Blue smoke curled from the glowing tip of his friend’s cigarette, spiraling upwards through the air to dissipate above their heads. The air between the two men was thick with the scent of tobacco but pleasantly so. Noise from the club reached them as if through a filter, muted, the sounds of drunken footsteps, catcalls, whistles and bits of conversation as patrons eased in and out of the French doors. A group of young women went down the opposite side of the street, high heels clicking as they strode towards the club in a tight formation. They numbered six. Leading them was the one the men in the dark suits had been waiting for. Two pairs of eyes tracked them as far as the doors. The cigarette was dropped to the floor and crushed with the heel of an Italian made shoe. Graceful movements took them past the doors, past the bouncer and to the bar within.

“Go. We’ve been pretty much stalking this girl for a week now. If you don’t make a move tonight, I will,” the elder of the men stated in a tone of voice so calm that his companion knew he was giving it serious thought.

“She’s mine. You are not to go within three feet of her,” the younger one replied.

“What if she comes to me? You know how women are about me,”

“Like I said, she’s mine.”

“Okay. She’s yours. Whatever. Her friend is hotter, anyway,” Seunghyun the elder said.

“Dude, no. Her friend is hot but not hotter. Look at her. The hair, the eyes, the lips, the hips, man, even her ears are y. I didn’t even know ears could be y before I saw hers. She’s got a pretty smile too,”  Seunghyun the younger pointed out.

“Should I be checking you for marks?”

“What? Marks?” 

“Cause you are sounding whipped right now. You haven’t even talked to her yet and she has you sounding like you’re about to pull some Shakespeare ,” his friend said with a laugh.

“I’m not whipped. I’m just appreciative of her beauty.”

“Uh huh. You say appreciative, I say whipped as .”

“Why do I even hang out with you?”

“Because there is only one Choice 37 and he is the most awesome person you have ever had the good fortune to encounter in your pitiful existence.”

“I’m never going anywhere with you again.”

“You said that yesterday and look at who you’re with tonight,” Choice replied.

“I need to make new friends.”

“You’ve been saying that since you met me,” Seunghyun the elder commented.

“What’d I miss?” Teddy asked, appearing with a drink in his hand.

“Where’d you come from? Aren’t you supposed to be working on something with GD tonight?” Seungri queried.

“Yeah but I can work with GD any day. I can only watch you crash and burn tonight, so here I am,” the producer stated.

“Gee, thanks for the encouragement, hyung,”

“Any time, panda. Any time.”

“I hate you people.”

“Shut up and go fetch me a drink,” Choice and the older Seunghyun commanded simultaneously.

“Go get your own drinks. I have things to do.”

“Like what, exactly?  Staring a hole through the redhead in the black Louboutin dress with the heels to match and the silver snake earrings?” Choice asked.

“How do you even know what brand they are?” Teddy looked askance at his friend.

“I like women. Women like Louboutin. I give women what they like so they’ll like me,” Choice said with a shrug, like it was the simplest thing in the world.

“On that note, are you sure you only want one drink?”

“For now.”

“I need to make friends who aren’t in any way connected to the music industry,” Seungri mumbled to himself as he tried to balance the stack of shot glasses and the bottle of Barcadi he was carrying while moving through a crowd of apparently very thirsty people.

“Need some help with that?” The voice was foreign, unknown to him, lifting the edges of the words enticingly.

“I’ve got it,” he replied instinctively.

“Doesn’t look like it,” the accented voice was much closer now and he could smell the faintest bit of some fruity perfume. “Let me help.”

Seungri started to reply in the negative but the words caught and died in his throat when he raised his head. His heart stopped for a millisecond then restarted, going at thrice the original speed while his pulse slammed through his veins and his mouth went dry. The redhead with the dress was the one offering to help him. Before he could gather his thoughts past that her hands – dainty hands with rounded nails that shone under the club lights – reached out and took the shot glasses from him.

That left him free to adjust his grip on the bottle and he did so, racking his brain for something to say to the girl he’d been thinking about nonstop ever since the first time he saw her. Everything he thought of sounded lame so he kept quiet, hoping she would say something before they got back to his friends. She didn’t and stayed with him only long enough for Teddy to take the shot glasses from her. When he turned to look for her seconds later he couldn’t see her anywhere. He sighed and reached for the bottle, not even bothering with a glass. He took a hearty swig and let his friends claim the bottle. Seconds later he was sliding into the crisp cool air of the autumn night.

He leaned against the wall and cursed himself, feeling the brick through the fabric of his jacket. She’d been right there. Right there and he couldn’t manage anything? Not even to ask what her name was. God, he was useless. He slid his hands into his pockets to keep them warm and that was when he felt it, the piece of paper. He pulled it out and moved to a better lit spot so that he could read it, a grin lighting up his face when he read the name and number written in an elegant hand.

It seemed she had made the first move.