Nicole sipped at her smoothie, feeling utterly awkward. Her mind raced as the silence between the two girls dragged out, looking for something else to say. [i]Why did I even come here?[/i] she thought with an inward groan. [i]This whole thing was pointless anyway. I'm just too socially inept.[/i] She fingered the red glow stick on her wrist, slowly twisting it in small circles, and glanced up to see what the other people were up to in the bar. There were a lot of new guests since she last let herself explore the other faces, but one of them stuck out to her. A man was wandering around the bar with a frustrated look on his face. He didn't seem interested in talking to anyone, even though Nicole saw multiple green glow stick girls clearly swing their heads around to check him out. She wondered what he was doing here if he had no intention of socializing. Then the man turned towards her.

[i]Oh God, he's coming this way.[/i]

Nicole nervously turned away and acted like her smoothie straw was suddenly the most interesting thing in the bar. The man kept walking. What was going on? Guys usually acted like she was invisible. The most interaction they ever had with her was when they mistook her for Grace, and that wasn't even intentional. She was the plague, the girl which every guy avoided. So what happened? Why did this man have a sudden interest in her? She risked flicking her stormy gray gaze in his direction for a moment. He had stopped a couple feet away and was staring at her. Nicole's heart raced.

[b]“Sorry to interrupt ladies, but I’m actually looking for someone who might have been here recently…”[/b]

Nicole stared back at him stupidly. The question had taken her by surprise. The man's eyes shifted from her face to her wrist, and then she remembered: she was wearing a [i]red[/i] glow stick. He didn't have an interest in dancing with her; he thought she was taken. She felt herself physically relax, letting out a long exhale through her nose, the fleeting look of panic fading off her face. The man was still staring, and she realized he was waiting for an answer.

"Um," Nicole said. [i]Great job, genius. What an intelligent response![/i] "W-who are you looking for?"