She sat in the dimly lit bar and noticed the male to female ratio was extremely off. There were about three males to every female. She was too new to this city to know if this was the norm. Perhaps her sex just didn't frequent bars. Maybe they were just all married and happy with babies and didn't need to drink. She actually laughed out loud at that thought. As far as she was concerned, everyone needed to drink. 

She scanned the room with sober eyes, as she had just ordered her second drink, and wondered what it would be like to sleep with them.  They were all so new and foreign to her. This was an idea she would only entertain in her own mind, though.  She was far too new to actually act on her thoughts and gain that reputation. 

"You're drinking fast tonight." The bartender noted while sliding her another gin and tonic. She was. She hadn't noticed.

"I'm just seein' if you can keep up, darlin'." She annunciated with an accent much stronger than her own. She learned quickly that in the north southern accents get you a lot farther faster. Guys suddenly find you cuter, more adorable, and slightly less intelligent.  All of these characteristics work in your benefit all the time.

The bartender pointed a finger at her and grinned as she stepped back as if to say, "oh, you." She pointed a finger back turning her finger into a gun using her thumb as a trigger, and when he turned around, she bent her thumb, silently adding sound effects. She could have him if she wanted him. He was attractive enough and obviously had fallen for her southern charm, but she reminded herself that wasn't who she was going to be.

She fought the urge to grab a random guy and push him up against a wall as she made her way to the restroom. Standing up, she realized she was much more drunk than she had felt only minutes ago. She stood in front of the tiny sink with the tiny mirror and studied her reflection. She had features that made her beautiful, but all she ever wanted was to be considered cute. Some girls can get away with both, but her features were too strong. Her high sculpted cheekbones and the bold color of her green eyes made too big a deal of themselves. She was annoyed when other girls admired her appearance. They stared at her with envy and even told her on some occasions and all she could think was how lucky they were. They were able to cultivate personalities and when they were asked for their number, it was because the guy was interested in them, not their face.  You see, beautiful girls didn't have to be interesting and funny, they just had to show up. And being beautiful was nothing she decided on, it just happened upon her. She couldn't control it and since she couldn't control it, she used it to her full advantage. She got off on the power she had over guys. No one likes to hear which books the pretty girl surrounded by all the boys at the party has read or what she thinks about them, they just want other people to see that they are around her. It makes them feel better about themselves. And the average girls, they don't want to know that you're exceptionally good looking as well as smart and witty. They need something to set them apart, so you let them have that one. Besides, it was nothing you could help anyway.

When she returned to her seat, there was someone sitting in it. He had a hoodie on with the hood up and was holding a cigarette. His back was turned to her, so she boldly tapped his shoulder.  He stopped laughing with the bartender, whose name she figured she should get soon, and slowly turned on the stool. When he saw her, her grinned. This was everyone's fantasy while at a bar, what keeps then coming to bars. The hope that an overly attractive stranger will tap them on the shoulder and say something completely mind blowing. 

He removed his hood with both hands revealing a a slightly grown out clipper cut underneath and leaned back. One arm on the bar, the other holding his cigarette. The bartender shook his head and patted the man on the shoulder as if to wish him good luck before walking away.

"Do you want to buy me a drink?" The man asked. The tone of his voice implied that he thought himself clever and was proud of it. He had the attitude of someone who knew how attractive he was. And he was very attractive. But she was more so and there was no denying that. 

"No, I just need to pay my tab." He narrowed his eyes at her as if he didn't expect her to give up so easily.  To be honest, neither did she. The past two months had really done a number on her and she was trying to stray away from everything she had always been. 

As she squeezed between his barstool and the next one she could feel his judgement burning two eye shaped holes into the back of her skull. The pretty girl pretending there's more to her than just a great face and a perfect body. Even she had to laugh at it. It was ridiculous.

The bartender waved her off when she tried to pay. Her money wasn't welcome here. She was used to that. She actually figured that.  At this point in her life, pulling her wallet out was only a purposeful tactic in courtesy and naivety. She went through the usual tired speech, trying to hand him money regardless, the "oh no, I insist's", the "well, at least let me give you something's", then finally the giving in with a promise not to accept this treatment next time. All complete with a southern accent that was only half a lie. 

When she turns to leave, she is facing the man who took her seat. He had turned in his stool so that she was now trapped between his knees. He didn't say anything, just stared as if he were trying to figure her out. She wanted to tell him to give up, quit wasting his time, that there was really nothing else, but these were things she couldn't say. No one likes to hear a pretty girl feel sorry for herself. It was sickening and reserved for scoffing. And scoffing, she fully believed, was a noise to be made only when one was on the verge of vomiting. Plus, the bar music was just too damn loud.

