Spin the Bottle (Friday Night, Part I)

It all began as a typical night out with the ladies. There were five of us: Pretty Polly, Sarah, Pixie, and Willow. Girls plus drinks plus chatter. So far so good.

Polly and I have been reading more and more about PUAs, so we were up for doing some sarging (the term for going out and picking people up). The thing is, as women, we can't actually be the aggressors. It's more about placement, attitude, and dropping a comment or smile when the time is right. It's more subtle and less work, though not without its drawbacks. Since you don't always have a choice about who hits on you, you need to weed out the riff-raff (and lord, was there a lot of riff-raff last night).

There were plenty of guys at the lower east side bar we started out in, but not many I found attractive... Until a whole pack showed up. There was one in particular who caught my eye. We'll call him Shirt-Over-Shirt, or SOS. He was very cute, but wearing a t-shirt over a long sleeved shirt (hi, SOS? The 90's called. They wanted to remind you that grunge is over). Bad fashion choices be damned, SOS was still hot. I smiled at him as I was walking back to my table of friends. He didn't smile back, but I saw a glint of interest. I positioned myself so that he could see me, and Pixie and Sarah watched him and told me when he was looking over. Every couple of minutes I'd look his way and smile again.

SOS finally came over and sat down in the empty chair next to me as if invited (which, in a way, he was; good job picking up my non-verbal signals!). It quickly became apparent that he was very drunk. Possibly too drunk for me to kiss him, but I hadn't made up my mind yet. What SOS did have going for him besides his baby blues was the group of attractive guys he came with. We asked him to bring his friends over. There was Really Tall Guy, Medium Tall Guy, Paisley Shirt, Asshole Birthday Boy, and Short Guy (there was also Bitchy Girl 1 and Bitchy Girl 2, but they don't play a big role).

We ended up sitting with SOS, Really Tall Guy, Paisley Shirt, and Short Guy.

I think it started with SOS playing with an empty beer bottle. Somebody made a joke about spin the bottle and I quickly said,

"Let's play!"

It took some organizing to get eight people (Willow didn't play) in various states of tipsiness and conversation to pay attention but finally we were all in the game. There was the question of what kind of kiss it had to be; I shrugged and said, "just go with it."

I spun first and landed on SOS (who, by this point, was hitting on Polly, which didn't bother me in the least, especially since I was flirting with Really Tall Guy). He was an okay kisser. A little while later Paisley Shirt's spin landed on me. We stood and leaned over the table to kiss and it was so good, it turned into a mini make-out session.

This is when Bitchy Girl 1 swooped in, saw what was going on, and called over Bitchy Girl 2.

It was my turn to spin and I landed on PS again. We made out some more and when we sat down, Bitchy Girl 2 came over and told PS she needed to talk to him. He said they could talk later. Polly and I asked BG2 if she wanted to play and she said, "yeah, you wish I'd play." And she gave us the finger! Ooh, somebody forgot to take her Midol!

I asked Really Tall Guy if PS had a girlfriend and he said no. So I'll never know what her problem was (jealousy?) and luckily I don't care.

I ended up kissing everyone at the table except for Really Tall Guy (darn). Polly, in a stroke of bad luck, didn't kiss anyone.

After the game, RTG was flirting with both of us, which didn't bother me, but creeped Polly out (which I could understand... though I could also understand how a guy would entertain threesome ideas with the two of us). She wanted to go to another bar, so I agreed, asking permission if I could kiss RTG first. She gave me the green light.

RTG was standing by the door; I went up to him and he put his hands on my waist.

"You know what your problem is? You're indecisive."

"I'm not indecisive, I want both of you."

I laughed. "You can't have your cake and eat it, too-- or, rather, you can't have two cakes!"

I said Polly and I were going to another bar and asked if he was going to kiss me good-bye. He said he wanted to, but not in the bar.

"Aw, you're shy?"

He nodded and led me outside.

Here's what I love. This guy was too shy to make out in the middle of the bar, but a street corner positively teeming with people was okay.

As he kissed me, he slid a hand up my shirt.

"Woah, I guess you're not that shy!" I removed his paw from my bare skin.

He said he wanted me to go home with him and blah-blah-blah not gonna happen.

Sarah and Pixie seemed to be sharing a moment with Paisley Shirt and Short Guy, so just Polly, Willow and I made our way to another bar, some French-named place. The Jackson Five were being blared from the speakers, which made for a lively and noisy atmosphere. People dancing, but not that many Potentials... Except for the three guys at the bar, one of which made eye contact with me right away. He did the math and pointed at the three of us. I laughed, raised my eyebrows, and gestured to myself and my two lovely friends. He nodded. We came over.

The trio were British; let's call them Nigel, Percy, and Anthony. Nigel engaged me in conversation right away, but didn't offer to buy me a drink. I know it shouldn't have bothered me, but it did, especially when I found out he worked in banking. I guess I've been spoiled by my last few outings, where the guy always offered to pay.

Anyway, I chatted a bit with Nigel and then Percy. Polly and Willow didn't connect with the Brits, so they decided to leave.

After a while, I was unsure about staying myself. The Brits were cute but boring, and I didn't have the patience to see if there would be a kissing opportunity with Nigel or Percy (Anthony wasn't my type). Besides, they were also talking to two British girls (who they didn't introduce me to) and I wasn't about to compete for their attention.

I left and returned to the first bar. My inner game was still going and it was barely midnight, so there was still time to have more fun. Along the way, I spotted a hottie smoking outside a bar and smiled at him. He smiled back. I walked a few feet further, turned around, and he was still smiling at me. I would have asked him to follow me, but I needed to get back to my girls.

Back at the bar, the five of us smirked at RTG, sitting a few tables away, macking on a new girl. Even as he tried to flirt, he kept looking over at us, maybe out of fear that we'd sabotage his game. We almost did, but decided to be nice.

At the next table over, a girl stood on a chair and took her bra off while keeping her t-shirt on. As she was doing this, I made eye contact with a cute guy who was on his way out (looked like Logan from Veronica Mars, so that's what I'm going to call him).

Logan gestured to the girl and asked if I put her up to it. I laughed and said I didn't. Then I noticed he wore a necklace with a multi-colored light. I narrowed my eyes and pointed at it.

"Are you peacocking?" I asked.

His eyes widened.

"You are!"

Another PUA. Wow. And this one was with a group.

I grinned at him, surprised and excited.

"I want to go wherever you guys are going."

(To be continued...)