way across her pretty face. "My guess is that little Noah Monroe is going to get laid tonight. Perhaps by more than one girl." As soon as those words are released into the atmosphere, I clap my hands over my ears before shaking my head. "That's not a mental image I want or need. So, thanks for that." Sophie and Harper exchange knowing grins. My brother belts out another lyric, his voice soaring over the guitars and drums. The acoustics may be total crap in here, but he still sounds ridiculously amazing. Another silence falls over the three of us as our attention gets sucked back into the music. "Hey ladies, can I buy you a drink?" Ugh. Not another one. Seriously...where do these guys keep coming from? There is absolutely nothing about the three of us that screams-trolling for dudes! Buy us a drink! We're looking to get laid! Come hit on us! Easy targets right this way! And yet, they keep ambling over. One right after another. They're a persistent bunch-I'll give them that. Why do I keep forgetting this is a crappy bar with drunken college guys who are very obviously looking to get laid? Even if I hadn't recently extracted myself from a three-year relationship, I still wouldn't be interested in hooking up with a twenty-one or twenty-two-year-old. I'm strictly here to watch Noah perform. Before I'm able to cut the guy off and send him packing, like I've done four times previously, Harper gives him a quick once over before smiling prettily. Uh-oh. I know that look. "Of course, you can," still smiling, her eyes turn into chips of green ice, "but understand that there's absolutely no obligation on our parts to do anything more than thank you politely for your generosity." She bats her eyelashes as if to soften the blow of her words. The guy is momentarily surprised before an easy grin spreads its way across his handsome face. And yeah, he's definitely a cutie. But come on, he's much too young! He so boyishly adorable that I'm half tempted to reach over and pinch his cheeks with my fingers. "You got it, sweetheart." He flags down a harassed looking waitress before whispering something in her ear and turning back to us. "This round is on me." He sends Harper a sly look and leans a bit closer to her. "Feel free to thank me once you're done enjoying your beverage." And then he's gone. Harper's lips tremble as she watches him disappear through the thick crowd back to wherever he came from. When the three of us remain silent, the waitress slants a dark, uninterested brow our way. "You gonna order something or what?" Normally, when the three of us head out for a girls night, it isn't to some low-rent college bar where the clientele barely looks to be the legal drinking age. We head downtown to the more upscale bars and clubs that line the main drag. And we stick to chardonnay and cosmos. But here, my guess is that they don't have a good house chardonnay or make specialty martinis. Everyone seems to be drinking bottles or mugs of pale looking beer. Well...when in Rome, right? We order three bottles of import and go back to watching the final set. When there's about a fourth of her beer remaining, Harper rises to her feet. "As this groups' self-appointed ambassador, I shall graciously take it upon myself to thank Mr. tall, dark, and handsome for buying us our drinks." I give her a look rife with meaning. "Be careful how you thank him, Harp. For all you know, he's not even twenty-one." I'm not saying that I saw peach fuzz but... A wicked gleam fills her sparkling green eyes. "Oh, don't worry. I'm planning to do a little recon before I decide how best to express my gratitude." With that said, she shoves her way through the rowdy crowd. Sophie and I lock gazes from across the table before bursting into laughter. "I wonder if we'll see her again." I almost wince. "Please, these guys are like babies." They're so damn young. Sophie makes a point of glancing around before her gaze settles on mine. "Yeah," she drawls, "most of them don't look like babies. Like at all." Silently, I have to agree with her assessment. These guys may be young, but some of them are built. Not to mention ripped. I can't say that I haven't enjoyed the eye candy tonight. But it's definitely been from afar. I can imagine the headlines now-Nearly thirty-year-old elementary school teacher takes advantage of barely-out-of-high-school boy. No, thank you. Sophie, Harper, and I all work at North Hill Elementary School. Sometimes it's hard to believe that this is my eighth-year teaching second grade. I was fortunate enough to snag a job in this district straight out of college. And since I love where I'm at, I've never considered looking for a different position. Since the three of us are around the same age, we naturally banded together, forming a tight trio. We eat lunch together and hang out quite a bit outside of school. Especially now that Tyler and I are no longer together. Even though I hate to leave Sophie alone at the table-because I can practically see the sharks circling as we speak-I yell over the music, "I'm going to run to the bathroom. I'll be back in a few minutes." With a wide smile, she waves me away before glancing around. "Don't worry, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." "I never said you couldn't." As I'm about to turn away, I spin back around before adding, "Remember-these guys are like the kiosk salespeople at the mall, avoid eye contact at all costs." She gives me a cheeky grin. "You worry too much, just go. I'll be perfectly fine on my own." With one last nod, I push my way toward the bathroom, which is located at the far end of the bar. The crowd is packed in tight, and it takes a good five minutes to navigate my way to the restrooms. Once there, I'm horrified by what I find. Has anyone ever cleaned this place before? I press my fingers against my nose before inhaling another breath. The smell is enough to knock me on my ass. I'm not going to lie-I do a little self-check and consider not using the facilities. Unfortunately, there's no way I can hold it for another hour or so. The two drinks I've consumed have run right through me. Attempting to touch as little as possible, I squat over the toilet seat. Once I make it to the sink, I practically scrub the fingerprints off my hands before using a ripped off sheet of paper towel to open the door handle. Once out of the bathroom, I inhale and fill my lungs with fresh-no, wait. It's definitely not fresh air, but it's a lot better than what was inside that biohazard of a ladies room. I'm halfway to the table when someone slides in front of me, blocking my path. Since this place is packed to the gills, I don't think too much about it before attempting to step around him so I can make my way back to Sophie. Hopefully, Harper has returned to the table. She's only twenty-six, which isn't that much older than some of these college students, but I can't see her going home with someone that young. Her last boyfriend was forty. And a stuffy lawyer, to boot. The guy quickly sidles in the same direction, which means I find myself blocked yet again. This time, I glance at him. That's when I notice the smirk plastered across his face. It occurs to me that this little dance we're doing is intentional. As our gazes collide, he offers me a roguish smile. One that's meant to charm. It falls short by a mile. "Hey there, beautiful."