“I don’t know about that. Zac Efron made for a pretty hot woman when he did that skit with Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show,” Alex laughed. “Although I guess I see your point. This is starting to sound more like an all-out comedy than a Hallmark special. I guess romances movies just aren’t my speed.” She shrugged as she sipped her drink. Halfway into her second whiskey cocktail of the night on an empty stomach, she could tell she was getting a little loose-lipped. Whenever she got tipsy, she tended to find anything and everything amusing, and she minced her words even less than she did when she was sober. However, she wasn’t just babbling when she gave Daniel her ridiculous answer. She wanted to give him the impression that she wasn’t out looking for something long-term, so she was quick to imply that she wasn’t a romantic.

It was true, anyway. Even though she wasn’t looking for a hook-up either, she’d been a cynic about relationships ever since Matt. Love seemed to work for some people, but apparently, she wasn’t one of the lucky girls who found her soulmate and settled down to have three kids. If there were ‘plenty of fish in the sea,’ her first and only catch had been a great white, and she didn’t really feel like going fishing again. Besides, it wasn’t like she had a shot at ending up with one of the good ones now that she was a homeless tramp. She had more important things to worry about other than looking for someone to call her person.

When Daniel answered her question, she nodded her approval of the response he gave her. It had been years since the last time she’d watched something on TV, but she could appreciate the preference. She also took note of the flirtatious comment he made at the end, yet another sign that her odds of leaving the bar with him were looking good.

“Not bad, but I think I’d choose to be trapped inside a Hallmark movie,” she smirked. “No one said I had to be the main character, so I’d be the friend who deals with the dramatic phone calls and coffee dates every once in a while and spends the rest of my time doing whatever I damn well please.” Punctuating the remark with the last swig of her drink, she set her empty glass down next to his on the counter. “That means I, too, can set my own pace,” she added, casting him a coy look as she decided to let him know that she was on the same page as he was.

At his question, Alex made a face. “Just to set the record straight, I’ll have you know those movies are [i]not[/i] an interest of mine.” Following the initial reply, she paused briefly. She supposed she could tell him about her real interests, but he’d just inadvertently opened the gate for her to start sliding in hints about what she was really after that evening. So, she brightened theatrically as she said, “If you really want to know, I’m kind of a foodie. I like exploring restaurants around the city and trying new dishes. It’s a lot of fun to visit five-star places or find a hole-in-the-wall spot that doesn’t give you food poisoning.”

Keeping up her “interest” in the topic, she followed up by asking him, “What about you? If you don’t get out much, what do you like to do in your spare time?”