She didn't break the stare contest even when she gently grabbed his ankle from the foot rest of the stool and removed it, clearing a path for herself. With his weight shifted, his other knee fell into her backside pushing her slightly forward to leave his vicinity. He was warm and close enough to breathe in her face, but his breaths were shallow and calculated.

He leaned towards her, eventually reaching past her, to grab his beer from the bar. As he did so, he whispered a very cliche' 'I'll see you around' in her ear. A move that had no doubt worked on countless women before her and will no doubt work on just as many after her. She laughed inwardly because it was just so uninspired and unoriginal. And well, because she was just simply too beautiful to fall for a move so common. She wasn't being arrogant when she thought this, just truthful. He leaned back in his chair with the smirk that just never seemed to disappear.

She thought about how a year ago, she would have take this bait. She would have flirted back, challenged him, and beat him at this game. She would have went home with him, had sex with him, and after he had fallen asleep, snuck out on him. She would have spilled out into the street looking even beautiful as before and had a good laugh. But this wasn't a year ago. This was now and now was different.

She leaned forward and invaded his space, just as he had done moments before. "Dear God, I just hope so." She whispered sarcastically sweet, drawing her 'I' worthy of an 1800's plantation owner. She wriggled her purse free from the chair, tossed it over her shoulder and walked away. She didn't even look back to see his facial expression. 

He was laughing at her, in his own head of course. It was more polite that way. He was arrogant enough to know that she just wanted to be taken seriously. She was absolutely fucking gorgeous, no one could deny that, but was most likely stupid as all hell. She was probably tired of guys only wanting her around as a trophy, so she decided to quit sleeping around. He had used his most charming smiles and lines on her and she had turned him down, but he knew he'd see her again. He wasn't worried about it. After all, she was a girl who was tired of boys only wanting to sleep with her and she came to a bar alone at night.

He ordered another Newcastle from his friend the bartender as he scanned the room. If he took the time to be self-aware and put it into words, he could admit that he always had one eye open for females. He had a girlfriend waiting on him at home and he had absolutely no complaints about her, but he still kept on the lookout. It made him feel good that he could have any girl he wanted in just one conversation. He was never going to act on it, Sure, he got numbers and sent text messages, but it was all just an ego thing. He would always go home to her.

"You don't get that one." Brody said from behind the bar.

"Aw, man," Justin laughed "trust me dude, 'that one' isn't worth it."

"What?! You knew her for three minutes. How can you judge that? Plus, I mean, did you see her? Damn." Brody had been bartending at The Lobby for a year now and he was quite certain she was the most attractive person to ever walk in and out of there.

"Exactly. Girls who look like that don't have souls, man. Let it go." Justin was used to giving Brody advice about women. It's usually the other way around with the bartender giving it's patrons tidbits of wisdom here and there, but Brody was just so damn naive. Justin felt it was his duty to step in. 

"Oh, right. Like you were going to let it go."

Before Justin could reply, Brody was already at the end of the bar taking a drink order from some blonde girls. Brody was right, though. Justin had noticed the girl at the bar for an hour before she had got up to use the restroom.  He took that chance to steal her seat at the bar and talk to Brody. He was an excellent multitasker, so while half of his head was in the sports related conversation with his friend, the other half was how he was going to make this girl fall to her knees when she got back. You see, things like these were really just challenges for him. The prettier the girl, the more the challenge. And this girl, well, she was the prettiest Justin had seen in a very long time. Sitting at the bar he had a flash of his girlfriend, Kennedy, and how she wouldn't appreciate him acting like this, but he just pushed it out of his head. He loved her and he would never actually cheat on her. This was just fun and she couldn't understand that.

When he felt a tap on his shoulder, he knew it was game time. He shot a cocky wink at Brody and spun around slowly. Justin said the line that he had rehearsed in his head and on many girls before her. She didn't try to take her seat back, just mentioned something about paying her tab. His eyes went from lazy and carefree to concerned and confused in a second. As she squeezed between him and the man to his left, he reasoned that she was only playing hard to get because she thought she was on another level. All night long he had watched as guys talked about her, smiled at her, and even went as far as trying to subtly point at her, but none had the courage to actually stand up and talk to her. Since the moment Justin took her seat he was aware that every dude in the room was watching the exchange. Even if he was turned down, he was still going to get high fives from every male, and some females, in this place for having the audacity to try. But Justin didn't get turned down.

