Dakota was doing what he usually did, besides surfing, which was flirting. Sometimes he paused to wonder why exactly he found himself unable to stop flirting but chalked it up as being part of the great mysteries of life. That was him bullshitting so he didn't have to contemplate it. He was just having fun after all.
Anyway, here he was, at one of the many spring break parties that had sprung up over the holidays. It was of course, very close to heaven to Dakota, as there were a lot of hot girls who seemed keen to have fun. Unfortunately his girl of the evening had left for some reason so his arms were empty of a woman. He was back to square one, which was approaching a girl and presenting himself as someone they would definitely like to leave with.
He saw her standing away from the general crowd of people, leaning against a wall with a cigarette in one hand. He was pretty sure it was impolite to smoke in a closed room but whatever. She almost seemed to blend in with the wall, drawing no real attention to herself. Dakota found himself pulled towards her as if she had suddenly shifted into being his center of gravity instead of the sun. It was probably the whole 'mystery' and 'loner' aspects that drew him towards her.
"Hey!" He greeted her, placing one hand on the wall near her head so he could lean over her. She seemed startled by his sudden appearance and by his large, almost over-eager smile.
"Hi." She returned his greeting, her voice low and raspy. She cleared her throat, eyeing him suspiciously. He was not deterred.
"So I saw you standing here all alone and thought you could use some company." He shrugged, appearing bashful.
She smirked at his excuse, looking amused for some reason.
"And what sort of company are you trying to supply, gent?" She mumbled under her breath.
"Hm?" Dakota pretended to be clueless, despite hearing every word she just said clearly. He raised his eyebrows, watching her shake her head and wave a hand in the air dismissively.
"Nothing." She said, taking another drag of her cigarette as if to avoid possible questioning. He didn't press it and she didn't seem to want to say anything either, so they stood there, listening to the music being blasted obnoxiously from the speakers. The most overplayed song of the year, as was the usual in parties like this.
He looked down at her, leaning back slightly as he could only see her blonde hair, not her face. He opened his mouth to speak, probably another horrendous pick up line as he didn't think before he talked, when she put a hand up to cut him off.
"I'm going to stop you right there before you take out your dick, or propose marriage to me or something-"
"Woah, a little arrogant there don't you think?" Dakota said wryly, though not without humour as it clear she was just joking.
"Well it did happen to me once before-" She watched his expression shift to disbelief, "No I'm kidding, don't worry."
"A sense of humour." He noted, finding himself smiling.
"I know exactly what you want." She nodded to herself, "I saw you only ten minutes ago with your tongue shoved down some girls throat."
"Been staring at me, have you?" Dakota quipped.
"I wasn't staring at you." She rolled her eyes, taking another puff of her cancer stick, and blowing out the smoke right into his face. He grimaced, practically feeling his life becoming shorter as he leaned back from her, removing his hand from the wall.
"Who were you staring at then?" It was his turn to roll his eyes, the question rhetorical in his mind.
"I was staring at the girl whose ass you were groping." She said it as if it were obvious, her gaze darting towards him as she watched his face for a reaction.
"Eh?" It took a few seconds for him to realise exactly what she was implying but before he could say anything, she spoke.
"So yeah, sorry mate but your muscles do nothing for me." She said apologetically, probably referring to how he'd unbuttoned his shirt so his abs would be revealed.
"Bummer." He shrugged after a moment, sounding clearly disappointed. He saw her shoulders slump slightly with relief as he displayed no other hostile reaction towards her confession.
She watched his dejected form for a while before reaching over and snubbing out her cigarette in a nearby ash tray.
"Come on." She sighed in a resigned way, grabbing his arm and tugging towards the direction of the crowd.
"What?" Dakota asked dumbly, eyebrows furrowing at the sudden action.
"We're," She emphasized the word, "Going to go pick up some girls."
His face changed, from dejected to the same eager look he had when he came over to her.
"Sweet!" He exclaimed, throwing one arm over her shoulder. She rolled her eyes at the action but didn't push it off.
"Hey wait, you never told me your name." He realised, looking at her expectantly.
She just shook her head, looking amused by the way he suddenly bounced back to being exuberant.
"Dumbass." She muttered, fighting a smile.