She looked up at the man beside her, and decided to go all in. “Hi, I’m Ariana.” And then cursed her awkwardness.
He didn’t miss a beat though. “Marcus, it’s a pleasure.”
Ariana never made it to the dance floor, she spent the better part of the night at the bar with Marcus, trying increasingly complex tropical drinks that were more sugar that alcohol, and she had a blast. Eventually they switched to coffee, and after a single sip of the terrible thing they were trying to pass off here, they mutually decided to head out. She smiled at her friends, and gave them a thumbs up as she walked out of the bar with Marcus.
They headed to an all-night coffee shop on the next street over that the bartender recommended, and stayed up till 4am exchanging life stories. When the restaurants began to open they headed out for breakfast.
That’s when she woke up, and smiled at the memory. That had been ten years ago, when she had been young, poor, insecure, and then she met Marcus. He brought out the best in her, encouraged her, and when she graduated and everyone told her to get a real job, his family money had let her pursue her dreams. She wondered what would have happened had she not made that move, not taken the chance on the pretty boy at the pricey bar, and she shivered like someone had walked over her grave.
Anne McSommers' Writing Nook 