He paid close attention to the exchange between she and Brody. He made sure Brody saw him dramatically roll his eyes. Girls like her never had to pay for shit, though he had to admit she did a good job or acting surprised by the free drinks. It was then that he really took notice of her southern accent. It made her sound inarticulate and he licked his lips as he knew he had this one in the bag.

When she turn around from not paying, he had managed to turn his stool in such a way that she was caught between his legs. He said nothing, only stared at her. The misperception is that liars can't look you in the eyes. That's total bullshit as far as Justin was concerned. He would much rather look at her toned legs, but her knew that looking into her eyes was what was going to work. He closed the already small space between them by leaning forward and grabbing his beer off the table. He whispered a very tired and dramatic, "I'll see you around" before retiring back to his seat. He smirked at the thought of a soon to come victory as he allowed his left leg to rest against the back of her jean covered thighs.

She leaned in, just as he had done only moments before, and whispered, "Dear God, I just hope so" before walking away and not looking back. Oh yea, he thought, this girl was stupid as hell.

So he didn't have a victory last night, but it didn't really matter. 

Okay, it did matter. 

It really irked him.

 It shouldn't matter. He went home, made love to his wonderful girlfriend, and woke up with her in his arms. That's what should matter. And it does matter, it really does. It's just that, well, is he losing it? His charm, his mojo, his whatever? If he can't make the moronic but beautiful model type fall for his easiest lines, then what does that mean? Especially when he is the only dude in the bar on her level of attractiveness, and let's face it, that's all bitches like her care about, and she's been drinking, and he still can't land her? Something is wrong. It really punctured his ego.

It was all so textbook on his part. Simple high school level psychology. So much so that it's embarrassing. He has a girlfriend, and while she's not beautiful by everyone's standards, she is unquestionably attractive and she loves him. And he loves her, but he is never satisfied. His own ego is so insatiable that he needs attention from every female in any given room. Instead of being whiney about it, he hones it as a skill and uses his looks to his advantage to get the attention he craves. He does this knowing it's an undesirable character trait, so as to not get caught he act like a cocky asshole. Guys envy him for his game and girls are all not so secretly in love with him.

He does all of this thinking that he is somehow better than the gorgeous girl in the corner of the bar who uses her looks to get free drinks.

How embarrassing. 

Even though she had only been in town for two weeks, she already had a neighborhood bar.  And since she arrived earlier than most normal bar patrons, she already had claim over a stool at her neighborhood bar. So every day she came in and sat, and drank, and watched, and listened. She had no plan for any sort of future and honestly had no clue what she was doing, but she honestly didn't care. She was content with sitting, and drinking, and watching, and listening. 

Tonight was also a more heavily male populated night, so she had picked a seat at the very end of the bar which was poorly lit even for bar standards.  She figured this would either get her left alone or raped. She was going to take her chances on either one, apparently.  Tonight was a two-for-one night which meant the bar was about half an hour from being ridiculously busy with dudes looking for a one night stand and girls who say they're looking for a one night stand but who are really looking for some sort of meaningful connection. She didn't yet own a TV so this was her entertainment for the night. 

If she was being honest with herself, she would say that she was avoiding the issue at hand. However, to be fair, who leaves everything they know and love to move across the country alone if they aren't avoiding an issue or two. Besides, in her experience, issues only haunt you at night and if you drink fast enough you just might be able to keep them at bay until you fall asleep. Of course they catch up to you in your dreams, but there's really nothing she could do about that. 

Being in this bar at the busiest time of day only served to remind her that she was completely alone in this city. Maybe the world for all she knew. She wasn't taking calls at this point in time. 

She outwardly groaned as she felt the warm tears begin to brim her eyes. She blinked them away quickly. She was too pretty to cry. Plus, crying in a bar is ridiculously tacky. It only makes you better able to be compared to a country song and she had just left the south. She caught the bartender's eye and silently ordered another glass of wine. You're never too pretty to drink. 

"A few more of these and you're going to have to make me cut you off soon." Brody laughed as he handed her the glass of red wine.

"Now why would you go and do something' like that?" 

"Well, I'd hate to see you get taken advantage of. There's a lot of men in here with unpure thoughts. Especially with someone as beautiful as you."

