“No, I promise. Say something, anything. Please?”
My head is buzzing like crap. How the hell do I humour this girl? “What do you want me to say exactly?”
“Just keep talking. Anything is good.”
“Okay. Um, how about I return the drink you just bought me?”
“Are you genuinely asking or just saying stuff?”
“Both,” I laugh. “This is harder than you think.”
“Then I’ll take another Cosmo please.”
“Sure,” I signal to the barman, then smile back at her. It’s difficult to make conversation when your accent is being analysed, but she seems a nice enough girl who is just after some small talk, so why not?
“Talking of accents, where are you from? I don’t hear a local accent in your voice.” I’m not an expert, but as we’ve been in New York a little while now, I’m getting a feel for the local dialect.
“L.A. originally, but I’ve lived here for five years now.”
“Cool, and what do you do?”
“I’m a model by day. Mainly online stores, but I do other stuff too.”
“Oh yeah, like what?”
“You know you can stop the small talk, Ash. I just needed to know if you were available, and from what you’ve said, I’d say you are.”
I spin in the swivel bar stood towards her. “How do you know my name?”
“Sorry?”
“You just called me Ash.”
“I did?”
“I think you know you did.” Our conversation is starting to stink of bullshit.
“I’m a fan,” she blurts.
“Is that right.”
Her hand falls to my knee as she also spins in her seat and leans forward. This girl is making sure I get an eyeful of her ample rack.
“Yeah, I saw your launch video on The Entertainment Show.”
“Alright then,” I reply. “If you’re telling the truth, you can tell me the title of our first single.”
“You don’t know what you called your own music?”
“Oh, I know, but do you?”
“Does it matter? I’m sure you were phenomenal. In fact, I bet you’ll go all the way.” Her fanned hand runs up my thigh, towards my groin. “You know, if you came back to my place, you could give me a personal performance.” She raises one brow, waiting for my reply.
I huff out a laugh and spin back to the bar, knocking her hand from my leg. Draining the last few drops from my glass, I stand on my unsteady feet. I might be pretty wasted, but I know what I’m doing and potentially, what she is trying to do.
“Not tonight, beautiful. I have a girl to go home to. But keep listening to the music, we appreciate it,” I wink, leaving her to sit at the bar alone.
“Was it something I said?” she says from behind me, but I keep my focus on putting one foot in front of the other and getting out of here as quick as possible.