"Well, I sure hope you're keepin' a good eye on me to make sure that doesn't happen." She blushed and looked down to seem flattered by his very awkward attempt at flirting with her. 

"You got it." He smiled as he walked away to take care of someone else's drink order. She rolled her eyes as she realized she had just made his night. Instead of getting a job in this city, maybe she could just start her own company. She could just flirt with different men all day to boost their confidence and charge them a ton for it. After all, she had been doing it all night for free. 

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a plain looking brunette staring her down. There was a man in front of her with his head down who had probably just been reprimanded for checking Charley out inappropriately. Charley felt the corners of her lips turn upwards as she winked at the girl. They then turned all the way up and formed a laugh when she saw the girl huff and drag her man out of the bar completely. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for the bartender to cut her off soon. She was having too much fun being this drunk. 

Justin noticed her as soon as she walked in. He wasn't the only one, so did every other guy in the place. They were all eyeing each other as if they were all competition. Justin knew they weren't. At least not to him, anyway. He was on a whole other level. Probably the same level she was. At least in the looks department. She was probably mentally dumber than a box of rocks and about as emotionally unstable. Girls who looked like her were. It was just a fact. 

Just walked to the end of the bar casually and confidently. He motioned to his friend Brody, the bartender, for another round. He pointed at the model and said, "It's on her."

Charley broke her attention away from the couple fighting in the corner to hear this. She locked eyes on the handsome, tall man from last night and with her best faux southern accept drawled, "Is that so?"

"It's so. You were rude to me last night. I figured you wanted to apologize." He shrugged. 

Brody stood behind the bar not knowing if he should help out Justin or Charley. His eyes went between the two. He never knew Justin to not get his way. This wasn't the first time he had managed to get a broad to pay for his drink and convince her it was her idea. Then again, this broad in particular looked and acted as if Justin wasn't the first man she had turned down in her short life. This was going to be interesting. 

Charley had just enough drinks in her to be playful. It was so difficult and boring being so uptight and guarded all the time. She had made a few mistakes back home that had led her here, to this bar and this city, but she was vowing not to repeat them. She had taken an oath. Maybe it wasn't on the Bible or anything, but it was at least on her favorite pair of shoes. Wasn't that meaningful enough? Besides, with a boy like the one in front of her, well, all they needed was a little bit of attention in order to shut them up. Maybe his girlfriend had just left him so he was replenishing his ego by trying to land the most attractive girl in the bar. Or maybe he was a commitment phobe and avoided relationships by trying to sleep with everyone who had tits. Either way, she had been through this exact scenario enough times to know exactly how to play this game. 

Charley gave Brody the okay to put the drinks on her tab. It wasn't like she was actually going to have to pay for it anyway. "Oh, I did feel bad about it, darlin'. I lost sleep over it." Remembering to play up her best southern accent, she uncrossed and recrossed her legs. Besides her face, her legs were her best feature and she wanted his attention on them.

Justin licked his lips as he averted his attention to her tan legs. This girl really was dumb as shit. He was going to enjoy this, "Oh no, You're having trouble sleeping?" He gave her is best flirtatious grin as he leaned on the bar towards her, "Would you like some help with that?"

"No," She said quickly and she leaned forward to match his stance, "but I've got something else you could help me with."

Justin's eyes widened at the comment before he remembered the character he was playing. He had her exactly where he wanted her. She was already offering sex. If he were anyone else, he would've thought that was too easy, but he was Justin Timberlake. He was a master at this game.

Before Justin could come up with his rebuttal, someone drunkenly came from behind and slapped him on the back. Shocked, both Charley and Justin jumped in their seats a bit. Justin recognized the attacker as his girlfriend's brother and quickly made an attempt to change his body language. This was only a fun game to play if his girlfriend never found out. He turned his back to Charley to cut her out completely. He was a fan of concealing all evidence.

"Justin, How've you been man? Haven't seen you in a while." Cooper announced.

"Oh, I've been around." Justin laughed nervously using his broad shoulders to block out Charley from Cooper's view. Suddenly, he felt extremely guilty and was trying to swallow it down.

"Good to know. Tell Ken I said hey."

"Will do, man." Justin shifted uncomfortably. He knew Charley was a small girl, but at this point in time he felt her presence as if she were an elephant.

"Dude, please tell me you saw the hot girl behind you." Copper whistled, "Damn, that should be illegal."

Justin turned around and sure enough Charley had disappeared. He made a half-assed attempt to search for her in the crowded bar before saying, "Naw, man. I must've missed her."